"I thought you weren't coming, Lieutenant Kenton," she said. "Some one
said that you had gone into the smoking-room and that you were talking
war with middle-aged generals and colonels."
"But I escaped as soon as I could, Miss Rosamond," he said--he was
thinking of the locked door and the universal search.
"Well, you came just in time. The band is beginning and I was about to
give your dance to that good-looking Lieutenant Dalton."
"You wouldn't treat me like that! Throw over your cousin in such a
manner! I can't think it!"
"No, I wouldn't!"
Then the full swell of the music caught them both, and they glided away,
as light and swift as the melody that bore them on.
CHAPTER XI
A VAIN PURSUIT
Youth was strong in Harry, and, while he danced and the music played,
he forgot all about the incident in the smoking-room. With him it was
just one pretty girl after another. He had heart enough for them all,
and only one who was so young and who had been so long on battlefields
could well understand what a keen, even poignant, pleasure it was to be
with them.
Those were the days when a ball lasted long. Pleasures did not come
often, but when they came they were to be enjoyed to the full.
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