Then, when realization finally came, was already too late to stop the girl.

She would be already on her long journey.

What could he do?
What immediate steps could he hope to take for her protection?
Ordinarily he would not have hesitated, but now a decision was not so easily made.
Of his command scarcely thirty men remained at Devere, a mere infantry guard, together with a small squad of cavalrymen, retained for courier service.

His only remaining commissioned officer at the post was the partially disabled cavalry captain, acting temporarily as adjutant, because incapacitated for taking the field.

He had waited until the last possible moment, trusting that a shift in conditions might bring back some available officer.