"Then how long are we to remain here?"
"No one can tell. Satisfactory, isn't it? In fact, no one knows anything."
"Except," said Studhome, "that we are giving the Russians plenty of time to prepare a hot reception for us, if we venture to seek 'the bubble reputation' in the Crimea—or military fame, which, as some one says, consists of 'a few orders on a tight uniform.'"
"How far am I from the camp, colonel?"
"About five miles."
"Five miles!" I exclaimed, "Then you, my poor friend, Sister Archange, actually walked for me ten miles under a broiling sun yesterday?"
"Yes, monsieur le capitaine," she replied; "and happy would I have been could I have returned with what you wished for."
"How sorry I am! How can I ever repay, ever apologize, for the amount of trouble I have given you?"
"Apologies are not to be thought of," said she, quietly; "and as for repayment, we do not look for that—here, at least."
She smiled, and looked very beautiful. Twirling his carefully-bandolined moustache, Jocelyn, who had been observing her admiringly, was about to address her in, perhaps, rather a heedless way, when Beverley said to him pointedly—