"THEY TAKE NO NOTE OF TIME."
Kate and Jermyn were so happy in each other's society, now that they
had not to pay attention to a lot of mere acquaintances, that they
agreed with the hero of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado" that each
second was a minute, each minute an hour, each hour a day, and each day
a year. Nevertheless, after the illogical manner of lovers, no sooner
was the last half of the week under way than they began to complain
that each day seemed only an hour long.
"Must you really go at the end of your week?" asked Kate. "Does a week,
in military parlance, mean literally a week--no more, no less?"
"Exactly and mathematically a week," sighed Jermyn. "Tis even worse in
our case, for the week includes the time I spent in reaching here, the
time I will spend in returning, and the day I started, but was taken
back by the Admiral."
"Oh!" exclaimed Kate, after a startled look, "that means that you must
start back to-morrow!"
"It does indeed. I've gone over it by every applicable rule of
arithmetic, but I can find no other solution."
Kate at once became so dismal that she could not talk much, and Jermyn,
remembering the ways of his mother and sisters when they had trouble
on their minds, suggested that there could be no better time to make
his good-bye call upon the Highwoods; he assured himself that a short
chat with sympathetic women would enable Kate to bear her trouble more
bravely. He got his reward, for Trif chatted so kindly with him that
he himself soon felt much better than he had dared hope, so he felt
correspondingly grateful, and wished he might do something in return
for the good woman to whose interest he owed so much of his fortune in
love. Suddenly there came to him a thought which he voiced at once.
"Mrs. Highwood, I shall go back by way of Washington. I'm greatly your
debtor; I needn't go into particulars, but wouldn't you like to spend a
few hours in Washington? You couldn't have a better guide than I, and--"
"'Twould be splendid!" Trif exclaimed. "But you wouldn't be so
heartless as to leave Kate behind?"
"I'm greatly obliged for the suggestion."
"And," continued Trif, who had been thinking rapidly, "would it be
dreadful of me to take Trixy also? She has long been wild to see the
'Baby of the White House,' and by some lucky accident she might get a
peep at that fortunate child."
"It might not be difficult; I've had the honor of meeting the baby's
mother, in other years, and am sure she would be delighted to meet a
woman like Trixy's mother."
"We will go," said Trif. "I shan't have to wait to consult Phil, for he
asked me why I didn't improve my opportunity to see Washington during
our return trip from Old Point."
A cheerful party of four started for Washington the next afternoon, and
on the morning afterward Jermyn busied himself in showing the ladies
the sights of the capital. But Washington is a large city, and time did
fly so rapidly--to Kate and Jermyn, for the latter would be obliged to
take the night train for Fort Monroe.
Trixy saw the baby of the White House, and devoured it with her eyes,
and asked it questions about its dolls, while two fond mothers looked
and listened. The call was short, but, as the party made their adieus,
Trixy slipped back and said to the lady of the house:
"Your husband can do anything he likes with soldiers, can't he?"
"That depends," was the reply. "Why do you ask?"
"'Cause I wish he would make Lieutenant Jermyn go back to New York
with us. I'm sure Miss Trewman wishes so too, 'cause they're only just
engaged, and he's only been in New York a week, and----"
"There goes the only man who could manage an affair of that kind," said
the lady, pointing to an alert-looking gentleman who was approaching
the house.
"Thank you, very much."
"Where is Trixy?" asked Trif, as the party passed through the gateway.
"Why, there she is, talking to a stranger! How the child has lost her
manners! Mr. Jermyn, won't you kindly bring her back?"
Jermyn hurried to the rescue, and was somewhat astonished to see that
the gentleman with whom Trixy was talking was the Secretary of War.
"Mr. Jermyn!" said the Secretary. Jermyn saluted.
"This young lady has been telling me an interesting story. By the way,
there are to be some new guns tested at Sandy Hook, New York harbor,
in a day or two. It might be of use to some of the classes at the
fort if an officer from there were to observe the tests and take back
a detailed report. Would your own studies be retarded if you were to
remain absent a week or ten days longer?"
"Not in the least," Jermyn replied, with the promptness becoming a
soldier.
"Call at the Department some time this afternoon, then, for your
detail. I'll send a copy of it to your commanding officer, and you will
report by letter to him, so that you may be recalled if necessary. Will
you do me the honor to introduce me to this young lady?"
"With pleasure. Miss Highwood, allow me to present the Honorable the
Secretary of War."
"What a long name!" exclaimed Trixy, with a curtesy.
"I'm sorry, Miss Highwood, that my time won't allow me to show you
special attention while you are here, but I hope we may meet again.
Good day. Mr. Jermyn, I wish you a pleasant trip!"
Jermyn hurried the child back to her mother, who said:
"I hope, Mr. Jermyn, that you apologized to the gentleman for Trixy's
rudeness?"
