rful he could
twist his troop commander in its coils and dictate the terms of their
future relations, but he needed Howard's testimony to complete the
chain, and the liquor with which he tempted him, in and out of the
office, at last began to take effect. Howard was getting more and more
reckless, sullen, savage. He would get up at night and drink and dress
and slip out of barracks and be gone an hour sometimes, yet so stealthy
was he that when Haney strove to trail him he turned on him like a tiger
and damned him for a spy, and still the sergeant felt that perseverance
and whiskey would bring him triumph yet, when all on a sudden came the
dramatic episode of that still Saturday night,--the flash that revealed
him for one instant to the frightened revellers in Willett's sleigh and
then covered his track in shadows impenetrable. All on a sudden Howard
had vanished,--deserted in earnest this time, leaving his first
sergeant in a tangle of unfinished toils and his captain in sore
anxiety. It was the contemplation of his own meshes that blinded Devers
to those which Willett would have thrown over Mira's pretty, curly,
empty head.

The conversation between Sanders and Davies was very brief and decidedly
grave. Sanders had at first assumed the light air of superiority of the
old cadet toward the plebe, and, to head off questioning, plunged into
that species of deprecatory and officious advice which is generally
prefaced by, "Now, my dear boy, let me as a friend," etc., etc. Like the
chaplain's wife, Sanders started with the best intentions, and just as
she had excited Mira's resentment so had Sanders aroused Davies's wrath.

"Stop right there, Sanders, and say nothing about friendship until you
explain that scene. Where is the packet you were asked to deliver to my
wife?"

"I haven't it. I wouldn't touch it. You don't suppose I'd be a party to
such a thing. The man was an ass to ask me, and I told him so."

"He doubtless reasoned that a man who could accompany the wife of a
brother officer to a place of such miscellaneous character as
Cresswell's would not be above carrying secretly to her that which he
dare not send openly."

"He had no right to judge by it, Davies! Lots of ladies go there,--and
Mrs. Stone matronized us."

"No ladies of our regiment have ever gone there, Sanders, until you
accompanied my wife,--an inexperienced and ignorant child. What Mrs.
Stone or her associates may have seen fit to do is no concern