n certain inclinations
of the head--intent, absorbed; only Lawson seemed indifferent to the
news the agent guardedly recited.

Brisbane broke his silence by saying: "I infer you're on the side of the
redskin?"

"Decidedly, in this connection."

"Quite aside from your duty?"

"Entirely so. My duty in this case happened to be my inclination. I
could have declined the detail, but being a believer in the army's
arrangement of Indian affairs, I couldn't decently refuse."

Brisbane settled back into his chair and looked straight at his visitor.

"You think the white man the aggressor in this land question?"

Curtis definitely pulled himself up. "I am not at liberty to speak
further on that matter."

Mrs. Wilcox interrupted smilingly. "Andrew, don't start an argument now.
Dinner is served, and I know Captain Curtis is hungry."

Elsie rose. "Yes, papa, leave your discussion till some other time, when
you can bang the furniture."

Curtis expected to take Miss Cooke in to dinner, but Elsie delighted him
by saying, "You're to go in with me, Captain."

"I am very glad of the privilege," he said, with deliberate intent to
please her; his sincerity was unquestionable.

Curtis would have been more profoundly impressed with the spaciousness
of the hall and the dining-room had they been less like the interior of
a hotel. The whole house, so far as its mural decoration went, had the
over-stuffed quality of a Pullman car (with the exception of the
pictures on the walls, which were exceedingly good), for Brisbane had
successfully opposed all of Elsie's new-fangled notions with regard to
interior decoration; he was of those who insist on being masters in
their houses as well as in their business offices, and Elsie's manner
was that of an obedient daughter deferring to a sire who had not ceased
to consider her a child.

Seated at Elsie's right hand, with Mrs. Wilcox between himself and the
head of the table, Curtis was fairly out of reach of Brisbane, who was
dangerously eager to open a discussion concerning the bill for the
removal of the Tetongs.

Elsie turned to him at once to say: "Do you know, Captain Curtis, I
begin to long to return to the West. All my friends are enthusiastic
over the studies I made last year, and I've decided to go back next
spring. How early could one come out?"

"Any time after the first of May--in fact, that is the most beautiful
month in the year; the grass is deliciously green then. I'm glad