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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Major, by Ralph Connor
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Major
+
+Author: Ralph Connor
+
+Release Date: May 30, 2006 [EBook #3249]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAJOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MAJOR
+
+By Ralph Connor
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I     THE COWARD
+
+II    A FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
+
+III   THE ESCUTCHEON CLEARED
+
+IV    SALVAGE
+
+V     WESTWARD HO!
+
+VI    JANE BROWN
+
+VII   THE GIRL OF THE WOOD LOT
+
+VIII  YOU FORGOT ME
+
+IX    EXCEPT HE STRIVE LAWFULLY
+
+X     THE SPIRIT OF CANADA
+
+XI    THE SHADOW OF WAR
+
+XII   MEN AND A MINE
+
+XIII  A DAY IN SEPTEMBER
+
+XIV   AN EXTRAORDINARY NURSE
+
+XV    THE COMING OF JANE
+
+XVI   HOSPITALITY WITHOUT GRUDGING
+
+XVII  THE TRAGEDIES OF LOVE
+
+XVIII THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
+
+XIX   THE CLOSING OF THE DOOR
+
+XX    THE GERMAN TYPE OF CITIZENSHIP
+
+XXI   WAR
+
+XXII  THE TUCK OF DRUM
+
+XXIII A NEUTRAL NATION
+
+XXIV  THE MAJOR AND THE MAJOR'S WIFE
+
+
+
+
+THE MAJOR
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COWARD
+
+
+Spring had come. Despite the many wet and gusty days which April
+had thrust in rude challenge upon reluctant May, in the glory of the
+triumphant sun which flooded the concave blue of heaven and the myriad
+shaded green of earth, the whole world knew to-day, the whole world
+proclaimed that spring had come. The yearly miracle had been performed.
+The leaves of the maple trees lining the village street unbound from
+their winter casings, the violets that lifted brave blue eyes from the
+vivid grass carpeting the roadside banks, the cherry and plum blossoms
+in the orchards decking the still leafless trees with their pink and
+white favours, the timid grain tingeing with green the brown fields that
+ran up to the village street on every side--all shouted in chorus that
+spring had come. And all the things with new blood running wild in their
+veins, the lambs of a few days still wobbly on ridiculous legs skipping
+over and upon the huge boulders in farmer Martin's meadow, the birds
+thronging the orchard trees, the humming insects rioting in the
+genial sun, all of them gave token of strange new impulses calling for
+something more than mere living because spring had come.
+
+Upon the topmost tip of the taller of the twin poplars that flanked the
+picket gate opening upon the Gwynnes' little garden sat a robin, his
+head thrown back to give full throat to the song that was like to burst
+his heart, monotonous, unceasing, rapturous. On the door step of the
+Gwynnes' house, arrested on the threshold by the robin's song, stood the
+Gwynne boy of ten years, his eager face uplifted, himself poised like a
+bird for flight.
+
+"Law-r-ence," clear as a bird call came the voice from within.
+
+"Mo-th-er," rang the boy's voice in reply, high, joyous and shrill.
+
+"Ear-ly! Remember!"
+
+"Ri-ght a-way af-ter school. Good-bye, mo-ther, dear," called the boy.
+
+"W-a-i-t," came the clear, birdlike call again, and in a moment the
+mother came running, stood beside the boy, and followed his eye to the
+robin on the poplar tree. "A brave little bird," she said. "That is
+the way to meet the day, with a brave heart and a bright song. Goodbye,
+boy." She kissed him as she spoke, giving him a slight pat on the
+shoulder. "Away you go."
+
+But the boy stood fascinated by the bird so gallantly facing his day.
+His mother's words awoke in him a strange feeling. "A brave heart and a
+bright song"--so the knights in the brave days of old, according to his
+Stories of the Round Table, were wont to go forth. In imitation of the
+bird, the boy threw back his head, and with another cheery good-bye to
+his mother, sprang clear of the steps and ran down the grass edged path,
+through the gate and out onto the village street. There he stood first
+looking up the country road which in the village became a street. There
+was nothing to be seen except that in the Martin orchard "Ol' Martin"
+was working with his team under the trees which came in rows down to
+the road. Finding nothing to interest him there, he turned toward the
+village and his eyes searched the street. Opposite the Gwynnes' gate,
+Dr. Bush's house stood back among the trees, but there was no sign of
+life about it. Further down on the same side of the street, the Widow
+Martin's cottage, with porch vine covered and windows bright with
+flowers, hid itself under a great spreading maple. In front of the
+cottage the Widow Martin herself was busy in the garden. He liked the
+Widow Martin but found her not sufficiently exciting to hold him this
+spring morning. A vacant lot or two and still on the same side came the
+blacksmith's shop just at the crossroads, and across the street from
+it his father's store. But neither at the blacksmith's shop nor at
+the store across from it was there anything to awaken even a passing
+interest. Some farmers' teams and dogs, Pat Larkin's milk wagon with
+its load of great cans on its way to the cheese factory and some stray
+villagers here and there upon the street intent upon their business. Up
+the street his eye travelled beyond the crossroads where stood on the
+left Cheatley's butcher shop and on the right McKenny's hotel with
+attached sheds and outhouses. Over the bridge and up the hill the street
+went straight away, past the stone built Episcopal Church whose spire
+lifted itself above the maple trees, past the Rectory, solid, square and
+built of stone, past the mill standing on the right back from the street
+beside the dam, over the hill, and so disappeared. The whole village
+seemed asleep and dreaming among its maple trees in the bright sunlight.
+
+Throwing another glance at the robin still singing on the treetop
+overhead, the boy took from his pocket a mouth-organ, threw back his
+head, squared his elbows out from his sides to give him the lung room he
+needed, and in obedience to a sharp word of command after a preliminary
+tum, tum, tum, struck up the ancient triumph hymn in memory of that
+hero of the underground railroad by which so many slaves of the South in
+bygone days made their escape "up No'th" to Canada and to freedom.
+
+"Glory, glory, hallelujah, his soul goes marching on." By means of
+"double-tongueing," a recently acquired accomplishment, he was able to
+give a full brass band effect to his hymn of freedom. Many villagers
+from door or window cast a kindly and admiring eye upon the gallant
+little figure stepping to his own music down the street. He was brass
+band, conductor, brigadier general all in one, and behind him marched
+an army of heroes off for war and deathless glory, invisible and
+invincible. To the Widow Martin as he swung past the leader flung a wave
+of his hand. With a tender light in her old eyes the Widow Martin waved
+back at him. "God bless his bright face," she murmured, pausing in
+her work to watch the upright little figure as he passed along. At the
+blacksmith's shop the band paused.
+
+
+        Tink, tink, tink, tink,
+      Tink, tink-a-tink-tink-tink.
+        Tink tink, tink, tink,
+      Tink, tink-a-tink-tink-tink.
+
+
+The conductor graduated the tempo so as to include the rhythmic beat
+of the hammer with the other instruments in his band. The blacksmith
+looked, smiled and let his hammer fall in consonance with the beat of
+the boy's hand, and for some moments there was glorious harmony between
+anvil and mouth organ and the band invisible. At the store door across
+the street the band paused long enough simply to give and receive an
+answering salute from the storekeeper, who smiled upon his boy as he
+marched past. At the crossroads the band paused, marking time. There was
+evidently a momentary uncertainty in the leader's mind as to direction.
+The road to the right led straight, direct, but treeless, dusty,
+uninviting, to the school. It held no lure for the leader and his
+knightly following. Further on a path led in a curve under shady trees
+and away from the street. It made the way to school longer, but the lure
+of the curving, shady path was irresistible. Still stepping bravely to
+the old abolitionist hymn, the procession moved along, swung into the
+path under the trees and suddenly came to a halt. With a magnificent
+flourish the band concluded its triumphant hymn and with the conductor
+and brigadier the whole brigade stood rigidly at attention. The cause
+of this sudden halt was to be seen at the foot of a maple tree in the
+person of a fat lump of good natured boy flesh supine upon the ground.
+
+"Hello, Joe; coming to school?"
+
+"Ugh," grunted Joe, from the repose of limitless calm.
+
+"Come on, then, quick, march." Once more the band struck up its hymn.
+
+"Hol' on, Larry, it's plenty tam again," said Joe. The band came to a
+stop. "I don' lak dat school me," he continued, still immersed in calm.
+
+Joe's struggles with an English education were indeed tragically
+pathetic. His attempts with aspirates were a continual humiliation to
+himself and a joy to the whole school. No wonder he "no lak dat school."
+Besides, Joe was a creature of the open fields. His French Canadian
+father, Joe Gagneau, "Ol' Joe," was a survival of a bygone age, the
+glorious golden age of the river and the bush, of the shanty and the
+raft, of the axe and the gun, the age of Canadian romance, of daring
+deed, of wild adventure.
+
+"An' it ees half-hour too queek," persisted Joe. "Come on hup to de
+dam." A little worn path invited their feet from the curving road, and
+following their feet, they found themselves upon a steep embankment
+which dammed the waters into a pond that formed the driving power for
+the grist mill standing near. At the farther end of the pond a cedar
+bush interposed a barrier to the sight and suggested mysterious things
+beyond. Back of the cedar barrier a woods of great trees, spruce,
+balsam, with tall elms and maples on the higher ground beyond, offered
+deeper mysteries and delights unutterable. They knew well the cedar
+swamp and the woods beyond. Partridges drummed there, rabbits darted
+along their beaten runways, and Joe had seen a woodcock, that shyest of
+all shy birds, disappear in glancing, shadowy flight, a ghostly, silent
+denizen of the ghostly, silent spaces of the forest. Even as they
+gazed upon that inviting line of woods, the boys could see and hear the
+bluejays flash in swift flight from tree to tree and scream their joy of
+rage and love. From the farther side of the pond two boys put out in a
+flat-bottomed boat.
+
+"There's big Ben and Mop," cried Larry eagerly. "Hello, Ben," he called
+across the pond. "Goin' to school?"
+
+"Yap," cried Mop, so denominated from the quantity and cut of the hair
+that crowned his head. Ben was at the oars which creaked and thumped
+between the pins, but were steadily driving the snub-nosed craft on its
+toilsome way past the boys.
+
+"Hello, Ben," cried Larry. "Take us in too."
+
+"All right," said Ben, heading the boat for the bank. "Let me take an
+oar, Ben," said Larry, whose experience upon the world of waters was not
+any too wide.
+
+"Here, where you goin'," cried Mop, as the boat slowly but surely
+pointed toward the cedars. "You stop pulling, Ben. Now, Larry, pull
+around again. There now, she's right. Pull, Ben." But Ben sat rigid with
+his eyes intent upon the cedars.
+
+"What's the matter, Ben?" said Larry. Still Ben sat with fixed gaze.
+
+"By gum, he's in, boys," said Ben in a low voice. "I thought he had his
+nest in one of them stubs."
+
+"What is it--in what stub?" inquired Larry, his voice shrill with
+excitement.
+
+"That big middle stub, there," said Ben. "It's a woodpecker. Say, let's
+pull down and see it." Under Mop's direction the old scow gradually made
+its way toward the big stub.
+
+They explored the stub, finding in it a hole and in the hole a nest, the
+mother and father woodpeckers meanwhile flying in wild agitation from
+stub to stub and protesting with shrill cries against the intruders.
+Then they each must climb up and feel the eggs lying soft and snug in
+their comfy cavity. After that they all must discuss the probable time
+of hatching, the likelihood of there being other nests in other stubs
+which they proceeded to visit. So the eager moments gaily passed into
+minutes all unheeded, till inevitable recollection dragged them back
+from the world of adventure and romance to that of stern duty and dull
+toil.
+
+"Say, boys, we'll be late," cried Larry, in sudden panic, seizing his
+oar. "Come on, Ben, let's go."
+
+"I guess it's pretty late now," replied Ben, slowly taking up his oar.
+
+"Dat bell, I hear him long tam," said Joe placidly. "Oh, Joe!" cried
+Larry in distress. "Why didn't you tell us?"
+
+Joe shrugged his shoulders. He was his own master and superbly
+indifferent to the flight of time. With him attendance at school was a
+thing of more or less incidental obligation.
+
+"We'll catch it all right," said Mop with dark foreboding. "He was awful
+mad last time and said he'd lick any one who came late again and keep
+him in for noon too."
+
+The prospect was sufficiently gloomy.
+
+"Aw, let's hurry up anyway," cried Larry, who during his school career
+had achieved a perfect record for prompt and punctual attendance.
+
+In ever deepening dejection the discussion proceeded until at length Mop
+came forward with a daring suggestion.
+
+"Say, boys, let's wait until noon. He won't notice anything. We can
+easily fool him."
+
+This brought no comfort to Larry, however, whose previous virtues would
+only render this lapse the more conspicuous. A suggestion of Joe's
+turned the scale.
+
+"Dat woodchuck," he said, "he's got one hole on de hill by dere. He's
+big feller. We dron heem out."
+
+"Come on, let's," cried Mop. "It will be awful fun to drown the beggar
+out."
+
+"Guess we can't do much this morning, anyway," said Ben, philosophically
+making the best of a bad job. "Let's go, Larry." And much against his
+will, but seeing no way out of the dilemma, Larry agreed.
+
+They explored the woodchuck hole, failing to drown out that cunning
+subterranean architect who apparently had provided lines of retreat for
+just such emergencies as confronted him now. Wearied of the woodchuck,
+they ranged the bush seeking and finding the nests of bluejays and of
+woodpeckers, and in a gravel pit those of the sand martens. Joe led them
+to the haunts of the woodcock, but that shy bird they failed to glimpse.
+Long before the noon hour they felt the need of sustenance and found
+that Larry's lunch divided among the four went but a small way in
+satisfying their pangs of hunger. The other three, carefree and
+unconcerned for what the future might hold, roamed the woods during the
+afternoon, but to Larry what in other circumstances would have been a
+day of unalloyed joy, brought him only a present misery and a dread for
+the future. The question of school for the afternoon was only mentioned
+to be dismissed. They were too dirty and muddy to venture into the
+presence of the master. Consequently the obvious course was to wait
+until four o'clock when joining the other children they might slip home
+unnoticed.
+
+The afternoon soon began to lag. The woods had lost their first glamour.
+Their games grew to be burdensome. They were weary and hungry, and
+becoming correspondingly brittle in temper. Already Nemesis was on their
+trail. Sick at heart and weighted with forebodings, Larry listened
+to the plans of the other boys by which they expected to elude the
+consequences of their truancy. In the discussion of their plans Larry
+took no part. They offered him no hope. He knew that if he were prepared
+to lie, as they had cheerfully decided, his simple word would carry him
+through at home. But there the difficulty arose. Was he willing to lie?
+He had never lied to his mother in all his life. He visualised her face
+as she listened to him recounting his falsified tale of the day's doings
+and unconsciously he groaned aloud.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Larry?" inquired Mop, noticing his pale
+face.
+
+"Oh, nothing; it's getting a little cold, I guess."
+
+"Cold!" laughed Mop. "I guess you're getting scared all right."
+
+To this Larry made no reply. He was too miserable, too tired to explain
+his state of mind. He was doubtful whether he could explain to Mop or to
+Joe his unwillingness to lie to his mother.
+
+"It don't take much to scare you anyway," said Mop with an ugly grin.
+
+The situation was not without its anxieties to Mop, for while he felt
+fairly confident as to his ability to meet successfully his mother's
+cross examination, there was always a possibility of his father's taking
+a hand, and that filled him with a real dismay. For Mr. Sam Cheatley,
+the village butcher, was a man of violent temper, hasty in his judgments
+and merciless in his punishment. There was a possibility of unhappy
+consequences for Mop in spite of his practiced ability in deception.
+Hence his nerves were set a-jangling, and his temper, never very
+certain, was rather on edge. The pale face of the little boy annoyed
+him, and the little whimsical smile which never quite left his face
+confronted him like an insult.
+
+"You're scared," reiterated Mop with increasing contempt, "and you know
+you're scared. You ain't got any spunk anyway. You ain't got the spunk
+of a louse." With a quick grip he caught the boy by the collar (he was
+almost twice Larry's size), and with a jerk landed him on his back in a
+brush heap. The fall brought Larry no physical hurt, but the laughter of
+Joe and especially of big Ben, who in his eyes was something of a hero,
+wounded and humiliated him. The little smile, however, did not leave his
+face and he picked himself up and settled his coat about his collar.
+
+"You ain't no good anyway," continued Mop, with the native instinct of
+the bully to worry his victim. "You can't play nothin' and you can't
+lick nobody in the whole school."
+
+Both of these charges Larry felt were true. He was not fond of games and
+never had he experienced a desire to win fame as a fighter.
+
+"Aw, let him alone, can't you, Mop?" said big Ben. "He ain't hurtin' you
+none."
+
+"Hurtin' me," cried Mop, who for some unaccountable reason had worked
+himself into a rage. "He couldn't hurt me if he tried. I could lick him
+on my knees with one hand behind my back. I believe Joe there could lick
+him with one hand tied behind his back."
+
+"I bet he can't," said Ben, measuring Larry with his eye and desiring to
+defend him from this degrading accusation. "I bet he'd put up a pretty
+fine scrap," continued Ben, "if he had to." Larry's heart warmed to his
+champion.
+
+"Yes, if he had to," replied Mop with a sneer. "But he would never have
+to. He wouldn't fight a flea. Joe can lick him with one hand, can't you,
+Joe?"
+
+"I donno. I don' want fight me," said Joe.
+
+"No, I know you don't want to, but you could, couldn't you?" persisted
+Mop. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Ha, I told you so. Hurrah for my man,"
+cried Mop, clapping Joe on the back and pushing him toward Larry.
+
+Ben began to scent sport. He was also conscious of a rising resentment
+against Mop's exultant tone and manner.
+
+"I bet you," he said, "if Larry wanted to, he could lick Joe even if he
+had both hands, but if Joe's one hand is tied behind his back, why Larry
+would just whale the tar out of him. But Larry does not want to fight."
+
+"No," jeered Mop, "you bet he don't, he ain't got it in him. I bet you
+he daren't knock a chip off Joe's shoulder, and I will tie Joe's hand
+behind his back with his belt. Now there he is, bring your man on.
+There's a chip on his shoulder too."
+
+Larry looked at Joe, the little smile still on his face. "I don't want
+to fight Joe. What would I fight Joe for?" he said.
+
+"I told you so," cried Mop, dancing about. "He ain't got no fight in
+him.
+
+
+     Take a dare,
+     Take a dare,
+     Chase a cat,
+     And hunt a hare."
+
+
+Ben looked critically at Larry as if appraising the quality of his soul.
+"Joe can't lick you with one hand tied behind his back, can he, Larry?"
+
+"I don't want to fight Joe," persisted Larry still smiling.
+
+"Ya, ya," persisted Mop. "Here, Joe, you knock this chip off Larry's
+shoulder." Mop placed the gauge of battle on Larry's shoulder. "Go
+ahead, Joe."
+
+To Joe a fight with a friend or a foe was an event of common occurrence.
+With even a more dangerous opponent than Larry he would not have
+hesitated. For to decline a fight was with Joe utterly despicable. So
+placing himself in readiness for the blow that should have been the
+inevitable consequence, he knocked the chip off Larry's shoulder. Still
+Larry smiled at him.
+
+"Aw, your man's no good. He won't fight," cried Mop with unspeakable
+disgust. "I told you he wouldn't fight. Do you know why he won't fight?
