lieutenant, who, having
rashly allowed herself to spend a summer at West Point, was now living
in the consequences.

But although the military element presided like a court circle at one
end of the room, and the five Misses Macdougall and Miss Lois like an
element of first families at the other, the intervening space was well
filled with a motley assemblage--lithe young girls with sparkling black
eyes and French vivacity, matrons with a shade more of brown in their
complexions, and withered old grandams who sat on benches along the
walls, and looked on with a calm dignity of silence which never came
from Saxon blood. Intermingled were youths of rougher aspect but of fine
mercurial temperaments, who danced with all their hearts as well as
bodies, and kept exact time with the music, throwing in fancy steps from
pure love of it as they whirled lightly down the hall with their
laughing partners. There were a few young men of Scotch descent present
also, clerks in the shops, and superintendents of the fisheries which
now formed the only business of the once thriving frontier village.
These were considered by island parents of the better class desirable
suitors for their daughters--far preferable to the young officers who
succeeded each other rapidly at the little fort, with attachments
delightful, but as transitory as themselves. It was noticeable, however,
that the daughters thought otherwise. Near the doorway in the shadow a
crowd of Indians had gathered, while almost all of the common soldiers
from the fort, on one pretext or another, were in the hall, attending to
the fires and lights, or acting as self-appointed police. Even Chaplain
Gaston looked in for a moment, and staid an hour; and later in the
evening the tall form of Pere Michaux appeared, clad in a furred mantle,
a black silk cap crowning his silver hair. Tita immediately left her
place and went to meet him, bending her head with an air of deep
reverence.

"See the child--how theatrical!" said Mrs. Cromer.

"Yes. Still, the Romanists do believe in all kinds of amusements, and
even ask a blessing on it," said the lieutenant's wife.

"It was not that--it was the little air and attitude of devoutness that
I meant. See the puss now!"

But the puss was triumphant at last. One of the younger officers had
noted her solemn little salutation in front of the priest, and now
approached to ask her to dance, curious to see what manner of child this
small creature coul