t have
taken his leave, for when she returned from an inspection of the larder
in order to see if it would justify an invitation to stay and dine, the
parlor was empty. Langston had gone back to Braska, Miss Loomis to her
room. I regret to have to record it of Mrs. Cranston, but during the
following week she made more than one effort to induce her friend and
kinswoman to say what had happened to put so summary a stop to Mr.
Langston's visits, and that she wrote some peppery things to her
husband, the captain, in summing up her conclusions; she also looked
some, and I fear said some, to Miss Loomis herself, for one day, going
suddenly into Agatha's room, she surprised that young lady in the act of
packing her trunk. There ensued a scene which neither cared in
after-years to say much about. There were tears and reproaches on one
side, if not both, but Agatha's determination could not be changed. She
had made up her mind to leave Fort Scott, return to Chicago, and go she
did,--but not without Mrs. Cranston.

In less than ten days there came a long letter from the captain. He and
his troop were destined, he said, to long months of scouting in the
distant Northwest. The general had told him as much. They might again
have to go to the Yellowstone, and it would be November before he could
hope to see the inside of a garrison. "So," said he, "stow away the
goods and chattels, leave them with the quartermaster, pack your trunk,
and take the boys and Agatha for another visit to the old folks at
home,--who are most eager to welcome you." When the Fourth of July came,
the Cranston boys, in the added glory of all their experiences at the
cantonment, were once more the envied centre of youthful attention at
Chicago.

"We will have no more fighting this summer," said he, "for the Indians
have scattered," and "C" Troop did not; but there was abundant
opportunity for usefulness and distinction for "the prodigy," as
Cranston now generally referred in his home letters to Corporal Brannan,
whose devoted mother was almost the first to visit Margaret on her
arrival and overwhelm her with proffers of hospitality and with
questions about her boy. "C" Troop was detailed as escort to the
commanding general in a long tour he made to the Yellowstone Park, and
the prodigy's letters to that fond mother became more and more a cause
for rejoicing. Already had she learned to thrill with pride over the
accounts of his bravery and good conduct in the a