Thus restricted, Mrs. Lascelles fell back upon the attentions of Lieutenant Forsyth, whose gallantry was always as fresh as his smart cadet-like tunics, and they took some rides together. Whether it was military caution or the feminine discretion of the colonels wife,to the quiet amusement of the other officers,a trooper was added to the riding party by the order of the colonel, and thereafter it consisted of three. One night, however, the riders did not appear at dinner, and there was considerable uneasiness mingled with some gossip throughout the garrison. It was already midnight before they arrived, and then with horses blown and trembling with exhaustion, and the whole party bearing every sign of fatigue and disturbance. The colonel said a few sharp, decisive words to the subaltern, who, pale and reticent, plucked at his little moustache, but took the whole blame upon himself. HE and Mrs. Lascelles had, he said, outridden the trooper and got lost; it was late when Cassidy (the trooper) found them, but it was no fault of HIS, and they had to ride at the top of their speed to cover the ground between them and the fort. It was noticed that Mrs. Lascelles scarcely spoke to Forsyth, and turned abruptly away from the colonels interrogations and went to her room.
Peter, absorbed in his report, scarcely noticed the incident, nor the singular restraint that seemed to fall upon the little military household for a day or two afterwards. He had accepted the lieutenants story without comment or question; he knew his own sister too well to believe that she had lent herself to a flirtation with Forsyth; indeed, he had rather pitied the young officer when he remembered Lascelles experience in his early courtship. But he was somewhat astonished one afternoon to find the trooper Cassidy alone in his office.
Oi thought Oid make bould to have a word wid ye, sorr, he said, recovering from a stiff salute with his fingers nipping the cord of his trousers. Its not for meeself, sorr, although the ould man was harrd on me, nor for the leddy, your sister, but for the sake of the leftenant, sorr, who the ould man was harrdest on of all. Oi was of the parrty that rode with your sister.
Yes, yes, I remember, I heard the story, said Peter. She and Mr. Forsyth got lost.
Axin your pardin, sorr, she didnt. Mr. Forsyth loid. Loid like an officer and a jintlemanas he is, God bless himto save a leddy, more betoken your sister, sorr. They never got lost, sorr. We was all three together from the toime we shtarted till we got back, and its the love av God that we ever got back at all. And its breaking me hearrt, sorr, to see HIM goin round with the black looks of everybody upon him, and he a-twirlin his moustache and purtending not to mind.
What do you mean? said Peter, uneasily.
Oi mane to be tellin you what happened, sorr, said Cassidy stoutly. When we shtarted out Oi fell three files to the rear, as became me, so as not to be in the way o their colloguing, but sorra a bit o stragglin was there, and Oi kept them afore me all the toime. When we got to Post Oak Bottom the leddy pints her whip off to the roight, and sez she: Its a fine bit of turf there, Misther Forsyth, invitin like, and with that she gallops away to the right. The leftenant follys her, and Oi closed up the rear. So we rides away innoshent like amongst the trees, me thinkin only it wor a mighty queer place for manoovrin, until we seed, just beyond us in the hollow, the smoke of an Injin camp and a lot of women and childer. And Mrs. Lascelles gets off and goes to discoursin and blarneying wid em: and Oi sees Mr. Forsyth glancin round and lookin oneasy. Then he goes up and sez something to your sister, and she wont give him a hearin. And then he tells her she must mount and be off. And she turns upon him, bedad, like a tayger, and bids him be off himself. Then he comes to me and sez he, Oi dont like the look o this, Cassidy, sez he; the woods behind is full of braves, sez he. Thrue for you, leftenant, sez Oi, its into a trap that the leddy hez led us, God save her! Whisht, he sez, take my horse, its the strongest. Go beside her, and when Oi say the word lift her up into the saddle before ye, and gallop like blazes. Oill bring up the rear and the other horse. Wid that we changed horses and cantered up to where she was standing, and he gives the word when she isnt lookin, and Oi grabs her upshe sthrugglin like mad but not utterin a cryand Oi lights out for the trail agin. And sure enough the braves made as if they would folly, but the leftenant throws the reins of her horse over the horn of his saddle, and whips out his revolver and houlds em back till Ive got well away to the trail again. And then they let fly their arrows, and begorra the next thing a BULLET whizzes by him. And then he knows they have arrms wid em and are hostiles, and he rowls the nearest one over, wheelin and fightin and coverin our retreat till we gets to the road agin. And they darent folly us out of cover. Then the lady gets more sinsible, and the leftenant pershuades her to mount her horse agin. But before we comes to the fort, he sez to me: Cassidy, sez he, not a word o this on account of the leddy. And I was mum, sorr, while he was shootin off his mouth about him bein lost and all that, and him bein bully-ragged by the kernel, and me knowin that but for him your sister wouldnt be between these walls here, and Oi wouldnt be talkin to ye. And shure, sorr, ye might be tellins the kernel as how the leddy was took by the hysterics, and was that loony that she didnt know whatever she was sayin, and so get the leftenant in favor again.
I will speak with the colonel to-night, said Peter gloomily.
