officer is, and where he comes from. I say, Kitty, what an awfully good
joke it would be to put him up against two or three of those heartless
flirts you call your friends--Ellen, for instance."

"There won't be a button left on the uniform by morning," said Kitty
contemplatively. "To-night the Army entertains."

"And conquers," I suggested.

"Sometimes. But at the officers' ball it mostly surrenders. The casualty
list, after one of these balls, is something awful. After all, Jack, all
these modern improvements in arms have not superceded the old bow and
arrow." She smiled at me with white teeth and lazy eyes. A handsome
woman, Kitty.

"And who is that dangerous flirt you were talking about a moment ago?" I
asked her, interested in spite of myself.

"I lose my mess number if I dare to tell. Oh, they'll all be here
to-night, both Army and civilians. There's Sadie Galloway of the Eighth,
and Toodie Devlin of Kentucky, and the Evans girl from up North, and
Mrs. Willie Weiland--"

"And Mrs. Matthew Stevenson."

"Yes, myself, of course; and then besides, Ellen."

"Ellen who?"

"Never mind. She is the most dangerous creature now at large in the