"I hadn't the opportunity," Jermyn replied. "Ladies, I've an
interesting announcement to make; I am to accompany you back to New
York."
"Oh, Jermyn!" exclaimed Kate. "'Tis too good to be true."
"Nevertheless, 'tis as true as it is good. The gentleman with whom
Trixy was talking was the Secretary of War, and he has ordered me back,
for a few days, on duty that will occupy my time for only a few hours a
day."
"You clever fellow! How did you manage it?"
"I didn't. Trixy did it."
"Trixy!" echoed both ladies.
"Why," said the child, "I only told him all about Mr. Jermyn and Miss
Trewman. The lady in the White House told me he was the right man to
ask if Mr. Jermyn couldn't go back to New York with us, so I asked
him." Then Trixy looked up with the inquiring air she always had when
she suspected she had done something wrong, but didn't know what it was.
"Bless me!" exclaimed Kate. "I wonder only that she didn't ask the
President himself."
"That's what I was goin' to do," explained Trixy, "but the lady said
the other man was the right one, so I asked him."
All three adults stopped and stared fixedly at Trixy, at which the
child began to cry; so Trif picked her up and kissed her and told
her to "never mind," and Kate stooped and kissed her, and when she
lifted her head there were tears in her eyes; so Trif looked hurriedly
toward the War Department and said it was good for the public sense of
propriety and dignity that the Secretary was out of sight, otherwise it
would be just like Kate to kiss him also, as she had kissed the Admiral
on a certain occasion.
Kate hurried the party away; she explained later that while looking
toward the White House she was sure that she saw the hostess looking
through the window at her and smiling at her.
"I declare!" she said, with downcast eyes and cheeks a-flame, "there's
no living with Trixy, nor----"
"Nor any living without her--eh?" added Jermyn.
The remainder of the day was the very merriest, so four people said,
that any party had ever spent in Washington. Jermyn took his guests to
the old chamber of the House of Representatives, and mystified them
a few moments with the "whispering gallery" over the Speaker's desk,
making Kate his latest victim, despite her appeals to him to be quiet,
and his assurances that no one else could hear a word he was saying,
although he was forty feet away. Kate became so embarrassed that she
suddenly withdrew and Trixy took her place--a change which Jermyn did
not notice until he heard a peal of childish laughter, and, stepping
forward, saw Kate and Trif standing some steps from the arch and Trixy
joining them, and saying:
"That's the funniest thing I ever heard of!"
"What is the funniest thing, dear?" asked Trif.
"Trixy," exclaimed Jermyn, "don't tell, please."
"But I must mind mamma," pleaded the child. "Besides----"
"Trixy," exclaimed Jermyn, "if you repeat what I said I'll never speak
to you again."
"Trixy," said Kate, "if you don't tell I'll never speak to you again--I
mean," for Kate had caught an appealing look from Jermyn--"I won't
speak to you if you do tell."
The child was so confused that she did not know what to do, so she
turned to her mother for advice, and Trif hurried her a few steps in
advance.
"Remember, Trixy!" cried Kate after them.
"Don't forget, Trixy!" shouted Jermyn, in his sternest tone of command.
Two more uncomfortable lovers than Kate and Jermyn were in the next
five minutes could not have been found anywhere, for Kate wondered what
it was all about and insisted upon knowing, and Jermyn replied that
he would tell her at some future time, and Kate wanted to know why he
couldn't tell her at once, and Jermyn replied, somewhat sheepishly,
that some things might be said in the privacy of a whispering gallery
that could not easily be said face to face in a crowded street, upon
which Kate wailed:
"But that child heard it!"
"Never mind, my dear; she'll forget it."
"Not she! I'm beginning to believe that the smaller the child the less
chance there is of her forgetting what shouldn't be remembered. And,
oh, Jermyn! Of all men in the world, here comes Admiral Allison! What
if she should tell him?"
"If she does," said Jermyn desperately, "I'll never again dare look him
in the face; I shall always believe he is laughing at me. 'Tis all your
fault, my dear. If you hadn't made me love you so dearly, I wouldn't
have said----"
"Let us overtake them--quick!" said Kate.
"We've been up to the whisp'rin' gall'ry," Trixy was already saying to
the Admiral, "and----"
"Trixy!" sternly spoke three voices as one.
"What rare fortunes Providence has in store for old men!" exclaimed the
Admiral. "I greatly wanted and needed to see Jermyn, this very day,
and I not only find him unexpectedly, but get a couple of glimpses of
Paradise beside--yes, three, for here is Trixy also."
"Paradise?" echoed Trixy. "It was somethin' about Paradise that----"
"Trixy!" said Jermyn warningly.
"Allow me," said the Admiral, "to take you all to a hotel, where I may
rob you of Jermyn a few moments."
Jermyn took the child's hand, placed himself between her and the
Admiral, and thus they walked to the hotel.