with certain
enlisted members of the guard. When told of it Button was furious, so
much so that for the time he forgot about Sumter and the ladies of the
Sumter household, and the north dormer window of Sumter's quarters,
reported "stove in by the storm."

Nor had Sumter himself much time for domestic duties before the order
came for him and his troop to turn out to aid in the search. He found
the family fairly tranquil under the circumstances. He had sent a
messenger galloping out from town, to assure his wife of his safety,
when Tuesday's dawn showed the storm sufficiently abated. A devious
course the rider took, for the road was blocked in a dozen places, and
every ravine and hollow was packed to the brim with snow. But he bore
glad tidings and banished all anxiety on account of the husband and
father. Their anxieties now were mainly for Miriam, their guest.

Mrs. Sumter had not half finished what she had to say concerning Miriam
when the summons came that called the captain forth to join the
searching squadron, but he had heard enough to increase the anxiety in
his fine, soldierly face. He went up with Mrs. Sumter and looked
critically over the damage to the window, in what had been Miriam's
room. She had moved, per force, to the front--to Katherine's--room
Saturday night, for toward sunset the storm-sash was torn out of the
north dormer, and the window blew in with a crash. By dark the room was
bank full of snow that Sergeant Kennedy and a brace of loyal troopers
had been shovelling out since seven that Tuesday morning, without making
any great addition to the huge drifts at the back. Front, flank, and
rear, most of the houses along the line were packed solidly to the
attic windows. On several the boys and girls were already coasting from
the peak of the roof down over the back yards, sheds, and fences and out
toward Larrabee's half-submerged hospital.

It was easy to see how and why the storm-sash had failed to withstand
the buffeting. In his frantic haste and panicky flight the intruder of
Friday night had wrenched a hinge from its fastening. The sash had
sagged at the windward end, and the rest was easy for rude Boreas.

"That sash is probably somewhere down in the back yard, sergeant,"
Sumter quietly remarked to faithful Kennedy. "It's under fifteen feet of
snow, but when it comes to tunnelling, look after it, see that it isn't
injured, and call me as soon as you find it."

Mrs. Sumter looked quickly at he