pleasure too, and so I told him. We
arranged for the hour, and Mr. Thorold hastened away.

CHAPTER XV.

FORT PUTNAM.

"I am going to Fort Putnam this afternoon, with Mr. Thorold," I
announced to Mrs. Sandford, after dinner.

"Who is Mr. Thorold?"

"One of the cadets."

"One of the cadets! So it has got hold of you at last, Daisy!"

"What, Mrs. Sandford?"

"But Fort Putnam? My dearest child, it is very hot!"

"Oh, yes, ma'am--I don't mind it."

"Well, I am very glad, if you don't," said Mrs. Sandford. "And I am
very glad Grant has taken himself off to the White Lakes. He gave
nobody else any chance. It will do you a world of good."

"What will?" I asked, wondering.

"Amusement, dear--amusement. Something a great deal better than
Grant's 'elogies and 'ologies. Now this would never have happened if
he had been at home."

I did not understand her, but then I knew she did not understand the
pursuits she so slighted; and it was beyond my powers to enlighten
her. So I did not try.

Mr. Thorold was punctual, and so was I; and we set forth at five
o'clock, I at least was happy as it was possible to be. Warm it was,
yet; we went slowly down the road, in shadow and sunshine; tasting the
pleasantness, it seems to me, of every tree, and feeling the sweetness
of each breath; in that slight exhilaration of spirits which loses
nothing and forgets nothing. At least I have a good memory for such
times. There was a little excitement, no doubt, about going this walk
with a cadet and a stranger, which helped the whole effect.

I made use of my opportunity to gain a great deal of information which
Dr. Sandford could not give. I wanted to understand the meaning and the
use of many things I saw about the Point. Batteries and fortifications
were a mysterious jumble to me; shells were a horrible novelty; the whole
art and trade of a soldier, something well worth studying, but difficult
to see as a reasonable whole. The adaptation of parts to an end, I could
perceive; the end itself puzzled me.

"Yet there has always been fighting," said my companion.

"Yes," I assented.

"Then we must be ready for it."

But I was not prepared in this case with my answer.

"Suppose we were unjustly attacked?" said Mr. Thorold; and I thought
every one of the gilt buttons on his grey jacket repelled the idea of
a peaceable composition.

"I don't know," said I, pondering. "Why should the rule be different
for nations and for indi