She had a gentle aloofness generally toward men which was a baffling mystery to her mother.
Broussard, being frankly in love with Anita, lost all his importance and presumption in her sweet presence, and was as gentle and modest as the white dove that Anita still held to her breast.

As he longed to sit near her and ask her poignant questions, Broussard sat a long way off and talked common-places, chiefly about birds, of which he showed a surprising knowledge, gleaned that afternoon from the encyclopaedia, in anticipation of his visit.

Also, Broussard had, very artfully, secured a traitor in the enemy's camp because it was well understood at Fort Blizzard that Colonel Fortescue was the enemy of every subaltern at the post who dared to raise his sacrilegious eyes to the Colonel's daughter.
This traitor was Kettle, into whose hand Broussard never failed to place a quarter whenever they met, and at the same time to wink gravely.

Kettle knew the meaning both of the quarter and the wink.
Across the hall Kettle was arranging the dinner table, it being Mrs.
McGillicuddy's duty to put the After-Clap to bed.

The dining-room door was ajar, and Kettle kept an eye open to Broussard's advantage.
Presently, Mrs.Fortescue came down-stairs, dressed for dinner in a gown of a jocund yellow, which Colonel Fortescue liked.