"Aren't you rather young to take so much interest in match-making?"
"What's match-makin'?" asked the child, with wondering eyes.
"Oh, you seem to understand the subject very well. The idea of a child planning a marriage between a man and a woman—quite suited to each other though they certainly are—who never met until this week!"
"Who do you mean? Aunt Fee and Harry? Why, they've——"
"No, no—I don't mean them. This is another couple—a lady and an army officer."
"Oh, you mean Mr. Jermyn and Miss Trewman? Why, I don' remember tellin' mamma to write anythin' about them. Come to think of it, though, I said to her, over at guard mount the other day, that 'twould be nice if they got married; but she said 'Sh—h—,' and that means the same thing as don't when mamma says it."
"Yes—to be sure; it used to be so in our family, when I was a boy. But how did this subject get into the letter, if you didn't tell your mother to write it?"
"I'm sure I don't know, unless mamma put it in just for fun. Sometimes she helps me with things to say, when I want to write a real long letter."
"H'm!" The Admiral looked very alert as he recalled customs of his own family when he was a young father. "Trixy, would you mind telling me your father's name—his first name?"