disappearance. Thither, late in July the father followed, bringing
Mildred with him and--the reader knows the rest.
CHAPTER X.
One of Colonel Frost's consuming ambitions was to be the head of his
department, with the rank of brigadier-general, but he had strong rivals,
and knew it. Wealth he had in abundance. It was rank and power that he
craved. Four men--all with better war records and more experience--stood
between him and that coveted star, and two of the four were popular and
beloved men. Frost was cold, selfish, intensely self-willed, indomitably
persevering, and though "close-fisted," to the scale of a Scotch landlord
as a rule, he would loose his purse strings and pay well for services he
considered essential. When Frost had a consuming desire he let no money
consideration stand in the way, and for Nita Terriss he stood ready to
spend a small fortune. Everybody knew Mrs. Frank Garrison could never
dress and adorn herself as she did on poor Frank Garrison's pay, and when
she appeared with a dazzling necklace and a superb new gown at the
garrison ball not long after Frost and his shrinking bride left for their
honeymoon, people looked at her and then at each other. Nita Terris was
sold to "Jack" Frost was the verdict, and her shrewd elder sister was the
dealer. Mrs. Frank knew what people were thinking and saying just as well
as though they had said it to her, yet smiled sweetness and bliss on
every side. Frankly she looked up into the faces of her sisters in arms:
"I know you like my necklace. Isn't it _lovely_? Colonel Frost's wedding
present, you know. He said I shouldn't give Nita away without some
recompense, and this is it."
But that could have been only a part of it, said the garrison. An
honorarium in solid cash, it was believed, was far the greater portion of
the consideration which the elder sister accepted for having successfully
borne Nita away from the dangers and fascinations of the Point--having
guarded her, drooping and languid, against the advances of good-looking
soldier lads at headquarters, and finally having, by dint of hours of
argument, persuasion and skill, delivered her into the arms of the
elderly but well-preserved groom. All he demanded to know was that she
was fancy free--that there was no previous attachment, and on this point
Mrs. Frank had solemnly averred there was none. The child had had a
foolish fancy for a cadet beau, but it amounted to absolutely nothing.
There ha
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