The month of July had passed and gone, and yet Ruby had not yet kept her promise to Clark. The reason partly was that father Gibault had already gone before the American commandant could inform him of the nature of his discovery, and of the need of his services, partly because Ruby herself begged off with unwonted humility, till father Gibault returned from St. Vincent’s.

In the meantime the awakened lovers passed many a pleasant hour together, and explained away many a mystery of[102] the past. Then first Ruby learned that the apparent coldness with which Clark had treated her at Harrodsburg was put on only to hide the real interest he had felt in her from the first. Then, too, the colonel learned how Ruby’s mother was a niece of one of the Henry family, and how she had first obtained the letter which had introduced her under the name of John Frank. He learned also how the interest between them had been mutual, but hightened by pique on the part of Ruby at his supposed indifference. He learned how she had followed him to Kaskaskia, keeping in constant communication with her father’s warriors all the way, resolved to succor him if need should be. When she saw what an impression she had produced on him with her beauty in full dress, then it was that for the first time she resolved to try and see if he really loved her. Assisted by her Ind............