d; but he'll pull through."

CHAPTER XXVII

_Passing Clouds_

In spite of the surgeon's hopeful words, the path to recovery lay
fearfully near the gate of death. Firmstone had been shot from above,
and the bullet, entering at the base of the neck just in front of the
throat, had torn its way beneath the collar-bone, passing through the
left arm below the shoulder.

During the period of trying suspense, when Firmstone's life wavered in
the balance, through the longer period of convalescence, he lacked not
devotion, love, nor skill to aid him. Zephyr was omnipresent, but never
obtrusive. Bennie, with voiceless words and aggressive manner, plainly
declared that a sizzling cookstove with a hot temper that never cooled
was more efficacious than a magazine of bandages and a college of
surgeons.

Elise cared for Firmstone, Madame for Elise. Zephyr's rod and rifle,
with Bennie's stove, supplied that without which even the wisest counsel
comes to an inglorious end. Over all Elise reigned an uncrowned queen,
with no constitution, written or unwritten, to hamper her royal will.
Even the company surgeon had to give a strict accounting. The soft, red
lips could not hide the hard, straight lines beneath rounded curves, nor
the liquid black of velvet eyes break the insistent glint of an active,
decisive mind.

Miss Hartwell was still pretty and willing, but yet helpless and
oppressed. It was therefore with a regretted sense of relief that the
arrival of Miss Firmstone removed the last appearance of duty that kept
her in useless toleration. Hartwell's capacious sleeve held a ready card
which awaited but an obvious opportunity for playing. No sooner was
Firmstone pronounced out of danger than the card, in the form of urgent
business, was played, and Hartwell and his sister left for the East.

Like her brother, Miss Firmstone evidently had a will of her own, and,
also like her brother, a well-balanced mind to control its
manifestations. There was a short, sharp battle of eyes when first the
self-throned queen was brought face to face with her possible rival. The
conflict was without serious results, for Miss Firmstone, in addition to
will and judgment, had also tact and years superior to Elise. These were
mere fortuitous adjuncts which had been denied Elise. So it happened
that, though a rebellious pupil, Elise learned many valuable lessons.
She was ready and willing to defy the world individually and
collectively; yet s