y.

Momentarily disconcerted, he turned to the soldier. "You ride early."

"As you see," returned the other, immovably.

"A habit contracted in the army, no doubt!" retorted Mauville,
recovering his easy self-possession. "Well, a bumping trunk is as
efficacious as a bugle call! But _au revoir_, Miss Carew; for we may
meet again. The world is broad--yet its highways are narrow! There is
no need wishing you a pleasant journey."

His glance rested on Saint-Prosper for a moment, but told nothing
beyond the slight touch of irony in his words and then shifting to the
young girl, it lingered upon each detail of costume and outline of
feature. Before she could reply, Barnes cracked his whip, the horses
sprang forward, and the stable boy, a confused tangle of legs and
arms, was shot as from a catapult among the sweet-williams. The abrupt
departure of the chariot was the cue for the property wagon, which
followed with some labor and jolting, like a convoy struggling in the
wake of a pretentious ship. From the door Mauville watched it until it
reached a toll-gate, passed beneath the portcullis and disappeared
into the broad province of the wilderness.

CHAPTER VII

SOJOURNING IN ARCADIA

Calm and still was the morning; the wandering air just stirred the
pendulous branches of the elms and maples, and, in the clear
atmosphere, the russet hills were sharply outlined. As they swung out
into the road, with Hans, the musician, at the reins, the young girl
removed her bonnet and leaned back in the chair of state, where kings
had fretted and queens had lolled.

The throne, imposing on the stage, now appeared but a flimsy article
of furniture, with frayed and torn upholstering, and carving which had
long since lost its gilded magnificence. Seated amid the jumble of
theatrical appliances and accoutrements--scenery, rolled up
rug-fashion, property trunks, stage clock, lamps and draperies--she
accepted the situation gracefully, even finding nothing strange in the
presence of the soldier. New faces had come and gone in the company
before, and, when Barnes had complacently informed her Saint-Prosper
would journey with the players to New Orleans in a semi-business
capacity, the arrangement appeared conformable to precedent. The
manager's satisfaction augured well for the importance of the
semi-business role assumed by the stranger, and Barnes' friendliness
was perhaps in some degree unconsciously reflected in her manner; an
at