illing indeed to
embrace it with open arms, but there were difficulties. Mr. Lindsay, as
a difficulty, was almost insuperable to anything like a prompt step
in that direction. Colonel Markin admitted it himself. He was bound to
admit it he said, but nothing, since he joined the Army, had ever been
so painful to him. "I wish I could deny it," he said with frankness;
"but there is no doubt that for the present your first duty is towards
your gentleman, towards him who placed that ring upon your finger."
There was no sarcasm in his describing Lindsay as a gentleman; he used
the term in a kind of extra special sense where a person less accustomed
to polite usages might have spoken of Laura's young man. "But remember,
my child," he continued, "it is only your poor vile body that is
yours to dispose of, your soul belongs to God Almighty, and no earthly
husband, especially as you say he is still in his sins, is going to
have the right to interfere." This may seem vague, as the statement of
a position, but Laura found it immensely fortifying. That and similar
arguments built her up in her determination to take up what Colonel
Markin called her life-work again at the earliest opportunity. She had
forfeited her rank, that she accepted humbly as a proper punishment,
ardently hoping it would be found sufficient. She would go back as a
private, take her place in the ranks, and nothing in her married life
should interfere with the things that cried out to be done in Bentinck
Street. Somehow she had less hope of securing Lindsay as a spiritual
companion in arms since she had confided the affair to Colonel Markin.
As he said, they must hope for the best, but he could not help admitting
that he took a gloomy view of Lindsay.

"Once he has secured you," the Colonel said, with an appreciative glance
at Laura's complexion, "what will he care about his soul? Nothing."

Their enthusiasm had ample opportunity to strengthen, their mutual
satisfactions to expand, in the close confines of life on board ship,
and as if to seal and sanctify the voyage permanently a conversion took
place in the second saloon, owning Laura's agency. It was the maid of
the lady in the cavalry regiment, a hardened heart, as two stewards and
a bandmaster on board could testify. When this occurred the time that
was to elapse between Laura's marriage and her return to the ranks was
shortened to one week. "And quite long enough," Colonel Markin said,
"considering how muc