which new-comers at a
summer resort are apt to regard those who seem to have been long
established there, and who gathered from the scraps of conversation that
they had merely been over to say good-by to friends leaving on the very
train which brought in the rest of what we good Americans term "the
'bus-load." There were women among the newly-arrived who inspected the
dark girl with that calm, unflinching, impertinent scrutiny and
half-audibly whispered comment which, had they been of the opposite sex,
would have warranted their being kicked out of the conveyance, but which
was ignored by the fair object and her friends as completely as were
the commentators themselves. There were one or two men in the omnibus
who might readily have been forgiven an admiring glance or two at so
bright a vision of girlish beauty as was Miss Renwick this August
afternoon, and they _had_ looked; but the one who most attracted the
notice of Mrs. Maynard and Aunt Grace--a tall, stalwart,
distinguished-looking party in gray travelling-dress--had taken his seat
close to the door and was deep in the morning's paper before they were
fairly away from the station.

Laying down the letter she had just finished reading, Mrs. Maynard
glanced at her daughter, who was still engaged in one of her own, and
evidently with deep interest.

"From Fort Sibley, Alice?"

"Yes, mamma, all three,--Miss Craven, Mrs. Hoyt, and--Mr. Jerrold. Would
you like to see it?" And, with rising color, she held forth the one in
her hand.

"Not now," was the answer, with a smile that told of confidence and
gratification both. "It is about the german, I suppose?"

"Yes. He thinks it outrageous that we should not be there,--says it is
to be the prettiest ever given at the fort, and that Mrs. Hoyt and Mrs.
Craven, who are the managers for the ladies, had asked him to lead. He
wants to know if we cannot possibly come."

"Are you not very eager to go, Alice? I should be," said Aunt Grace,
with sympathetic interest.

"Yes, I am," answered Miss Renwick, reflectively. "It had been arranged
that it should come off next week, when, as was supposed, we would be
home after this visit. It cannot be postponed, of course, because it is
given in honor of all the officers who are gathered there for the
rifle-competition, and that will be all over and done with to-day, and
they cannot stay beyond Tuesday next. We must give it up, auntie," and
she looked up smilingly, "and you have made