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Dave Darrin's Fourth Year at Annapolis, a fiction by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 15. Dan Feels As "Sold" As He Looks |
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_ CHAPTER XV. DAN FEELS AS "SOLD" AS HE LOOKS It was the first hop after the New Year. "Tell me one thing Dave," begged Belle Meade, who, with Laura Bentley, and accompanied by Mrs. Meade, had come down to Annapolis for this dance. "I'll tell you two things, if I know how," Darrin responded promptly. "Dan has danced a little with Laura, to be sure, but he introduced Mr. Farley to her, and has written down Farley's name for a lot of dances on Laura's card." "Farley is a nice fellow," Dave replied. "But why didn't Dan want more of the dances with Laura, instead of turning them over to Mr. Farley?" followed up Belle. "And---there he goes now." "Farley?" "No, stupid! Dan." "Well, why shouldn't he move about?" Midshipman Darrin inquired. "But with---By the way, who is that girl, anyway?" The girl was tall, rather stately and of a pronounced blonde type. She was a girl who would have been called more than merely pretty by any one who had seen her going by on Midshipman Dalzell's arm. "I don't really know who she is," Dave admitted. "Have you seen her here before?" "Yes; I think I have seen the young lady half a dozen times before to-night." "Then it's odd that you don't know who she is," pursued Miss Meade. "I've never been introduced to her, you see." "Oh! I imagined that you midshipmen were always being presented to girls." "That's a fairy tale," said Dave promptly. "The average midshipman has about all he can do to hold his place here, without losing any time in running around making the acquaintances of young women who probably don't care at all about knowing him." "What I'm wondering about," Belle went on, "is whether the young woman we have been discussing is any one in whom Dan Dalzell is seriously interested." "I'll ask Dan." "Oh! And I suppose you'll tell him that it's I who really want to know." "I'll tell him that, too, if you wish it." "Dave, you won't even mention my name to Dan in connection with any topic so silly." "All right, Belle. All I want is my sailing orders. I know how to follow them." "You're teasing me," Miss Meade went on, pouting. "I don't mean to be curious, but I noticed that Dan appears to be quite attentive to the young lady, and I was wondering whether Dan had met his fate---that's all." "I don't know," smiled Midshipman Darrin, "and I doubt if Dan does, either. He's just the kind of fellow who might ignore girls for three years, then be ardently attentive to one for three days---and forget all about her in a week." "Is Dan such a flirt as that?" Belle demanded, looking horrified. "Dan---a flirt!" chuckled Dave. "I shall have to tell that to some of the fellows; it will amuse them. No; I wouldn't call Dan a flirt. He's anything but that. Dan will either remain a bachelor until he's past forty, or else some day he'll marry suddenly after having known the girl at least twenty-four hours. Dan hasn't much judgment where girls are concerned." "He appears to be able to tell a pretty girl when he sees one," argued Belle Meade, turning again to survey Dan's companion. Belle, with the sharp eyes and keen intuition of her sex, was quite justified in believing that Midshipman Dalzell realized fully the charms of the girl with whom he was talking. Miss Catharine Atterly was the only daughter of wealthy parents, though her father had started life as a poor boy. Daniel Atterly, however, had been shrewd enough to know the advantages of a better education than he had been able to absorb in his boyhood. Miss Catharine, therefore, had been trained in some of the most expensive, if not the best, schools in the country. She was a buxom, healthy girl, full of the joy of living, yet able to conceal her enthusiasm under the polish that she had acquired in the schools she had attended. Miss Atterly, on coming to Annapolis, had conceived a considerable liking for the Naval uniform, and had attracted Dan to her side within the last three days. And Dan had felt his heart beating faster when nearing this pretty young creature. Now, he was endeavoring to display himself to the best advantage before her eyes. "You midshipmen have a very graceful knack of being charmingly attentive to the ladies," Miss Atterly suggested coyly. "We receive a little bit of training in social performance, if that is what you mean, Miss Atterly," Dan replied. "And that enables you to be most delightfully attentive to every girl that comes along?" "I don't know," Midshipman Dalzell replied slowly. "I haven't had much experience." Miss Atterly laughed as though she felt certain that she knew better. "Do you say that to every girl?" she asked. "I don't get many chances," Dan insisted. "Miss Atterly, all the hops that I've attended could be counted on your fingers, without using the thumbs?" "Oh, really?" "It is the truth, I assure you. Some of the midshipmen attend many hops. Most of us are too busy over our studies as a rule." "Then you prefer books to the society of girls?" "It isn't that," replied Dan, growing somewhat red under Miss Atterly's amused scrutiny. "The fact is that a fellow comes here to the Naval Academy for the purpose of becoming an officer in the Navy." "To be sure." "And, unless the average fellow hugs his books tightly he doesn't have any show to get through and become an officer. There are some fellows, of course, to whom the studies come easily. With most of us it's a terrible grind. Even with the grind about forty per cent. of the fellows who enter the Naval Academy are found deficient and are dropped. If you are interested in knowing, I had a fearful time in keeping up with the requirements." "Oh, you poor boy!" cried Miss Atterly half tenderly. "I never felt that I wanted any sympathy," Dan declared stoutly. "If I couldn't keep up, then the only thing to do was to go back to civil life and find my own level among my own kind." "Now, that was truly brave in you!" declared Miss Atterly, admiration shining in her eyes. "There's the music starting," Dan hastily reminded