“No; heaven bless her!”

“Now, see here, Dick.  If the girls are up here this evening, we won’t take ’em to the hop.  Instead, we’ll sit out on the north porch at the hotel, with Mrs. Bentley near by.  We’ll have such a good old talk with the girls as we never could have at a hop.”

“Everything in life would be easy, Greg, if you could explain it away,” laughed Dick Prescott, but his tone was bitter.

“Well, as you can’t take the girls to the hop, with any regard for their comfort, my plan is best of all, isn’t it?”

“I—–­I suppose so.”

“So make the best of it, old ramrod.  There’s nothing so bad that it couldn’t be a lot worse.”

There was a long tour of work with the field battery guns that afternoon.  For once Prescott found his mind entirely off his work.  Nor could he rally his senses to his work.  He got a low marking, indeed, in the instructor’s record for that afternoon’s work.

Then, hot, dusty and tired, this detachment of cadets came in from work.

In the visitors’ seats, near headquarters, Dick and Greg espied Mrs. Bentley and the girls.  How lovely the two latter looked!

The instant that ranks were broken Laura. and Belle were on their feet, glancing eagerly in the direction of their cadets.  Dick and Greg had to go over, doff their campaign hats and shake hands with Mrs. Bentley and the girls.

“We’ve given you a surprise, this time,” laughed Laura.  “I hope you’re pleased.”

“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.”