there was a
general giggle and that was exhilarating, so off I went. After a time
Colonel Fitz-James adopted me and tagged around after me every place; I
simply could not get rid of the man. I knew him, of course, and I
also knew that he was mistaking me for some one else, which made his
attentions anything but complimentary. I told him ever so many times
that he did not know me, but he always insisted that it was impossible
for him to be deceived, that he would always know me, and so on. He was
acting in a very silly manner--quite too silly for a man of his years
and a colonel of a regiment, and he was keeping me from some very nice
dances, too, so I decided to lead him a dance, and commenced a rare
flirtation in cozy corners and out-of-the-way places. I must admit,
though, that all the pleasure I derived from it was when I heard the
smothered giggles of those who saw us. The colonel was in a domino and
had not tried to disguise himself.

We went in to supper together, and I managed to be almost the last one
to unmask, and all the time Colonel Fitz-James, domino removed, was
standing in front of me, and looking down with a smile of serene
expectancy. The colonel of a regiment is a person of prominence,
therefore many people in the room were watching us, not one suspecting,
however, who I was. So when I did take off the mask there was a shout:
"Why, it is Mrs. Rae," and "Oh, look at Mrs. Rae," and several friends
came up to us. Well, I wish you could have seen the colonel's face--the
mingled surprise and almost horror that was expressed upon it. Of course
the vain man had placed himself in a ridiculous position, chasing around
and flirting with the wife of one of his very own officers--a second
lieutenant at that! It came out later that he, and others also, had
thought that I was a Helena girl whom the colonel admires very much.
It was rather embarrassing, too, to be told that the girl was sitting
directly opposite on the other side of the room, where she was watching
us with two big, black eyes. And then farther down I saw Faye also
looking at us--but then, a man never can see things from a woman's view
point.

The heat and weight of the two dresses had been awful, and as soon as
I could get away, I ran to a dressing room and removed the cambric. But
the pins! There seemed to be thousands of them. Some of the costumes
were beautiful and costly, also. Mrs. Manson, a lovely little woman of
Helena, was "A Comet." Her s