When the Dawson doctor left that night Maudie, as usual, followed him out. They waited a long time for her to come back.
"Perhaps she's gone to her own tent;" and the Boy went to see. He found her where the Colonel used to go to smoke, sitting, staring out to nowhere.
As the boy looked closer he saw she had been crying, for even in the midst of honest service Maudie, like many a fine lady before her, could not forego the use of cosmetic. Her cheeks were streaked and stained.
"Five dollars a box here, too," she said mechanically, as she wiped some of the rouge off with a handkerchief. Her hand shook.
"What's the matter?"
"It's all up," she answered.
"Not with him?" He motioned towards the tent.
She nodded.
"Doctor says so?"
"——and I knew it before, only I wouldn't believe it."