"Would you mind my remaining with you while you select those dolls? I used to have to buy such things, when my sisters were younger, and it would give me great pleasure to recall the sensation."
Kate could not refuse a request made in such terms, so the couple were soon having much amusement in discussing the utterly inhuman features which manufacturers succeed in imposing upon dolls. The selection consumed much time; meanwhile there came into the shop an officer's wife, newly arrived at the fort, who asked Jermyn if he might be going to the navy-yard, across the river, for she had come from an interior town where naval vessels never had been seen, and she did long to look at some, if only for a moment or two, and Jermyn said he would be delighted to escort her to and through the yard, where he knew every one, and he asked Kate whether she would not accompany them?
Kate did not say "No"; she was by that time in a frame of mind which would have made her equal to tramping through mud for the sake of having Jermyn beside her. While at the yard, she noted with delight the heartiness with which all the naval officers greeted Jermyn. Trif had whispered to her, only a few hours before, that she herself had once been almost in love with Jermyn, and that she still believed no other bachelor alive was his equal, but Kate had been a woman long enough to attach more importance to men's opinions of men than to women's. Luncheon was served for the party on one of the war vessels, and each lady was toasted, and Kate noted that when her own name was given, Jermyn drained his glass with a look at her which made her feel uncomfortable yet happy.
The party returned to Old Point by a boat which did not reach the pier until after dark, and as the officer's wife had never before been in Norfolk alone her husband was at the pier, in much anxiety, to look for her, and escort her home, and the pier was so covered with freight that Jermyn thought it his duty to insist that Kate should take his arm, which he held very closely to his side without any remonstrance from the owner, and then he insisted upon finding her brother or Trif before he left her.
"'Tis all right," whispered Trif to Fenie, as she saw them approaching.
"About the dolls?" asked Trixy, anxiously. "Do you think them's in the bundle that he's carryin'?"
"No, you silly child!" said Fenie. "Your mother means——"
Fenie received a warning pinch, but it was too late, for the child exclaimed: "Oh, I know!" and made a sudden dash in the direction of the approaching couple. Trif snatched at Trixy's dress; there was a ripping, tearing sound, and away went the child, while behind her floated something like a train.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed, stopping before Jermyn and Kate so suddenly as to separate them.