etail of men to put up the stoves and move out the rubbish left by the
tailors; "Sam" had worked vigorously with soft soap, hot water, and a
big mop in sprucing up the rooms; the adjutant had sent a little note
during the morning, saying that the colonel would be glad to order him
any men he needed to put the quarters in proper shape, and that Captain
Rayner had expressed his readiness to send a detail from the company to
unload and unpack his boxes, etc., to which Mr. Hayne replied in person
that he thanked the commanding officer for his thoughtfulness, but that
he had very little to unpack, and needed no assistance beyond that
already afforded by the quartermaster's men. Mr. Billings could not help
noting that he made no allusion to that part of the letter which spoke
of Captain Rayner's offer. It increased his respect for Mr. Hayne's
perceptive powers.

While every officer of the infantry battalion was ready to admit that
Mr. Hayne had rendered invaluable service to the men of the cavalry
regiment, they were not so unanimous in their opinion as to how it
should be acknowledged and requited by its officers. No one was prepared
for the announcement that the colonel had asked him to dinner and that
Blake and Billings were to meet him. Some few of their number thought it
going too far, but no one quite coincided with the vehement declaration
of Mrs. Rayner that it was an outrage and an affront aimed at the
regiment in general and at Captain Rayner in particular. She was an
energetic woman when aroused, and there was no doubt of her being very
much aroused as she sped from house to house to see what the other
ladies thought of it. Rayner's wealth and Mrs. Rayner's qualities had
made her an undoubted though not always popular leader in all social
matters in the Riflers. She was an authority, so to speak, and one who
knew it. Already there had been some points on which she had differed
with the colonel's wife, and it was plain to all that it was a difficult
thing for her to come down from being _the_ authority--the leader of the
social element of a garrison--and from the position of second or third
importance which she had been accorded when first assigned to the
station. There were many, indeed, who asserted that it was because she
found her new position unbearable that she decided on her long visit to
the East and departed thither before the Riflers had been at Warrener a
month. The colonel's wife had greeted her and her l