house, and I was
sorry later on that I had not consented to his doing so.

One morning at ten o'clock I received a note from Faye, written at the
guard house, saying that his set of quarters had been selected by a
cavalry officer who had just arrived at the post, and that every article
of ours must be out of the house that day by one o'clock! Also that, as
he was officer of the guard, it would be impossible for him to assist
me in the least, except to send some enlisted men to move the things.
At first I was dazed and wholly incapable of comprehending the
situation--it seemed so preposterous to expect anyone to move everything
out of a house in three hours. But as soon as I recovered my senses I
saw at once that not one second of the precious time must be wasted, and
that the superintendence of the whole thing had fallen upon me.

So I gathered my forces, and the four men started to work in a way that
showed they would do everything in their power to help me. All that was
possible for us to do, however, was almost to throw things out in a side
yard, for remember, please, we had only three short hours in which to
move everything--and this without, warning or preparation of any kind.
All things, big and small, were out by one o'clock, and just in time,
too, to avoid a collision with the colored soldiers of the incoming
cavalry officer, who commenced taking furniture and boxes in the house
at precisely that hour.

Of course there was no hotel or even restaurant for me to go to, and
I was too proud and too indignant to beg shelter in the house of a
friend--in fact, I felt as if I had no friend. So I sat down on a chair
in the yard with the little dog by me, thinking, I remember, that the
chair was our own property and no one had a right to object to my being
there. And I also remember that the whole miserable affair brought to
mind most vividly scenes of eviction that had been illustrated in
the papers from time to time, when poor women had been evicted for
nonpayment of rent!

Just as I had reached the very lowest depths of misery and woe, Mrs.
Vincent appeared, and Faye almost immediately after. We three went to
Mrs. Vincent's house for luncheon, and in fact I remained there until we
came to this house. She had just heard of what had happened and hastened
down to me. Captain Vincent said it was entirely the fault of the
commanding officer for permitting such a disgraceful order to leave his
office; that Captain Park'