Kincaids Battery | Page 8

caissons in
front. And now pieces passed their caissons, and now they were in line,
then in double column, and presently were gleaming in battery again,
faced to the rear. And now at command the tired lads dropped to the
ground to rest, or sauntered from one lounging squad to another, to chat
and chaff and puff cigarettes. Kincaid and Irby lent their horses to
Mandeville and Charlie, who rode to the battery while the lenders
joined the ladies.
Once more Hilary yielded Flora and sought Anna; but with kinder
thought for Flora Anna pressed herself upon Irby, to the open chagrin
of his uncle. So Kincaid cheerfully paired with Flora. But thus both he
and Anna unwittingly put the finishing touch upon that change of heart
in the General which Flora, by every subtlety of indirection, this hour
and more in the carriage, had been bringing about.
A query: With Kincaid and Irby the chief figures in their social arena

and Hilary so palpably his cousin's better in looks, in bearing, talents,
and character, is it not strange that Flora, having conquest for her ruling
passion, should strive so to relate Anna to Hilary as to give her, Anna,
every advantage for the higher prize? Maybe it is, but she liked
strangeness--and a stiff game.

V
HILARY?--YES, UNCLE?
Second half as well as first, the drill was ended. The low acacias and
great live-oaks were casting their longest shadows. The great plain
rested from the trample and whirl of hoofs, guns, and simulated battle.
A whiff of dust showed where the battery ambled townward among
roadside gardens, the Callender carriage spinning by it to hurry its three
ladies and Mandeville far away to the city's lower end. At the column's
head rode Irby in good spirits, having got large solace of Flora's society
since we last saw her paired with Kincaid. Now beside the tiny railway
station Hilary was with her once more as she and Charlie awaited the
train from town. Out afield were left only General Brodnax and
Greenleaf, dismounted between the Northerner's horse and Hilary's.
Now Kincaid came across the turf.
"Greenleaf," said the old soldier, "why does Hilary forever walk as
though he were bringing the best joke of the season? Can't you make
him quit it?"
The nephew joined them: "Uncle, if you'd like to borrow my horse I
can go by train."
That was a joke. "H-m-m! I see! No, Greenleaf's going by train. Would
you like to ride with me?"
"Well, eh--ha! Why, uncle, I--why, of course, if Fred really--" They
mounted and went.
"Hilary?"

"Yes, uncle?"
"How is it now? Like my girl any better?"
"Why--yes! Oh, she's fine! And yet I--"
"You must say? What must you say?"
"Nothing much; only that she's not the kind to seem like the owner of a
field battery. My goodness! uncle, if she had half Miss Flora's tang--"
"She hasn't the least need of it! She's the quiet kind, sir, that fools who
love 'tang' overlook!"
"Yes," laughed Hilary, "she's quiet; quiet as a fortification by
moonlight! Poor Fred! I wish--"
"Well, thank God you wish in vain! That's just been settled. I asked
him--oh, don't look surprised at me. Good Lord! hadn't I the right to
know?"
The two rode some way in silence. "I wish," mused the nephew aloud,
"it could be as he wants it."
The uncle's smile was satirical: "Did you ever, my boy, wish anything
could be as I want it?"
"Now, uncle, there's a big difference--"
"DAMN THE DIFFERENCE! I'm going to try you. I'm going to make
Adolphe my adjutant-general. Then if you hanker for this battery as it
hankers for you--"
"Mary, Queen of Scots!" rejoiced Hilary. "That'll suit us both to the
bone! And if it suits you too--"
"Well it doesn't! You know I've never wanted Adolphe about me. But
you've got me all snarled up, the whole kit of you. What's more, I don't
want him for my heir nor any girl with 'tang' for mistress of my lands

and people. Hilary, I swear! if you've got the sand to want Anna and
she's got the grace to take you, then, adjutant-general or not, I'll leave
you my whole fortune! Well, what amuses you now?"
"Why, uncle, all the cotton in New Orleans couldn't tempt me to marry
the girl I wouldn't take dry so without a continental cent."
"But your own present poverty might hold you back even from the girl
you wanted, mightn't it?"
"No!" laughed the nephew, "nothing would!"
"Good God! Well, if you'll want Anna I'll make it easy for you to ask
for her. If not, I'll make it as hard as I can for you to get any one else."
Still Hilary laughed: "H-oh, uncle, if I loved