“There’s an Irish strain in my family, too,� said poor Rufford despondently, “and my Emmie has brown hair and eyes; and her nose, bless it! is a little tilted at the end.�
“A nay retroussy. So it is, by George! But there are noses and noses, y’know,� said Sir Alured. “And Emmie’s a Rufford, from the crown of her head to the ends of her toes; and we’ll prove it, we’ll prove it, sir! Donohoe hasn’t a leg to stand on�—which was true—“and as to that Mullingar heifer�—thus the Chief designated Peggy—“she’ll be sorry one day for throwing Juxon over, mark my words. Send for that old aunt of Donohoe’s dead wife—the bag of bones Peggy talked of—and pump her for all she’s worth. Turn her inside out!—it’s the only advice I can give you, for my head’s in as dee-d a muddle as yours. And remember, whatever happens, my Lady is staunch to Emmie! Game woman, my Lady. Doesn’t care a dee what society says, as long as—— God bless me, Rufford! I’m talkin’ as though Emmie wasn’t your daughter. But the whole thing’s infernally confusin’, you know, don’t you know!�
An opinion in which the regiment concurred. An excited beehive would have furnished but a poor comparison to the barracks upon the morrow, when Peggy’s great news, imparted in ostentatious secrecy to Mrs. Quartermaster Casey and a few other non-commissioned officers’ ladies, had percolated through them. Visitors thronged the Donohoes’ quarters; Peggy was the heroine of the hour. Press reporters from the town hung about the barracks on the chance of seeing either of the heroines of what was termed in the local paper “An Extraordinary Romance in Real Life,� and the officers’ wives called in a body to condole with Emmie Rufford, who, as we have heard, had broken off her engagement with Captain Gerry Garthside.
“I shall not break my heart over things,� she had said, with an attempt at being everyday and common-sensible that was plucky, if not convincing, “and I hope you won’t dwell too much upon the collapse of our house of cards. I hope—I pray you’ll build more solidly, with—with somebody else. Don’t, Gerry! Oh, don’t! It’s not fair to make my duty harder to do than——�
Then Emmie had broken down, wept wildly, been kissed, consoled, and assured of her lover’s undying love and eternal fidelity. Part? Never! Lose such a pearl of a wife! Not for all the Donohoes past, present, or to come! I believe, in spite of Emmie’s woe and Captain Gerry Garthside’s agitation, the young people secretly enjoyed the scene dramatic; and when Lady Alured came rustling in, about the time when Gerry’s eloquence attained its utmost pitch of fervor, and hugged and cried over the hero and heroine of the little drama, that dear woman was not the least happy of the three.
And later on, after returning to quarters, Captain Garthside found a letter on his doormat. The contents of the soiled envelope, directed in a sprawling hand, ran as follows:
“Door No. 3, Ground floor, Block Q.
“Miss E. Rufford presents comps And wold be Glad to see Cap Garthside & if Yu will call at 2 remane
“Your Oblidged
“E. Ruffor�
Of course the Captain knew Peggy Donohoe; had danced with her at non-commissioned officers’ balls; given her gloves and chocolates, and sipped the roses of her cheek in common with many another passing admirer. “And who’d be the worse of a kiss,� as Peggy would have said, “from a dacent girl?� “Dacent� she undoubtedly was, if not from pure innate virtue, perhaps from the consciousness that a depreciation in marketable value attaches to goods that have been soiled by handling. Had it been otherwise, the state of Major Rufford had been less gracious, thought Captain Gerry Garthside.