I have told Anna Mariar that she shan't so much as look at Briggs unless he exchanges into the cavalry, so the horse's heels will be behind him, and not in front of him." The entrance bell rang, and Kettle went to the front door.

Colonel Fortescue could neither hear nor see the visitor, but the step and the sound of a military cloak thrown on a chair indicated the arrival of a junior lieutenant.

Colonel Fortescue looked annoyed.

The junior officer running after Anita bothered him even more than Briggs, the artillery corporal, bothered Sergeant McGillicuddy.

Anita was but a child--only seventeen; the Colonel had proclaimed this when he brought Anita to the post.