edlam" was so ornamented, there were several who were
strolling up and down the board and gravel walks, and of these Fanny
Forrest was certainly the most striking in appearance. She was tall,
stately in carriage, and beautifully formed. Her head was carried
proudly and her features were regular and fine. "But for that hardness
of expression she might be a tearing beauty," was the comment of more
than one woman who knew and envied her; but that expression certainly
existed and to her constant detriment. All manner of conjectures had
been started to account for her somewhat defiant air and that hard, set
look that so rarely left her face except when she smiled and strove to
please. No one really knew much about her. Captain Forrest, her
brother, was one of the popular men of his regiment, who years before
had become enamoured of and _would_ marry the namby-pamby though
pretty daughter of the old post chaplain. She happened to be the only
young lady in the big garrison of McPherson, one of those long winters
just after the War of the Rebellion, and Forrest was susceptible. Her
prettiness had soon faded, and there was no other attraction to eke it
out; but her husband was big-hearted and gentle, and he strove hard not
to let her see he thought her changed. Still, she was a querulous,
peevish woman by this time, poor girl, and her numerous olive-branches
had been more than a stronger woman could have managed. Forrest's house
was not the jolliest in the garrison, and he was given to drifting away
as a consequence; but the previous summer there came to him news that
took him suddenly Eastward. He was gone a month, and when he returned
he brought his tall, handsome, stylish sister with him, and it was
given out that she was to make her home with him henceforth,--unless,
as said the gossips, some other man claimed her. Some other man
did,--two some others, in fact, and "a very pretty quarrel as it stood"
was only nipped in the bud by the prompt action of the commanding
officer at Fort Robinson that very winter. Two young officers had
speedily fallen in love with her, and in so doing had fallen out with
each other. It was almost a fight, and would have been but for the
colonel commanding; and yet it was all absurd, for she turned both of
them adrift. Of her past she would not speak, and no one cared to
question Forrest. She had been living at her uncle's in New York, was
all that any one knew, and finally that had to be changed. Sh