mself!"
for, scrupulously observant of military etiquette, Mr. Hayne on being
addressed by his superior officer had instantly dismounted, and now
stood silently facing him. Even at the distance, there were some who
thought they could see his features twitching; but his blue eyes were
calm and steady,--far clearer than they had been but a moment agone when
gazing good-by into the sweet face they worshipped. None could hear what
passed between them. The talk was very brief; but Ross almost gasped
with amaze, other officers looked at one another in utter astonishment,
and Mrs. Rayner fairly sobbed with excitement and emotion, when Mr.
Hayne was seen to hold forth his hand, and Rayner, grasping it eagerly
in both his own, shook it once, then strode hastily away towards the
rear of the train. His eyes were filled with tears he could not repress
and could not bear to show.

That evening, as the train wound steadily eastward into the shadows of
the night, and they looked out in farewell upon the slopes they had last
seen when a wintry gale swept fiercely over the frozen surface and the
shallow ravines were streaked with snow, Kate Rayner, after a long talk
with her husband, and abandoning her boy to the sole guardianship of his
nurse, settled herself by Nellie's side, and Nellie knew that she either
sought confidences or had them to impart. Something of the old,
quizzical look was playing about the corner of her pretty mouth as her
elder sister, with feminine indirectness, began her verbal skirmishing
with the subject. It was some time before the question was reached which
led to her real objective:

"Did he--did Mr. Hayne tell you much about Clancy?"

"Not much. There was no time."

"You had fully ten minutes, I'm sure. It seemed even longer."

"Four by the clock, Kate."

"Well, four, then. He must have had something of greater interest."

No answer. Cheeks reddening, though.

"Didn't he?"--persistently.

"I will tell you what he told me of Clancy, Kate. Mrs. Clancy had
utterly deceived you as to what he had to tell, had she not?"

"Utterly." And now it was Mrs. Rayner's turn to color painfully.

"Mr. Hayne tells me that Clancy's confession really explained how
Captain Rayner was mistaken. It was not so much the captain's fault,
after all."

"So Mr. Hayne told him. You knew they--you saw Mr. Hayne offer him his
hand, didn't you?"

"I did not see: I knew he would." More vivid color, and much hesitation
now.