"By the way, Jermyn, do you remember those sketches we made at the club yesterday?" The young officer suddenly reddened, and the older officer lost heart, although he regained it when Jermyn replied: "Yes, and I was going to ask you to let me see them once more. Have you them with you?" The Admiral looked the Lieutenant full in the eye, at which the disappearing flush returned. The Admiral continued: "I supposed you had it already." "Not I, I assure you. I left it upon the club table, right at your elbow." The Admiral suddenly looked so uncomfortable that Jermyn said: "I sincerely hope you haven't lost it!" "So do I. I could make the sketch again from memory, but there were some--er--some memoranda on the other side of the sheet which I had intended to preserve; that is, they were not my property, and----" "Not your property?" Jermyn thought he saw the opportunity for which he was longing. "No. The letter itself belonged to another person. Do you suppose that Blogsham himself may have kept the sketches for future reference." "Quite possibly. But Blogsham has returned to Washington." "So I have heard. I suppose there is nothing left but to write him." "What a lot of trouble a bit of paper may cause," said Kate, becoming restive during a conversation in which she had no part. "Yes--yes, indeed," replied the Admiral in a manner so unlike any which Kate had previously seen him display that the young woman began to wonder whether there could be some historic or romantic interest about the bit of paper in which the two men seemed so deeply interested. Everything she had known about gentlemen of the army and navy, until the last two or three days, had been learned from novels and stories, in many of which a bit of paper played an important part. Perhaps there was some romance even about this, and any romance of army and navy would be very interesting to her--could she know it. An hour later Kate joined Trif and Fenie, with whom sat Harry. Both ladies rallied her about her apparent conquests in both warlike branches of the public service, and Kate finally said that she wished she often could make conquests of such men as Admiral Allison and Lieutenant Jermyn. "And only think," she added; "I do believe there's some great mystery between the two men. 'Tis none of my affair, of course, but I can't help being curious about it. 'Tis all about some sketches and memoranda of some kind. They talked it over before me without any hesitation, but it was plain to see that there was much more to it than appeared in the conversation." "Oh," said Fenie, "there seems to be an epidemic of mislaying bits of paper. Trif, here, has been worrying all day about a letter to Phil which she began but didn't finish. I told her it was the easiest thing in the world to write a letter to one's own husband--or ought to be, but she has upset her entire room while searching for that wretched note."