BETWEEN the exhilarating effects of the breakfast-table chat with Fenie, and the , embarrassed, yet roguish look which Fenie had worn for a fraction of a second, when Trixy had made her unexpected remark in the fort about marriage, Trewman was the happiest youth in the State of Virginia.  
Nevertheless, he did not forget his business duties or his business training. The case at Norfolk had disturbed his dreams at night, and was now troubling his day-dreams; the best way to avoid any more was to hurry over to Norfolk and settle the business at once.
 
Besides, now seemed the proper time to come to a definite understanding with Fenie—an understanding of the kind frequently completed by the presentation of a ring containing a stone, preferably a diamond. Harry had seen in a Norfolk shop a ring, which he thought would answer the purpose, and he would buy it that very morning. Before he started, however, he took the precaution to beg his sister, half shamefacedly, to keep all designing bachelors from Fenie for a few hours.
 
 
"Trust me for that," said Kate, in her most earnest manner. "I shall keep Fenie under my own wing to-day; I shall make sure, at least, that Jermyn doesn't injure any of your chances."
 
Kate was as good as her word, and as she and Fenie were really very fond of each other, they were together all morning. Trixy was with them; her honest little heart was still full of the injunction to take the best of care of her Aunt Fee, but the child found little to do but sit still and listen. The two young women talked as freely and as any other couple of old acquaintances, amid scenes entirely new, and with plenty of time at their disposal, and Trixy heard much that set her to thinking; but she had so often been cautioned against asking questions, since she had been at Old Point, that she found it necessary to think out her puzzles for herself.
 
Kate's principal cause of fear, also her principal object of , Lieutenant Jermyn, did not reappear during the morning, and Kate was mystified, as well as somewhat troubled. Was it possible that he preferred to chat with Fenie only while her sister was present—or when he could find her alone? If so, matters were more serious than Kate had thought. Perhaps—but, pshaw!—Kate herself with an indignant blush, for the thought that perhaps Jermyn might desire to chat with Kate herself, and preferred not to talk to two young women at once.
 
Yet she continued to wonder. Like most other young women, and, indeed, like all Americans [Pg 70]not well acquainted with the army, she was of the impression that officers had nothing to do, while not on parade, but make themselves pleasing to the general eye, and to young women in particular. She did not know that most of the officers at Fort Monroe were either or students at a most post-graduate school of , where each was expected to impart or receive such advanced knowledge as would suffice the commandant of a great fort or the chief of artillery of an army.
 
As Kate wondered, and feared, and imagined it occurred to her that the most sensible course would be to "draw out" Fenie. She felt toward the girl as any young person feels toward one several years younger; she had a sense of and which was not always under good control. Fenie was young, so she was artless, unsuspecting, and . What would be easier than to learn from her, not for curiosity's sake, but for Harry's and Fenie's own, all that there might be between her and Lieutenant Jermyn?
 
So, as the two girls finally seated themselves on the to look at the noonday promenaders, Kate asked suddenly:
 
"What becomes of all the men here in the middle of the day?"
 
"Oh, they are somewhere with one another, I suppose," replied Fenie. "Men are very interesting to one another, don't you think so? There's a club in the fort to which many of them go, I believe."
 
"Probably those who aren't soldiers go there [Pg 71]to meet those who are," said Kate. "What fine men those army officers seem to be! I've seen them only at long range—I believe that's a military expression, isn't it?—but they seem so and self-possessed; so unlike the little fellows who pass for men in New York."
 
"Trif," said Fenie, "has often insisted that soldiers have learned the secret of never growing old, and she seems to be right. From the youngest to the oldest, I've found them , agreeable and—and—"
 
"?"
 
"Yes; that is just the word. There's nothing or silly about them, as there is about so many young men and old beaux at home."
 
"You lucky girl!" exclaimed Kate. "I wonder that your good fortune in meeting such clever fellows hasn't turned your head."
 
Fenie indulged in a smile that Kate thought quite unusual in a girl so young, a smile which was almost grim, as she replied:
 
"There's a saying in the family that the Wardlow head never gets entirely off the Wardlow shoulders, and I'm trying to live up to it. Still, I've enjoyed myself greatly in the general company here."
 
"General company? No man in particular? What a lot of girls whom we both know, would give their heads for your chance. Do you know, Fenie dear, I wouldn't have wondered if by this time you had lost your heart to some one quite competent to care for it."
 
Fenie looked so astonished, and also so hurt, [Pg 72]that Kate called herself a . Evidently Harry was safe; the assurance was so exhilarating that Kate lost her own head for a moment or two and began to talk at .
 
"What a capital fellow Lieutenant Jermyn is!" she said. "Do you know, it was merely Trixy who introduced him to me, yet he at once made me feel entirely at ease with him."
 
"Oh, he's charming," replied Fenie. "He's been very kind to Trif and me. He seems to know every one, and he's made us acquainted with many pleasant people. Indeed, I suppose that is the reaso............