Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-08
FROM THE RANKS.
By CAPTkIl! CHARLES KING.
tcopyrigh,. 1874, by the J. B. Lippincott Col
CHAPTER XIV.

themselves well out of a furry it was the social circle at Sibley. Invitations had been sent to all the prominent peo- pie i'll town who had shown any interest in the garrison since the regiment ar rival; beautiful favors had been pro- cured; an elaborate supper had been pre- pared, the ladies contributing their efforts to the salads and other solids, the officers wisely confining their dona- tionS to the wines. IL 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 ill, but the Bcaubien residence had been closed until the previous day. Nina was away with her mother and beyond reach of question, and MT. Jcrrold had not shown his face in town since her de parture.
 Nor was he accessible when visitors inuuirCd 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 Il mere german: One might suppose they had something worth cOncealing, and presently it became nOiscd abroad that there was genuine cause for perplexity, and possibly worse.
 To begin with, every one at Sibley now knew something of the night ad- venture 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 ad- visable, to attempt to reproduce these wild theories, but never was army gar rison 50 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 nights discoveries, and when. to Mrs HOyt's inexpressible relief, there came prettily wOrded note from Alice on Monday evening inform ing her that neither the colonel nor her mother felt we'll enough to return to Silbcv for the german, and that she her self preferred not 10 leave her mother at a time when she needed her care, Mrs Hoyt and her intimatcs, with whom she instantly conferred, decided that there could be TO 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 circula- tion, of Chcster's moody silence and | preOcCupation, of JCrrOld's ostracism and of Frank Armitage's sudden return. | On Monday morning the captain had quietly appeared ill uniform at the of | flee, and it was known that he had re- linQuiShed the remainder of his leave of absence and resumed command of his | cOrnpanv. There were men in the garri- son who well knew that it was because of the mystery ovcrhanging the colonel s household that Armitago had so sudden ly returned They asked no questions and sought no explanation. All men marked, however, that JCrrOld was not at the office on Monday, and many curi- ously 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 l vet he was not at the customary assem- bly of all the commissioned officers at | headquarters Mnr" mystery, and most cxasperating, too, it was known that Armitage and Jerrold had held a brief talk in the lattcr's quarters soon after l B~AA Ae-NAS sA--NN N-AN~N N--S former had been re-enforced for time by Captain Chester. with whom he was | aftcrward closeted. Officers who heard that he had suddenly returned and was at Chester went speedily to the latter s Quarters-at least two or three did-and were met by q servant at the door. who said that the gentlemen had just gone out the back way. And, sure enough, l home until long after taps and then the cOloncl's cook told several people that the two gentlemen had spent over an hour up stairs ill the cOlOnels and Miss Alice's room and was foOlin around the house till near 10 o'clock. '
 Another thing that added to the flame of speculation and curiosity was this. Two of the ladies, returning from [ moonlir stroll on the terrace just after tattoo came through the narrow pas sageway OH the west side of the colonel: quarters, and there, at the foot of tht little flight of steps leading up to tho parade, they came suddenly upon Cap tain Chester, who was evidently only moderately pleased to see them and nerv Ously anxious to expedite their onward movement. With the perversity of botl sexes. however. they stopped to cha
 and inquire what he was doing there
 and ill the midst of il all a faint igh
 gleamed on the opposite wall, and th'
 reflection of the curtains ill Alice Rcn . wick'S window was distinctly visible Then sturdy masculine shadow ap
 pcarcd, and there WAS a rustllng above
 and then. with cxasperating, mystCriOU
 and epi igranlmatic terseneSs, deep voic
 propounded the utterly senseless ques
 ton:
 n Flows that?"
 e To which, in great embarrassment d Chester replied:
 Hold on minute. I'm talkin with some interested spectators. - = Whereat the shadow of the big ma ! shot out of sight, and the ladies foun that it was useless to remain-ther
 would be no further developments E
 long as they did-and so they cam n away. with many lingering backwar 1t look But the idea of asking such
 fool question as 'How's that?' Wh
 couldn't the man say what he meant?
 It was gathered, however. that Arm
 tage and Chester had been making som
 experiments that bore in some measul
 on the mystery. And all this time M
 Jerrold was ill his quarters, only
 stones throw away. How interestC
 he must have been!
 But while the garrison was relieve
 at knowing that Alice Renwick woul l not be on hand for the german, and
 was being fondly hoped she might new !, return to the post, there was still al '' other grievous embarrassment. HO
 about MT. Jcrrold?
 : He had been asked to lead when tl to german was first projected and had n
 canted That Was fnllv t1En weeks h