"But you think he won't?"

"It is likely, Belle, that there will be a court of inquiry at least."

"Oh, dear!" cried Belle, a few tears gleaming in her eyes now. "Why
should so much fuss be made over the matter?"

"Because I am being trained to be an officer in the Navy. An officer must
be a gentleman as well. Any charge affecting a Naval officer's honor or
courtesy must be investigated, in order that the government may know
whether the accused is fit to hold an officer's commission. The
government wouldn't be dealing justly with the people if such standards
were not observed."

"And I am the cause of all this trouble for you?" cried Belle.

"No, Belle, you are not. You have nothing to do with the matter, except
indirectly. Ardmore is the one responsible for the trouble. If he had not
insulted you he wouldn't have gotten into any difficulty."

"It seems too bad, just the same."

"It's annoying; that's all," Dave assured her. "If I had to do the same
thing over again, for the same reason, I'd do it cheerfully."

Mrs. Meade heard of it all, from her daughter. Without saying a word as
to her intentions the mother herself wrote a letter to the Secretary of
the Navy. Mrs. Meade set forth the persistent fashion in which Ardmore
had sought to force his attentions upon Belle, to the latter's great
annoyance. Mrs. Meade's letter declared that Darrin had taken the only