"
"Can you doubt it?" asked Dick so absently, so reluctantly, that
Laura Bentley shot a swift, uneasy look at the handsome young
cadet captain.
"You don't seem over delighted," broke in Belle Meade. "Gracious!
I hope we haven't been indiscreet in coming almost unannounced?
See here, you haven't invited any other girls to to-night's hop,
have you?"
Both girls, flushed and rather uneasy looking, were now eyeing
the two ill-at-ease young first classmen.
"No; we haven't invited anyone else. But there's something to
be explained," replied Dick lamely. "Greg, you explain, won't
you? And you'll all excuse me, won't you, while I hurry away
to tog for dress parade?"
Laura's face was almost as white as Dick's had been at noon, as
she gazed after the receding Prescott.
Then Greg, in his bluntest way, tried to put it all straight,
and quickly, at that.
"Oh, is that all?" asked Belle with a sniff of contempt. "Why
couldn't Dick remain and tell us himself? You cadets are certainly
cowards in some things---sometimes!"
But the tears were struggling for a front place in Laura's fine
eyes.
"Is this 'silence' going to affect Dick very much in his career
in the Army?" she asked with emotion.
"Not if his staunchest friends can prevent it," replied Greg almost
fiercely. "And old ramrod has a host of friends in his class,
at that."
"It's too bad they're not in the majority, then," murmured Miss
Meade.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69