+His mother belongs to that people, them Quakers, that won't fight for
+anything. He's a coward an' his mother's a coward before him."
+
+The smile faded from Larry's lips. His face which had been pale flamed
+a quick red, then as quickly became dead white. He turned from Joe and
+looked at the boy who was tormenting him. Mop was at least four years
+older, strongly and heavily built. For a moment Larry stood as though
+estimating Mop's fighting qualities. Then apparently making up his mind
+that on ordinary terms, owing to his lack in size and in strength, he
+was quite unequal to his foe, he looked quickly about him and his
+eye fell upon a stout and serviceable beechwood stake. With quiet
+deliberation he seized the club and began walking slowly toward Mop, his
+eyes glittering as if with madness, his face white as that of the dead.
+So terrifying was his appearance that Mop began to back away. "Here you,
+look out," he cried, "I will smash you." But Larry still moved steadily
+upon him. His white face, his burning eyes, his steady advance was more
+than Mop could endure. His courage broke. He turned and incontinently
+fled. Whirling the stick over his head, Larry flung the club with all
+his might after him. The club caught the fleeing Mop fairly between the
+shoulders. At the same time his foot caught a root. Down he went upon
+his face, uttering cries of deadly terror.
+
+"Keep him off, keep him off. He will kill me, he will kill me."
+
+But Larry having shot his bolt ignored his fallen enemy, and without a
+glance at him, or at either of the other boys, or without a word to
+any of them, he walked away through the wood, and deaf to their calling
+disappeared through the cedar swamp and made straight for home and
+to his mother. With even, passionless voice, with almost no sign of
+penitence, he told her the story of the day's truancy.
+
+As her discriminating eye was quick in discerning his penitence, so her
+forgiveness was quick in meeting his sin. But though her forgiveness
+brought the boy a certain measure of relief he seemed almost to take it
+for granted, and there still remained on his face a look of pain and
+of more than pain that puzzled his mother. He seemed to be in a maze
+of uncertainty and doubt and fear. His mother could not understand his
+distress, for Larry had told her nothing of his encounter with Mop.
+Throughout the evening there pounded through the boy's memory the
+terrible words, "He is a coward and his mother is a coward before him."
+Through his father's prayer at evening worship those words continued to
+beat upon his brain. He tried to prepare his school lessons for the day
+following, but upon the page before his eyes the same words took shape.
+He could not analyse his unutterable sense of shame. He had been afraid
+to fight. He knew he was a coward, but there was a deeper shame in which
+his mother was involved. She was a Quaker, he knew, and he had a more
+or less vague idea that Quakers would not fight. Was she then a coward?
+That any reflection should be made upon his mother stabbed him to the
+heart. Again and again Mop's sneering, grinning face appeared before
+his eyes. He felt that he could have gladly killed him in the woods, but
+after all, the paralysing thought ever recurred that what Mop said was
+true. His mother was a coward! He put his head down upon his books and
+groaned aloud.
+
+"What is it, dear?" inquired his mother.
+
+"I am going to bed, mother," he said.
+
+"Is your head bad?" she asked.
+
+"No, no, mother. It is nothing. I am tired," he said, and went upstairs.
+
+Before she went to sleep the mother, as was her custom, looked in upon
+him. The boy was lying upon his face with his arms flung over his head,
+and when she turned him over to an easier position, on the pillow and
+on his cheeks were the marks of tears. Gently she pushed back the thick,
+black, wavy locks from his forehead, and kissed him once and again. The
+boy turned his face toward her. A long sobbing sigh came from his parted
+lips. He opened his eyes.
+
+"That you, mother?" he asked, the old whimsical smile at his lips.
+"Good-night."
+
+He settled down into the clothes and in a moment was fast asleep. The
+mother stood looking down upon her boy. He had not told her his trouble,
+but her touch had brought him comfort, and for the rest she was content
+to wait.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
+
+
+The village schoolhouse was packed to the door. Over the crowded forms
+there fell a murky light from the smoky swinging lamp that left
+dark unexplored depths in the corners of the room. On the walls hung
+dilapidated maps at angles suggesting the interior of a ship's cabin
+during a storm, or a party of revellers, returning homeward, after
+the night before, gravely hilarious. Behind the platform a blackboard,
+cracked into irregular spaces, preserved the mental processes of the
+pupils during their working hours, and in sharp contrast to these the
+terribly depressing perfection of the teacher's exemplar in penmanship,
+which reminded the self-complacent slacker that "Eternal vigilance is
+the price of freedom."
+
+It was an evangelistic meeting. Behind the table, his face illumined by
+the lamp thereon, stood a man turning over the leaves of a hymn book.
+His aspect suggested a soul, gentle, mild and somewhat abstracted from
+its material environment. The lofty forehead gave promise of an idealism
+capable of high courage, indeed of sacrifice--a promise, however, belied
+somewhat by an irresolute chin partly hidden by a straggling beard. But
+the face was sincere and tenderly human. At his side upon the platform
+sat his wife behind a little portable organ, her face equally gentle,
+sincere and irresolute.
+
+The assembly--with the extraordinary patience that characterises public
+assemblies--waited for the opening of the meeting, following with
+attentive eyes the vague and trifling movements of the man at the table.
+Occasionally there was a rumble of deep voices in conversation, and
+in the dark corners subdued laughter--while on the front benches the
+animated and giggling whispering of three little girls tended to relieve
+the hour from an almost superhuman gravity.
+
+At length with a sudden acquisition of resolution the evangelist glanced
+at his watch, rose, and catching up a bundle of hymn books from the
+table thrust them with unnecessary energy into the hands of a boy who
+sat on the side bench beside his mother. The boy was Lawrence Gwynne.
+
+"Take these," said the man, "and distribute them, please."
+
+Lawrence taken thus by surprise paled, then flushed a quick red. He
+glanced up at his mother and at her slight nod took the books and
+distributed them among the audience on one side of the room while the
+evangelist took the other. As the lad passed from bench to bench with
+his books he was greeted with jocular and slightly jeering remarks in
+undertone by the younger members of the company, which had the effect
+of obviously increasing the ineptitude of his thin nervous fingers,
+but could not quite dispel the whimsical smile that lingered about the
+corners of his mouth and glanced from the corners of his grey-blue eyes.
+
+The meeting opened with the singing of a popular hymn which carried a
+refrain catchy enough but running to doggerel. Another hymn followed and
+another. Then abruptly the evangelist announced,
+
+"Now we shall have a truly GREAT hymn, a hymn you must sing in a truly
+great way, in what we call the grand style, number three hundred and
+sixty-seven."
+
+Then in a voice, deep, thrilling, vibrant with a noble emotion, he read
+the words:
+
+
+     "When I survey the wondrous cross
+        On which the Prince of Glory died,
+      My richest gain I count but loss,
+        And pour contempt on all my pride."
+
+
+They sang the verse, and when they had finished he stood looking at them
+in silence for a moment or two, then announced solemnly:
+
+"Friends, that will not do for this hymn. Sing it with your hearts.
+Listen to me."
+
+Then he sang a verse in a deep, strong baritone.
+
+"Now try."
+
+Timidly they obeyed him.
+
+"No, no, not at all," he shouted at them. "Listen."
+
+Again with exquisitely distinct articulation and in a tone rich in
+emotion and carrying in it the noble, penetrating pathos of the great
+words in which is embodied the passion of that heart subduing world
+tragedy. He would not let them try it again, but alone sang the hymn to
+the end. By the spell of his voice he had gripped them by the heart. The
+giggling girls in the front seat sat gazing at him with open mouths and
+lifted eyes. From every corner of the room faces once dull were filled
+with a great expectant look.
+
+"You will never sing those words as you should," he cried, "until you
+know and feel the glory of that wondrous cross. Never, never, never."
+His voice rose in a passionate crescendo.
+
+After he had finished singing the last great verse, he let his eyes
+wander over the benches until they rested upon the face of the lad on
+the side bench near him.
+
+"Aha, boy," he cried. "You can sing those words. Try that last verse."
+
+The boy stared, fascinated, at him.
+
+"Sing the last verse, boy," commanded the evangelist, "sing."
+
+As if impelled by another will than his own, the boy slowly, with his
+eyes still fastened on the man's face, threw back his head and began to
+sing. His voice rose, full, strong, in a quaint imitation in method of
+articulation and in voice production of the evangelist himself. At the
+third line of the verse the evangelist joined in great massive tones,
+beating time vigorously in a rallentando.
+
+
+     "Love so amazing, so divine,
+      Demands my soul, my life, my all."
+
+
+The effect was a great emotional climax, the spiritual atmosphere was
+charged with fervour. The people sat rigid, fixed in their places,
+incapable of motion, until released by the invitation of the leader,
+"Let us pray." The boy seemed to wake as from a sleep, glanced at his
+mother, then at the faces of the people in the room, sat down, and
+quickly covered his face with his hands and so remained during the
+prayer.
+
+The dramatic effect of the singing was gradually dispelled in the prayer
+and in a Scripture reading which followed. By the time the leader was
+about to begin his address, the people had almost relapsed into their
+normal mental and spiritual condition of benevolent neutrality. A second
+time a text was announced, when abruptly the door opened and up the
+aisle, with portentous impressiveness as of a stately ocean liner coming
+to berth, a man advanced whose presence seemed to fill the room and give
+it the feeling of being unpleasantly crowded. A buzz went through
+the seats. "The Rector! The Rector!" The evangelist gazed upon the
+approaching form and stood as if incapable of proceeding until this
+impressive personage should come to rest. Deliberately the Rector
+advanced to the side bench upon which Larry and his mother were seated,
+and slowly swinging into position calmly viewed the man upon the
+platform, the woman at the organ, the audience filling the room and then
+definitely came to anchor upon the bench.
+
+The preacher waited until this manoeuvre had been successfully
+accomplished, coughed nervously, made as if to move in the direction of
+the important personage on the side bench, hesitated, and finally with
+an air of embarrassment once more announced his text. At once the Rector
+was upon his feet.
+
+"Will you pardon me, sir," he began with elaborate politeness. "Do I
+understand you're a clergyman?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir," replied the evangelist, "just a plain preacher."
+
+"You are not in any Holy Orders then?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+"Are you an ordained or accredited minister of any of
+the--ah--dissenting bodies?"
+
+"Not exactly, sir."
+
+"Then, sir," demanded the Rector, "may I ask by what authority you
+presume to exercise the functions of the holy ministry and in my
+parish?"
+
+"Well--really--sir, I do not know why I--"
+
+"Then, sir, let me tell you this will not be permitted," said the Rector
+sternly. "There are regularly ordained and accredited ministers of the
+Church and of all religious bodies represented in this neighbourhood,
+and your ministrations are not required."
+
+"But surely, sir," said the evangelist hurriedly as if anxious to get in
+a word, "I may be permitted in this free country to preach the Gospel."
+
+"Sir, there are regularly ordained and approved ministers of the Gospel
+who are quite capable of performing this duty. I won't have it, sir. I
+must protect these people from unlicensed, unregulated--ah--persons, of
+whose character and antecedents we have no knowledge. Pray, sir," cried
+the Rector, taking a step toward the man on the platform, "whom do you
+represent?"
+
+The evangelist drew himself up quietly and said, "My Lord and Master,
+sir. May I ask whom do you represent?"
+
+It was a deadly thrust. For the first time during the encounter the
+Rector palpably gave ground.
+
+"Eh? Ah--sir--I--ah--ahem--my standing in this community is perfectly
+assured as an ordained clergyman of the Church of England in Canada.
+Have you any organisation or church, any organised Christian body to
+which you adhere and to which you are responsible?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What is that body?"
+
+"The Church of Christ--the body of believers."
+
+"Is that an organised body with ordained ministers and holy sacraments?"
+
+"We do not believe in a paid ministry with special privileges and
+powers," said the evangelist. "We believe that every disciple has a
+right to preach the glorious Gospel."
+
+"Ah, then you receive no support from any source in this ministry of
+yours?"
+
+The evangelist hesitated. "I receive no salary, sir."
+
+"No support?"
+
+"I receive no regular salary," reiterated the evangelist.
+
+"Do not quibble, sir," said the Rector sternly. "Do you receive any
+financial support from any source whatever in your mission about the
+country?"
+
+"I receive--" began the evangelist.
+
+"Do you or do you not?" thundered the Rector.
+
+"I was about to say that my expenses are paid by my society."
+
+"Thank you, no more need be said. These people can judge for
+themselves."
+
+"I am willing that they should judge, but I remind you that there is
+another Judge."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the Rector with portentous solemnity, "there is,
+before whom both you and I must stand."
+
+"And now then," said the evangelist, taking up the Bible, "we may
+proceed with our meeting."
+
+"No, sir," replied the Rector, stepping upon the platform. "I will not
+permit it."
+
+"You have no right to--"
+
+"I have every right to protect this community from heretical and
+disingenuous, not to say dishonest, persons."
+
+"You call me dishonest?"
+
+"I said disingenuous."
+
+The evangelist turned toward the audience. "I protest against this
+intrusion upon this meeting. I appeal to the audience for British fair
+play."
+
+Murmurs were heard from the audience and subdued signs of approval. The
+Rector glanced upon the people.
+
+"Fair play," he cried, "you will get as will any man who appears
+properly accredited and properly qualified to proclaim the Gospel, but
+in the name of this Christian community, I will prevent the exploitation
+of an unwary and trusting people."
+
+"Liberty of speech!" called a voice from a dark corner.
+
+"Liberty of speech," roared the Rector. "Who of you wants liberty of
+speech? Let him stand forth."
+
+There followed a strained and breathless silence. The champion of free
+speech retreated behind his discretion.
+
+"Ah, I thought so," said the Rector in grim contempt.
+
+But even as he spoke a quiet voice invaded the tense silence like a bell
+in a quiet night. It was Mrs. Gwynne, her slight girlish figure standing
+quietly erect, her face glowing as with an inner light, her eyes resting
+in calm fearlessness upon the Rector's heated countenance.
+
+"Sir," she said, "my conscience will not permit me to sit in silence in
+the presence of what I feel to be an infringement of the rights of free
+people. I venture very humbly to protest against this injustice, and to
+say that this gentleman has a right to be heard."
+
+An even more intense silence fell upon the people. The Rector stood
+speechless, gazing upon the little woman who had thus broken every
+tradition of the community in lifting her voice in a public assembly and
+who had dared to challenge the authority of one who for nearly twenty
+years had been recognised as the autocrat of the village and of the
+whole countryside. But the Rector was an alert and gallant fighter. He
+quickly recovered his poise.
+
+"If Mrs. Gwynne, our good friend and neighbour, desires to address this
+meeting," he said with a courteous and elaborate bow, "and I am sure by
+training and tradition she is quite capable of doing so, I am confident
+that all of us will be delighted to listen to her. But the question in
+hand is not quite so simple as she imagines. It is--"
+
+"Liberty of speech," said the voice again from the dark corner.
+
+The Rector wheeled fiercely in the direction from which the interruption
+came.
+
+"Who speaks," he cried; "why does he shrink into the darkness? Let him
+come forth."
+
+Again discretion held the interrupter silent.
+
+"As for you--you, sir," continued the Rector, turning upon the
+evangelist, "if you desire--"
+
+But at this point there was a sudden commotion from the opposite side of
+the room. A quaint dwarfish figure, crippled but full of vigour, stumped
+up to the platform.
+
+"My son," he said, grandly waving the Rector to one side, "allow me, my
+son. You have done well. Now I shall deal with this gentleman."
+
+The owner of the misshapen body had a noble head, a face marked with
+intellectual quality, but the glitter in the large blue eye told the
+same tale of mental anarchy. Startled and astonished, the evangelist
+backed away from the extraordinary creature that continued to advance
+upon him.
+
+"Sir," cried the dwarf, "by what right do you proclaim the divine
+message to your fellowmen? Have you known the cross, have you felt the
+piercing crown, do you bear upon your body the mark of the spear?" At
+this with a swift upward hitch of his shirt the dwarf exposed his bare
+side. The evangelist continued to back away from his new assailant, who
+continued vigorously to follow him up. The youngsters in the crowd broke
+into laughter. The scene passed swiftly from tragedy to farce. At this
+point the Rector interposed.
+
+"Come, come, John," he said, laying a firm, but gentle, hand upon the
+dwarf's shoulder. "That will do now. He is perfectly harmless, sir," he
+said, addressing the evangelist. Then turning to the audience, "I think
+we may dismiss this meeting," and, raising his hands, he pronounced the
+benediction, and the people dispersed in disorder.
+
+With a strained "Good-night, sir," to the evangelist and a courteous bow
+to Mrs. Gwynne, the Rector followed the people, leaving the evangelist
+and his wife behind packing up their hymn books and organ, their faces
+only too clearly showing the distress which they felt. Mrs. Gwynne moved
+toward them.
+
+"I am truly grieved," she said, addressing the evangelist, "that you
+were not given an opportunity to deliver your message."
+
+"What a terrible creature that is," he exclaimed in a tone indicating
+nervous anxiety.
+
+"Oh, you mean poor John?" said Mrs. Gwynne. "The poor man is quite
+harmless. He became excited with the unusual character of the meeting.
+He will disturb you no more."
+
+"I fear it is useless," said the evangelist. "I cannot continue in the
+face of this opposition."
+
+"It may be difficult, but not useless," replied Mrs. Gwynne, the light
+of battle glowing in her grey eyes.
+
+"Ah, I do not know. It may not be wise to stir up bad feeling in a
+community, to bring the name of religion into disrepute by strife.
+But," he continued, offering his hand, "let me thank you warmly for your
+sympathy. It was splendidly courageous of you. Do you--do you attend his
+church?"
+
+"Yes, we worship with the Episcopal Church. I am a Friend myself."
+
+"Ah, then it was a splendidly courageous act. I honour you for it."
+
+"But you will continue your mission?" she replied earnestly.
+
+"Alas, I can hardly see how the mission can be continued. There seems to
+be no opening."
+
+Mrs. Gwynne apparently lost interest. "Good-bye," she said simply,
+shaking hands with them both, and without further words left the room
+with her boy. For some distance they walked together along the dark road
+in silence. Then in an awed voice the boy said:
+
+"How could you do it, mother? You were not a bit afraid."
+
+"Afraid of what, the Rector?"
+
+"No, not the Rector--but to speak up that way before all the people."
+
+"It was hard to speak," said his mother, "very hard, but it was harder
+to keep silent. It did not seem right."
+
+The boy's heart swelled with a new pride in his mother. "Oh, mother,"
+he said, "you were splendid. You were like a soldier standing there. You
+were like the martyrs in my book."
+
+"Oh, no, no, my boy."
+
+"I tell you yes, mother, I was proud of you."
+
+The thrilling passion in the little boy's voice went to his mother's
+heart. "Were you, my boy?" she said, her voice faltering. "I am glad you
+were."
+
+Hand in hand they walked along, the boy exulting in his restored pride
+in his mother and in her courage. But a new feeling soon stirred within
+him. He remembered with a pain intolerable that he had allowed the word
+of so despicable a creature as Mop Cheatley to shake his faith in his
+mother's courage. Indignation at the wretched creature who had maligned
+her, but chiefly a passionate self-contempt that he had allowed himself
+to doubt her, raged tumultuously in his heart and drove him in a silent
+fury through the dark until they reached their own gate. Then as his
+mother's hand reached toward the latch, the boy abruptly caught her arm
+in a fierce grip.
+
+"Mother," he burst forth in a passionate declaration of faith, "you're
+not a coward."
