to hide from sight of
all.

From that time on she made no mention of the name that so strangely
excited her stricken husband; but the watchers in the hospital the next
night declared that in his ravings Clancy kept calling for Lieutenant
Hayne.

Stannard's battalion of the cavalry came marching into the post two days
after the fire, and created a diversion in the garrison talk, which for
one long day had been all of that dramatic incident and its attendant
circumstances. In social circles, among the officers and ladies, the
main topic was the conduct of Mr. Hayne and the injuries he had
sustained as a consequence of his gallant rescue. Among the enlisted men
and the denizens of Sudsville the talk was principally of the revelation
of Mrs. Clancy's hoard of greenbacks. But in both circles a singular
story was just beginning to creep around, and it was to the effect that
Clancy had cried aloud and fainted dead away and that Mrs. Clancy had
gone into hysterics when they were told that Lieutenant Hayne was the
man to whom the one owed his life and the other her money. Some one met
Captain Rayner on the sidewalk the morning Stannard came marching home,
and asked him if he had heard the queer story about Clancy. He had not,
and it was told him then and there. Rayner did not even attempt to laugh
at it or turn it off in any way. He looked dazed, stunned, for a moment,
turned very white and old-looking, and, hardly saying good-day to his
informant, faced about and went straight to his quarters. He was not
among the crowd that gathered to welcome the incoming cavalrymen that
bright, crisp, winter day; and that evening Mrs. Rayner went to the
hospital to ask what she could do for Clancy and his wife. Captain
Rayner always expected her to see that every care and attention was paid
to the sick and needy of his company, she explained to the doctor, who
could not recall having seen her on a similar errand before, although
sick and needy of Company B were not unknown in garrisons where he had
served with them. She spent a good while with Mrs. Clancy, whom she had
never noticed hitherto, much to the laundress's indignation, and
concerning whose conduct she had been known to express herself in terms
of extreme disapprobation. But in times of suffering such things are
forgotten: Mrs. Rayner was full of sympathy and interest; there was
nothing she was not eager to send them, and no thanks were necessary.
She could never do too much for