Two people were in the office when she entered, one a redcoat, evidently acting³ in some clerical capacity; the other a girl whom Rouletta had never seen. The colonel was engaged, so Rouletta was told, and she sat down to wait. With furtive⁴ curiosity she began to study this other young woman. It was plain that the latter was a privileged person, for she made herself perfectly⁵ at home and appeared to be not in the least chilled by the official formality of her surroundings. She wandered restlessly about the room, humming a tune⁶ under her breath; she readjusted the window-curtains to her liking⁸; she idly thumbed the books upon the shelves; finally she perched herself upon the table in the midst of the documents upon which the officer was engaged, and began a low-voiced conversation with him.

 

Rouletta was not a little impressed by this stranger. She had never seen a finer, healthier, cleaner-cut girl. Here for once was a "nice" woman of the town who did not stare at her with open and offensive curiosity. She was not surprised when she overheard the Police officer address her as "Miss Cavendish." No wonder this girl had poise⁹ and breeding—the Cavendishes were the best people in the community. With a jealous pang¹⁰ the caller reflected that the colonel's daughter was very much what she herself would like to be, very much her ideal, so far as she could judge.

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