ndes with light blue
eyes, with lighter, fluffy hair, with exquisite little hands and feet,
with oval, prettily shaped faces, and the younger--the maiden sister, had
a bewitching mouth and regular, snowy dots of teeth of which she was
justly proud. Yet, as has been previously said of Mrs. Frank, while the
general effect was in the case of each that of an extremely pretty young
girl, the elder had no really good features, the younger only that one.
They generally dressed very much alike in light, flimsy gowns, and hats,
gloves and summer shoes all of dazzling white--sometimes verging for a
change to a creamy hue--but colors, except for sashes or summer shawls,
seemed banished from their wardrobes. They danced divinely, said the
corps, and preferred cadet partners, to the joy of the battalion. They
rode fearlessly and well, and had stunning hats and habits, but few
opportunities for display thereof. They came tripping down the path from
the hotel every morning, fresh and fair as daisies, in time for guard
mounting, and at any hour after that could be found chatting with cadet
friends at the visitors' tent, strolling arm in arm about the shaded
walks with some of their many admirers until time to dress for the
evening hop, where they never missed a dance, and on rainy days, or on
those evenings when there was neither hop nor band practice, they could
be found, each in some dimly lighted, secluded nook about the north or
west piazza or on the steps leading down to the "Chain Battery Walk,"
sometimes surrounded by a squad of cadet friends, but more frequently in
murmured _tete-a-tete_ with only one cavalier. In the case of Mrs.
Frank no member of the corps seemed especially favored. She was just the
same to every one. In the case of her younger sister--Miss Terriss--there
presently developed a dashing young cadet captain who so scientifically
conducted his campaign that he headed off almost all competitors and was
presently accorded the lead under the universally accepted theory that he
had won the little lady's heart. Observant women--and what women are not
observant--of each other?--declared both sisters to be desperate flirts.
Society at the Point frowned upon them and, after the first formal call
or two, dropped them entirely--a thing they never seemed to resent in the
least, or even to notice. They were never invited out to tea or dinner on
the post--solemn functions nowhere near so palatable as the whispered
homage of st