will be the lieutenant;" but ten
minutes after, as the elephant shambled up, I altered my mind, for
Captain Dyer was ambling along beside the great beast, and his was the
hand that helped the lady down--a tall, handsome, self-possessed girl,
who seemed quite to take the lead, and kiss and soothe the sister, when
she ran out of the tent to throw her arms round the new-comer's neck.

"At last, then, Elsie," Mrs Colonel said out aloud. "You've had a long
dreary ride."

"Not during the last ten minutes," Miss Ross said, laughing in a bright,
merry, free-hearted way. "Lieutenant Leigh has been welcoming me most
cordially."

"Who?" exclaimed Mrs Colonel, staring from one to the other.

"Lieutenant Leigh," said Miss Ross.

"I'm afraid I am to blame for not announcing myself," said Captain Dyer,
lifting his muslin-covered cap. "Your sister, Miss Ross, asked me to
ride to meet you, in Lieutenant Leigh's absence."

"You, then--"

"I am only Lawrence Dyer, his friend," said the captain, smiling.

It's a singular thing that just then, as I saw the young lady blush
deeply, and Mrs Colonel look annoyed, I muttered to myself, "Something
will come of this," because, if there's anything I hate, it's for a man
to set himself up for a prophet. But it looked to me as if the captain
had been taking Lieutenant Leigh's place, and that Miss Ross, as was
really the case, though she had never seen him, had heard him so much
talked of by her sister, that she had welcomed him, as she thought,
quite as an old friend, when all the time she had been talking to
Captain Dyer.

And I was not the only one who thought about it; else why did Mrs
Colonel look annoyed, and the colonel, who came paddling out, exclaim
loudly: "Why, Leigh, look alive, man! here's Dyer been stealing a march
upon you. Why, where have you been?"

I did not hear what the lieutenant said, for my attention was just then
taken up by something else, but I saw him go up to Miss Ross, holding
out his hand, while the meeting was very formal; but, as I told you, my
attention was taken up by something else, and that something was a
little, dark, bright, eager, earnest face, with a pair of sharp eyes,
and a little mocking-looking mouth; and as Captain Dyer had helped Miss
Ross down with the steps from the howdah, so did I help down Lizzy
Green, her maid; to get, by way of thanks, a half-saucy look, a nod of
the head, and the sight of a pretty little tripping pair of ankles