"There are no better made," retorted Dave promptly.
"If anything happens to Dan here, dear, I know you will feel just as unhappy about it as if it happened to yourself."
"Mighty close to it," nodded Darrin. "But it would be a double heartbreak for me, if I had to leave."
"Why?"
"On account of the future I've planned for you, Belle."
"Oh, you silly boy, then!" Belle answered, smiling into his eyes. "I believe I have half committed myself to the idea of marrying you when you've made your place in life. But it was Dave Darrin to whom I gave that half promise—not a uniform of any sort. Dave, if anything ever happens that you have to quit here, don't imagine that it's going to make a particle of difference in our understanding."
"You're the real kind of sweetheart, Belle!" murmured Dave, gazing admiringly at her flushed face.
"Did you ever suspect that I wasn't?" asked Miss Meade demurely.
"Never!" declared Midshipman Darrin devoutly. "Nevertheless, it's fine to be reassured once in a while."
"What a great fellow Dan is!" exclaimed Belle a few minutes later. "See how gayly he is chatting with Laura. I don't believe Laura guesses for a moment that Dan Dalzell is just as game a fellow as the Spartan boy of olden times."