+
+"A coward?" replied his mother, astonished.
+
+The boy's arms went around her, his head pressed into her bosom. In a
+voice broken with passionate sobs he poured forth his tale of shame and
+self-contempt.
+
+"He said you were a Quaker, that the Quakers were cowards, and would
+never fight, and that you were a coward, and that you would never fight.
+But you would, mother, wouldn't you? And you're not a real Quaker, are
+you, mother?"
+
+"A Quaker," said his mother. "Yes, dear, I belong to the Friends, as we
+call them."
+
+"And they, won't they ever fight?" demanded the boy anxiously.
+
+"They do not believe that fighting with fists, or sticks, or like wild
+beasts," said his mother, "ever wins anything worth while."
+
+"Never, mother?" cried the boy, anxiety and fear in his tones. "You
+would fight, you would fight to-night, you would fight the Rector."
+
+"Yes, my boy," said his mother quietly, "that kind of fighting we
+believe in. Our people have never been afraid to stand up for the right,
+and to suffer for it too. Remember that, my boy," a certain pride rang
+out in the mother's voice. She continued, "We must never be afraid
+to suffer for what we believe to be right. You must never forget that
+through all your life, Larry." Her voice grew solemn. "You must never,
+never go back from what you know to be right, even if you have to suffer
+for it."
+
+"Oh, mother," whispered the boy through his sobs, "I wish I were brave
+like you."
+
+"No, no, not like me," whispered his mother, putting her face down to
+his. "You will be much braver than your mother, my boy, oh, very much
+braver than your mother."
+
+The boy still clung to her as if he feared to let her go. "Oh, mother,"
+he whispered, "do you think I can be brave?"
+
+"Yes, my boy," her voice rang out again confident and clear. "It always
+makes us brave to know that He bore the cross for us and died rather
+than betray us."
+
+There were no more words between them, but the memory of that night
+never faded from the boy's mind. A new standard of heroism was set up
+within his soul which he might fail to reach but which he could never
+lower.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE ESCUTCHEON CLEARED
+
+
+Mr. Michael Gwynne, the Mapleton storekeeper, was undoubtedly the most
+popular man not in the village only but in the whole township. To begin
+with he was a man of high character, which was sufficiently guaranteed
+by the fact that he was chosen as Rector's Warden in All Saints
+Episcopal Church. He was moreover the Rector's right-hand man, ready to
+back up any good cause with personal effort, with a purse always open
+but not often full, and with a tongue that was irresistible, for he had
+to an extraordinary degree the gift of persuasive speech. Therefore,
+the Rector's first move in launching any new scheme was to secure the
+approval and co-operation of his Warden.
+
+By the whole community too Mr. Gwynne was recognised as a gentleman, a
+gentleman not in appearance and bearing only, a type calculated to
+repel plain folk, but a gentleman in heart, with a charm of manner which
+proceeded from a real interest in and consideration for the welfare
+of others. This charm of manner proved a valuable asset to him in his
+business, for behind his counter Mr. Gwynne had a rare gift of investing
+the very calicoes and muslins which he displayed before the dazzled eyes
+of the ladies who came to buy with a glamour that never failed to make
+them appear altogether desirable; and even the hard-headed farmers fell
+under this spell of his whether he described to them the superexcellent
+qualities of a newly patented cream separator or the virtues of a new
+patent medicine for ailing horses whose real complaint was overwork or
+underfeeding. With all this, moreover, Mr. Gwynne was rigidly honest. No
+one ever thought of disputing an account whether he paid it or not, and
+truth demands that with Mr. Gwynne's customers the latter course was
+more frequently adopted.
+
+It was at this point that Mr. Gwynne failed of success as a business
+man. He could buy with discrimination, he had a rare gift of
+salesmanship, but as a collector, in the words of Sam Cheatley, the
+village butcher, himself a conspicuous star in that department of
+business activity, "He was not worth a tinker's curse." His accounts
+were sent out punctually twice a year. His wife saw to that. At times
+of desperation when pressure from the wholesale houses became urgent,
+special statements were sent out by Mr. Gwynne himself. But in such
+cases the apology accompanying these statements was frequently such as
+to make immediate payment seem almost an insult. His customers held him
+in high esteem, respected his intellectual ability--for he was a Trinity
+man--were fascinated by his charm of manner, loved him for his kindly
+qualities, but would not pay their bills.
+
+Many years ago, having failed to work harmoniously with his business
+partner, a shrewd, hard-headed, Belfast draper--hard-hearted Mr. Gwynne
+considered him--Mr. Gwynne had decided to emigrate to Canada with the
+remnant of a small fortune which was found to be just sufficient to
+purchase the Mapleton general store, and with it a small farm of fifty
+acres on the corner of which the store stood. It was the farm that
+decided the investment; for Mr. Gwynne was possessed of the town man's
+infatuation for farm life and of the optimistic conviction that on
+the farm a living at least for himself and his small family would be
+assured.
+
+But his years of business in Mapleton had gradually exhausted his
+fortune and accumulated a staggering load of debt which was the occasion
+of moments of anxiety, even of fear, to the storekeeper. There was
+always the thought in his mind that against his indebtedness on the
+credit side there were his book accounts which ran up into big figures.
+There was always, if the worst came to the worst, the farm. But if Mr.
+Gwynne was no business man still less was he a farmer. Tied to his store
+by reason of his inability to afford a competent assistant, the farming
+operations were carried on in haphazard fashion by neighbours who were
+willing to liquidate their store debts with odd days' work at times most
+convenient to themselves, but not always most seasonable for the crops.
+Hence in good years, none too good with such haphazard farming, the farm
+was called upon to make up the deficiency in the financial returns
+of the store. In bad years notes had to be renewed with formidable
+accumulations of interest. But such was Mr. Gwynne's invincible optimism
+that he met every new embarrassment with some new project giving new
+promise of success.
+
+Meanwhile during these painful years his brave little wife by her garden
+and her poultry materially helped to keep the family in food and to meet
+in some degree the household expenses. She was her own servant except
+that the Widow Martin came to her aid twice a week. Her skill with
+needle and sewing machine and a certain creative genius which she
+possessed enabled her to evolve from her husband's old clothes new
+clothes for her boy, and from her own clothing, when not too utterly
+worn, dresses for her two little girls. And throughout these years with
+all their toil and anxiety she met each day with a spirit undaunted and
+with a face that remained serene as far at least as her husband and her
+children ever saw. Nor did she allow the whole weight of trials to taint
+the sweetness of her spirit or to dim her faith in God. Devoted to her
+husband, she refused to allow herself to criticise his business ability
+or methods. The failure, which she could not but admit, was not his
+fault; it was the fault of those debtors who declined to pay their just
+dues.
+
+In an hour of desperation she ventured to point out to her husband that
+these farmers were extending their holdings and buying machinery with
+notes that bore interest. "And besides, Michael," she said, "Lawrence
+must go to High School next year. He will pass the Entrance examination
+this summer, and he must go."
+
+"He shall go," said her husband. "I am resolved to make a change in my
+method of business. I shall go after these men. They shall no longer use
+my money for their business and for their families while my business and
+my family suffer. You need not look that way, I have made up my mind and
+I shall begin at once."
+
+Unfortunately the season was not suitable for collections. The farmers
+were engrossed with their harvesting, and after that with the fall
+ploughing, and later with the marketing of their grain. And as the weeks
+passed Mr. Gwynne's indignant resolve that his customers should not do
+business on his money gradually cooled down. The accounts were sent out
+as usual, and with the usual disappointing result.
+
+Meantime Mr. Gwynne's attention was diverted from his delinquent debtors
+by an enterprise which to an unusual degree awakened his sympathy and
+kindled his imagination. The Reverend Heber Harding, ever since his
+unfortunate encounter with the travelling evangelist, was haunted with
+the uneasy feeling that he and his church were not completely fulfilling
+their functions in the community and justifying their existence. The
+impression had been the more painfully deepened in him by the sudden
+eruption of a spirit of recklessness and a certain tendency to general
+lawlessness in some of the young men of the village. As a result of a
+conference with the leading men of his congregation, he had decided to
+organise a young men's club. The business of setting this club in active
+operation was handed over to Mr. Gwynne, than whom no one in the village
+was better fitted for the work. The project appealed to Mr.
+Gwynne's imagination. A room was secured in the disused Orange Hall.
+Subscriptions were received to make purchase of apparatus and equipment
+necessary for games of various sorts. With vivid remembrance of his
+college days, Mr. Gwynne saw to it that as part of the equipment a place
+should be found for a number of sets of boxing gloves.
+
+There were those who were not too sure of the uplifting influence of
+the boxing gloves. But after Mr. Gwynne had given an exhibition of the
+superior advantages of science over brute force in a bout with Mack
+Morrison before a crowded hall, whatever doubt might exist as to the
+ethical value of the boxing gloves, there was no doubt at all as to
+their value as an attractive force in the building up of the membership
+of the Young Men's Club. The boxing class became immensely popular, and
+being conducted under Mr. Gwynne's most rigid supervision, it gradually
+came to exert a most salutary influence upon its members. They learned,
+for one thing, to take hard knocks without losing their tempers.
+
+In the boxing class thus established, none showed a greater eagerness
+to learn than did Larry. Every moment of his father's spare time he
+utilised to add to his knowledge of the various feints and guards and
+cuts and punches and hooks that appeared necessary to a scientific
+acquaintance with the manly art. He developed an amazing capacity to
+accept punishment. Indeed, he appeared almost to welcome rough handling,
+especially from the young men and boys bigger than himself. Light
+in weight and not very muscular, he was wiry and quick in eye and in
+action, and under his father's teaching he learned how to "make his
+heels save his head." He was always ready for a go with any one who
+might offer, and when all others had wearied of the sport Larry would
+put in an extra half hour with the punching bag. With one boy only he
+refused to spar. No persuasion, no taunts, no challenge could entice him
+to put on the gloves with Mop Cheatley. He could never look steadily at
+Mop for any length of time without seeing again on his face the sneering
+grin and hearing again the terrible words spoken two years ago in the
+cedar woods behind the mill pond: "You're a coward and your mother's a
+coward before you." He refused to spar with Mop for he knew that
+once face to face with him he could not spar, he must fight. But
+circumstances made the contest inevitable. In the working out of a
+tournament, it chanced that Mop was drawn to face Larry, and although
+the disparity both in age and weight seemed to handicap the smaller boy
+to an excessive degree, Larry's friends who were arranging the schedule,
+among them Mack Morrison with big Ben Hopper and Joe Gagneau as chorus,
+and who knew something of Larry's skill with his hands and speed on his
+feet, were not unwilling to allow the draw to stand.
+
+The days preceding the tournament were days of misery for Larry. The
+decision in the contest would of course be on points and he knew that he
+could outpoint without much difficulty his antagonist who was clumsy and
+slow. For the decision Larry cared nothing at all. At the most he had
+little to lose for it would be but small disgrace to be beaten by a boy
+so much bigger. The cause of his distress was something quite other
+than this. He knew that from the first moment of the bout he would be
+fighting. That this undoubtedly would make Mop fight back, and he was
+haunted by the fear that in the stress of battle he might play the
+coward. Would he be able to stand up to Mop when the fight began to
+go against him? And suppose he should run away, should show himself a
+coward? How could he ever live after that, how look any of the boys in
+the face? Worst of all, how could he face his father, whose approval in
+this boxing game since he had revealed himself as a "fighting man" the
+boy coveted more than anything else. But his father was not present when
+the boy stepped into the ring. Impelled by the dread of showing himself
+a coward and running away, Larry flung to the winds his father's
+favourite maxim, "Let your heels save your head," a maxim which ought
+if ever to be observed in such a bout as this in which he was so
+out-classed in weight.
+
+At the word "Time" Larry leaped for his opponent and almost before Mop
+was aware that the battle had begun he was being blinded, staggered and
+beaten all around the ring, and only a lucky blow, flung wildly into
+space and landing heavily upon Larry's face, saved him from complete
+defeat in the first round. That single heavy blow was sufficient to give
+temporary pause to Larry's impetuosity, but as soon as he got back his
+wind he once more ran in, feinting, ducking, plunging, but ever pressing
+hard upon his antagonist, who, having recovered from his first surprise,
+began to plant heavy blows upon Larry's ribs, until at the end of the
+round the boy was glad enough to sink back into his corner gasping for
+breath.
+
+Ben Hopper, who was acting as Larry's second, was filled with surprise
+and indignation at his principal's fighting tactics. "You blame fool,"
+he said to Larry as he ministered to his all too apparent necessities.
+"What do you think you're doing? Do you think he's a sausage machine
+and you a bloody porker? Keep away from him. You know he's too heavy for
+you. If he were not so clumsy he would have had you out before this. One
+good punch from him would do it. Why don't you do your foot work?"
+
+"Corec," said Joe. "Larree, you fight all the same Mack Morrison's ram.
+Head down, jump in--head down, jump in. Why you run so queek on dat Mop
+feller? Why you not make him run after you?"
+
+"He's right, Larry," said Ben. "Use your feet; make him come after you.
+You will sure get his wind."
+
+But Larry stood recovering his breath, glowering meanwhile at his enemy
+across the ring. He neither heeded nor heard the entreaties of his
+friends. In his ears one phrase only rang with insistent reiteration.
+"He's a coward, an' his mother's a coward before him." Only one
+obsession possessed him, he must keep hard at his enemy.
+
+"Time!" The second round was on. Like a tiger upon his prey, Larry was
+upon his foe, driving fast and furious blows upon his head and face. But
+this time Mop was ready for him, and bearing in, head down, he took on
+his left guard the driving blows with no apparent injury, and sent back
+some half a dozen heavy swings that broke down Larry's guard, drove him
+across the ring and finally brought him gasping to his knees.
+
+"Stay where you are," yelled Ben. "Take your count, Larry, and keep away
+from him. Do you hear me? Keep away, always away."
+
+At the ninth count Larry sprang to his feet, easily eluded Mop's
+swinging blow, and slipping lightly around the ring, escaped further
+attack until he had picked up his wind.
+
+"That's the game," yelled Ben. "Keep it up, old boy, keep it up."
+
+"C'est bon stuff, Larree," yelled Joe, dancing wildly in Ben's corner.
+"C'est bon stuff, Larree, for sure."
+
+But once more master of his wind, Larry renewed his battering assault
+upon Mop's head, inflicting some damage indeed, but receiving heavy
+punishment in return. The close of the round found him exhausted and
+bleeding. In spite of the adjurations and entreaties of his friends,
+Larry pursued the same tactics in the third round, which ended even more
+disastrously than the second. His condition was serious enough to bring
+Mack Morrison to his side.
+
+"What's up with you, Larry?" said Mack. "Where's your science gone? Why
+don't you play the game as you know it?"
+
+"Mack, Mack," panted Larry. "It ain't a game. I'm--I'm fighting, and,
+Mack, I'm not afraid of him."
+
+Mack whistled. "Who said you are afraid of him, youngster?"
+
+"He did, Mack, he called me a coward--you remember, Ben, up in the cedar
+bush that day we played hookey--you remember, Ben?" Ben nodded. "He
+called me a coward and"--grinding the words between his teeth--"he
+called my mother a coward. But I am not afraid of him, Mack--he can't
+make me afraid; he can't make me run away." What with his rage and his
+secret fear, the boy had quite lost control of himself.
+
+"So that's it," said Mack, reading both rage and fear in his eyes.
+"Listen to me, Larry," he continued in a voice low and stern. "You quit
+this monkey work right now or, by the jumping Jehoshaphat, I will lick
+the tar out of you myself when this is over. You're not afraid of him;
+I know that--we all know that. But you don't want to kill him, eh? No.
+What you want is to make him look like a fool. Well, then, fight, if you
+want to fight, but remember your rules. Play with him, make him follow
+you round until you get his wind; there's your chance. Then get him hard
+and get away."
+
+But the boy spoke no word in reply. He was staring gloomily,
+desperately, before him into space.
+
+Mack seized him, and shaking him impatiently, said, "Larry boy, listen
+to me. Don't you care for anybody but yourself? Don't you care for me at
+all?"
+
+At that Larry appeared to wake up as from a sleep.
+
+"What did you say, Mack?" he answered. "Of course I care, you know that,
+Mack."
+
+"Then," said Mack, "for God's sake, get a smile on your face. Smile,
+confound you, smile."
+
+The boy passed his gloved hand over his face, looked for a moment into
+Mack's eyes, and the old smile came back to his lips.
+
+"Now you're all right," cried Mack in triumph. "Remember your father's
+rule, 'Keep your head with your heels.'" And Larry did remember! For
+on the call of "Time" he slipped from Ben's knees and began to circle
+lightly about Mop, smiling upon him and waiting his chance. His chance
+soon came, for Mop, thinking that his enemy had had about enough and was
+ready to quit, adopted aggressive tactics, and, feinting with his right,
+swung heavily with his left at the smiling face. But the face proved
+elusive, and upon Mop's undefended head a series of blows dealt with
+savage fury took all the heart out of him. So he cried to the referee as
+he ducked into his corner:
+
+"He's fightin'. He's fightin'. I'm not fightin'."
+
+"You'd better get busy then," called Ben derisively from his corner.
+"Now, Larry, sail into him," and Larry sailed in with such vehemence
+that Mop fairly turned tail and ran around the ring, Larry pursuing him
+amid the delighted shouts of the spectators.
+
+This ended the contest, the judges giving the decision to Mop, who,
+though obviously beaten at the finish, had showed a distinct superiority
+on points. As for Larry, the decision grieved him not at all. He carried
+home a face slightly disfigured but triumphant, his sole comment to his
+mother upon the contest being, "I was not afraid of him anyway, mother;
+he could not make me run."
+
+"I am not so sure of this boxing, Lawrence," she said, but the boy
+caught the glint in her eyes and was well enough content.
+
+In the late evening Ben, with Larry and Joe following him, took occasion
+to look in upon Mop at the butcher shop.
+
+"Say, Mop," said Ben pleasantly, "what do you think of Larry now? Would
+you say he was a coward?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Mop, suspecting trouble.
+
+"Just what I say," said Ben, while Larry moved up within range, his face
+white, his eyes gleaming.
+
+"I ain't saying nothing about nobody," replied Mop sullenly, with the
+tail of his eye upon Larry's white face and gleaming eyes.
+
+"You say him one tam--in de cedar swamp," said Joe.
+
+"Would you say Larry was a coward?" repeated Ben.
+
+"No, I wouldn't say nothing of the sort," replied Mop promptly.
+
+"Do you think he is a coward?" persisted Ben.
+
+"No," said Mop, "I know he ain't no coward. He don't fight like no
+coward."
+
+This appeared to satisfy Ben, but Larry, moving slightly nearer, took up
+the word for himself.
+
+"And would you say my mother was a coward?" he asked in a tense voice,
+his body gathered as if for a spring.
+
+"Larry, I wouldn't say nothing about your mother," replied Mop
+earnestly. "I think your mother's a bully good woman. She was awfully
+good to my mother last winter, I know."
+
+The spring went out of Larry's body. He backed away from Mop and the
+boys.
+
+"Who said your mother was a coward?" inquired Mop indignantly. "If
+anybody says so, you bring him to me, and I'll punch his head good, I
+will."
+
+Larry looked foolishly at Ben, who looked foolishly back at him.
