the States. Isn't it awful?"

"Back to the fellow in New York?" smiled Jane encouragingly.

Ethel thought for a moment and a dear little smile came into her
troubled eyes.

"I hope he hasn't gone and fallen in love with some other girl,"
she said.

It was true, as Jane soon learned, that Mrs. Harbin had concluded
to return to the United States with Ethel. Jane's aunt had grown
immeasurably tired of Manila--and perhaps a little more tired of the
Colonel. It was she who aroused the Colonel's antipathy to little
Lieutenant Soper. She dwelt upon the dire misfortune that was
possible if Ethel continued to bask in the society of "those young
ninnies." The Colonel developed a towering rage and a great fear
that Ethel might become fatally contaminated before she could
be whisked off of the island. It was decided that Mrs. Harbin and
Ethel should return to the United States soon after the first of
March, to take up their residence in New York City.

"Mother wants to be a soldier's widow--on parole," sniffed Ethel,
almost audibly enough for her father's ears.

Mrs. Harbin at once informed Jane that she was expected to return
with them. She demurred at first, purely for the sake of appearances,
but in the end agreed to tender her resignation to the Red Cross
society. The knowledge that Graydon Bansemer's discharge was soon
forthcoming and that he intended to return to America in the spring