very closely in the limited circle of garrison life.

But, the next morning, the major's wife gave me an account of the
sociable. 'It was very pleasant,' she said. 'Toward the last Dr.
Prescott came in, quite unexpectedly. I had no idea he could be so
agreeable. Augusta can tell you how charming he was!'

Augusta, a young lady cousin, of pale blond complexion, neutral
opinions, and irreproachable manners, smiled primly. My idyl was
crushed!

The days passed. The winds, the snows, and the high-up fort remained
the same. Jeannette came and went, and the hour lengthened into two or
three; not that we read much, but we talked more. Our surgeon did not
again pass through the parlor; he had ordered a rickety stairway on
the outside wall to be repaired, and we could hear him going up and
down its icy steps as we sat by the hearth-fire. One day I said to
him, 'My protegee is improving wonderfully. If she could have a
complete education, she might take her place with the best in the
land.'

'Do not deceive yourself, Mrs. Corlyne,' he answered. 'It is only the
shallow French quickness.'

'Why do you always judge the child so harshly, Doctor?'

'Do you take her part, Aunt Sarah?' (For sometimes he used the
title which Archie had made so familiar.)

'Of course I do, Rodney. A poor, unfriended girl living in this remote