“Ah!” “Yes, and then he went on to say that whomever she chose--whether lord or commoner--would be fortunate, indeed, and that he hoped she would be as happy as he knew she was good and beautiful. Then he told Captain Swords that he should always love her, with the loyalty a soldier has for his flag; worship her with the blind idolatry of a fanatic for his God. He said that if war should again break out, it would find him at the front and that when he fell his one hope was that her face might be the last vision to pass before his eyes; her name the last word upon his lips. Oh, Dorothy, I tell you he spoke so beautifully and so sadly of her that I just sniveled behind the bush and the sob I gave nearly betrayed me. As for Captain Swords, I could hear him pacing up and down the path and he flung his cigar away with such violence that it flew clear over the big bush and almost fell on my head. I wish I had someone to care for me like that. As for Lady Brooke----” At the mention of that name, Dorothy suddenly sprang from her chair and confronted Beatrice with pale face and strained, wide-staring eyes. “The wretch--oh, the wretch!” she murmured fiercely. “Such base falsehood!” “Why, Dorothy,” exclaimed Beatrice, startled, “why are you so excited?” “Excited! Who wouldn’t be in the face of such horrible untruths--such a dreadful mistake!” “Why, why, Dorothy!” cried Beatrice quickly. “Do you know anything of this? Who the lady is? Is she some friend of yours? Have I made you unhappy?” Dorothy took a step forward and put her arms around Beatrice. “Unhappy!” she stammered; “oh, I’m wretched--so wretched. No, no; I mean I’m happy--so very happy. You don’t understand.” But Beatrice released herself and looked anxiously into her friend’s face. “What has happened, Dorothy?” she inquired with concern. “You are ill! You are all white and red by turns.” “No, no; you don’t understand!” “Understand, eh!” quoth Beatrice, the light of a sudden intelligence coming into her eyes. “Oh! I see--I see. There now! Just to think of it! As papa would say, I’ve been blundering again.” “See! You see what?” “But you distinctly told me,” came the somewhat irrelevant answer, “that you didn’t care for him!” “Why, of course--of course not; you silly, silly goose! You don’t understand--you don’t understand----” And by way of adding to Beatrice’s comprehension of the situation, Dorothy suddenly drew her to her heart, sank her head upon her shoulder, and, with great broken sobs following fast upon one another, wept as if her heart would break. CHAPTER XVI THE TAP OF MILADI’S FAN “Do you think _it_ will surely come? Are you confident that this entire hypothesis of yours is correctly grounded?” and Professor Dean peered with wistful anxiety into Kearns’ face. That personage stared silently for a moment into the Professor’s inquiring eyes, and then answered with imperturbability: “Will ducks swim?”