Tuesday, and the day of the long-projected german had come; and if ever
a lot of garrison-people were wishing themselves well out of a flurry it
was the social circle at Sibley. Invitations had been sent to all the
prominent people in town who had shown any interest in the garrison
since the regiment's arrival; beautiful favors had been procured; an
elaborate supper had been prepared,--the ladies contributing their
efforts to the salads and other solids, the officers wisely confining
their donations to the wines. It was rumored that new and original
figures were to be danced, and much had been said about this feature in
town, and much speculation had been indulged in; but the Beaubien
residence had been closed until the previous day, Nina was away with her
mother and beyond reach of question, and Mr. Jerrold had not shown his
face in town since her departure. Nor was he accessible when visitors
inquired at the fort. They had never known such mysterious army people
in their lives. What on earth could induce them to be so close-mouthed
about a mere german? one might suppose they had something worth
concealing; and presently it became noised abroad that there was genuine
cause for perplexity, and possibly worse.
To begin with, every one at Sibley now knew something of the night
adventure at the colonel's, and, as no one could give the true statement
of the case, the stories in circulation were gorgeous embellishments of
the actual facts. It would be useless, even if advisable, to attempt to
reproduce these wild theories, but never was army garrison so
tumultuously stirred by the whirlwind of rumor. It was no longer denied
for an instant that the absence of the colonel and his household was the
direct result of that night's discoveries; and when, to Mrs. Hoyt's
inexpressible relief, there came a prettily-worded note from Alice on
Monday evening informing her that neither the colonel nor her mother
felt well enough to return to Sibley for the german, and that she
herself preferred not to leave her mother at a time when she needed her
care, Mrs. Hoyt and her intimates, with whom she instantly conferred,
decided that there could be no doubt whatever that the colonel knew of
the affair, had forbidden their return, and was only waiting for further
evidence to decide what was to be done with his erring step-daughter.
Women talked with bated breath of the latest stories in circulation, of
Chester's moody silence and preoccupation, of Jerrold's ostracism, and
of Frank Armitage's sudden return.
On Monday morning the captain had quietly appeared in uniform at the
office, and it was known that he had relinquished the remainder of his
leave of absence and resumed command of his company. There were men in
the garrison who well knew that it was because of the mystery
overhanging the colonel's household that Armitage had so suddenly
returned. They asked no questions and sought no explanation. All men
marked, however, that Jerrold was not at the office on Monday, and many
curiously looked at the morning report in the adjutant's office. No, he
was not in arrest; neither was he on sick-report. He was marked present
for duty, and yet he was not at the customary assembly of all the
commissioned officers at head-quarters. More mystery, and most
exasperating, too, it was known that Armitage and Jerrold had held a
brief talk in the latter's quarters soon after Sunday's evening parade,
and that the former had been reinforced for a time by Captain Chester,
with whom he was afterwards closeted. Officers who heard that he had
suddenly returned and was at Chester's went speedily to the latter's
quarters,--at least two or three did,--and were met by a servant at the
door, who said that the gentlemen had just gone out the back way. And,
sure enough, neither Chester nor Armitage came home until long after
taps; and then the colonel's cook told several people that the two
gentlemen had spent over an hour up-stairs in the colonel's and Miss
Alice's room and "was foolin' around the house till near ten o'clock."
Another thing that added to the flame of speculation and curiosity was
this. Two of the ladies, returning from a moonlit stroll on the terrace
just after tattoo, came through the narrow passage-way on the west side
of the colonel's quarters, and there, at the foot of the little flight
of steps leading up to the parade, they came suddenly upon Captain
Chester, who was evidently only moderately pleased to see them and
nervously anxious to expedite their onward movement. With the perversity
of both sexes, however, they stopped to chat and inquire what he was
doing there, and in the midst of it all a faint light gleamed on the
opposite wall and the reflection of the curtains in Alice Renwick's
window was distinctly visible. Then a sturdy masculine shadow appeared,
and there was a rustling above, and then, with exasperating, mysterious,
and epigrammatic terseness, a deep voice propounded the utterly
senseless question,--
"How's that?"