Had he spoken when first the sketches were asked for, there would have been no trouble, he learned; he therefore reproached himself severely for his friend's sake and for Kate's, and began wondering how he could ever make amends to the man who had done so much for him. As an army officer's opportunities for making fifty thousand dollars are practically non-existent, he became so moody that Kate thought her suspicions about him and Fenie were verified. But Kate was not going to lose a happy evening from the short remainder of Jermyn's leave of absence, as she persisted in calling his assignment to duty at Sandy Hook. As she was going to be magnanimous, and had begun finely, she resolved to complete the task, so she exclaimed to Jermyn suddenly one evening: "My dear boy, I want you to stop thinking about that letter. Don't start--nor ask me any questions. I'll promise to overlook it, and forget all about it, in the course of time, if you will be your old self once more." "But I never can forget it," replied Jermyn, "never! Think of the cruelty of it, to you?" "But if I ignore it, and cast it from my mind forever, why should you persist in cherishing it and being miserable about it?" "Why? Because I am a man and love you." "I shall love you the more, because you have been so miserable about the matter. Won't that satisfy you?" How grand a woman she was, Jermyn thought! Still, how could she have learned about that letter, and the drawings that made it so valuable? Had the Admiral told her, and asked her to add her entreaties to his own? Trif could not have been the informer; she had every reason for avoiding the subject, in conversation with Kate. Kate had said he must not ask her how she learned about the tormenting paper; but suddenly he found out, or thought he did, for Kate said: "Will it make your mind any easier to know that I have fully forgiven her?" "Then you really know all?" said he, looking into her eyes. He did it very coolly, in the circumstances, Kate thought, but she was not going to recede a bit from the greatness of magnanimity upon which she had resolved, so she said: "Yes, all; but why should I harbor any ill feeling? Besides, she is quite weak and silly. She will know more when she grows older." "I am sorry to hear you speak of her in that way," said Jermyn, gravely. "I had hoped that you and she would become very warm friends; indeed, I supposed you were so already." Kate darted a suspicious look at Jermyn. Was there duplicity in a man apparently so honest? If so, her faith in human nature would be forever lost. "Why do you wish us to be warm friends?" she asked, coldly. "So that you may frequently have her near you?" Jermyn looked amazed and indignant as he exclaimed: "Kate, I swear to you that the tender regard I once had for her is gone forever. Do believe me." "Then it was not you who wrote the letter about which you and she have been so troubled about in the last few days?"