around.

"Is it illness, Mr. Gleason?"

"No; I don't know that it is."

"Then, for one, I feel confident that he will be here in abundant time
to go by first opportunity," she said, with quiet meaning.

"Who may this swell be?" languidly remarked one of the officers, looking
down the road towards the gate. All eyes followed his in an instant.

Speeding at easy lope upon a spirited sorrel a horseman came jauntily up
the row. The erect carriage, the perfect seat, the ease and grace with
which his lithe form swayed with every motion of his steed, all present
could see at a glance. Mrs. Stannard rose quickly to her feet; her gaze
becoming eager, then joyous.

"Look!" she almost cried. "It's Mr. Ray himself!"

In another minute, throwing himself lightly from the saddle, and tossing
the reins to a statuesque orderly, the horseman came beaming through the
gate, and Mrs. Stannard, to Miss Sanford's mingled amaze and
approbation, was warmly grasping both his hands in hers. Mrs. Truscott,
blushing brightly and showing welcome and pleasure in her lovely eyes,
but with the reserve of younger wifehood, had held forth one little
hand. Then she heard the voluble gush with which Mrs. Turner
precipitated herself upon him, and, while he remained captive--as he had
to--in that fair matron's hands, laughingly answering her thronging
questions, Marion Sanford had her first look at the young officer who
had been the subject of such varying report. First impressions are ever
strong, and what she saw was this: a lithe, deep-chested,
square-shouldered young fellow, with nerve and spring in every motion,
standing bare-headed before them with the sunlight dancing on his
close-cropped hair and shapely head. His eyes were dark, and heavily
shaded with thick brows and long curling lashes, but the eyes brightened
with every laughing word,--were full of life and health and
straightforwardness and fun. She could not but note how clear and brave
and wide-open they were, despite the little wrinkles gathered at the
corners and a faint shading underneath. His forehead, what could be seen
of it when he tossed aside the dark, wavy "bang" that fell almost as low
as her own, was white and smooth, but temples, cheeks, the smooth-shaven
jaws, and the round, powerful throat were bronzed and tanned by sun and
wind, and his white teeth gleamed all the whiter through the shading of
the thick, curling, dark moustache, and the lips that laughed so merrily
were