a wild
desire to laugh and cry at the same instant.

"But how?" Amy was beginning dazedly when once more Betty came to the
rescue.

"All this would be funny if it weren't so impossible," she said. "Suppose
we begin at the beginning and tell our experiences, since we're all in the
same boat. It ought to be interesting--if not instructive."

Grace turned from the mirror and seated herself expectantly on the arm of
a chair.

"Well, who's first?" she demanded.

"I am," volunteered Mollie unexpectedly, her eyes glittering. "It was all
so utterly absurd, and it made me so m-mad that I had to c-cry--"

"So we see," murmured Grace impatiently, but once more Betty sent her a
warning glance.

"And then--" she suggested.

"Well, Frank and I were taking a little walk when all of a sudden I
happened to think of the bayonet drill Sergeant Mullins had invited us
to."

Betty and Grace started and leaned forward eagerly in their chairs.

"Yes?" they breathed.

"Well," continued Mollie, her color rising, "I don't know whatever got
into Frank--he never used to be like that. He just sort of froze up and
wouldn't answer my questions or anything until I got so angry I told him
that if he didn't tell me what the matter was I'd say good-by to him right
there and wouldn't ever speak to him again."

"Yes?" breathed the girls again.

"Then what did he say?" asked Grace.

"Why, he just got red in the face," replied Mollie, "and said all right
then, he'd tell me what the matter was. And then he said"--she laughed a
little hysterically--"that he just couldn't stand the thought of my seeing
so much of Sergeant Mullins--think of it--me, who have never said two
words alone to the man in my life!"

"Well, I never!" Betty exploded, while the usually placid Grace seemed
hardly able to keep her seat. "That's almost exactly what Allen said!"

"And Roy, too!" cried Grace dazedly. "Girls, what does it mean?"

"It seems to mean," put in Amy dryly, "that one or all of us are ready for
the insane asylum."

"Allen said," Betty contributed, wide-eyed, "that it made him mad to see
the way that Sergeant Mullins hung around the Hostess House all the time.
He made it quite plain that there was no doubt but what I was the main
attraction."

"And Roy thinks it's me," said Grace, her own grammar suffering from
excitement. "Goodness! does he think the poor boy is after all of us?"

"Thinks he's going to start a harem, maybe," cried Mollie hyster