"Oh, I do wish he could!" exclaimed Trif. "Fenie, wouldn't it be be delightful?"
"Indeed, yes," the girl replied, "but don't say anything about it to Kate, for the mention of it, when it can't be done, would simply break her heart."
Trixy propounded some more questions, but was told that her mother was very busy, and must not be bothered, so the child started in search of other company, and when she reached the beach she found the Admiral, whom she asked:
"Who is it that officers like Mr. Jermyn have to ask when they want to do somethin'?"
"Oh," said the Admiral, who was discussing the naval topic of the day with a brother officer, "why, the commandant of the fort!"
Trixy hung upon the Admiral's chair a moment or two, but what she heard was as bad as Greek to her, so she strayed away, and asked questions of other acquaintances, and she was gone so long that her mother wondered what had become of her.
When the packing was finished, to the very last article which had been overlooked, and for which the trunks had to be reopened, Kate and Fenie sat down to rest, and naturally each began to talk of the subject which was uppermost in the minds of both, and finally they became so confidential that Fenie exclaimed:
"Wouldn't it be lovely if Jermyn were going North with us?"
"Oh, Fenie!" murmured Kate, looking as Mother Eve probably looked when the gates of Eden closed behind her.
"Why don't you make him?" asked the younger woman.