he approached Rayner’s quarters his eyes rested longingly upon the window he knew to be hers now; but all was darkness.  As he rapidly neared the house, however, he became aware of two bulky figures at the gate, and, as he walked briskly past, recognized the overcoats as those of officers.  One man was doubtless Rayner, the other he could not tell; for both, the instant they recognized his step, seemed to avert their heads.  Once home again, he soon sought his room and pillow; but, long before he could sleep, again and again a sweet vision seemed to come to him:  he could not shut out the thought of Nellie Travers,—­of how she looked and what she said that very afternoon.

He had gone to call at Mrs. Waldron’s soon after dark.  He was at the piano, playing for her, when he became conscious that another lady had entered the room, and, turning, saw Nellie Travers.  He rose and bowed to her, extending his hand as he did so, and knowing that his heart was thumping and his color rising as he felt the soft, warm touch of her slender fingers in his grasp.  She, too, had flushed,—­any one could see it, though the lamps were not turned high, nor was the firelight strong.

“Miss Travers has come to take tea very quietly with me, Mr. Hayne,—­she is so soon to return to the East,—­and now I want you to stay and join us.  No one will be here but the major; and we will have a lovely time with our music.  You will, won’t you?”

“So soon to return to the East!” How harsh, how strange and unwelcome, the words sounded!  How they seemed to oppress him and prevent his reply!  He stood a moment dazed and vaguely worried:  he could not explain it.  He looked from Mrs. Waldron’s kind face to the sweet, flushed, lovely features there so near him, and something told him that he could never let them go and find even hope or content in life again.  How, why had she so strangely come into his lonely life, radiant, beautiful, bewildering as some suddenly blazing star in the darkest corner of the heavens?  Whence had come this strange power that enthralled him?  He gazed into her sweet face, with its downcast, troubled eyes, and then, in bewilderment, turned to Mrs. Waldron: 

“I—­I had no idea Miss Travers was going East again just now.  It seems only a few days since she came.”

“It is over a month; but all the same this is a sudden decision.  I knew nothing of it until yesterday.—­You said Mrs. Rayner was better to-day, Nellie?”

“Yes, a little; but she is far from well.  I think the captain will go, too, just as soon as he can arrange for leave of absence,” was the low-toned answer.  He had released, or rather she had withdrawn, her hand, and he still stood there, fascinated.  His eyes could not quit their gaze.  She going away?—­She?  Oh, it could not be!  What—­what would life become without the sight of that radiant face, that slender, graceful, girlish form?

“Is not this very unexpected?” he struggled to say.  “I thought—­I heard you were to spend several months here.”