+
+"Say, Mop," said Larry, a smile like a warm light passing over his face,
+"come on up and see my new rabbits."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SALVAGE
+
+
+Another and greater enterprise was diverting Mr. Gwynne's attention from
+the delinquencies of his debtors, namely: the entrance of the National
+Machine Company into the remote and placid life of Mapleton and its
+district. The manager of this company, having spent an afternoon with
+Mr. Gwynne in his store and having been impressed by his charm and power
+of persuasive talk, made him a proposition that he should act as agent
+of the National Machine Company. The arrangement suggested was one that
+appealed to Mr. Gwynne's highly optimistic temperament. He was not
+to work for a mere salary, but was to purchase outright the various
+productions of the National Machine Company and receive a commission
+upon all his sales. The figures placed before Mr. Gwynne by the manager
+of the company were sufficiently impressive, indeed so impressive that
+Mr. Gwynne at once accepted the proposition, and the Mapleton branch of
+the National Machine Company became an established fact.
+
+There was no longer any question as to the education of his family. In
+another year when his boy had passed his entrance examinations he would
+be able to send him to the high school in the neighbouring town of
+Easton, properly equipped and relieved of those handicaps with which
+poverty can so easily wash all the colour out of young life. A brilliant
+picture the father drew before the eyes of his wife of the educational
+career of their boy, who had already given promise of exceptional
+ability. But while she listened, charmed, delighted and filled with
+proud anticipation, the mother with none the less painful care saved her
+garden and poultry money, cut to bare necessity her household expenses,
+skimped herself and her children in the matter of dress, and by every
+device which she had learned in the bitter school of experience during
+the ten years of her Canadian life, made such preparation for the
+expenses of her boy's education as would render it unnecessary to call
+upon the wealth realised from the National Machine Company's business.
+
+In the matter of providing for the expense of his education Larry
+himself began to take a not unimportant part. During the past two years
+he had gained not only in size but in the vigour of his health, and in
+almost every kind of work on the farm he could now take a man's place.
+His mother would not permit him to give his time and strength to their
+own farming operations for the sufficient reason that from these there
+would be no return in ready money, and ready money was absolutely
+essential to the success of her plans. The boy was quick, eager
+and well-mannered, and in consequence had no difficulty in finding
+employment with the neighbouring farmers. So much was this the case that
+long before the closing of school in the early summer Larry was offered
+work for the whole summer by their neighbour, Mr. Martin, at one dollar
+a day. He could hardly believe his good fortune inasmuch as he had never
+in all his life been paid at a rate exceeding half that amount.
+
+"I shall have a lot of money, mother," he said, "for my high school now.
+I wonder how much it will cost me for the term."
+
+Thereupon his mother seized the opportunity to discuss the problem with
+him which she knew they must face together.
+
+"Let us see," said his mother.
+
+Then each with pencil and paper they drew up to the table, but after the
+most careful paring down of expenses and the most optimistic estimate of
+their resources consistent with fact, they made the rather discouraging
+discovery that they were still fifty dollars short.
+
+"I can't do it, mother," said Larry, in bitter disappointment.
+
+"We shall not give up yet," said his mother. "Indeed, I think with what
+we can make out of the farm and garden and poultry, we ought to be able
+to manage."
+
+But a new and chilling thought had come to the lad. He pondered
+silently, and as he pondered his face became heavily shadowed.
+
+"Say, mother," he said suddenly, "we can't do it. How much are you going
+to spend on your clothes?"
+
+"All I need," said his mother brightly.
+
+"But how much?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"How much did you spend last year?"
+
+"Oh, never mind, Lawrence; that really does not matter."
+
+But the boy insisted. "Did you spend thirty-one dollars?" His mother
+laughed at him.
+
+"Did you spend twenty?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did you spend fifteen?"
+
+"I do not know," said his mother, "and I am not going to talk about it.
+My clothes and the girls' clothes will be all right for this year."
+
+"Mother," said Larry, "I am not going to school this year. I am not
+going to spend thirty-one dollars for clothes while you and the girls
+spend nothing. I am going to work first, and then go to school. I am not
+going to school this year." The boy rose from his chair and stood and
+faced his mother with quivering lips, fighting to keep back the tears.
+
+Mother reached out her hand and drew him toward her. "My darling boy,"
+she said in a low voice, "I love to hear you, but listen to me. Are you
+listening? You must be educated. Nothing must interfere with that.
+No suffering is too great to be endured by all of us. The time for
+education is youth; first because your mind works more quickly and
+retains better what it acquires, and second because it is a better
+investment, and you will sooner be able to pay us all back what we spend
+now. So you will go to school this year, boy, if we can manage it, and
+I think we can. Some day," she added, patting him on the shoulder, and
+holding him off from her, "when you are rich you will give me a silk
+dress."
+
+"Won't I just," cried the boy passionately, "and the girls too, and
+everything you want, and I will give you a good time yet, mother. You
+deserve the best a woman ever had and I will give it to you."
+
+The mother turned her face away from him and looked out of the window.
+She saw not the fields of growing grain but a long vista of happy days
+ever growing in beauty and in glory until she could see no more for the
+tears that quietly fell. The boy dropped on his knees beside her.
+
+"Oh, mother, mother," he said. "You have been wonderful to us all, and
+you have had an awfully hard time. A fellow never knows, does he?"
+
+"A hard time? A hard time?" said his mother, a great surprise in her
+voice and in her face. "No, my boy, no hard time for me. A dear, dear,
+lovely time with you all, every day, every day. Never do I want a better
+time than I have had with you."
+
+The event proved the wisdom of Mrs. Gwynne's determination to put little
+faith in the optimistic confidence of her husband in regard to the
+profits to be expected from the operations of the National Machine
+Company. A year's business was sufficient to demonstrate that the
+Mapleton branch of the National Machine Company was bankrupt. By
+every law of life it ought to be bankrupt. With all his many excellent
+qualities Mr. Gwynne possessed certain fatal defects as a business man.
+With him the supreme consideration was simply the getting rid of the
+machines purchased by him as rapidly and in such large numbers as
+possible. He cheerfully ignored the laws that governed the elemental
+item of profit. Hence the relentless Nemesis that sooner or later
+overtakes those who, whether ignorantly or maliciously, break laws, fell
+upon the National Machine Company and upon those who had the misfortune
+to be associated with it.
+
+In the wreck of the business Mr. Gwynne's store, upon which the National
+Machine Company had taken the precaution to secure a mortgage, was also
+involved. The business went into the hands of a receiver and was bought
+up at about fifty cents on the dollar by a man recently from western
+Canada whose specialty was the handling of business wreckage. No
+one after even a cursory glance at his face would suspect Mr. H. P.
+Sleighter of deficiency in business qualities. The snap in the cold
+grey eye, the firm lines in the long jaw, the thin lips pressed hard
+together, all proclaimed the hard-headed, cold-hearted, iron-willed
+man of business. Mr. Sleighter, moreover, had a remarkable instinct for
+values, more especially for salvage values. It was this instinct that
+led him to the purchase of the National Machine Company wreckage, which
+included as well the Mapleton general store, with its assets in stock
+and book debts.
+
+Mr. Sleighter's methods with the easy-going debtors of the company in
+Mapleton and the surrounding district were of such galvanic vigour
+that even so practiced a procrastinator as Farmer Martin found himself
+actually drawing money from his hoarded bank account to pay his store
+debts--a thing unheard of in that community--and to meet overdue
+payments upon the various implements which he had purchased from the
+National Machine Company. It was not until after the money had been
+drawn and actually paid that Mr. Martin came fully to realise the
+extraordinary nature of his act.
+
+"That there feller," he said, looking from the receipt in his hand
+to the store door through which the form of Mr. Sleighter had just
+vanished, "that there feller, he's too swift fer me. He ain't got any
+innards to speak of; he'd steal the pants off a dog, he would."
+
+The application of these same galvanically vigorous methods to Mr.
+Gwynne's debtors produced surprising results. Mr. Sleighter made
+the astounding discovery that Mr. Gwynne's business instead of being
+bankrupt would produce not only one hundred cents on the dollar, but a
+slight profit as well. This discovery annoyed Mr. Sleighter. He hated
+to confess a mistake in business judgment, and he frankly confessed
+he "hated to see good money roll past him." Hence with something of a
+grudge he prepared to hand over to Mr. Gwynne some twelve hundred and
+fifty dollars of salvage money.
+
+"I suppose he will be selling out his farm," said Mr. Sleighter in
+conversation with Mr. Martin. "What's land worth about here?"
+
+"Oh, somewhere about a hundred."
+
+"A hundred dollars an acre!" exclaimed Mr. Sleighter. "Don't try to put
+anything over on me. Personally I admire your generous, kindly nature,
+but as a financial adviser you don't shine. I guess I won't bother about
+that farm anyway."
+
+Mr. Sleighter's question awakened earnest thought in Mr. Martin, and the
+next morning he approached Mr. Gwynne with a proposition to purchase his
+farm with its attached buildings. Mr. Martin made it clear that he was
+chiefly anxious to do a neighbourly turn.
+
+"The house and the stable ain't worth much," he said, "but the farm
+bein' handy to my property, I own up is worth more to me than to other
+folks, perhaps. So bein' old neighbours, I am willin' to give four
+thousand dollars, half cash down, for the hull business."
+
+"Surely that is a low figure," said Mr. Gwynne.
+
+"Low figure!" exclaimed Mr. Martin. "All right, I ain't pressin' it on
+you; but if you could get any one in this neighbourhood to offer four
+thousand dollars for your farm, I will give you five hundred extra.
+But," he continued, "I ain't pressin' you. Don't much matter to me."
+
+The offer came at a psychologically critical moment, when Mr. Gwynne was
+desperately seeking escape from an intolerable environment.
+
+"I shall consult Mrs. Gwynne," he said, "and let you know in a few
+days."
+
+"Don't know as I can wait that long," said Mr. Martin. "I made the offer
+to oblige you, and besides I got a chance at the Monroe fifty."
+
+"Call to-morrow night," said Mr. Gwynne, and carried the proposal home
+to his wife.
+
+The suggestion to break up her home to a woman of Mrs. Gwynne's type
+is almost shattering. In the big world full of nameless terrors the
+one spot offering shelter and safety for herself and her family was her
+home. But after all, her husband was her great concern, and she could
+see he was eager for the change. She made up her mind to the sacrifice
+and decided that she would break up the home in Mapleton and with her
+husband try again their fortune.
+
+"But four thousand dollars," she said, "is surely a small price."
+
+"Small? I know it is small, but Martin knows I am in a corner. He is a
+highway robber."
+
+It was a bitter experience for him to be forced to confess himself a
+business failure, and with this bitterness there mingled a feeling of
+hostility toward all successful business men. To him it seemed that in
+order to win success in business a man must become, like Mr. Martin,
+a highway robber. In this mood of bitterness and hostility toward
+successful men, Mr. Sleighter found him the next day.
+
+"Couldn't find you at the store," said that gentleman, walking in with
+his hat on his head. "I wanted to get this business straightened up,
+so I just came in. Won't take more than five minutes. I guess you won't
+mind taking a little check from me. Your business turned out better than
+that fool of an assignee thought. Don't hurt me any, of course. I got
+all that was comin' to me out of it, but here's this check. Perhaps
+you'll sign the receipt. I guess they been puttin' it over you all
+right. You're a little too soft with 'em."
+
+Mr. Gwynne was an even-tempered man, but Mr. Sleighter's patronising
+manner and his criticism of his business ability wrought in him a rage
+that he could with difficulty control. He remembered he was in his own
+house, however, and that the man before him was a stranger. While he was
+searching for pen and ink the door opened and his wife entered the room.
+Mr. Sleighter, with his hat still upon his head, was intently gazing
+out of the window, easily rocking on the two hind legs of the chair. The
+door opened behind him.
+
+"My dear," said Mr. Gwynne, "will you excuse me? I am engaged."
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, I didn't know any one was here. I merely
+wanted--"
+
+Mr. Sleighter glanced over his shoulder.
+
+"Mr. Sleighter," said Mr. Gwynne. "My wife."
+
+It was not his tone, however, that brought Mr. Sleighter hurriedly to
+his feet with his hat in his hand. It was something in the bearing of
+the little lady standing behind him.
+
+"Pleased to meet you, ma'am. I hope you are well," he said, bowing
+elaborately before her.
+
+"Thank you very much, I am quite well. I have heard a great deal about
+you, Mr. Sleighter. I am glad to meet you."
+
+Mr. Sleighter held her hand a moment while her eyes rested quietly and
+kindly, if searchingly, upon his face. This was the man who had profited
+by her husband's loss. Was he too a highway robber? Mr. Sleighter
+somehow felt as if his soul were being exposed to a searchlight. It made
+him uncomfortable.
+
+"It's a fine day, ma'am," he remarked, seeking cover for his soul in
+conversation. "A little warm for the time," he continued, wiping his
+forehead with a highly coloured silk handkerchief.
+
+"Won't you sit down, Mr. Sleighter? Do you find it warm? I thought there
+was quite a chilly wind to-day. But then you are more accustomed to the
+wind than I."
+
+The searching eyes were holding him steadily, but the face was kindly
+and full of genuine interest.
+
+"I guess so," he said with a little laugh. He would have scorned to
+acknowledge that his laugh was nervous and thin. "I come from the windy
+side of the earth."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Yes, I am from out West--Alberta. We have got all the winds there is
+and the Chinook besides for a change."
+
+"Alberta? The Chinook?" The eyes became less searching.
+
+"Yes, that's the wind that comes down from the mountains and licks up
+the snow at ten miles an hour."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"It was an Alberta man, you know, who invented a rig with runners in
+front and wheels behind." The lady was bewildered. "To catch up with the
+Chinook, you see. One of my kid's jokes. Not much of a joke I guess, but
+he's always ringin' 'em in."
+
+"You have a son, Mr. Sleighter? He's in Alberta now?"
+
+"No, the missis and the kids, three of them, are in Winnipeg. She got
+tired of it out there; she was always wantin' the city, so I gave in."
+
+"I hear it's a beautiful country out there."
+
+"Now you're talkin', ma'am." She had touched Mr. Sleighter's favourite
+theme. Indeed, the absorbing passion of his life, next to the picking
+up of good salvage bargains, was his home in the Foothill country of the
+West.
+
+While he was engaged in an enthusiastic description of the glories of
+that wonderland the children came in and were presented. Mr. Gwynne
+handed his visitor his receipt and stood suggestively awaiting his
+departure. But Mr. Sleighter was fairly started on his subject and was
+not to be denied. The little girls drew shyly near him with eyes
+aglow while Mr. Sleighter's words roiled forth like a mountain flood.
+Eloquently he described the beauty of the rolling lands, the splendour
+of the mountains, the richness of the soil, the health-giving qualities
+of the climate, the warm-hearted hospitality of the settlers.
+
+"None of your pin-head two-by-four shysters that you see here in the
+East," exclaimed Mr. Sleighter. "I mean some folks, of course," he
+explained in some confusion.
+
+"And the children, did they like it?" inquired Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"You bet they did. Why, they was all over the hull prairie, all day and
+all night, too, mostly--on ponies you know."
+
+"Ponies!" exclaimed Larry. "Did they have ponies? Could they ride? How
+big are they?"
+
+"How big? Blamed if I know. Let's see. There's Tom. He's just about a
+man, or thinks he is. He's sixteen or seventeen. Just now he's in the
+high school at Winnipeg. He don't like it though." Here a shadow fell on
+Mr. Sleighter's face. "And the girls--there's Hazel, she's fifteen,
+and Ethel Mary, she's eleven or somewhere thereabouts. I never can keep
+track of them. They keep againin' on me all the time."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Gwynne. "It is hard to realise that they are growing up
+and will soon be away from us."
+
+"That's so," said Mr. Sleighter.
+
+"And the schools," continued Mrs. Gwynne, "are there good schools?"
+
+"Schools?" exclaimed Mr. Sleighter. "There's a real good school not more
+than a couple of miles away."
+
+"Two miles," exclaimed the mother aghast.
+
+"Oh, that's nothin'. They ride, of course. But we ain't got much of a
+master now. He's rather--you know." Mr. Sleighter significantly tipped
+up with his little finger and winked toward Mr. Gwynne.
+
+"But you love that country," she said.
+
+"Yes, I love it and I hated to leave it. But the missis never liked
+it. She was city born and bred. She wanted the lights, I guess, and the
+shows. I don't blame her, though," he continued rapidly. "It's kind of
+lonely for women, you know. They've got to have amusements and things.
+But it's God's own country, believe me, and I would go back to-morrow,
+if I could."
+
+"You still own your ranch?"
+
+"Yes; can't sell easily. You see there's not much broke on it--only a
+hundred acres or so."
+
+"Why, how big is the ranch?"
+
+"Five hundred acres and a wood lot. I did not farm much, though--mostly
+cattle and horses. I was away a good deal on the trail."
+
+"The trail?"
+
+"Yes, buying cattle and selling again. That was the worst of it. I am
+not much of a farmer, though farming's all right there, and I was away
+almost all of the time. I guess that made it pretty hard for the missis
+and the kids."
+
+At this point the Widow Martin came in to lay the table for tea. Mr.
+Sleighter took the hint and rose to go.
+
+"You will do us the pleasure of staying for tea, Mr. Sleighter?" said
+Mrs. Gwynne earnestly.
+
+"Oh, do," said the youngest little girl, Nora, whose snapping black eyes
+gleamed with eager desire to hear more of the wonderful western land.
+
+"Yes, do, and tell us more," said the boy.
+
+"I hope you will be able to stay," continued Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+Mr. Sleighter glanced at her husband. "Why, certainly," said Mr. Gwynne,
+"we would be glad to have you."
+
+Still Mr. Sleighter hesitated. "Say, I don't know what's come over me. I
+feel as if I had been on the stump," he said in an embarrassed voice.
+"I ain't talked to a soul about that country since I left. I guess I got
+pretty full, and when you pulled the cork, out she come."
+
+During the tea hour Mrs. Gwynne tried to draw her visitor out to talk
+about his family, but here she failed. Indeed a restraint appeared to
+fall upon him that nothing could dispel. Immediately after tea Mrs.
+Gwynne placed the Bible and Book of Prayers on the table, saying,
+"We follow the custom of reading prayers every evening after tea, Mr.
+Sleighter. We shall be glad to have you join us."
+
+"Sure thing, ma'am," said Mr. Sleighter, pushing back his chair and
+beginning to rock on its hind legs, picking his teeth with his pen
+knife, to the staring horror of the little girls.
+
+The reading was from the Scripture to which throughout the centuries the
+Christian Church has gone for authority and guidance in the exercise
+of charity and in the performance of social service, the story of the
+Samaritan gentleman to whom the unhappy traveller whose misfortune it
+was to be sorely mishandled by thieves owed his rescue and his life.
+
+Throughout the reading Mr. Sleighter paid the strictest attention and
+joined in the prayers with every sign of reverence. At the close he
+stood awkwardly shifting from one foot to another.
+
+"Well, I'll be goin'," he said. "Don't know how you roped me in for this
+here visit, ma'am. I ain't et in any one's house since I left home, and
+I ain't heard any family prayers since my old dad had 'em--a regular old
+Methodist exhorter he was. He used to pray until all was blue, though
+most times, specially at night, I used to fall asleep. He was great on
+religion."
+
+"I don't suppose he was any the worse for that," said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"Not a mite, not a mite, ma'am. A little strict, but straight as a
+string, ma'am. No one could say anythin' against Hiram Sleighter--H. P.
