otel. And do you two long-legged calves walk after it. If the hack
should be still out when we get there, you can stay at the hotel until
it comes in."

"All right, sir," said Clarence, good humoredly; and he closed the door,
and gave the order to the coachman, who immediately started his horses
on the way to North End.

On the way home Mr. Clarence inquired of his nephew when he expected to
receive his commission and where he expected to be ordered.

"How can I tell you? I must wait for a vacancy, I suppose, and then be
sent to the Devil's Icy Peak or Fort Jumping Off Place, or some such
other pleasant post of duty on the confines of terra incognita. But the
farther off, the stranger and the savager it is, the better I shall like
it for my own sake, but it will be rough on Cora," said the youth.

"But you do not dream of taking Cora out there?" exclaimed Clarence, in
pained surprise.

"Oh, but I do! She insists on going where I go. She is bent on being a
voluntary, unsalaried missionary and school-mistress to the Indians
just because Rule died a martyred minister and teacher among them."

"She is mad!" exclaimed Mr. Clarence; "mad."

"She has had enough to make her mad, but she is sane enough on this
subject, I can tell you, Uncle Clarence. She is the most level-headed
young woman that I know, and the plan of life that she has laid out for
herself is the best course she could possibly pursue under the present
circumstances. She is very miserable here. This plan will give her the
most complete change of scene and the most interesting occupation. It
will cure her of her melancholy and absorption in her troubled past, and
when she shall be cured she may return to her friends here, or she may
meet with some fine fellow out there who may make her forget the dead
and leave off her weeds. That is what I hope for, Uncle Clarence."

And for the rest of their walk they trudged on in silence or with but
few words passed between them. It was sunset when they reached North
End.

That evening when Sylvan and Cora found themselves together for a moment
at Rockhold House, the youth said:

"Corona Rothsay, the sooner I get my orders and you and I depart for
Scalping Creek or Perdition Peak, or wherever I am to be shoveled off
to, the better, my dear," said the young soldier.

"What do you think of it all now, Sylvan?" she inquired.

"I think, Cora, that while we do stay here it would be Christian charity
to be very good t