ork. I shall expect you at one o'clock--shall have lunch ready for
you. By the way, Doctor, is there anything I can do for you in the sewing
line? It would give me genuine pleasure to make something for you, if you
will only tell me what you need. Think over your wants."

She had caught up her reins, but paused, looking at him. He averted his
head quickly.

"I will tell you to-morrow. Good evening."

As she went homeward a shadow fell upon her face--a shadow darker than that
cast by the black plume in her riding-hat--and once or twice her lips
writhed from their ordinary curves of beauty. Nearing the encampment she
lowered her veil, but saw that dress parade had been dismissed, and as she
shook the reins and Erebus quickened his gallop, she found herself face to
face with the colonel, who had just mounted his horse and was riding toward
town. She looked at him and bowed; but, in passing, he kept his eyes fixed
on the road before him, and in the duskiness his face seemed colder and
more inflexible than ever. Such had been the manner of their occasional
meetings since the interview at the factory, and she was not surprised that
this, her first greeting, was disregarded. The public believed that an
engagement existed between him and Salome, and the attentions heaped upon
him by the family of the latter certainly gave colour to the report. But
Irene was not deceived; she had learned to understand his nature, and knew
that his bitterness of feeling and studied avoidance of herself betokened
that the old affection had not been crushed. Struggling with the dictates
of her heart, and a sense of the respect due to her father's feelings, she
passed a sleepless night in pacing the gallery of the observatory. It was a
vigil of almost intolerable perplexity and anguish. Under all its painful
aspects she patiently weighed the matter, and at sunrise next morning,
throwing open the blinds of her room, she drew her rosewood desk to the
window, and wrote these words--

"COL. AUBREY,--

"Before you leave W---- allow me to see you for a few moments. If your
departure is positively fixed for to-morrow, come to me this afternoon, at
any hour which may be most convenient.

"Respectfully,

"IRENE HUNTINGDON."

As the regiment prepared to march to Mrs. Churchill's residence, the note
was received from Andrew's hands. Returning his sword to its scabbard, the
colonel read the paper twice, three times--a heavy frown gathered