WHAT Jermyn and Kate said to each other in the two or three minutes immediately following Trixy's departure was their own affair, and need not be repeated here; beside, they never agreed exactly as to what it was. Suffice it to say that they walked somewhat rapidly in the direction of the disappearing child, and parted pleasantly. Kate joined her brother and Trif, and asked how they had themselves so successfully, when she and Jermyn had been seeking them everywhere for the last half-hour. She asked also if the night was not simply superb—heavenly! and whether they weren't the stupidest people in the world to sit there quietly while the air was simply entrancing. For herself, she thought it an absolute sin to sit still in such weather, so she begged Trixy to take a little walk with her.  
The child was quite willing, so the couple strolled a few moments. Soon Trixy asked:
 
"Does lovely nights always make you so dreadful quiet?"
 
"Am I quiet? I was thinking about something. There! I shall stop thinking about it. [Pg 129]But, Trixy dear, how did you and Prewser come to talk about—about such things?"
 
"What things?"
 
"Don't you remember what you said to Lieutenant Jermyn and me?"
 
"No—o—o," drawled Trixy, whose mind had roamed over several other subjects in the past quarter hour. "What was it?"
 
"Oh, never mind it," said Kate hastily, "if you don't recall it."
 
"Oh, yes; it was about match-makin', wasn't it?"
 
"Yes," Kate answered, so that the child started. "Did you ask your mother about it?"
 
"No. I was goin' to, but they all was talkin' about somethin' else, so I didn't get a chance."
 
"Then don't. There are some things about which little girls shouldn't talk, and about which their mammas don't like them to talk, and this is one of them; so don't mention it to your mother at all. Do you understand me?"
 
"Ye—es," replied Trixy, with a drawl which indicated doubt. "But mamma says, whenever I want to know anythin' about anythin' I must come and ask her right away."
 
"Very well, let me ask her for you, about this, won't you? You know that I love you very dearly, and wouldn't like your mamma to think badly of you in any way, so——"
 
"Then if you love me so much," interrupted Trixy, "why don't you give me all the dolls you said you would?"
 
"How forgetful I am! My dear [Pg 130]child, you shall have those dolls to-morrow, if I have to go all the way to Norfolk for them."
 
"Good! good! good!"
 
"But," continued Kate, with an uplifted finger, which looked very impressive in the semi-darkness, "not—one—single—doll, if you say a word about this matter to your mother."
 
"All right!"
 
"You are sure you will not forget?"
 
"Ever so sure. If I find myself thinkin' about it at all I'll just say 'Dolls, dolls, dolls' to myself as hard as I can, and then all the think will go out of my mind."
 
"That's a good girl."
 
Then Kate lifted Trixy, embraced her, kissed her, and called her the dearest little girl on the face of the earth, after which, greatly to the child's , she hurried Trixy to her mother and excused herself, saying that she had suddenly found the night air much damper than she had supposed.
 
No sooner did Jermyn leave Kate's side than he went to the ball-room, the office, and about the , asking every acquaintance whether Prewser had been seen in the course of the evening. Finally he found his comrade and a reproachful face in Prewser's own quarters, and after some sharp questioning he promised to help the young man at ballistics and anything else so long as he lived. Prewser asked if congratulations were in order, and Jermyn frowned and said "Nonsense," but he afterwards whistled merrily and Prewser began to nurse some suspicions.
 
 
"Trixy, dear," said Fenie the next morning, while preparing for breakfast, "if I were you I wouldn't follow a lady and gentleman while they are in the evening. It isn't ladylike. I am sure that your mamma will tell you that I am right."
 
Trif looked amusedly at her sister and said, "One word for others and two for yourself," but she added her own cautions to Fenie's, and said she ought to have called Trixy away from Kate and Jermyn the evening before.
 
"Why, I only—" began Trixy. Then she stopped and exclaimed "Dolls."
 
"What have dolls to do with it?" asked Fenie.
 
"Lots—just lots. I'm going to have 'em if I don't—oh, I nearly told."
 
"Told what?"
 
"Why, that—oh, Dolls! Dolls! Dolls! There."
 
"Trif," exclaimed Fenie, "I do believe the child has lost her senses."
 
"Oh, no I haven't, but—Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!"
 
"Trixy,—"
 
"Fenie, do be quiet," exclaimed Trif. "Trixy, run down to the table and tell our waiter we will be there very soon, so he may have the ready for us. Hurry, dear."
 
No sooner was Trixy out of the room than Trif said:
 
"Fenie, you silly girl, can't you ever see anything? I suspected it last night, but now I am sure of it."
 
"Sure of what?"
 
"Why, that Kate and Jermyn are at an understanding—or sure to be. I saw when Kate [Pg 132]rejoined us last night that something unusual had happened, and that it was not unpleasant. She acted just as I—as I felt when Phil——"
 
"Oh, oh, oh!" exclaimed Fenie, going quickly into some day-dreams of her own, for she and were getting along capitally together. They were not engaged, but there could be no mistake as to what the dear fellow meant, and what she wanted him to mean. She did not speak another word while preparing for brea............