And Leonard Cameron isn't a bad fellow, even if he does prefer the yardstick to a sword!" As for Dick, his evening was spoiled.

His sense of honor prevented his "speaking" to Laura until he felt that his future in the Army was assured.
Yet spoiled as his evening was, Prescott did his best to make it a bright occasion for Laura Bentley.
The next morning, while the members of the cadet corps were grinding at recitations, or boning over study desks in barracks, Mrs.Bentley and the girls rode down the slope in the stage and boarded a train for New York.
Dick had not "spoken.".