"At midshipmen's hops the fellow who drags the----" "Gold brick," supplied Belle, resignedly. "No--not for worlds! You're no gold brick, Belle, and you know it, even though you do refuse to go to the mirror. But the fellow who drags any femme--" "Please--?" "'Femme' stands for girl. The fellow who drags any femme makes up her dance card for her." "And she hasn't a word to say about it?" "Not as a rule." "Oh!" cried Belle, dramatically. She moved toward the door. Dave, who could not take his eyes from her pretty face, managed, somehow, to delay her. "Belle, there's something--" he began. "Good gracious! Where? What?" she cried, looking about her keenly. "It's something I want to say--must say," Dave went on with more of an effort than anyone but himself could guess. "Tell me, as we're going down the street," invited Belle. "_Wha-a-at?_" choked Dave. "Well, I guess not!" He faced her, resting both hands lightly on her shoulders. "Belle, we were pretty near sweethearts in the High School, I think," he went on, huskily, but looking her straight in the eyes. "At least, that was my hope, and I hope, most earnestly, that it's going to continue. Belle, I am a long way from my real career, yet. It will be five years, yet, before I have any right to marry. But I want to look forward, all the time, to the sweet belief that my schoolgirl sweetheart is going to become my wife one of these days. I want that as a goal to work for, along with my commission in the Navy. But to this much I agree: if you say 'yes' now, and find later that you have made a mistake, you will tell me so frankly." "Poor boy!" murmured Belle, looking at him fully. "You've been a plebe until lately, and you haven't been allowed to see any girls. I'm not going to take advantage of you as heartlessly as that." Yet something in her eyes gave the midshipman hope. "Belle," he continued eagerly, "don't trifle with me. Tell me--will you marry me some day?" Then there was a little more talk and--well, it's no one's business. "But we're not so formally engaged," Belle warned him, "that you can't write me and draw out of the snare if you wish when you're older. And I'm not going to wear any ring until you've graduated from the Naval Academy. Do you understand that, Mr. David Darrin?" "It shall be as you say, either way," Dave replied happily. "And now, let us get started, or we shan't get out on the street to-day," urged Belle. Then they passed out on the street, and no ordinarily observant person would have suspected them of being anything more than school friends. Being very matter-of-fact in some respects, Belle's first move was to go to a stationer's, where she bought a little notebook bound in red leather. Dave tried to pay for that purchase, but Belle forestalled him. "Why didn't you allow me to make you that little gift?" he asked in a low tone, when they had reached the street. "Wait," replied Belle archly. "Some day you may find your hands full in that line."