and, and watched him in sympathy as
he ate.

She herself ate little, tasting a morsel here and there, drinking at
times from the cup of milk beside her.

"I declare, Miss Cynthia," he said, again and again, "this is the finest
banquet, ma'am, that I ever sat down to."

She only thought, "The boy was starving!" and the indulgent smile
deepened as she sat there watching him, chin resting on her linked
hands.

At last he was satisfied, and a little ashamed, too, of his appetite,
but she told him it was a pleasure to cook for him, and sent him off to
the barn, where presently she spied him propped up in the loft window, a
map spread on his knees, and his field glass tucked under one arm.

And now she had leisure to think again, and she leaned back in her chair
by the window, bared arms folded, ankles crossed, frowning in
meditation.

She must go; the back trail was clear now. But she needed her own
clothing and a horse. Where could she find a horse?

Hour after hour she sat there. He had cantered off into the woods long
since; and all through the long afternoon she sat there scheming,
pondering, a veiled sparkle playing under her half-closed lids. She saw
him returning in the last lingering sun rays, leading his saddled horse
down to the brook, and stand there, one arm flung across the crupper,
while the horse drank and shook his thoroughbred head and lipped the
tender foliage that overhung the water. There was the horse she
required! She must have him.

A few minutes later, bridle over one arm, the young officer came
sauntering up to the doorstep. He was pale, but he smiled when he saw
her, and his weather-beaten hat swept the grass in salute as she came to
the door and looked down at him, hands clasped behind her slender back.

"You look dreadfully tired," she said gently. "Don't you ever sleep?"

He had been forty-eight hours in the saddle, but he only laughed a gay
denial of fatigue.

She descended the steps, walked over to the horse, and patted neck and
shoulder, scanning limb and chest and flank. The horse would do!

"Will you hitch your horse and come in?" she asked sweetly.

"Thank you, ma'am." He passed the bridle through the hitching ring at
the door, and, hat in hand, followed her into the cabin. His boots
dragged a little, but he straightened up, and when she had seated
herself, he sank into a chair, closing his sunken eyes for a moment,
only to open them smiling, and lean forward on the rough ta