"If I do," promised Dave, "I shall merely look over his head when we
meet, unless he repeats the offense that brought him that thrashing."

Ardmore, however, did not appear in Gridley again during Dave's leave
of absence.

Dave and Dan tasted, to the full, the delights of life in the old home
town until the day when it was necessary for them to take train and
return to Annapolis.

"Mother, Laura and I will go down to Annapolis whenever we hear from
you as to the best time for coming," Miss Meade promised at the
railway station.

Then she found chance to murmur, in a voice too low for any of the others
present to hear:

"And I'll try hard not to be such a goose as I was last winter!"

She referred to the trouble that had been made by another girl at
Annapolis, the circumstances of which are wholly familiar to the readers
of the earlier volumes of this series.

"I don't blame you for the way you felt last winter," Dave assured her
heartily, "Next time, however, I hope you'll come to me first for an
explanation."

"There isn't going to be any next time, Dave."