her. "Our dance." "Would it seem disagreeable in me if I asked you to sit out this number with me?" inquired the girl. "The truth is, I can dance any evening, but you and your brave fight here, Mr. Dalzell, interest me---oh, more than I can tell you!" Under this line of conversation Midshipman Dalzell soon began to feel highly uncomfortable. Miss Atterly, however, in getting Dan to talk of the midshipman and the Naval life, soon had him feeling at his ease. Nor could Dalzell escape noticing the fact that Miss Atterly appeared to enjoy his company hugely. Then Dan was led on into talking of the life of the Naval officer at sea, and he spoke eloquently. "A life of bravery and daring," commented Miss Atterly thoughtfully. "Yet, after all, I would call it rather a lonely life." "Perhaps it will prove so," Dalzell assented. "Yet it is all the life that I look forward to. It's all the life that I care about." "Despite the loneliness---or rather, because of it---it will seem all the finer and more beautiful to come home to wife and children," said Miss Atterly after a pause. "Nearly all Naval officers marry, don't they?" "I---I believe they do," Dalzell stammered. "I---I never asked any Naval officers for statistics." "Now, you are becoming droll," cried Miss Atterly, her laughter ringing out. "I didn't mean to be," Dan protested. "I beg your pardon." Whereat Miss Atterly laughed more than ever. "I like you even better when you're droll," Miss Atterly informed him. Something in the way that she said it pleased Midshipman Dalzell so immensely that he began to notice, more than before, what a very fine girl Miss Atterly was. Then, to win her applause, Dan made the mistake of trying to be funny, whereat the girl was extremely kind. "Dave," whispered Belle soon after the music had stopped, "I can't get away from the belief that Dan's companion is leading him on. See! Dan now looks at her almost adoringly." Laura Bentley, too, had noticed Dan's preoccupation, but she merely smiled within herself. She did not believe that Dan could really be serious where girls were concerned. Now, as Laura's midshipman partner led her to a seat, and soon left her, Dan, tearing himself away from Miss Atterly, came to remind Laura that his name was written on her card for the next dance. "Very fine girl I've been talking with, Laura," Dan confided in the straightforward way that he had always used with Miss Bentley, who was such a very old school friend. "She certainly is very pretty," Laura nodded. "And---er---distinguished looking, don't you think?" Dan ventured. "Yes, indeed." "But I was speaking more of her character---at least, her disposition. Miss Atterly is highly sympathetic. I wish you'd meet her, Laura." "I shall be delighted to do so, Dan." "After this dance, then? And I want Belle to meet her, too. Miss Atterly has noticed you both, and was much interested when she learned that you were old school-day friends of mine." So, after the music had ceased, Dan escorted Laura over to where Dave and Belle were chatting. "Belle," asked Dan in his most direct way, "will you come and be introduced to Miss Atterly?" "The young lady you've been dancing with so much?" Miss Meade inquired. "The tall, stately blonde?" "Yes," Dan nodded. "I shall be glad to meet Miss Atterly. But how about her? Do you think she could stand the shock?" "Miss Atterly is very anxious to meet you both," Dalzell assured Belle. "Take me over and shock her, then," laughed Belle. Dan stood gazing about the scene. "I---I wonder where Miss Atterly is?" Dan mused aloud. "Oh, I can tell you," Belle answered. "A moment ago she went through the entrance over yonder." "Alone?" "No; an older woman, probably Miss Atterly's mother, was with her." "Oh! Let's look them up, then, if you don't mind." As Belle rose, taking Dave's arm, Dan and Laura took the lead. Just beyond the entrance that Belle had indicated no one else was in sight when the four young friends reached the spot. There was a clump of potted tropical shrubbery at one side. On the other side of this shrubbery sat Mrs. and Miss Atterly, engaged in conversation. "Why do you prefer to sit in this out-of-the-way place, Catharine?" her mother inquired, just as the young people came up. "I want to get away from two rather goodlooking but very ordinary girls that Mr. Dalzell wants to present to me, mamma," she replied. "If they are midshipmen's friends are they too ordinary to know?" inquired Mrs. Atterly. "Mamma, if I am going to interest Mr. Dalzell, I don't want other girls stepping in at every other moment. I don't want to know his girl friends." "Are you attracted to Mr. Dalzell, Cathy?" asked her mother. "Not especially, I assure you, mamma." "Oh, then it is not a serious affair." "It may be," laughed the girl lightly. "If I can learn to endure Mr. Dalzell, then I may permit him to marry me when he is two years older and has his commission." "Even if you don't care much for him?" asked Mrs. Atterly, almost shocked. "If I marry," pouted Miss Atterly, "I don't want a husband that leaves the house every morning, and returns every evening." "Cathy!" "Well, I don't! In some ways I suppose it's nice to be a married woman. One has more freedom in going about alone. Now, a Naval officer, mamma, would make the right sort of husband for me. He'd be away, much of the time, on long cruises." "But I understand, Cathy, that sometimes a Naval officer has a year or two of shore duty." "If that happened," laughed the girl, "I could take a trip to Europe couldn't I? And the social position of a Naval officer isn't a bad one. His wife enjoys the same social position, you know, mamma." "Yet why Mr. Dalzell, if you really don't care anything about him?" "Because he's so simple, mamma. He would be dreadfully easy to manage!" The four young people looking for the Atterlys had unavoidably heard every word. They halted, Dan violently red in the face. Then Laura, with quick tact, wheeled about and led the way back to the ball room floor. "Better luck next time, Dan," whispered Belle, gripping Dalzell's arm. "Don't you think twice is enough for a simpleton like me?" blurted Midshipman Dan. _ |
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