"Oh, he has passed many difficult exams," cried Giselle, coming to the
rescue.

"I thought I had had enough of school," said Fred, without making any
defense, "and besides I had other reasons for going into the navy."

His "other reasons" had been a wish to emancipate himself from the
excessive solicitude of his mother, who kept him tied to her apron-
strings like a little girl. He was impatient to do something for
himself, to become a man as soon as possible. But he said nothing of all
this, and to escape further questions devoured three or four little cakes
that were offered him. Before taking them he removed his gloves and
displayed a pair of chapped and horny hands.

"Why--poor Fred!" cried Jacqueline, who remarked them in a moment, "what
kind of almond paste do you use?"

Much annoyed, he replied, curtly: "We all have to row, we have also to
attend to the machinery. But that is only while we are cadets. Of
course, such apprenticeship is very hard. After that we shall get our
stripes and be ordered on foreign service, and expect promotion."

"And glory," said Giselle, who found courage to speak.

Fred thanked her with a look of gratitude. She, at least, understood his
profession. She entered into his feelings far better than Jacqueline,
who had been his first confidante--Jacqueline, to whom he had confided
his purposes, his ambition, and his day-dreams. He thought Jacqueline
was selfish. She seemed to care only for herself. And yet, selfish or
not selfish, she pleased him better than all the other girls he knew--