"Trust me for that," said Kate, in her most earnest manner. "I shall keep Fenie under my own wing to-day; I shall make sure, at least, that Lieutenant Jermyn doesn't injure any of your chances."
Kate was as good as her word, and as she and Fenie were really very fond of each other, they were together all morning. Trixy was with them; her honest little heart was still full of the injunction to take the best of care of her Aunt Fee, but the child found little to do but sit still and listen. The two young women talked as freely and incessantly as any other couple of old acquaintances, amid scenes entirely new, and with plenty of time at their disposal, and Trixy heard much that set her to thinking; but she had so often been cautioned against asking questions, since she had been at Old Point, that she found it necessary to think out her puzzles for herself.
Kate's principal cause of fear, also her principal object of admiration, Lieutenant Jermyn, did not reappear during the morning, and Kate was mystified, as well as somewhat troubled. Was it possible that he preferred to chat with Fenie only while her sister was present—or when he could find her alone? If so, matters were more serious than Kate had thought. Perhaps—but, pshaw!—Kate rebuked herself with an indignant blush, for the thought that perhaps Jermyn might desire to chat with Kate herself, and preferred not to talk to two young women at once.
Yet she continued to wonder. Like most other young women, and, indeed, like all Americans not well acquainted with the army, she was of the impression that officers had nothing to do, while not on parade, but make themselves pleasing to the general eye, and to young women in particular. She did not know that most of the officers at Fort Monroe were either instructors or students at a most exacting post-graduate school of artillery, where each was expected to impart or receive such advanced knowledge as would suffice the commandant of a great fort or the chief of artillery of an army.
As Kate wondered, and feared, and imagined it occurred to her that the most sensible course would be to "draw out" Fenie. She felt toward the girl as any young person feels toward one several years younger; she had a sense of condescension and tolerance which was not always under good control. Fenie was young, so she was artless, unsuspecting, and transparent. What would be easier than to learn from her, not for curiosity's sake, but for Harry's and Fenie's own, all that there might be between her and Lieutenant Jermyn?
So, as the two girls finally seated themselves on the piazza to look at the noonday promenaders, Kate asked suddenly:
"What becomes of all the men here in the middle of the day?"
"Oh, they are somewhere with one another, I suppose," replied Fenie. "Men are very interesting to one another, don't you think so? There's a club in the fort to which many of them go, I believe."
"Probably those who aren't soldiers go there to meet those who are," said Kate. "What fine men those army officers seem to be! I've seen them only at long range—I believe that's a military expression, isn't it?—but they seem so manly and self-possessed; so unlike the little fellows who pass for men in New York."