+Sleighter. I was named for him. He used to pray to beat creation, and
+then some, but he was a straight man all right. And to-night your kids
+and your family prayers made me think of them old days. Well, good-night
+and thank you for the good time you gave me. Best I've had in a dog's
+age."
+
+"You will come again, Mr. Sleighter," said Mrs. Gwynne, giving him her
+hand.
+
+"Yes, and tell us more about that new country," added her son. "My, I'd
+like to go out there!"
+
+"It's a wonderful country all right and you might do a hull lot worse."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+WESTWARD HO!
+
+
+Mr. Gwynne accompanied Mr. Sleighter to the door. "Will you walk down to
+the store?" said Mr. Sleighter.
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Gwynne, setting off with him.
+
+Mr. Sleighter evidently had something on his mind. The usual fountain
+of his speech seemed to be dried up. As they drew near to the store, he
+seized Mr. Gwynne by the arm, arrested him, and said:
+
+"Say, Mr. Gwynne, you ain't got any right to be in business. You ain't
+got the parts, and that Machine Company and the rest of 'em put it all
+over you."
+
+"We needn't go into that now, I suppose," said Mr. Gwynne.
+
+"No, I guess I am buttin' in--a thing I don't often do--but I am off my
+stride to-night anyway, and I am doin' what I never did in all my life
+before. I guess it was them kids of yours and your missis. I know it
+ain't my business, but what are you goin' to do with yourself?"
+
+"I don't know yet," replied Mr. Gwynne, declining to be confidential.
+
+"Not goin' into business, I hope. You ain't got the parts. Some people
+ain't got 'em, and you ain't. Goin' to farm?"
+
+"No, I think not. The fact is I'm about selling my farm."
+
+"Selling it?"
+
+"Yes, I had an offer to-day which I am thinking of accepting."
+
+"An offer, eh, from a feller named Martin, I suppose?"
+
+"How did you know?"
+
+"I don't know. I just figgered. Offered you about a hundred dollars,
+eh?"
+
+"No; I wish he had. It's worth a hundred with the house and
+buildings--they are good buildings."
+
+"Say, I don't like to butt in on any man's business, but is the price a
+secret?"
+
+"Oh, no; he offers four thousand, half cash."
+
+"And how much for the buildings?"
+
+"Four thousand for everything, it's not enough but there are not many
+buyers in this neighbourhood."
+
+"Say, there's nothing rash about that feller. When do you close?"
+
+"Must close to-morrow night. He has a chance of another place."
+
+"Oh, he has, eh? Big rush on, eh? Well, don't you close until I see you
+some time to-morrow, partner."
+
+Mr. Sleighter scented another salvage deal, his keen eyes gleamed a bit,
+the firm lips were pressed a little more closely together.
+
+"And say," he said, turning back, "I don't wonder you can't do business.
+I couldn't do anything myself with a missis like yours. I couldn't
+get any smooth work over with her lookin' at me like that, durned if I
+could. Well, good-night; see you to-morrow."
+
+Mr. Sleighter spent the early hours of the following day among the
+farmers with whom his salvage deal had brought him into contact. The
+wrecker's instinct was strong in him, and besides he regarded with
+abhorrence the tactics of Mr. Martin and welcomed an opportunity to beat
+that gentleman at his own game. He could easily outbid the Martin offer
+and still buy the farm at a low price. As a result of his inquiries he
+had made up his mind that the land was worth at the very least eighty
+dollars an acre and the buildings at least two thousand more. Five
+thousand would be a ridiculously low figure and six thousand not
+extravagantly high for both buildings and farm. The farm with the store
+and machine business attached might offer a fair opening to his son,
+who was already weary of school and anxious to engage in business for
+himself.
+
+"Guess I'll take a whirl out of the old boy," he said to himself. "He's
+a durn fool anyway and if I don't get his money some one else will."
+
+In the afternoon he made his way to the store. "Boss ain't in?" he
+inquired of the clerk.
+
+"No, he's at the house, I guess."
+
+"Back soon?"
+
+"Don't know. Guess he's busy over there."
+
+"Seen Mr. Martin around?"
+
+"Yes, he was here a while ago. Said he would be in again later."
+
+Mr. Sleighter greatly disliked the idea of doing business with Mr.
+Gwynne at his own house. "Can't do no business with his missis and
+kids around," he said to himself. "Can't get no action with that woman
+lookin' on seemingly. But that there old Martin geyser is on the job and
+he might close things up. I guess I will wander over."
+
+To his great relief he found Mr. Gwynne alone and without preliminaries,
+and with the design of getting "quick action" before the disturbing
+element of Mrs. Gwynne's presence should be introduced, he made his
+offer. He explained his purpose in purchasing, and with something of
+a flourish offered five thousand for "the hull plant, lock, stock and
+barrel," cash down if specially desired, but he would prefer to pay half
+in six months. He must have his answer immediately; was not anxious to
+buy, but if Mr. Gwynne wanted to close up, he only had to say so. He was
+not going to monkey with the thing.
+
+"You have made me a much better offer than the one I received from Mr.
+Martin, and I am inclined to accept it, but inasmuch as I have promised
+to give him an answer to-day, I feel that it's due to him that I should
+meet him with the bargain still unclosed."
+
+"Why?" enquired Mr. Sleighter in surprise.
+
+"Well, you see I asked him to hold the offer open until this afternoon.
+I feel I ought to go to him with the matter still open."
+
+"Want to screw him up, eh?" said Mr. Sleighter, his lips drawing close
+together.
+
+"No, sir." Mr. Gwynne's voice had a little ring in it. "I consider it
+fairer to Mr. Martin."
+
+"Don't see as how he has much claim on you," replied Mr. Sleighter. "But
+that's your own business. Say, there he comes now. Look here, my offer
+is open until six o'clock. After that it's a new deal. Take it or leave
+it. I will be at your store."
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Gwynne stiffly.
+
+Mr. Sleighter was distinctly annoyed and disappointed. A few minutes'
+longer pressure, he was convinced, would have practically closed a deal
+which would have netted him a considerable profit. "Durn old fool," he
+muttered to himself as he passed out of the room.
+
+In the hallway Mrs. Gwynne's kindly welcome halted him. She greeted him
+as she would a friend. Would he not sit down for a few moments. No,
+he was busy. Mr. Sleighter was quite determined to get away from her
+presence.
+
+"The children were delighted with your description of your western
+home," she said. "The free life, the beautiful hills, the mountains in
+the distance--it must indeed be a lovely country."
+
+Mr. Sleighter was taken off his guard. "Yes, ma'am, that's lovely
+country all right. They'd like it fine out there, and healthy too. It
+would make a man of that little kid of yours. He looks a little on the
+weak side to me. A few months in the open and you wouldn't know him. The
+girls too--"
+
+"Come in here and sit down, won't you, Mr. Sleighter?" said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+Mr. Sleighter reluctantly passed into the room and sat down. He knew he
+was taking a risk. However, his offer was already made and the deal he
+believed would be closed in the store by six o'clock.
+
+"I suppose the land is all taken up out there?" said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"Oh, yes, mostly, unless away back. Folks are comin' in all the time,
+but there's still lots of cheap land around."
+
+"Cheap land, is there?" inquired Mrs. Gwynne with a certain eagerness in
+her voice. "Indeed I should have thought that that beautiful land would
+be very dear."
+
+"Why, bless your heart, no. I know good land going for
+six--seven--eight--ten dollars an acre. Ten dollars is high for good
+farm lands; for cattle runs four dollars is good. No, there's lots of
+good land lying around out of doors there. If these people around here
+could get their heads up long enough from grubbing in the muck they
+wouldn't stay here over night. They'd be hittin' the trail for the west,
+you bet."
+
+Mrs. Gwynne turned her honest eyes upon him. "Mr. Sleighter, I want to
+ask your advice. I feel I can rely upon you ["Durn it all, she's gettin'
+her work in all right," thought Mr. Sleighter to himself], and I am
+getting quite anxious in the matter. You see, my husband is determined
+to leave this place. He wishes to try something else. Indeed, he must
+try something else. We must make a living, Mr. Sleighter." Mrs. Gwynne's
+voice became hurried and anxious. "We were delighted last night by your
+description of that wonderful country in the West, and the children
+especially. I have been wondering if we might venture to try a small
+farm in that country--quite a small farm. We have a little money
+to invest. I thought I might be bold enough to ask you. I know your
+judgment would be good and I felt somehow that we could trust you. I
+hope I am not taking a liberty, but somehow I feel that you are not a
+stranger."
+
+"No, ma'am, certainly not," said Mr. Sleighter in a loud voice, his hope
+of securing "quick action on that deal" growing dim.
+
+"Do you happen to know any farm--a small farm--which we might be able
+to buy? We hope to receive four thousand dollars for this place. I feel
+that it is worth a good deal more, but there are not many buyers about
+here. Then, of course, perhaps we value our place too highly. Then by
+your kind help we have got something out of the business--twelve hundred
+and fifty dollars I think Mr. Gwynne said. We are most grateful to you
+for that, Mr. Sleighter." Her eyes beamed on him in a most disconcerting
+way. "And so after our obligations here are met we might have about
+forty-five hundred dollars clear. Could we do anything with that?"
+
+"I donno, I donno," said Mr. Sleighter quickly and rising from his
+chair, "I will think it over. I have got to go now."
+
+At this moment Mr. Gwynne came into the room. "Oh, I am glad you are not
+gone, Mr. Sleighter. I have just told Mr. Martin that I cannot accept
+his offer."
+
+"Cannot accept, Michael!" said Mrs. Gwynne, dismay in her voice and in
+her eyes.
+
+"I believe you said your offer was good until six, Mr. Sleighter?"
+
+"Oh, I say, Gwynne, let's get out, let's get over to the store. It's
+kind of hot here, and I've got to go. Come on over and we'll clean up."
+Without a farewell word to either of them Mr. Sleighter passed rapidly
+from the room.
+
+"I do hope there's nothing wrong, Michael," said his wife. "I fear I
+have made a mistake. I spoke to Mr. Sleighter about the possibility of
+getting a small farm in the West. You were so eager about it, Michael
+dear, and I spoke to Mr. Sleighter about it. I hope there is nothing
+wrong."
+
+"Don't worry, mother. I have his offer for five thousand dollars. Of
+course he is rather peculiar, I confess, but I believe--" The door
+opened abruptly upon them, admitting Mr. Sleighter.
+
+"See here, Mr. Gwynne, I can't do no business with you."
+
+"Sir, you made me an offer for my farm," said Mr. Gwynne indignantly,
+"and I have just refused an offer from Mr. Martin on account of yours."
+
+"Oh, we'll cut that all out," said Mr. Sleighter, whose voice and manner
+indicated strong excitement. "Now don't talk. Listen to me, my son. You
+ain't got any right to be playing around with business men anyhow. Now I
+am going to do a little business for you, if you will allow me, ma'am.
+I take it you want to get away from here." Mr. Gwynne nodded, gazing
+at him in astonishment. "You want to go West." Again Mr. Gwynne nodded.
+"Well, there's only one spot in the West--Alberta. You want a farm."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Gwynne.
+
+"Yes, certainly," said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"There's just one farm that will suit you, an' that's Lakeside Farm,
+Wolf Willow, Alberta, owned by H. P. Sleighter, Esq., who's going to
+stump you to a trade. Five hundred acres, one hundred broke an' a timber
+lot; a granary; stables and corral, no good; house, fair to middlin'.
+Two hundred an' fifty acres worth ten dollars at least, best out of
+doors; cattle run, two hundred acres worth five; swamp and sleugh, fifty
+acres, only good to look at but mighty pretty in the mornin' at sun-up.
+Not much money in scenery though. Building worth between two and three
+thousand. Your plant here is worth about six thousand. I know I offered
+you five thousand, but I was buyin' then and now I am buyin' and
+sellin'. Anyway, I guess it's about even, an' we'll save you a lot of
+trouble an' time an' money. An' so, if you really want a western farm,
+you might just as well have mine. I did not think to sell. Of course
+I knew I must sell in the long run, but couldn't just see my place in
+anybody else's hands. Somehow it seems different though to see you folks
+on it. You seem to fit. Anyway, there's the offer. What do you say?"
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Sleighter," said Mr. Gwynne. "This is a rather surprising
+proposition."
+
+Mrs. Gwynne's eyes grew soft. "Michael, I think it is wonderful."
+
+But Mr. Gwynne would not look at his wife. "Let me see, Mr. Sleighter,
+your farm, you say, with buildings, is worth about six thousand to
+sixty-five hundred. Mine is worth from fifty-five hundred to six
+thousand. I will take your offer and pay the difference."
+
+"Oh, come off your perch," said Mr. Sleighter. "You're doin' the
+highfalutin' Vere de Vere act now. Listen to me. The deal is as level as
+I can figger it. Your farm and store with the machine business suit me
+all right. I feel I can place my boy right here for a while anyway. My
+farm, I believe, would suit you better than anythin' else you can get.
+There's my offer. Take it or leave it."
+
+"I think we will take it, Mr. Sleighter," said Mrs. Gwynne. "Michael
+dear, I feel Mr. Sleighter is right, and besides I know he is doing us a
+great kindness."
+
+"Kindness, ma'am, not at all. Business is business, and that's all there
+is to it. Well, I'll be goin'. Think it over, get the papers fixed up by
+to-morrow. No, don't thank me. Good-bye."
+
+Mrs. Gwynne followed him to the door, her face flushed, her eyes aglow,
+a smile hovering uncertainly about her lips. "Mr. Sleighter," she said,
+"the Lord sent you to us because He knew we were in need of guiding."
+
+"Ho, ho!" laughed Mr. Sleighter. "Like that Samaritan chap in the
+reading, eh? I guess you had got among thieves all right, more of 'em
+perhaps than you recognised too."
+
+"He sent you to us," repeated Mrs. Gwynne, offering him her hand.
+
+"Well, I donno but that He steered me to you. But all the same I guess
+the advantage is to me all right." Mr. Sleighter looked hard down the
+street, then turned and faced her squarely. "I want to say that it's
+done me a pile of good to have seen you, ma'am. It's made things look
+different."
+
+"You are a good man, Mr. Sleighter," she said, looking at him with misty
+eyes.
+
+"A good man!" Mr. Sleighter was seized with a cough. "A good man! Good
+Lord, ma'am! nobody never found it out but you--durn that cough anyway."
+And still troubled by his cough, Mr. Sleighter hurried down the path to
+the gate and out on to the road.
+
+Once resolved to break up their home in Eastern Canada, the Gwynnes
+lost no time in completing their arrangements for the transportation of
+themselves and their household gods and such of their household goods as
+Mr. Sleighter advised, to the new western country.
+
+Mr. Sleighter appeared to regard the migration of the Gwynne family to
+the western country as an enterprise in which he had made an investment
+from which he was bound to secure the greatest possible return. The
+principle of exchange which had been the basis of the deal as far as
+the farms were concerned was made to apply as far as possible to farm
+implements and equipment, household goods and chattels.
+
+"What's the use of your packin' a hull bunch of stuff West an' my
+packin' a hull bunch of stuff East. We'll just tote up the stock an'
+stuff we have got and make a deal on it. I know all my stuff an' yours
+is here. We'll make a trade."
+
+To this Mr. Gwynne gladly agreed. The arrangement would save trouble
+and useless expenditure. Hence the car was packed with such goods as Mr.
+Sleighter considered especially useful in the new home, and with such
+household furniture as the new home lacked and such articles as were
+precious from family or personal associations.
+
+"What about the pictures and curtains?" inquired Mr. Gwynne. "We don't
+need them."
+
+"Take 'em all," said Mr. Sleighter. "Pictures are like folks. They got
+faces an' looks. And curtains--my missis got hers all packed. Curtains
+are like clothes--they only fit them that owns them."
+
+"And the piano?"
+
+"Sure thing. Say, a piano in that country is like the village pump--the
+hull country gets about it. Take things to eat an' things to wear an'
+things to make the shack look pretty an' interestin' and comfortable.
+They don't take much room and they take the bareness off. That's what
+kills the women folk in the West, the bareness inside and outside.
+Nothin' but chairs, table an' stove inside; nothin' but grass an' sand
+outside. That's what makes 'em go crazy."
+
+So the car was filled with things to eat and to wear, and things "to
+take the bareness off." Somewhere in the car was found a place for
+Rosie, the cow, a remarkable milker and "worth her weight in butter," as
+Mr. Sleighter said, and for Rover, Larry's collie dog, who stood to him
+as comrade almost as a brother. A place in the car too was found for
+Joe Gagneau who from the first moment of the announced departure had
+expressed his determination to accompany Larry no matter at what cost or
+against whose opposition.
+
+"A'm goin' be in dat car' me, by gar!" was his ultimatum, and the
+various authorities interested recognised the inevitable and accepted
+it, to the great delight of both boys. Joe had a mouth organ and so had
+Larry, and they were both in the same key. Joe too had an old fiddle of
+his father's on which he could scrape with joy to himself, and with more
+or less agony to others, the dance tunes of local celebrity, the "Red
+River Jig," picked up from his father, "Money Musk" and "The Deil Amang
+the Tailors," the two latter from Dan Monroe at the country dances.
+
+In due time the car, packed with the Gwynne household goods and
+treasures and in charge of the two superlatively happy boys, with Rosie
+and Rover to aid in providing them with sustenance and protection, set
+forth, Westward Ho! Mr. Gwynne rode in the caboose of the train to
+which his car was attached. Mrs. Gwynne and the girls were to follow
+by passenger train and would doubtless be found awaiting them on their
+arrival at Winnipeg.
+
+The journey westward was to the boys full of interest and adventure.
+At Toronto they picked up a stowaway, who, taking advantage of their
+absence, boarded the car and made himself a bed behind some bales of
+hay. Upon discovery by Rover, he made so piteous an appeal for refuge
+from some pursuing terror which he declined to specify, that the boys
+agreed to conceal him a night and a day till they were well on their
+way along the north shore of Lake Superior. When Larry's conscience made
+further concealment a burden greater than could be borne, Mr. Gwynne
+was taken into the boys' confidence and, after protest, agreed to make
+arrangement with the railroad authorities whereby Sam--for that was the
+stowaway's name--might retain his place in the car.
+
+He was a poor, wretched creature, reminding Larry of the scarecrow which
+he had put up in their garden the summer before. He was thin beyond
+anything the boys had ever seen. His face was worn and old and came to
+a peak at the nose, which gave him the appearance of a monster rat, a
+resemblance emphasised by the little blinking, red-rimmed eyes. His hair
+was closely cropped and of brilliant carrotty colour.