Lord save yer honor, returned the trooper gratefully, and if ye could be sayin that the LEDDY tould you,it would only be the merest taste of a loi yed be tellin,and youd save me from breakin me word to the leftenant.
I shall of course speak to my sister first, returned Peter, with a guilty consciousness that he had accepted the troopers story mainly from his previous knowledge of his sisters character. Nevertheless, in spite of this foregone conclusion, he DID speak to her. To his surprise she did not deny it. Lieutenant Forsyth,a vain and conceited fool,whose silly attentions she had accepted solely that she might get recreation beyond the fort,had presumed to tell her what SHE must do! As if SHE was one of those stupid officers wives or sisters! And it never would have happened if hePeterhad let her remain at the reservation with the Indian agents wife, or if Charley (the gentle Lascelles) were here! HE would have let her go, or taken her there. Besides all the while she was among friends; HIS, Peters own friends,the people whose cause he was championing! In vain did Peter try to point out to her that these people were still children in mind and impulse, and capable of vacillation or even treachery. He remembered he was talking to a child in mind and impulse, who had shown the same qualities, and in trying to convince her of her danger he felt he was only voicing the common arguments of his opponents.
He spoke also to the colonel, excusing her through her ignorance, her trust in his influence with the savages, and the general derangement of her health. The colonel, relieved of his suspicions of a promising young officer, was gentle and sympathetic, but firm as to Peters future course. In a moment of caprice and willfulness she might imperil the garrison as she had her escort, and, more than that, she was imperiling Peters influence with the Indians. Absurd stories had come to his ears regarding the attitude of the reservation towards him. He thought she ought to return home as quickly as possible. Fortunately an opportunity offered. The general commanding had advised him of the visit to the fort of a party of English tourists who had been shooting in the vicinity, and who were making the fort the farthest point of their western excursion. There were three or four ladies in the party, and as they would be returning to the line of railroad under escort, she could easily accompany them. This, added Colonel Carter, was also Mrs. Carters opinion,she was a woman of experience, and had a married daughter of her own. In the mean time Peter had better not broach the subject to his sister, but trust to the arrival of the strangers, who would remain for a week, and who would undoubtedly divert Mrs. Lascelles impressible mind, and eventually make the proposition more natural and attractive.
In the interval Peter revisited the reservation, and endeavored to pacify the irritation that had sprung from his previous inspection. The outrage at Post Oak Bottom he was assured had no relation to the incident at the reservation, but was committed by some stragglers from other tribes who had not yet accepted the government bounty, yet had not been thus far classified as hostile. There had been no Ghost Dancing nor other indication of disturbance. The colonel had not deemed it necessary to send out an exemplary force, or make a counter demonstration. The incident was allowed to drop. At the reservation Peter had ignored the previous conduct of the chiefs towards him; had with quiet courage exposed himself fullyunarmed and unattendedamongst them, and had as fully let it be known that this previous incident was the reason that his sister had not accompanied him on his second visit. He left them at the close of the second day more satisfied in his mind, and perhaps in a more enthusiastic attitude towards his report.
As he came within sound of the sunset bugles, he struck a narrower trail which led to the fort, through an oasis of oaks and cottonwoods and a small stream or branch, which afterwards lost itself in the dusty plain. He had already passed a few settlers cabins, a sutlers shop, and other buildings that had sprung up around this armed nucleus of civilizationwhich, in due season, was to become a frontier town. But as yet the brief wood was wild and secluded; frequented only by the women and children of the fort, within whose protecting bounds it stood, and to whose formal parade, and trim white and green cottage quarters, it afforded an agreeable relief. As he rode abstractedly forward under the low cottonwood vault he felt a strange influence stealing over him, an influence that was not only a present experience but at the same time a far-off memory. The concave vault above deepened; the sunset light from the level horizon beyond streamed through the leaves as through the chequers of stained glass windows; through the two shafts before him stretched the pillared aisles of Ashley Church! He was riding as in a dream, and when a figure suddenly slipped across his pathway from a column-like tree trunk, he woke with the disturbance and sense of unreality of a dream. For he saw Lady Elfrida standing before him!
It was not a mere memory conjured up by association, for although the figure, face, and attitude were the same, there were certain changes of costume which the eye of recollection noticed. In place of the smart narrow-brimmed sailor hat he remembered, she was wearing a slouched cavalry hat with a gold cord around its crown, that, with all its becomingness and picturesque audacity, seemed to become characteristic and respectable, as a crest to her refined head, and as historic as a Lely canvas. She wore a flannel shirt, belted in at her slight waist with a band of yellow leather, defining her small hips, and short straight pleatless skirts that fell to her trim ankles and buckled leather shoes. She was fresh and cool, wholesome and clean, free and unfettered; indeed, her beauty seemed only an afterthought or accident. So much so that when Peter saw her afterwards, amidst the billowy, gauzy, and challenging graces of the officers wives, who were dressed in their best and prettiest frocks to welcome her, the eye turned naturally from that suggestion of enhancement to the girl who seemed to defy it. She was clearly not an idealized memory, a spirit or a ghost, but naturalistic and rosy; he thought a trifle rosier, as she laughingly addressed him: