he returned, placed one of
these letters in an envelope already addressed to Monsieur Armand
Lascelles, No.--Rue Royale, the other she handed to Dawson. It was
addressed in neat and delicate feminine hand to Colonel Braxton, Jackson
Barracks.

"Now, Dawson, ye can't see her this day, and she don't want ye till you
can come over here sober. Off wid ye now to barracks. They're all out
at inspection yet, and will be for an hour. Lay this wid the colonel's
mail on his desk, and thin go you to your own. Come to me this
afthernoon for more dhrink if ye can tell me what he said and did when
he read it. No! no more liquor now. That'll brace ye till dinnertime,
and more would make ye dhrunk."

Miserably he plodded away down the levee, while she, his ruler, throwing
on a huge, dirty white sun-bonnet, followed presently in his tracks, and
"shadowed" him until she saw him safely reach the portals of the
barracks after one or two fruitless scouts into wayside bars in hope of
finding some one to treat or trust him to a drink. Then, retracing her
steps a few blocks, she rang sharply at the lattice gate opening into a
cool and shaded enclosure, beyond which could be seen the white-pillared
veranda of a long, low, Southern homestead. A grinning negro boy
answered the summons.

"It's you, is it, Alphonse? Is your mistress at home?"

"No; gone town,--_chez Madame d'Hervilly_."

"Madame Devillease, is it? Very well; you skip to town wid that note and
get it in your master's hands before the cathedral clock strikes
twelve, or ye'll suffer. There's a car in t'ree minutes."

And then, well content with her morning's work, the consort of the
senior first lieutenant of Light Battery "X" (a dame whose credentials
were too clouded to admit of her reception or recognition within the
limits of a regular garrison, where, indeed, to do him justice, Mr.
Doyle never wished to see her, or, for that matter, anywhere else)
betook herself to the magnolia-shaded cottage where she dwelt beyond the
pale of military interference, and some hours later sent 'Louette to say
to Doyle she wanted him, and Doyle obeyed. In his relief at finding the
colonel had probably forgotten the peccadillo for which he expected
punishment, in blissful possession of Mr. Waring's sitting-room and
supplies now that Waring was absent, the big Irishman was preparing to
spend the time in drinking his junior's health and whiskey and
discoursing upon the enormity of his misconduct