+
+But he had seen life in a great city and had gathered a store of
+worldly wisdom, not all of which was for his good, and a repertoire
+of accomplishments that won him admiration and wonder from the simple
+country boys. He had all the new ragtime songs and dances, which he
+rendered to his own accompaniment on an old battered banjo. He was a
+contortionist of quite unusual cleverness, while his fund of stories
+never ran dry throughout the seven days' journey to Winnipeg. He set
+himself with the greatest assiduity to impart his accomplishments to the
+boys, and by the time the party had reached the end of the first stage
+in their westward journey, Sam had the satisfaction of observing that
+his pupils had made very satisfactory progress, both with the clog
+dancing and with the ragtime songs. Besides this, he had made for
+himself an assured place in their affection, and even Mr. Gwynne had
+come to feel such an interest in the bit of human driftwood flung up
+against him, that he decided to offer the waif a chance to try his
+fortune in the West.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+JANE BROWN
+
+
+Mr. Brown was a busy man, but he never failed to be in his place at
+the foot of the table every day punctually at half past twelve, solely
+because at that hour his little daughter, Jane, would show her grave and
+earnest and dark brown, almost swarthy, face at the head. Eight years
+ago another face used to appear there, also grave, earnest, but very
+fair and very lovely to look upon, to the doctor the fairest of all
+faces on the earth. The little, plain, swarthy-faced child the next day
+after that lovely face had been forever shut away from the doctor's eyes
+was placed in her high chair at the head of the table, at first only at
+the lunch hour, but later at all meal times before the doctor to look
+at. And it was an ever-recurring joy to the lonely man to discover in
+the little grave face before him fleeting glimpses of the other face
+so tenderly loved and so long vanished. These glimpses were to be
+discovered now in the deep blue eyes, deep in colour and in setting, now
+in the smile that lit up the dark, irregular features like the sudden
+break of sunlight upon the rough landscape, transforming it into
+loveliness, now in the knitting of the heavy eyebrows, and in the firm
+pressing of the lips in moments of puzzled thought. In all the moods and
+tenses of the little maid the doctor looked for and found reminiscences
+of her mother.
+
+Through those eight lonely years the little girl had divided with his
+profession the doctor's days. Every morning after breakfast he stood to
+watch the trim, sturdy, round little figure dance down the steps, step
+primly down the walk, turn at the gate to throw a kiss, and then march
+away along the street to the corner where another kiss would greet him
+before the final vanishing. Every day they met at noon to exchange on
+equal terms the experiences of the morning. Every night they closed the
+day with dinner and family prayers, the little girl gravely taking her
+part in the reading during the last year from her mother's Bible. And so
+it came that with the years their friendship grew in depth, in frankness
+and in tenderness. The doctor was widely read beyond the literature of
+his profession, and every day for a half hour it was his custom to
+share with the little girl the treasures of his library. The little maid
+repaid him with a passionate love and a quaint mothering care tender and
+infinitely comforting to the lonely man.
+
+The forenoon had been hot and trying, and Dr. Brown, having been
+detained in his office beyond his regular hour, had been more than
+usually hurried in his round of morning calls, and hence was more than
+ordinarily tired with his morning's work. At his door the little girl
+met him.
+
+"Come in, Papa, I know you're hot," she said, love and reproach in her
+face, "because I was hot myself, and you will need a nice, cool drink.
+I had one and yours is in here." She led him into the study, hovering
+about him with little touches and pushes. "You ought not to have taken
+so long a round this morning," she said with gentle severity. "I know
+you went out to St. James to see Mrs. Kale, and you know quite well she
+doesn't need you. It would do in the afternoon. And it was awful hot in
+school."
+
+"Awful?" said the doctor.
+
+"Well, very exceedingly then--and the kids were very tired and Miss
+Mutton was as cross as anything."
+
+"It was no wonder. How many kids were there for her to watch?"
+
+"Oh, Papa, you said 'kids!'"
+
+"I was just quoting my young daughter."
+
+"And she said we were to get out this afternoon an hour earlier,"
+continued Jane, ignoring his criticism, "and so I am going to take my
+bicycle and go with Nora and the girls down to the freight sheds."
+
+"The freight sheds?"
+
+"Yes, Larry and Joe have come in, and Rover and Rosie--she's the cow,
+and they milked her every day twice and drank the milk and they used to
+have their meals together in the car."
+
+"Rosie, too? Very interesting indeed."
+
+"Now, Papa, you must not laugh at me. It is very interesting. They all
+came for days and days together in the car from somewhere down East,
+Ontario, I think. And Mr. Gwynne says they are just like a circus. And
+they play instiments and dance."
+
+"What, Rosie too? How clever of her!"
+
+The child's laugh rang out joyously. "Oh, Papa, that's awfully funny.
+And we're going down on our wheels. Nora can ride now, you know, and
+she's going to take Ethel May's wheel. It's awfully hard to ride, but
+Nora's as strong as Kathleen."
+
+"Well, well," said her father, greatly interested in this exciting but
+somewhat confused tale. "Just wait until I wash my hands and then you
+shall tell me what it all means. Thank you for this deliciously cool
+lemonade. It is very refreshing. You will tell me all about it at
+lunch."
+
+The lunch hour was devoted first of all to disentangling from the mass
+the individual members of the car party, which after an adventurous
+journey across half a continent had apparently made camp at the Winnipeg
+freight sheds. Then followed the elucidation of the details of the plan
+by which this camp was to be attacked and raided during the afternoon.
+
+"Now that I have a fairly clear conception of whom Larry, Joe, Sam,
+Rosie and Rover are--I think I have them right--"
+
+"Exactly, Papa."
+
+"I wish to find out just who are to form the advance party, the scouting
+party."
+
+"The scouting party? I don't know what you mean. But Nora--you know
+Nora?"
+
+"Certainly, the little black-eyed Irish Terrier--terror, I mean."
+
+"Oh, Papa, she's just lovely and she's my friend."
+
+"Is she, dear, then I apologise, but indeed I meant nothing derogatory
+to her. I greatly like her, she is so spunky."
+
+"Yes, there's Nora, and Kathleen, Nora's sister."
+
+"Oh, Kathleen, the tall beautiful girl with the wonderful hair?"
+
+The little girl sighed. "Oh, such lovely long yellow hair." The little
+maid's hair was none of these. "And she is not a bit proud--just nice,
+you know--just as if she were not so lovely, but like--only like me."
+
+"Like you, indeed!" exclaimed the doctor indignantly. "Like my little
+girl? I don't see any one quite like my little girl. There is not one of
+them with all their yellow hair and things that is to be compared with
+my own little girl."
+
+"Oh, Papa. I know you think so, and I wish it was so. And I am awfully
+glad you think so, but of course you are prejuist, you know."
+
+"Prejudiced? Not a bit, not a bit."
+
+"Well, that's Kathleen and Nora, and--and perhaps Hazel--you know Hazel,
+Papa, Hazel Sleighter?"
+
+"The western girl--not at all wild and woolly though. A very modern and
+very advanced young lady, isn't she?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know what you mean, Papa. She says she may go down, but
+I don't think she likes going with a lot of kids. You know she has her
+hair up. She has to have it up in the store. She says the man would not
+have her behind the counter if she had not her hair up."
+
+"Oh, that's it. I thought perhaps the maturity of her age made it
+necessary."
+
+"I don't know what maturevy means, but she is awfully old. She is going
+on sixteen."
+
+"Dear me, as old as that?" inquired her father.
+
+"Yes, but she said she wanted to see that circus car. That's what she
+calls Mr. Gwynne's car. And she says she wants to see the elephunts
+perform. There are not any elephunts. There's only Rosie and Rover. But
+she may get off. She can get off if she can fool her boss, she says. So
+we're all going down and we may bring Larry home with us, Mrs. Sleighter
+says. Though Mrs. Gwynne says there's not any room, they're so filled up
+now. And I said Larry could come here and Joe, too. But I am not so
+sure about Sam. I think he must be awfully queer. Mr. Gwynne thinks he's
+queer."
+
+"It is quite possible, indeed probable, my dear," assented her father.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Gwynne said he looked like a third-rate how-do-you-feel
+performer."
+
+"A what, exactly?"
+
+"A how-do-you-feel performer."
+
+"Oh, a vaudeville performer."
+
+"Yes, a fodefeel performer. I don't know what that means, but he must be
+queer. But I think Larry would be all right, and Joe. You see, we know
+THEM."
+
+"Oh, do we?"
+
+"Yes, certainly, Papa. Larry is Nora's brother. He's awfully clever.
+He's only fifteen and he passed the Entrance in Ontario and that's ever
+so much harder than here. He passed it before he was fourteen."
+
+"Before he was fourteen!" replied her father. "Amazing!"
+
+"Yes, and he plays the mouth organ and the tin whistle and the fiddle,
+and Mr. Gwynne says he has learned some stunts from Sam. I think he must
+be awfully nice. So I said he could come here. And Mrs. Gwynne thanked
+me so nicely, and she's just lovely, Papa."
+
+"I have not seen her," said her father, "but I have heard her voice, and
+I quite agree with you. The voice always tells. Have you noticed that?
+The voice gives the keynote of the soul."
+
+"I don't know, Papa. There's Mrs. Sleighter's voice. I don't like it
+very much, but I think she's nice inside."
+
+"Ah, you are right, my dear. Perhaps I should have said that a certain
+kind of voice always goes with a beautiful soul."
+
+"I know," replied his daughter. "That's like Mrs. Gwynne's voice. And so
+we'll go down to the car and bring Larry home with us, and perhaps his
+mother will let him come here. She did not say she would and you can't
+tell. She's quiet, you know, but somehow she isn't like Mrs. Sleighter.
+I don't think you could coax her to do what she didn't want."
+
+"And Mrs. Sleighter--can you coax Mrs. Sleighter?"
+
+"Oh, yes, the girls just coax her and coax her, and though she doesn't
+want to a bit, she just gives in."
+
+"That's nice of her. That must be very nice for the girls, eh?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know, Papa."
+
+"What? don't you think it is nice to be able to coax people to do what
+you want?"
+
+"It is nice to get what you want, but I think REALLY, REALLY, you'd
+rather you could not coax them to do it just because you coax them."
+
+"Ah, I see."
+
+"Yes; you see, you're never really quite sure after you get it whether
+you ought to get it after all."
+
+"I see," said her father; "that rather spoils it."
+
+"Yes, but you never do that, Papa."
+
+"Oh, you can't coax me, eh? I am glad to know that. I was afraid,
+rather."
+
+"Well, of course, I can coax you, Papa, but you usually find some other
+way, and then I know it is quite right."
+
+"I wish I was quite as sure of that, Jane. But you are going to bring
+Larry home with you?"
+
+"Yes, if Mrs. Gwynne will let him come. I told her we had four rooms and
+we were only using two, and they are all crowded up in Mrs. Sleighter's,
+two girls in each room, and Tom's room is so tiny, and I don't think
+Larry would like to go in Tom's room. And we have two empty rooms, so we
+might just as well."
+
+"Yes, certainly, we might just as well. You might perhaps mention it to
+Anna."
+
+"Oh, I did, Papa, and she said she would have it all ready."
+
+"So it is all arranged. I was thinking--but never mind."
+
+"I know you were thinking, that I ought to have asked you, Papa; and I
+ought to have. But I knew that when a little boy had no home to go to
+you would of course--"
+
+"Of course," replied her father hurriedly. "You were quite right, Jane.
+And with those two rooms, why not bring them all, Joe and Pete--Pete, is
+it?"
+
+"Sam, Papa. I am not so sure. I think we should leave Joe and Sam. You
+see Joe won't mind staying in the car. Nora says he lives in just a
+shack at home, and Sam--I am a little afraid of Sam. We don't know him
+very well, you see."
+
+"I see. We are quite safe in your hands, little woman. You can do just
+as you and Mrs. Gwynne arrange."
+
+As the father watched the little, trim, sturdy figure stepping down the
+street he muttered to himself, "That child grows more like her mother
+every day." He heaved a great sigh from the depths of his heart. "Well,
+God keep her, wise little woman that she is! I wish I were a wiser man.
+I must be firm with her; it would be a shame to spoil her. Yes, I must
+be firm." But he shrugged his shoulders and smiled at himself. "The
+worst of it is, or the best of it is," he continued, "the little witch
+is almost always right, God bless her, just like her mother, just like
+her mother." He hastily wiped his eyes, and went off to his office where
+Mrs. Dean awaited him and her little girl with the burned hand. And the
+mother wondered at the gentleness of him as he dressed the little girl's
+wounded hand.
+
+It followed that the scouting party included not only Miss Hazel
+Sleighter, but also her big brother Tom, who, being temporarily in the
+high school, more perhaps because of his size and the maturity of his
+bearing than by virtue of his educational qualifications, was at the
+present moment most chiefly concerned in getting into form his baseball
+team for the match the following Saturday in which the High School was
+to meet All Comers under eighteen. The freight shed being on his way to
+the practice ground, Tom deigned to join the party and to take in the
+circus car as he passed. The car dwellers were discovered on the open
+prairie not far from the freight shed, keeping guard over Rosie, who was
+stretching her legs after her railway journey. The boys were tossing a
+baseball to each other as Tom pedalled up on his wheel.
+
+"Hello, there, here you are," he shouted to Sam, holding up his hands
+for a catch.
+
+The ball came with such impact that Tom was distinctly jarred, and
+dropped the ball. With all his force he threw the ball back to Sam,
+who caught it with the ease of a professional and returned it with such
+vigour that again Tom dropped it.
+
+"Let's have a knock-up," he said, hitting a long fly.
+
+Sam flew after the ball with amazing swiftness, his scarecrow garments
+fluttering and flapping in the air, and caught it with an upward leap
+that landed him on his back breathless but triumphant.
+
+"Say, you're a crackerjack," said Tom; "here's another."
+
+Meanwhile Larry was in the hands of his sisters, who had delightedly
+kissed him to his shamefaced chagrin, and introduced him to their
+new-found friends.
+
+"So this is Larry." said Miss Hazel Sleighter, greeting him with a
+dazzling smile. "We have heard a lot about you. I think you must be
+quite wonderful. Come here, Tom, and meet your friends."
+
+Poor Larry! In the presence of this radiant creature and of her
+well-dressed brother, he felt terribly conscious of the shabbiness of
+the second best suit which his mother had thought good enough for
+the journey in the car. Tom glanced at the slight, poorly dressed,
+pale-faced lad who stood before him with an embarrassed, almost a
+beseeching look in his eyes.
+
+"Can you play ball?" asked Tom.
+
+"Not much," replied Larry; "not like Sam. Come here, Sam," he called,
+remembering that he had not introduced his friend. Sam shuffled over
+with an air of complete nonchalance.
+
+"This is Sam," said Larry. "Sam--I have forgotten your name."
+
+"Nolan," said Sam shortly.
+
+"Miss Hazel Sleighter," said Larry.
+
+"How do you do, Miss Hazel," said Sam, sweeping her an elaborate bow,
+and then gazing boldly into her eyes. "I hope you're well. If you're as
+smart as you look, I guess you're way up in G."
+
+"I am quite well, thank you," returned Miss Hazel, the angle of her chin
+indicating her most haughty air.
+
+"Say, young lady, pass up the chilly stuff," replied Sam with a laugh.
+"It don't go with that mighty fine complexion of yours. Say, did you
+ever see the leading lady in 'The Spider's Web'? Well, you make me think
+of her, and she was a peacherino. Never seen her? No? Well, you ought to
+see her some day and think of me."
+
+Hazel turned a disgusted shoulder on Sam's impudent face and engaged
+Larry in vivacious conversation.
+
+"Well, I am off to the ball practice," said Tom. "Got a match on
+Saturday--High School against the world. Guess they would like to have
+you, Sam, only I wouldn't care to have you play against us. You don't
+play baseball, eh?" continued Tom, addressing Larry. "What do you
+play--football?"
+
+"Not much; never tried much," said Larry, flushing over his lack of
+sporting qualifications.
+
+"He plays the fiddle," said a quiet little voice.
+
+Larry, flushing violently, turned around and saw a little, brown-faced
+maid gazing thoughtfully at him.
+
+"Oh, he does, eh? Ha, ha, ha. Good game, eh? Ha, ha, ha." They all
+joined in the laugh.
+
+"And he plays the mouth organ, too, and does funny stunts," sturdily
+continued the little girl, disdaining Tom's scornful laughter.
+
+"Good for you, Jane."
+
+"Yes, and he passed his entrance to the High School a year ago when
+he was fourteen, in Ontario, anyway." This appeared to check Tom's
+hilarity.
+
+"My, what a wonder he is! And did he tell you all this himself?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Jane indignantly.
+
+"Oh, I am glad to hear that," said Tom with a grin. "Won't you come
+along, Sam? It's only a little way down."
+
+"All right," said Sam cheerfully. "So long, folks. See you later, Larry.
+Au reservoir, young lady, as the camel said to the elephant when
+he asked what he'd have. Hope I see you later if not sooner--ta-ta;
+tinga-ling; honk honk." Again he swept Miss Hazel an elaborate bow.
+
+"Thinks he's smart," said that young lady, lifting her nose. "He's a
+regular scarecrow. Who in the world is he and where did he come from?"
+she demanded of Larry, who proceeded to account for Sam's presence with
+their party.
+
+The visitors peered into the car and poked into its recesses, discovered
+the food supplies for boy and beast, and inspected the dormitories
+under Larry's guidance, while the boy, who had recovered from his
+embarrassment, discoursed upon the wonderful experience of the journey.
+Miss Hazel flashed her great blue eyes and her white teeth upon him,
+shook all her frizzes in his face, smiled at him, chattered to him,
+jeered at him, flattered him with all the arts and graces of the
+practiced flirt she was, until Larry, swept from his bearings, walked
+the clouds in a wonder world of rosy lights and ravishing airs. His
+face, his eyes, his eager words, his tremulous lips, were all eloquent
+of this new passion that possessed him.
+
+As for Miss Hazel, accustomed as she was to the discriminating
+admiration of her fellow clerks, the sincerity and abandonment of this
+devotion was as incense to her flirtatious soul. Avid of admiration and
+experienced in most of the arts and wiles necessary to secure this from
+contiguous males, small wonder that the unsophisticated Larry became her
+easy prey long before she had brought to bear the full complement of her
+enginery of war.
+
+It was a happy afternoon for the boy, but when informed by his sisters
+of his mother's desire that he should return with them, he was resolute
+in his refusal, urging many reasons why it was impossible that he should
+leave the car and his comrades. There was nothing for it but to leave
+him there and report to his mother their failure.
+
+"I might have known," she said. "He would never come to a stranger's
+house in his old clothes. I will just bring down his best suit after
+tea."
+
+The dinner hour at Dr. Brown's was fully occupied with an animated
+recital of the adventures of the afternoon. Each member of the car party
+was described with an accuracy and fulness of detail that would have
+surprised him.
+
+"And you know, Papa," said the little maid, "Tom just laughed at Larry
+because he could not play baseball and things, and I just told him that
+Larry could play the mouth organ lovely and the fiddle, and they laughed
+and laughed. I think they were laughing at me. Tom laughed loudest of
+all, and he's not so smart himself, and anyway Larry passed the entrance
+a year ago and I just told him so."
+
+"Oh, did you," said her father, "and how did Master Tom take that?"
+
+"He didn't laugh quite as much. I don't think I like him very much."
+
+"Ah?"
+
+"But Hazel, she was just lovely to Larry. I think she's nice, Papa, and
+such lovely cheeks and hair." Here Jane sighed.
+
+"Oh, has she? She is quite a grown-up young lady, is she not?"
+
+"She has her hair up, Papa. She's sixteen, you know."
+
+"I remember you told me that she had reached that mature age."
+
+"And I think Larry liked her, too."
+
+"Ah? And why do you think so?"
+
+"He just looked at her, and looked, and looked."
+
+"Well, that seems fairly good evidence."
+
+"And he is coming up here to-night when we bring him his good clothes."
+
+"Oh, you are to bring him his good clothes, are you?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Gwynne and I are taking them down in the carriage."
+
+"Oh, in the carriage--Mrs. Gwynne--"
+
+"Yes, you know--Oh, here's Nora at the door. Excuse me, Papa. I am sure
+it is important."
