The romantic fact that Lois was the orphan of white captives to the Senecas, and had living neither kith nor kin, impressed Angelina sentimentally, and Lana with an insatiable curiosity, if not with suspicion.

As for Boyd, he had not recognised her at all, in her powder, patches, and pretty gowns.  That was perfectly plain to Lois and to me.  And I could understand it, too, for I hardly recognised her myself.  And after the novelty of meeting her had worn off he paid her no particular attention—­ no doubt because of his headlong, impatient, and undisguised infatuation for Lana, which, with her own propensity for daring indiscretion, embarrassed us all more or less.

No warrant had been given me to interfere; I was on no such intimate terms with Boyd; and as for Lana, she heeded Mrs. Bleecker’s cautious sermons as lightly as a bluebird, drifting, heeds the soft air that thrills with his careless flight-song.

What officers there were, regular and militia, who had not yet gone to Otsego Lake, came frequently to Croghan’s to pay their respects; and every afternoon there were most agreeable parties at Croghan’s; nor was our merriment any less restrained for our lack of chairs and tables and crockery to contain the cakes and nougats, syllabubs and custards, that the black wench, Gusta, contrived for us.  Neither were there glasses sufficient to hold the sweet native wines, or enough cups to give each a dish of the rare tea which had come from France, and which Mr. Hake had sent to me from Albany, the thoughtful soul!

If I did not entirely realise it at the time, nevertheless it was a very happy week for me.  To see Lois at last where she belonged; to see her welcomed, respected, and admired by the ladies and gentlemen at Croghan’s—­ courted, flattered, sought after in a company so respectable, and so naturally and sweetly holding her own among them without timidity or effort, was to me a pleasure so wonderful that even the quick, light shafts of jealousy—­ which ignoble but fiery darts were ever buzzing about my ass’s ears, sometimes stinging me—­ could not fatally wound my satisfaction or my deep thankfulness that her dreadful and wretched trials were ended at last, after so many years.

What seemed to Angelina and Lana an exceedingly quick intimacy between Lois and me sentimentally interested the former, and, as I have said, aroused the mischievous, yet not unkindly, curiosity of the latter.  Like all people who are deep in intrigue themselves, any hint of it in others excited her sophisticated curiosity.  So when we concluded it might be safe to call each other Lois and Euan, Lana’s curiosity leaped over all bounds to the barriers of impertinence.