But After The Chill Came A Fever, And With The Fever Came Dreams, Most
Disturbing Dreams, In Which Were Sounds Of Crunching Gravel, Then
Far-Away Voices - Voices That I Seemed To Have Heard In Another World.
A Door Was Opened, And Then - Oh!
How can I ever tell you - in the hall
came Faye's mother!
By that time dreams had ceased, and it was cruel
reality that had to be faced, and even now I wonder how I lived
through the misery of that moment - the longing to throw myself out of
the window, jump in the river, do anything, in fact, but face the
mortification of having her see the awful condition of her son's
house!
Her son's house - that was just it. I did not care at all for myself,
my only thought was for Faye whose mother might find cause to pity him
for the delinquencies of his wife! First impressions are indelible,
and it would be difficult to convince Mrs. Rae ever that the house was
not always dusty and untidy. How could she know that with pride I had
ever seen that our house, however rough it might have been, was clean
and cheerful. And of what use would it be to arrange things
attractively now? She would be justified in supposing that it was only
in its company dress.
I was weak and dizzy from fever and a sick heart, but I managed to get
dressed and go down to do the best I could. West prepared a little
supper, and we made things as comfortable as possible, considering the
state of affairs. Mrs. Rae was most lovely about everything - said she
understood it all. But that could not be, not until she had seen one
of our sand storms, from the dust of which it is impossible to protect
a thing. I have been wishing for a storm ever since, so Mrs. Rae could
see that I was not responsible for the condition of things that night.
Now this was not all - far, far from it. On the way out in the cars,
Mrs. Rae met the colonel of the regiment - a real colonel, who is
called a colonel, too - who was also on his way to this post, and with
him was Lieutenant Whittemore, a classmate of Faye's. Colonel
Fitz-James was very courteous to Mrs. Rae, and when they reached Kit
Carson he insisted upon her coming over with him in the ambulance that
had been sent to meet him. This was very much more comfortable than
riding in the old stage, so she gladly accepted, and to show her
appreciation of the kindness, she invited the colonel, also Lieutenant
Whittemore, to dine with us the following evening!
Yes, there is still more, for it so happens that Colonel Fitz-James is
known to be an epicure, to be fussy and finical about all things
pertaining to the table, and what is worse takes no pains to disguise
it, and in consequence is considered an undesirable dinner guest by
the most experienced housekeepers in the regiment.
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