"Now, that was truly brave in you!" declared Miss Atterly, admiration shining in her eyes.
"There's the music starting," Dan hastily reminded her. "Our dance."
"Would it seem disagreeable in me if I asked you to sit out this number with me?" inquired the girl. "The truth is, I can dance any evening, but you and your brave fight here, Mr. Dalzell, interest me—-oh, more than I can tell you!"
Under this line of conversation Midshipman Dalzell soon began to feel highly uncomfortable. Miss Atterly, however, in getting Dan to talk of the midshipman and the Naval life, soon had him feeling at his ease. Nor could Dalzell escape noticing the fact that Miss Atterly appeared to enjoy his company hugely.
Then Dan was led on into talking of the life of the Naval officer at sea, and he spoke eloquently.
"A life of bravery and daring," commented Miss Atterly thoughtfully.
"Yet, after all, I would call it rather a lonely life."
"Perhaps it will prove so," Dalzell assented. "Yet it is all the life that I look forward to. It's all the life that I care about."
"Despite the loneliness—-or rather, because of it—-it will seem all the finer and more beautiful to come home to wife and children," said Miss Atterly after a pause. "Nearly all Naval officers marry, don't they?"
"I—-I believe they do," Dalzell stammered. "I—-I never asked any Naval officers for statistics."
"Now, you are becoming droll," cried Miss Atterly, her laughter ringing out.