"Oh, is that true? Well, I'm glad of it, 'cause a while ago Aunt Fee said if they wasn't fools they'd make a match of it. How do people make matches, anyhow? What do they make 'em of?" "Upon my word, young woman," replied the youth, after a quiet laugh, "you're of a very inquiring turn of mind. Perhaps you had better put that question to your mother--no, not now." "But they know, don't they? 'Cause if they don't, how are they to make one?" "That's for themselves to find out," answered the young man, recalling an experience or two of his own which had not been successful. "By the way, how many wells have you dug to-day?" "I don't remember," said Trixy, going into a brown study. The young officer strolled off to struggle by himself with his problem, leaving Trixy with her own. A possible aid to solution came to the child's mind. Exclaiming to herself, "Why, of course!" she began to walk, looking carefully at every person she met. Soon she saw Jermyn and Kate and attached herself to them. "What is it, dear?" asked Kate in a tone so tender that any hesitation the child may have had vanished at once. "Have you made it?" "Made what?" "Oh, if you don't know, it don't mind, I s'pose. Lieutenant Prewser thought you did know, or I wouldn't have asked you." "What on earth is the child talking about?" asked Kate. "Explain yourself, Trixy," said Jermyn. "What did Prewser say we knew how to do?" "Well, come to think of it, he didn't say you knew, but he said it was for you to find out." "But what was it?" persisted Kate. "Why, 'twas how to make a match." Kate suddenly averted her head, and acted as if she wanted to run away. Jermyn took her hand--gently, very gently, yet with sufficient force to detain her. Then he said: "Trixy, your mother wants you, this very instant." CHAPTER XV. THE UNEXPECTED. What Jermyn and Kate said to each other in the two or three minutes immediately following Trixy's departure was entirely their own affair, and need not be repeated here; beside, they never afterward agreed exactly as to what it was. Suffice it to say that they walked somewhat rapidly in the direction of the disappearing child, and parted pleasantly. Kate joined her brother and Trif, and asked how they had secreted themselves so successfully, when she and Jermyn had been seeking them everywhere for the last half-hour. She asked also if the night was not simply superb--heavenly! and whether they weren't the stupidest people in the world to sit there quietly while the air was simply entrancing. For herself, she thought it an absolute sin to sit still in such weather, so she begged Trixy to take a little walk with her. The child was quite willing, so the couple strolled a few moments. Soon Trixy asked: "Does lovely nights always make you so dreadful quiet?" "Am I quiet? I was thinking about something. There! I shall stop thinking about it. But, Trixy dear, how did you and Lieutenant Prewser come to talk about--about such things?"