regulated
flapper. I couldn't dwell on such trifles as kisses. I thought only of
the coming court-martial.

CHAPTER XIII

The "understanding" remained _in statu quo_ (whatever that means; the
expression was his) between Tony and me, when Mrs. Dalziel and Milly and
I turned our backs on El Paso. We had a night at Albuquerque, which made
me homesick for past days, because the hotel where we stopped had the
name of Alvarado. I hadn't known that I was happy at the Springs, but in
looking back it seemed as though I must have been without a care.

Milly and her mother bought wonderful Indian curios and gorgeous Mexican
opals and silver spoons set with turquoises at Albuquerque, and Milly
was almost feverishly gay; but I guessed that at heart, if she had an
organ worth the name, she was nearly as wretched as I. For she had
failed; and she had let the venom of her spite poison her nature, trying
to tell herself that she rejoiced because of Eagle's misfortunes, and
that it was very good, as things turned out, to be free of him and his
fate. No one can really be happy with such poison in the veins, and
there can't possibly be deep-down, soul-satisfying enjoyment from
revelling in another's misfortunes. Underneath my fury, when Milly said
little veiled, spiteful things about Captain March, was pity for her,
the kind of pity you have for an irritable invalid who snaps.

When Father and Mrs. Main and Diana (Di in great beauty) came to
Albuquerque on the "Limited," and we three took up our quarters in
staterooms on board, Milly Dalziel and Di struck up a great friendship,
almost as if they were new acquaintances who had just been introduced
and fallen in love with each other's unexpectedly charming qualities.
This was quite funny, because Milly had found it hard work to be civil
to Di at Alvarado Springs, and Di had been rather contemptuously amused
at Milly's badly disguised jealousy. Now, with Eagle March eliminated
from the scheme of life for both of them, each discovered that the other
was a delightful creature.

Milly accounted to me for her change of mind by exclaiming: "I do think
Lady Di has got heaps prettier since she went to California, don't you?
And she's just as sweet as she's pretty. Perhaps it's being engaged to
the man she loves that has made the difference. And no wonder, with such
a gorgeous lover as Major Vandyke! He's something to be proud of--even
for a beauty and a 'swell' like your sister."

Di