+
+She ran to the door and in a moment or two returned with a note. "It's
+for you, Papa, and I know it's about the carriage." She watched her
+father somewhat anxiously as he read the note.
+
+"Umm-um. Very good, very nice and proper. Certainly. Just say to
+Mrs. Gwynne that we are very pleased to be able to serve her with the
+carriage, and that we hope Larry will do us the honour of coming to us."
+
+Jane nodded delightedly. "I know, Papa. I told her that already. But
+I'll tell her this is the answer to the note."
+
+Under Jane's direction and care they made their visit to the car, but on
+their return no Larry was with them. He would come after the picnic
+and baseball game tomorrow, perhaps, but not to-night. His mother was
+plainly disappointed, and indeed a little hurt. She could not understand
+her son. It was not his clothes after all as she had thought. She
+pondered over his last words spoken as he bade her farewell at the car
+door, and was even more mystified.
+
+"I'll be glad when we get to our own place again," he said. "I hate
+to be beholden to anybody. We're as good as any of them anyway." The
+bitterness in his tone mystified her still more.
+
+It was little Jane who supplied the key to the mystery. "I don't think
+he likes Tom very much," said the little girl. "He likes Hazel, though.
+But he might have come to our house; I did not laugh." And then the
+mother thought she understood.
+
+That sudden intensity of bitterness in her boy's voice startled her a
+little, but deep down in her heart she was conscious of a queer feeling
+of satisfaction, almost of pride. "He's just like his father," she said
+to herself. "He likes to be independent." Strict honesty in thought made
+her add, "And like me, too, I fear."
+
+The picnic day was one of those intensely hot June days when the whole
+world seems to stand quivering and breathlessly attent while Nature
+works out one of her miracles over fields of grain, over prairie
+flowers, over umbrageous trees and all things borne upon the bosom
+of Mother Earth, checking the succulence of precocious overgrowths,
+hardening fibre, turning plant energy away from selfish exuberance in
+mere stalk building into the altruistic sacrament of ripening fruit and
+hardening grain. A wise old alchemist is Mother Earth, working in time
+but ever for eternity.
+
+The picnickers who went out to the park early in the day were driven for
+refuge from the blazing sun to the trees and bushes, where prostrated by
+the heat they lay limp and flaccid upon the grass. Miss Hazel Sleighter,
+who for some reason which she could not explain to herself had joined
+the first contingent of picnickers, was cross, distinctly and obviously
+cross. The heat was trying to her nerves, but worse, it made her face
+red--red all over. Her pink parasol intensified the glow upon her face.
+
+"What a fool I was to come, in this awful heat," she said to herself.
+"They won't be here for hours, and I will be just like a wash-rag."
+
+Nor was Larry enjoying the picnic. The material comforts in the form of
+sandwiches, cakes and pies, gloriously culminating in lemonade and ice
+cream, while contributing a temporary pleasure, could not obliterate a
+sense of misery wrought in him by Miss Hazel's chilly indifference. That
+young lady, whose smiles so lavishly bestowed only yesterday had made
+for him a new heaven and a new earth, had to-day merely thrown him
+a passing glance and a careless "Hello," as she floated by intent on
+bigger game.
+
+In addition, the boy was conscious of an overpowering lassitude that
+increased as the day wore on. His misery and its chief cause had not
+escaped the observing eyes of the little maid, Jane Brown, whose clear
+and incisive voice was distinctly audible as she confided to her friend
+Nora her disappointment in Miss Hazel.
+
+"She won't look at him to-day," she said. "She's just waiting for the
+boys to come. She'll be nicer then."
+
+There was no animus in the voice, only surprise and disappointment. To
+Larry, however, the fact that the secret tragedy of his soul was thus
+laid bare, filled him with a sudden rage. He cast a wrathful eye upon
+the little maid. She met his glance with a placid smile, volunteering
+the cheerful remark, "They won't be long now."
+
+A fury possessed the boy. "Oh shut your mouth, will you?" he said,
+glaring at her.
+
+For a moment little Jane looked at him, surprise, dismay, finally pity
+succeeding each other in the deep blue eyes. Hastily she glanced about
+to see if the others had heard the awful outburst. She was relieved
+to note that only Joe and Nora were near enough to hear. She settled
+herself down in a position of greater comfort and confided to her friend
+Nora with an air of almost maternal solicitude, "I believe he has a
+pain. I am sure he has a pain."
+
+Larry sprang to his feet, and without a glance at his anxious tormentor
+said, "Come on, Joe, let's go for a hunt in the woods."
+
+Jane looked wistfully after the departing boys. "I wish they would ask
+us, Nora. Don't you? I think he is nice when he isn't mad," she said. To
+which Nora firmly assented.
+
+A breeze from the west and the arrival of the High School team,
+resplendent in their new baseball uniforms, brought to the limp
+loiterers under the trees a reviving life and interest in the day's
+doings.
+
+It was due to Jane that Sam got into the game, for when young Frank
+Smart was searching for a suitable left fielder to complete the All
+Comers team, he spied seated among the boys the little girl.
+
+"Hello, Jane; in your usual place, I see!" he called out to her as he
+passed.
+
+"Hello, Frank!" she called to him brightly. "Frank! Frank!" she cried,
+after the young man had passed, springing up and running after him.
+
+"I am in a hurry, Jane; I must get a man for left field."
+
+"But, Frank," she said, catching his arm, for young Smart was a great
+friend of hers and of her father's. "I want to tell you. You see that
+funny boy under the tree," she continued, lowering her voice. "Well,
+he's a splendid player. Tom doesn't want him to play, and I don't
+either, because I want the High School to beat. But it would not be fair
+not to tell you, would it?"
+
+Young Smart looked at her curiously. "Say, little girl, you're a sport.
+And is he a good player?"
+
+"Oh, he's splendid, but he's queer--I mean he looks queer. He's awfully
+funny. But that doesn't matter, does it?"
+
+"Not a hair, if he can play ball. What's his name?"
+
+"Sam--something."
+
+"Sam Something? That is a funny name."
+
+"Oh, you know, Sam. I don't know his other name."
+
+"Well, I'll try him, Jane," said young Smart, moving toward the boy and
+followed by the eager eyes of the little girl.
+
+"I say, Sam," said Smart, "we want a man for left field. Will you take a
+go at it?"
+
+"Too hot," grunted Sam.
+
+"Oh, you won't find it too hot when you get started. Rip off your coat
+and get into the game. You can play, can't you?"
+
+"Aw, what yer givin' us. I guess I can give them ginks a few pointers."
+
+"Well, come on."
+
+"Too hot," said Sam.
+
+Jane pulled young Smart by the sleeve. "Tell him you will give him a
+jersey," she said in a low voice. "His shirt is torn."
+
+Again young Smart looked at Jane with scrutinising eyes. "You're a
+wonder," he said.
+
+"Come along, Sam. You haven't got your sweater with you, but I will get
+one for you. Get into the bush there and change."
+
+With apparent reluctance, but with a gleam in his little red eyes, Sam
+slouched into the woods to make the change, and in a few moments came
+forth and ran to take his position at left field.
+
+The baseball match turned out to be a mere setting for the display
+of the eccentricities and superior baseball qualities of Sam, which
+apparently quite outclassed those of his teammates in the match. After
+three disastrous innings, Sam caused himself to be moved first to the
+position of short stop, and later to the pitcher's box, to the immense
+advantage of his side. But although, owing to the lead obtained by the
+enemy, his prowess was unable to ward off defeat from All Comers, yet
+under his inspiration and skilful generalship, the team made such a
+brilliant recovery of form and came so near victory that Sam was carried
+from the field in triumph shoulder high and departed with his new and
+enthusiastically grateful comrades to a celebration.
+
+Larry, however, was much too miserable and much too unhappy for anything
+like a celebration. The boy was oppressed with a feeling of loneliness,
+and was conscious chiefly of a desire to reach his car and crawl into
+his bed there among the straw. Stumbling blindly along the dusty road; a
+cheery voice hailed him.
+
+"Hello, Larry!" It was Jane seated beside her father in his car.
+
+"Hello!" he answered faintly and just glanced at her as the car passed.
+
+But soon the car pulled up. "Come on, Larry, we'll take you home," said
+Jane.
+
+"Oh, I'm all right," said Larry, forcing his lips into his old smile and
+resolutely plodding on.
+
+"Better come up, my boy," said the doctor.
+
+"I don't mind walking, sir," replied Larry, stubbornly determined to go
+his lonely way.
+
+"Come here, boy," said the doctor, regarding him keenly. Larry came over
+to the wheel. "Why, boy, what is the matter?" The doctor took hold of
+his hand.
+
+Larry gripped the wheel hard. He was feeling desperately ill and
+unsteady on his legs, but still his lips twisted themselves into a
+smile. "I'm all right, sir," he said; "I've got a headache and it was
+pretty hot out there."
+
+But even as he spoke his face grew white and he swayed on his feet.
+In an instant the doctor was out of his car. "Get in, lad," he said
+briefly, and Larry, surrendering, climbed into the back seat, fighting
+fiercely meanwhile to prevent the tears from showing in his eyes.
+Keeping up a brisk and cheerful conversation with Jane in regard to the
+game, the doctor drove rapidly toward his home.
+
+"You will come in with us, my boy," said the doctor as they reached his
+door.
+
+By this time Larry was past all power of resistance and yielded himself
+to the authority of the doctor, who had him upstairs and into bed within
+a few minutes of his arrival. A single word Larry uttered during this
+process, "Tell my mother," and then sank into a long nightmare, through
+which there mingled dim shapes and quiet voices, followed by dreamless
+sleep, and an awakening to weakness that made the lifting of his eyelids
+an effort and the movement of his hand a weariness. The first object
+that loomed intelligible through the fog in which he seemed to move was
+a little plain face with great blue eyes carrying in them a cloud of
+maternal anxiety. Suddenly the cloud broke and the sun burst through in
+a joyous riot, for in a voice that seemed to him unfamiliar and remote
+Larry uttered the single word, "Jane."
+
+"Oh!" cried the little girl rapturously. "Oh, Larry, wait." She slipped
+from the room and returned in a moment with his mother, who quickly came
+to his side.
+
+"You are rested, dear," she said, putting her hand under his head.
+"Drink this. No, don't lift your head. Now then, go to sleep again,
+darling," and, stooping down, she kissed him softly.
+
+"Why--are--you--crying?" he asked faintly. "What's the--matter?"
+
+"Nothing, darling; you are better. Just sleep."
+
+"Better?--Have--I--been--sick?"
+
+"Yes, you have been sick," said his mother.
+
+"Awfully sick," said Jane solemnly. "A whole week sick. But you are all
+right now," she added brightly, "and so is Joe, and Sam, and Rover and
+Rosie. I saw them all this morning and you know we have been praying and
+praying and--"
+
+"Now he will sleep, Jane," said his mother, gently touching the little
+girl's brown tangle of hair.
+
+"Yes, he will sleep; oh, I'm just awful thankful," said Jane, suddenly
+rushing out of the room.
+
+"Dear little girl," said the mother. "She has been so anxious and so
+helpful--a wonderful little nurse."
+
+But Larry was fast asleep, and before he was interested enough to make
+inquiry about his comrades in travel the car in charge of Joe and Sam,
+with Mr. Gwynne in the caboose, was far on its way to Alberta. After
+some days Jane was allowed to entertain the sick boy, as was her custom
+with her father, by giving an account of her day's doings. These were
+happy days for them both. Between the boy and the girl the beginnings of
+a great friendship sprang up.
+
+"Larry, I think you are queer," said Jane to him gravely one day. "You
+are not a bit like you were in the car."
+
+A quick flush appeared on the boy's face. "I guess I was queer that day,
+Jane," he said. "I know I felt queer."
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Jane, delighted by some sudden recollection. "You
+were queer then, and now you're just ornary. My, you were sick and you
+were cross, too, awful cross that day. I guess it was the headick. I get
+awfully cross, too, when I have the headick. I don't think you will be
+cross again ever, will you, Larry?"
+
+Larry, smiling at her, replied, "I'll never be cross with you, Jane,
+anyway, never again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GIRL OF THE WOOD LOT
+
+
+June, and the sun flooding with a golden shimmer a land of tawny
+prairie, billowy hills, wooded valleys and mountain peaks white with
+eternal snows, touching with silver a stream which, glacier-born,
+hurled itself down mountain sides in fairy films of mist, rushed through
+canyons in a mad torrent, hurried between hills in a swollen flood,
+meandered along wide valleys in a full-lipped tide, lingered in a placid
+lake in a bit of lowland banked with poplar bluffs, and so onward past
+ranch-stead and homestead to the great Saskatchewan and Father Ocean,
+prairie and hills, valleys and mountains, river and lake, making a
+wonder world of light and warmth and colour and joyous life.
+
+Two riders on rangey bronchos, followed by two Russian boarhounds,
+climbed the trail that went winding up among the hills towards a height
+which broke abruptly into a ridge of bare rock. Upon the ridge they
+paused.
+
+"There! Can you beat that? If so, where?" The lady swept her gauntletted
+hand toward the scene below. Mrs. Waring-Gaunt was tall, strongly made,
+handsome with that comeliness which perfect health and out-of-doors life
+combine to give, her dark hair, dark flashing eyes, straight nose,
+wide, full-lipped curving mouth, and a chin whose chiselled firmness
+was softened but not weakened by a dimple, making a picture good to look
+upon.
+
+"There!" she cried again, "tell me, can you beat it?"
+
+"Glorious! Sybil, utterly and splendidly glorious!" said her brother,
+his eyes sweeping the picture below. "And you too, Sybil," he said,
+turning his eyes upon her. "This country has done you well. By jove,
+what a transformation from the white-faced, willowy--"
+
+"Weedy," said she.
+
+"Well, as it's no longer true, weedy--woman that faded out of London,
+how many--eight years ago!"
+
+"Ten years, ten long, glorious, splendid years."
+
+"Ten years! Surely not ten!"
+
+"Yes, ten beautiful years."
+
+"I wish to God I had come with you then. I might have been--well, I
+should have been saved some bumps and a ghastly cropper at last."
+
+"'Cut it out,' Jack, as the boys say here. En avant! We never look back
+in this land, but ever forward. Oh, now isn't this worth while?" Again
+she swept her hand toward the scene below her. "Look at that waving
+line in the east, that broad sweep; and here at our left, those great,
+majestic things. I love them. I love every scar in their old grey faces.
+They have been good friends to me. But for them some days might have
+been hard to live through, but they were always there like friends,
+watching, understanding. They kept me steady."
+
+"You must have had some difficult days, old girl, in this awful land.
+Yes, yes, I know it's glorious, especially on a day like this and in a
+light like this; but after all, you are away from the world, away from
+everybody, and shut off from everything, from life, art--how could you
+stick it?"
+
+"Jack are you sympathising with me? Let me tell you your sympathy is
+wasted. I have had lonely days in this land, of course. When Tom was
+off on business--Oh! that man has been perfectly splendid. Jack! He's
+been--well, I can't tell you all he has been to me--father, mother,
+husband, chum, he's been to me, and more. And he's made good in the
+country, too. Now look again at this view. We always stop to look at it,
+Tom and I, from this point. Tell me if you have ever seen anything quite
+as wonderful!"
+
+"Yes, it's glorious, a little like the veldt, with, of course, the
+mountains extra, and they do rather finish the thing in the grand
+style."
+
+"Grand style, well, rather! A great traveller who has seen most of the
+world's beautiful spots told me he had never looked on anything quite so
+splendid as the view from here--so spacious, so varied, so majestic. Ah,
+I love it, and the country has been good to me!
+
+"I don't mean physically only, but in every way--in body, soul and mind.
+And for Tom, too, the country has done much. In England, you know, he
+was just loafing, filling in time with one useless thing after another,
+and on the way to get fat and lazy. Here he is doing things, things
+worth while. His ranch is quite a success. Then he is always busy
+organising various sorts of industries in the country--dairying,
+lumbering and that sort of thing. He has introduced thoroughbred stock.
+He helps with the schools, the churches, the Agricultural Institutes. In
+short, he is doing his part to bring this country to its best. And this,
+you know, is the finest bit of all Canada!"
+
+Her brother laughed. "Pardon me," he said, "there are so many of these
+'finest bits.' In Nova Scotia, in Quebec, I have found them. The people
+of Ontario are certain that the 'finest bit' is in their province, while
+in British Columbia they are ready to fight if one suggests anything to
+the contrary."
+
+"I know. I know. It is perfectly splendid of them. You know we Canadians
+are quite foolish about our country."
+
+"WE Canadians!"
+
+"Yes. WE Canadians. What else? We are quite mad about the future of our
+country. And that is why I wanted you to come out here, Jack. There is
+so much a man like you might do with your brains and training. Yes. Your
+Oxford training is none too good for this country, and your brain
+none too clever for this big work of laying the foundations of a great
+Empire. This is big enough for the biggest of you. Bigger, even, than
+the thing you were doing at home, Jack. Oh, I heard all about it!"
+
+"You heard all about it? I hope not. I hope you have not heard of the
+awful mess I made of things."
+
+"Nonsense, Jack! 'Forward' is the word here. Here is an Empire in
+the making, another Britain, greater, finer, and without the hideous
+inequalities, injustices and foolish class distinctions of the old."
+
+"My God! Sybil, you sound like Lloyd George himself! Please don't recall
+that ghastly radicalism to me."
+
+"Never mind what it sounds like. You will get it too. We all catch it
+here, especially Old Country folk. For instance, look away to the left
+there. See that little clump of buildings beside the lake just through
+the poplars. There is a family of Canadians typical of the best, the
+Gwynnes, our closest neighbours. Good Irish stock, they are. They came
+two years after we came. Lost their little bit of money. Suffered, my!
+how they must have suffered! though they were too proud to tell any of
+us. The father is a gentleman, finely educated, but with no business
+ability. The mother all gold and grit, heroic little woman who kept the
+family together. The eldest boy of fifteen or sixteen, rather delicate
+when he came, but fearfully plucky, has helped amazingly. He taught the
+school, putting his money into the farm year after year. While teaching
+the school he somehow managed to grip hold of the social life of this
+community in a wonderful way, preached for Mr. Rhye, taught a
+Bible Class for him, quite unique in its way; organised a kind of
+Literary-Social-Choral-Minstrel Club and has added tremendously to the
+life and gaiety of the neighbourhood. What we shall do when he leaves,
+I know not. You will like them, I am sure. We shall drop in there on our
+way, if you like."
+
+"Ah, well, perhaps sometime later. They all sound rather terribly
+industrious and efficient for a mere slacker like myself."
+
+Along the trail they galloped, following the dogs for a mile or so until
+checked by a full flowing stream.
+
+"I say, Willow Creek is really quite in flood," said his sister. "The
+hot sun has brought down the snows, you know. The logs are running, too.
+We will have to go a bit carefully. Hold well up to the stream and watch
+the logs. Keep your eye on the bank opposite. No, no, keep up, follow
+me. Look out, or you will get into deep water. Keep to the right. There,
+that's better."
+
+"I say," said her brother, as his horse clambered out of the swollen
+stream. "That's rather a close thing to a ducking. Awfully like the
+veldt streams, you know. Ice cold, too, I fancy."
+
+"Ice cold, indeed, glacier water, you know, and these logs make it very
+awkward. The Gwynnes must be running down their timber and firewood. We
+might just run up and look in on them. It's only a mile or so. Nora will
+be there. She will be 'bossing the job,' as she says. It will be rather
+interesting."
