martial tread a man's footsteps were heard upon the _lanai_. Then, all of a sudden, with a cry of joy, Witchie burst in again: "_Should_ do it?--I shall do it! Said I not I was the fairy queen? Behold me summon my subjects from the ends of the obedient earth!" And, waving her parasol as she would a wand, gayly pirouetting as she had that night in the tent at old Camp Merritt, she danced forward: "Sound ye the trumpets, slaves! Hail to the chief! See the conquering hero comes! Enter Brevet Brigadier-General Stanley Armstrong!--though his arm is anything but strong." Bowing gravely to the sprite in front of him, vaguely to the group in the shaded light at the edge of the _lanai_, and joyously to the little hostess, as almost hysterically she sprang forward and clasped his hands, the colonel of the Primeval Dudes stood revealed before them. "_Colonel_ Armstrong! How--when did you get here? What does this mean? Is your arm quite well again? Why _didn't_ you let us know you were coming?" were the questions rained upon him by Mrs. Marsden, immediately followed by the somewhat illogical statement that she was actually breathless with surprise. "Shall I answer in their order?" said he, smiling down at her flushed and joyous face. "By the Sedgwick. This afternoon. That I wished to see you. Doing quite well. Because I didn't know myself until two days before we sailed." Then, as he stood peering beyond her, she would have turned him to her other guests had not Mrs. Garrison made instant and impulsive rush upon him. "As fairy queen or fairy godmother I claim first speech," she gayly cried. "What tidings of my liege lord, and where is hers, my fairy sister's?" she demanded, waving in front of him her filmy parasol and pirouetting with almost girlish grace. "Captain Garrison was looking fairly well the day I sailed," he answered briefly; "and Colonel Frost left for Hongkong only a few hours before in hopes, as we understood, of finding Mrs. Frost at Yokohama. Permit me," he added, with grave courtesy. "I have but little time as I transfer to the Doric to-night." A shade spread over the radiant face one instant, but was as quickly swept away. "And I have not met your guests," he finished, turning to Mrs. Marsden, as he spoke, and quietly passing Mrs. Garrison in so doing. The next moment he was shaking hands with the entire party, coming last of all to Amy Lawrence.