Freeman, who were there stationed, begged that Mrs. Dade and Esther
should come and visit them during the session of the court. There would
be all manner of army gaieties and a crowd of outside officers, and, as
luck would have it, Mr. Field was ordered thither as a witness in two
important cases. The captain and his good wife went by stage; Esther and
Beverly rode every inch of the way in saddle, camping over night with
their joyous little party at La Bonte. Then came a lovely week at
Laramie, during which Mr. Field had little to do but devote himself to,
and dance with, Esther, and when his final testimony was given and he
returned to his station, and not until then, Esther Dade discovered that
life had little interest or joy without him; but Field rode back
unknowing, and met at Frayne, before Esther Dade's return, a girl who
had come almost unheralded, making the journey over the Medicine Bow
from Rock Springs on the Union Pacific in the comfortable carriage of
old Bill Hay, the post trader, escorted by that redoubtable woman, Mrs.
Bill Hay, and within the week of her arrival Nanette Flower was the
toast of the bachelors' mess, the talk of every household at Fort
Frayne.
And well she might be.
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