"Whew! how tired I am! Well, you are welcome to it. As for me, it's
the last life I should choose. I like the uniform very well,
especially when I go where the girls are--they always give a cadet's
suit a second glance--but as for the 'profession of arms,' as you
call it, excuse me."

"What! would you like, Le Grande, always to be playing lady's man?"

"Oh! yes; and that reminds me, George, that I have a new lady-love;
she is at Madam Truxton's. To-day, at intermission, let's saunter
down to the seminary, and catch a glimpse of the girls. Maybe I'll
see her."

"I can't; at intermission I must study my Legendre. Look at the
clock now; it's late."

"Bother the Legendre! you are the strangest fellow I ever saw--care
no more for the girls than a 'cat does for holidays.' Won't you go?"

"Not to-day, Le Grande. I am very busy."

The clock struck nine, and George Marshall, with the other disbanded
cadets, hurried to the duties of the day--to the hard task of study
that awaited them within the grim walls of the citadel.

For a moment before turning to his books, George Marshall looked out
of the window, far away to the blue, misty harbor. There he saw
again old Fort Defiance, standing grim, stern, and dark against the
morning sky--the only object that marred the brightness of the blue
heaven and the blue water, melting together in the distance.