"Jermyn! I supposed that I had promised to marry an army officer with nothing but his salary, and I was priding myself on marrying for love alone, without any of the sordid ideas which fill women's heads, as well as men's, in these selfish days, but you seem----" "Don't change your mind, I beg, for I am fully as poor as you thought me. I expect to be fifty thousand dollars better off if that letter with my sketch comes to light within a few hours; otherwise my entire fortune is the couple of thousand dollars I have saved." Kate smiled bravely and sweetly as she replied: "Please don't omit me, while you're giving an account of your possessions. Not that I have any money, but----" "Bless you!" exclaimed Jermyn, with the demonstration appropriate to the circumstances. There was a short silence, which Kate broke by saying: "I wonder what was in that letter about you and me." Jermyn did not answer. "Do you know?" Kate asked. "Yes." "Then tell me." "I can't, my dear--really I can't." "Do you think it right that either of us should keep anything from the other?" "No; but a communication from a husband to his wife belongs only to the two--Mr. and Mrs. Highwood." "Never mind. I shall know it all some day. Fenie promised that I should." "Indeed? When is she to tell you?" "After I am married." "And you are very, very curious to know?" "Wildly so!" "I can see but one way to assist you." "What is it?" "Can't you imagine?" "No. Do tell me--at once." Jermyn took her hands in his and replied: "'Tis only this; get married as soon as possible. I shall soon be entitled to ask for two more weeks of absence, and then----" "I shall be ready," said Kate softly, yet with a look which made Jermyn wonder how much happier a man could be without losing his senses. "One thing I must do at once, though," said Kate, suddenly regaining her alertness and self-control. "I must apologize abjectly to Fenie for my shameful suspicion that she had been engaged in a flirtation with you. I must do it this very evening. Please take me around there at once." "And rob myself of one of my few remaining hours of bliss?" "You must learn to be blissful while doing whatever I wish you to do." Fenie was so surprised by the communication which Kate made that she did not think to be indignant; on the contrary, she laughed, which was the worst punishment she could have inflicted. Meanwhile, Trif was telling Jermyn that he and Kate must take dinner with her and Phil the next night. The other happy couple would be present, so would the Admiral, and the dinner would be the finest she had ever arranged. "Yes," said Trixy, "there's to be ice-cream, and the other kind of ice, and mamma says I can eat a lot of both; and there's to be a s'prise, too." Trif nodded warningly at Trixy. She could not remember which of her prospective dishes had been alluded to in family conversation as a surprise, yet she warned her daughter to be quiet.