And Peggy had to meekly submit, realizing that there were some laws which even a Stewart might not violate.  So on Saturday afternoon Comet and Meteor tooled the surrey along by beautiful woodland and field, Peggy clad in her pretty autumn suit and hat, her suitcase at Jess’ feet, and herself as properly dignified as the occasion demanded, while in her secret heart she resolved to enlist Mrs. Harold upon her side and in future make her visits with less ceremony.

CHAPTER VII

PEGGY STEWART:  CHATELAINE

Peggy had entered a new world.  Plunged into one, would perhaps better express it, so sudden had been her entrance, and her letters to Daddy Neil, now on his way to Guantanamo for the fall drills, were full of an enthusiasm which almost bewildered him and started a new train of thought.

As he knew most members of the personnel of the ships comprising the Atlantic fleet, he, of course, knew Commander Harold, though it had never occurred to him to associate him with Annapolis, or to make any inquiry regarding his home or his connections.  Like many another, he was merely a fellow-officer.  He was not a classmate, so his interest was less keen than it would have been had such been the case.  Moreover, Harold was in a different division of the fleet and they very rarely met.  But now the whole situation was changed by Peggy’s letter.  He would hunt up Mr. Harold at the first opportunity and with this common interest to bind them, much pleasure was in store.

True to her word, Peggy sent her letter off every Sunday afternoon—­a conscientious report of the week’s happenings.  Her “log,” she called it, and it was the comfort of Daddy Neil’s life.

Meanwhile, she spent about half of her time with Mrs. Harold and Polly, and in a very short time became as good a chum of Mrs. Harold’s “boys,” the midshipmen, as was Polly.  There was always something doing over at the Academy, and as Mrs. Harold’s guest, Peggy was naturally included.  At present football practice was absorbing the interest of the Academic world and its friends, for in a few weeks the big Army-Navy game would take place up in Philadelphia and Mrs. Harold had already invited Peggy to go to it with her party.  Peggy had never even seen a practice game until taken over to the Naval Academy field with her friends, where the boys teased her unmercifully because she asked why they didn’t “have a decently shaped round ball instead of a leather watermelon which wouldn’t do a thing but flop every which way, and call it tussle-ball instead of football?”