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Page 58
"There was nothing like braving it," answered the other
evasively; "but I say, Elmsley, I am devilish hungry,
that breakfast you invited me to last night is over long
ago, of course." This last sentence was uttered in a mock
piteous tone.
"Just what I was going to speak about, my dear boy. We
have had number ONE, but before half an hour, we shall
be seated at number TWO. When your sergeant has relieved
his sentries, come over and you will find a piping hot
breakfast."
"Will it be quite consistent with military prudence to
leave my guard so soon, after the lecture I have had?"
remarked the ensign, with a smile--"but, ah! I had nearly
forgotten. Elmsley, I must say a few words to you before
I go in, and a better opportunity cannot be afforded than
while we are walking from this to your place. Just go
then, and order the breakfast as you propose, and return
here. I shall have completed the arrangements of the
guard by that time, and all that I have to ask of you,
can be answered as we go along."
"I hope it is no great secret you have to impart," returned
the lieutenant, "for I am a sad hand at the mysterious,
and shall be sure to tell my wife, if I do not tell Maria."
"Not you--you will tell neither, but au revoir."
CHAPTER X.
At the moment when Ensign Ronayne removed his sword, with
the intention of handing it to his commanding officer,
in anticipation of the arrest which he expected, Maria
Heywood, little conversant with those military formalities,
and apprehending from the previous high tone of her lover,
that something fearful was about to occur, had not
absolutely fainted, but become so agitated, that Mrs.
Elmsley was induced to take her back to the sofa, on
which she had previously been reclining. As she was
leaving her chair, Mrs. Headley, whose attention had also
been arrested by the loud and angry voice of her husband,
came from her own door and joined the little group,
anxiously inquiring the cause of the disturbance without.
In a few brief sentences, and as correctly as she was
able, Mrs. Elmsley explained to her the circumstances,
and although her attentive auditor offered no very pointed
remark, it was evident from her manner that she deeply
deplored that strict military punctilio, which had led
the husband whom she both loved and esteemed, to place
himself in a false position with his own force--for that
it was a false position in some degree, to provoke
insubordination, and yet be without the power to punish
it, she had too much good sense not to perceive. She felt
the more annoyed, because she had on more than one
occasion, observed that there was not that unanimity
between her husband and Lieutenant Elmsley, which she
conceived ought to exist between parties so circumstanced
--a commander of a remote post, and his second in command,
on whose mutual good understanding, not only the personal
security of all might depend, but the existence of those
social relations, without which, their isolated position
involved all the unpleasantness of a voluntary banishment.
This had ever been to her a source of regret, and she
had on several occasions, although in the most delicate
and unobtrusive manner, hinted at the fact; but the man
who doated upon her, and to whom, in all other respects,
her desire was law, evinced so much inflexibility in all
that appertained to military etiquette, that she had
never ventured to carry her allusions beyond the light
commentary induced by casual reference to the subject.
If then she lamented that unfortunate coolness, if not
absolute estrangement, which existed between Lieutenant
Elmsley and her husband, bow much more acutely did she
feel the difficulty of the position now, when the only
other responsible officer of the garrison--and that a
young man of high feeling and accomplishment, whom she
had ever liked and admired--was fast being led into the
same antagonism. Nay, what rendered the matter more
painful to her, was the fact of the latter being the
lover, or perhaps the affianced of a girl, whom she
regarded with a fervor not often felt by one woman for
another, and for whose interests she could have made
every sacrifice, not affecting those of her husband.
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