g earnestly. She sat with
downcast eyes that never saw the swift rider until he had almost passed
them by. Mrs. Darling, chatting with Mr. Burtis on the rear seat, was
the first to announce his coming, and with rare presence of mind to turn
and send sweetest smiles and beaming glances and the welcome of a waving
hand after the grim, bearded face that had no smile for their civilian
escorts and only grave courtesy for the ladies themselves. He would not
mar the joy of his home-coming by the faintest reference to what he had
seen, but Margaret read his honest eyes as she read her boys', and knew
that he must have met them on the way. For weeks she had seen the rapid
growth of the new intimacy and deplored it, and had no one to confer
with about it except Agatha, but Agatha flatly refused to open her lips
upon the subject. It was a mercy that Wilbur at last came home and
unloosed her tongue. As she pathetically said, "I simply could not
contain myself any longer."

But if Mrs. Cranston had held her tongue, there was no lack of others
who had not, and foremost of these was Mrs. Flight, who spoke by the
card. For a fortnight or so the devotion of these two ladies, Mrs.
Flight and Mira, to one another had been of that seething and tireless
character that rendered them incapable of spending an hour apart, and
then came the little tiffs and coolnesses that betokened that this, too,
was inevitably going the way of all such feminine intimacies. Up to the
day of Mira's coming Mrs. Flight and Mrs. Darling had been inseparable
for as much as a week at a time. Both were young, pretty, and
empty-headed; neither was burdened with children nor ideas. Both were
healthy, one was wealthy, neither was wise. Mrs. Darling had the
advantage over Mrs. Flight in that she was able to entertain lavishly,
whereas Mrs. Flight could only entertain by personal charm and sprightly
chat. They were the reigning belles at Scott, and not only the young
officers at the post, but the young civilians in town, found great
pleasure in their society. There was capital sleighing for several
weeks, and Willett and Burtis came as often as every other day to take
the ladies an airing. At first it had been Mesdames Flight and Darling,
then the bride had to be invited because she was the bride, then because
she was a beauty, and finally because Willett would have no one else.
Then as it was generally at Darlings' they lunched, dined, danced,
supped, were wined and war