"Poor old chap," muttered Dave sympathetically.
"Oh, that's all right for you," grunted Dan. "You have one of the 'only' girls, and so you're safe."
"There are more 'only' girls than you've any idea of, Dan Dalzell," Dave retorted with spirit. "The average American girl is a mighty fine, sweet, wholesome proposition."
"I'll grant that," nodded Dan, with a knowing air. "But I've made an important discovery concerning the really fine girls."
"Produce the discovery," begged Darrin. "The really fine girl," announced Dan, in a hollow voice, "prefers some other fellow to me."
"Well, I guess that'll be a fine idea for you to nurse—-until after graduation," reflected Darrin aloud. "I'm not going to seek to undeceive you, Danny boy."
So Dave went off to meet Belle and her mother, while Dan Dalzell hunted up another first classman who also believed that the girls didn't particularly esteem him. That other fellow was Midshipman Jetson.
"Mrs. Davis is giving a lawn party this afternoon," announced Dave, after he had lifted his cap in greeting of Mrs. Meade and her daughter. "I have an invitation from Mrs. Davis to escort you both over to her house. Of course, if you find the tea and chatter a bit dull over there, we can go somewhere else presently."
"I never find anything dull that is a part of the life here," returned Belle, little enthusiast for the Navy. "It will suit you, mother?"
"Anything at all will suit me," declared Mrs. Meade amiably. "David, just find me some place where I can drop into an armchair and have some other middle-aged woman like myself to talk with. Then you young people need pay no further heed to me. Examination week doesn't last forever."