ere was a light in his blue eyes she was just beginning to notice now
as she studied his face. A smile flickered one instant about the corners
of his mouth, and then he held out his hand:

"She knows by this time, Mrs. Waldron."

An hour later Mrs. Rayner was standing on the platform at the station,
Ross and others of her satellites hanging about her; Captain Rayner was
talking in subdued tones with one or two of the senior officers; Miss
Travers, looking feverishly pretty, was chatting busily with Royce and
Foster, though a close observer could have noted that her dark eyes
often sought the westward prairie over which wound the road to the
distant post. It was nearly train-time, and three or four horsemen could
be seen at various distances, while, far out towards the fort, long
skirmish-lines and fluttering guidons were sweeping over the slopes in
mimic war-array.

"I have missed all this," she said, pointing to the scene; "and I do
love it so that it seems hard to go just as all the real soldier life is
beginning."

"Goodness knows you've had offers enough to keep you here," said Foster,
with not the blithest laugh in the world. "Any girl who will go East and
marry a 'cit' and leave six or seven penniless subs sighing behind her,
I have my opinion of: she's eminently level-headed," he added, with
rueful and unexpected candor.

"I have hopes of Miss Travers yet," boomed Royce, in his ponderous
basso,--"not personal hopes, Foster; you needn't feel for your
pistol,--but I believe that her heart is with the army, like the
soldier's daughter she is." And, audacious as was the speech and
deserving of instant rebuke, Mr. Royce was startled to see her reddening
vividly. He would have plunged into hasty apology, but Foster plucked
his sleeve:

"Look who's coming, you galoot! She hasn't heard a word either of us has
said."

And though Nellie Travers, noting the sudden silence, burst into an
immediate and utterly irrelevant lament over the loss of the Maltese
kitten,--which had not been seen all that day and was not to be found
when they came away,--it was useless. The effort was gallant, but the
flame in her cheeks betrayed her as, throwing his reins to the orderly
who followed him, Mr. Hayne dismounted at the platform and came directly
towards her. To Mrs. Rayner's unspeakable dismay, he walked up to the
trio, bowed low over the little gloved hand that was extended in answer
to the proffer of his own, and next she saw