+
+"Well, I hope it is not too far, for I assure you I am getting quite
+ravenous."
+
+"No, come along, there's a good trail here."
+
+A smart canter brought them to a rather pretentious homestead with
+considerable barns and outbuildings attached. "This is the Switzers'
+place," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "German-Americans, old settlers and
+quite well off. The father owned the land on which Wolf Willow village
+stands. He made quite a lot of money in real estate--village lots and
+farm lands, you know. He is an excellent farmer and ambitious for his
+family--one son and one daughter. They are quite plain people. They live
+like--well, like Germans, you know. The mother is a regular hausfrau;
+the daughter, quite nice, plays the violin beautifully. It was from her
+young Gwynne got his violining. The son went to college in the States,
+then to Germany for a couple of years. He came back here a year ago,
+terribly German and terribly military, heel clicking, ram-rod back, and
+all that sort of thing. Musical, too, awfully clever; rather think he
+has political ambitions. We'll not go in to-day. Some day, perhaps.
+Indeed, we must be neighbourly in this country. But the Switzers are a
+little trying."
+
+"Why know them at all?"
+
+"There you are!" cried his sister. "Fancy living beside people in this
+country and not knowing them. Can't you see that we must not let things
+get awry that way? We must all pull together. Tom is fearfully strong on
+that, and he is right, too, I suppose, although it is trying at times.
+Now we begin to climb a bit here. Then there are good stretches further
+along where we can hurry."
+
+But it seemed to her brother that the good stretches were rather fewer
+and shorter than the others, for the sun was overhead when they pulled
+up their horses, steaming and ready enough to halt, in a small clearing
+in the midst of a thick bit of forest. The timber was for the main part
+of soft woods, poplar, yellow and black, cottonwood, and further up
+among hills spruce and red pine. In the centre of the clearing stood a
+rough log cabin with a wide porch running around two sides. Upon this
+porch a young girl was to be seen busy over a cook stove. At the noise
+of the approaching horses the girl turned from her work and looked
+across the clearing at them.
+
+"Heavens above! who is that, Sybil?" gasped her brother.
+
+Mrs. Waring-Gaunt gave a delighted little cry. "Oh, my dear, you are
+really back." In a moment she was off her horse and rushing toward the
+girl with her arms outstretched. "Kathleen, darling! Is it you? And you
+have really grown, I believe! Or is it your hair? Come let me introduce
+you to my brother."
+
+Jack Romayne was a young man with thirty years of experience of the
+normal life of the well-born Englishman, during which time he had often
+known what it was to have his senses stirred and his pulses quickened by
+the sight of one of England's fair women, than whom none of fresher and
+fairer beauty are to be found in all the world; yet never had he found
+himself anything but master of his speech and behaviour. But to-day,
+when, in obedience to his sister's call, he moved across the little
+clearing toward the girl standing at her side, he seemed to lose
+consciousness of himself and control of his powers of action. He was
+instead faintly conscious that a girl of tall and slender grace, with
+an aura of golden hair about a face lovelier than he had ever known, was
+looking at him out of eyes as blue as the prairie crocus and as shy
+and sweet, that she laid her hand in his as if giving him something of
+herself, that holding her hand how long he knew not, he found himself
+gazing through those eyes of translucent blue into a soul of unstained
+purity as one might gaze into a shrine, and that he continued gazing
+until the blue eyes clouded and the fair face flushed crimson, that
+then, without a word, he turned from her, thrilling with a new gladness
+which seemed to fill not only his soul but the whole world as well.
+When he came to himself he found his trembling fingers fumbling with the
+bridle of his horse. For a few moments he became aware of a blind rage
+possessing him and he cursed deeply his stupidity and the gaucherie of
+his manner. But soon he forgot his rage for thinking of her eyes and of
+what he had seen behind their translucent blue.
+
+"My dear child," again exclaimed Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "I declare you have
+actually grown taller and grown--a great many other things that I may
+not tell you. What have they done to you at that wonderful school? Did
+you love it?"
+
+The girl flushed with a quick emotion. "Oh, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, it was
+really wonderful. I had such a good time and every one was lovely to me.
+I did not know people could be so kind. But it is good to get back home
+again to them all, and to you, and to all this." She waved her hand to
+the forest about her.
+
+"And who are up here to-day, and what are you doing?" inquired Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"In the meantime I am preparing dinner," said the girl with a laugh.
+
+"Dinner!" exclaimed Jack Romayne, who had meantime drawn near,
+determined to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of this girl as a man
+familiar with the decencies of polite society. "Dinner! It smells so
+good and we are desperately hungry."
+
+"Yes," cried Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "My brother declared he was quite faint
+more than an hour ago, and now I am sure he is."
+
+"Fairly ravenous."
+
+"But I don't know," said the girl with serious anxiety on her face.
+"You see, we have only pork and fried potatoes, and Nora just shot a
+chicken--only one--and they are always so hungry. But we have plenty of
+bread and tea. Would you stay?"
+
+"It sounds really very nice," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"It would be awfully jolly of you, and I promise not to eat too much,"
+said the young man. "I am actually faint with hunger, and a cup of tea
+appears necessary to revive me."
+
+"Of course, stay," said the girl with quick sympathy. "We can't give you
+much, but we can give you something."
+
+"Oh----ho!"
+
+"O-h-o-o-o-h! O-h-o-o-o-h!" A loud call came from the woods.
+
+"There's Nora," said Kathleen. "O-o-o-o-o-h! O-o-o-o-o-h!" The girl's
+answering call was like the winding of a silver horn. "Here she is."
+
+Out from the woods, striding into the clearing, came a young girl
+dressed in workmanlike garb in short skirt, leggings and jersey, with
+a soft black hat on the black tumbled locks. "Hello, Kathleen, dinner
+ready? I'm famished. Oh, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, glad to see you."
+
+"And my brother, Nora, Mr. Jack Romayne, just come from England, and
+hungry as a bear."
+
+"Just from England? And hungry? Well, we are glad to see you, Mr.
+Romayne." The girl came forward with a quick step and frankly offered
+her brown, strong hand. "We're awfully glad to see you, Mr. Romayne,"
+she repeated. "I ought to be embarrassed, I know, only I am so hungry."
+
+"Just my fix, Miss Nora," said the young man. "I am really anxious to
+be polite. I feel we should decline the invitation to dinner which your
+sister has pressed upon us; we know it is a shame to drop in on you like
+this all unprepared, but I am so hungry, and really that smell is so
+irresistible that I feel I simply cannot be polite."
+
+"Don't!" cried the girl, "or rather, do, and stay. There's enough of
+something, and Joe will look after the horses." She put her hands to her
+lips and called, "J-o-o-e!"
+
+A voice from the woods answered her, followed by Joe himself. "Here,
+Joe, take the horses and unsaddle them and tether them out somewhere."
+
+Despite Kathleen's fears there was dinner enough for all.
+
+"This is perfectly stunning!" said Romayne, glancing round the little
+clearing and up at the trees waving overhead, through the interstices of
+whose leafy canopy showed patches of blue sky. "Gorgeous, by Jove! Words
+are futile things for really great moments."
+
+"Ripping," said Nora, smiling impudently into his face. "Awfully
+jolly! A-1! Top hole! That's the lot, I think, according to the best
+authorities. Do you know any others?"
+
+"I beg pardon, what?" said Romayne, looking up from his fried pork and
+potatoes.
+
+"Those are all I have learned in English at least," said Nora. "I am
+keen for some more. They are Oxford, I believe. Have you any others?"
+
+Mr. Romayne diverted his attention from his dinner. "What is she talking
+about, Miss Gwynne? I confess to be entirely absorbed in these fried
+potatoes."
+
+"Words, words, Mr. Romayne, vocabulary, adjectives," replied Nora.
+
+"Ah," said Romayne, "but why should one worry about words, especially
+adjectives, when one has such divine realities as these to deal with?"
+
+"Have some muffles, Mr. Romayne," said Nora.
+
+"Muffles? Now what may muffles be?"
+
+"Muffles are a cross between muffins and waffles."
+
+"Please elucidate their nature and origin," said Mr. Romayne.
+
+"Let me show you," said Kathleen. She sprang up, dived into the cabin
+and returned with a large, round, hard biscuit in her hand. "This is
+Hudson Bay hard tack, the stand-by of all western people--Hudson Bay
+freighters and cowboys, old timers and tenderfeet alike swear by it.
+See, you moisten it slightly in water, fry it in boiling fat, sugar it
+and keep hot till served. Thus Hudson Bay hard tack becomes muffles."
+
+"Marvellous!" exclaimed Mr. Romayne, "and truly delicious! And to think
+that the Savoy chef knows nothing about muffles! But now that my first
+faintness is removed and the mystery of muffles is solved, may I
+inquire just what you are doing up here to-day, Miss Gwynne? What is the
+business on hand, I mean?"
+
+"Oh, Nora is getting out some logs for building and firewood for next
+winter. The logs, you see, are cut during the winter and hauled to the
+dump there."
+
+"Dump!" exclaimed Mr. Romayne faintly.
+
+"Yes. The bank there where you dump the logs into the creek below."
+
+"But what exactly has Miss Nora to do with all this?"
+
+"I?" enquired Nora, "I only boss the job."
+
+"Don't you believe her," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I happen to remember
+one winter day coming upon this young lady in these very woods driving
+her team and hauling logs to the dump while Sam and Joe did the cutting.
+Ask the boys there? And why shouldn't she?" continued Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+"She can run a farm, with garden, pigs and poultry thrown in; open a
+coal mine and--"
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed Nora, "the boys here do it all. Mother furnishes
+the head work."
+
+"Oh, Nora!" protested Kathleen, "you know you manage everything. Isn't
+that true, boys?"
+
+"She's the hull works herself," said Sam. "Ain't she, Joe?"
+
+"You bet yeh," said Joe, husky with the muffles.
+
+"She's a corker," continued Sam, "double compressed, compensating, forty
+horsepower, ain't she, Joe?"
+
+"You bet yeh!" adding, for purpose of emphasis, "By gar!"
+
+"Six cylinder, self-starter," continued Sam with increasing enthusiasm.
+
+"Self-starter," echoed Joe, going off into a series of choking chuckles.
+"Sure t'ing, by gar!" Joe, having safely disposed of the muffles, gave
+himself up to unrestrained laughter, throwing back his head, slapping
+his knees and repeating at intervals, "Self-starter, by gar!"
+
+So infectious was his laughter that the whole company joined in.
+
+"Cut it out, boys," said Nora. "You are all talking rot, you know; and
+what about you," she added, turning swiftly upon her sister. "Who runs
+the house, I'd like to know, and looks after everything inside, and does
+the sewing? This outfit of mine, for instance? And her own outfit?"
+
+"Oh, Nora," protested Kathleen, the colour rising in her face.
+
+"Did you make your own costume?" inquired Mr. Romayne.
+
+"She did that," said Nora, "and mine and mother's, and she makes
+father's working shirts."
+
+"Oh, Nora, stop, please. You know I do very little."
+
+"She makes the butter as well."
+
+"They're a pair," said Sam in a low growl, but perfectly audible to the
+company, "a regular pair, eh, Joe?"
+
+"Sure t'ing," replied Joe, threatening to go off again into laughter,
+but held in check by a glance from Nora.
+
+For an hour they lingered over the meal. Then Nora, jumping up quickly,
+took Mrs. Waring-Gaunt with her to superintend the work at the dump,
+leaving Mr. Romayne reclining on the grass smoking his pipe in abandoned
+content, while Kathleen busied herself clearing away and washing up the
+dishes.
+
+"May I help?" inquired Mr. Romayne, when the others had gone.
+
+"Oh, no," replied Kathleen. "Just rest where you are, please; just take
+it easy; I'd really rather you would, and there's nothing to do."
+
+"I am not an expert at this sort of thing," said Mr. Romayne, "but at
+least I can dry dishes. I learned that much on the veldt."
+
+"In South Africa? You were in the war?" replied Kathleen, giving him a
+towel.
+
+"Yes, I had a go at it."
+
+"It must have been terrible--to think of actually killing men."
+
+"It is not pleasant," replied Romayne, shrugging his shoulders, "but it
+has to be done sometimes."
+
+"Oh, do you think so? It does not seem as if it should be necessary at
+any time," said the girl with great earnestness. "I can't believe it
+is either right or necessary ever to kill men; and as for the Boer War,
+don't you think everybody agrees now that it was unnecessary?"
+
+Mr. Romayne was always prepared to defend with the ardour of a British
+soldier the righteousness of every war in which the British Army has
+ever been engaged. But somehow he found it difficult to conduct an
+argument in favour of war against this girl who stood fronting him with
+a look of horror in her face.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Romayne, "I believe there is something to be said
+on both sides. No doubt there were blunders in the early part of the
+trouble, but eventually war had to come."
+
+"But that's just it," cried the girl. "Isn't that the way it is
+always? In the early stages of a quarrel it is so easy to come to an
+understanding and to make peace; but after the quarrel has gone on, then
+war becomes inevitable. If only every dispute could be submitted to the
+judgment of some independent tribunal. Nations are just like people.
+They see things solely from their own point of view. Do you know, Mr.
+Romayne, there is no subject upon which I feel so keenly as upon the
+subject of war. I just loathe and hate and dread the thought of war.
+I think perhaps I inherit this. My mother, you know, belongs to the
+Friends, and she sees so clearly the wickedness and the folly of war.
+And don't you think that all the world is seeing this more clearly
+to-day than ever before?"
+
+There was nothing new in this argument or in this position to Mr.
+Romayne, but somehow, as he looked at the girl's eager, enthusiastic
+face, and heard her passionate denunciation of war, he found it
+difficult to defend the justice of war under any circumstances whatever.
+
+"I entirely agree with you, Miss Gwynne, that war is utterly horrible,
+that it is silly, that it is wicked. I would rather not discuss it with
+you, but I can't help feeling that there are circumstances that make it
+necessary and right for men to fight."
+
+"You don't wish to discuss this with me?" said Kathleen. "I am sorry,
+for I have always wished to hear a soldier who is also"--the girl
+hesitated for a moment--"a gentleman and a Christian--"
+
+"Thank you, Miss Gwynne," said Romayne, with quiet earnestness.
+
+"Discuss the reasons why war is ever necessary."
+
+"It is a very big subject," said Mr. Romayne, "and some day I should
+like to give you my point of view. There are multitudes of people in
+Britain to-day, Miss Gwynne, who would agree with you. Lots of books
+have been written on both sides. I have listened to hours and hours of
+discussion, so that you can easily see that there is much to be said on
+both sides. I always come back, however, to the point that among nations
+of similar ethical standards and who are equally anxious to preserve the
+peace of the world, arbitration as a method of settling disputes ought
+to be perfectly simple and easy. It is only when you have to deal with
+nations whose standards of ethics are widely dissimilar or who are
+possessed with another ambition than that of preserving the peace of the
+world that you get into difficulty."
+
+"I see your point," replied Kathleen, "but I also see that just there
+you allow for all sorts of prejudice to enter and for the indulgence in
+unfair argument and special pleading. But there, we are finished," she
+said, "and you do not wish to discuss this just now."
+
+"Some time, Miss Gwynne, we shall have this out, and I have some
+literature on the subject that I should like to give you."
+
+"And so have I," cried the girl, with a smile that rendered Mr. Romayne
+for some moments quite incapable of consecutive thought. "And now shall
+we look up the others?"
+
+At the dump they found Joe and Sam rolling the logs, which during the
+winter had been piled high upon the bank, down the steep declivity or
+"dump" into the stream below. Mrs. Waring-Gaunt and Nora were seated on
+a log beside them engaged in talk.
+
+"May I inquire if you are bossing the job as usual?" said Mr. Romayne,
+after he had watched the operation for a few moments.
+
+"Oh, no, there's no bossing going on to-day. But," said the girl, "I
+rather think the boys like to have me around."
+
+"I don't wonder," said Mr. Romayne, enthusiastically.
+
+"Are you making fun of me, Mr. Romayne?" said the girl, her face
+indicating that she was prepared for battle.
+
+"God forbid," replied Mr. Romayne, fervently.
+
+"Not a bit of it, Nora dear," said his sister. "He is simply consumed
+with envy. He has just come from a country, you know, where only the men
+do things; I mean things that really count. And it makes him furiously
+jealous to see a young woman calmly doing things that he knows quite
+well he could not attempt to do."
+
+"Quite true," replied her brother. "I am humbled to the ground at my own
+all to obvious ineptitude, and am lost in admiration of the marvellous
+efficiency of the young ladies of Canada whom it has been my good
+fortune to meet."
+
+Nora glanced at him suspiciously. "You talk well," she said. "I half
+believe you're just making fun of us."
+
+"Not a bit, Nora, not a bit," said his sister. "It is as I have said
+before. The man is as jealous as he can be, and, like all men, he hates
+to discover himself inferior in any particular to a woman. But we must
+be going. I am so glad you are home again, dear," she said, turning to
+Kathleen. "We shall hope to see a great deal of you. Thank you for the
+delightful lunch. It was so good of you to have us."
+
+"Yes, indeed," added the young man. "You saved my life. I had just about
+reached the final stage of exhaustion. I, too, hope to see you again
+very soon and often, for you know we must finish that discussion and
+settle that question."
+
+"What question is that," inquired his sister, "if I may ask?"
+
+"Oh, the old question," said her brother, "the eternal question--war."
+
+"I suppose," said Nora, "Kathleen has been giving you some of her peace
+talk. I want you to know, Mr. Romayne, that I don't agree with her in
+the least, and I am quite sure you don't either."
+
+"I am not so sure of that," replied the young man. "We have not
+finished it out yet. I feel confident, however, that we shall come to an
+agreement on it."
+
+"I hope not," replied Nora, "for in that case you would become a
+pacifist, for Kathleen, just like mother, you know, is a terrible peace
+person. Indeed, our family is divided on that question--Daddy and I
+opposed to the rest. And you know pacifists have this characteristic,
+that they are always ready to fight."
+
+"Yes," said her sister. "We are always ready to fight for peace. But do
+not let us get into that discussion now. I shall walk with you a little
+way."
+
+Arm in arm she and Mrs. Waring-Gaunt walked down the steep trail, Mr.
+Romayne following behind, leading the horses. As they walked together,
+Mrs. Waring-Gaunt talked to the girl of her brother.
+
+"You know he was in the Diplomatic Service, went in after the South
+African War, and did awfully well there in the reconstruction work, was
+very popular with the Boers, though he had fought them in the war. He
+got to know their big men, and some of them are really big men. As a
+matter of fact, he became very fond of them and helped the Government at
+Home to see things from their point of view. After that he went to
+the Continent, was in Italy for a while and then in Germany, where, I
+believe, he did very good work. He saw a good deal of the men about the
+Kaiser. He loathed the Crown Prince, I believe, as most of our people
+there do. Suddenly he was recalled. He refused, of course, to talk about
+it, but I understand there was some sort of a row. I believe he lost
+his temper with some exalted personage. At any rate, he was recalled,
+chucked the whole service, and came out here. He felt awfully cut up
+about it. And now he has no faith in the German Government, says they
+mean war. He's awfully keen on preparation and that sort of thing. I
+thought I would just tell you, especially since I heard you had been
+discussing war with him."
+
+As they neared the Switzer place they saw a young man standing on the
+little pier which jutted out into the stream with a pike-pole in his
+hand, keeping the logs from jambing at the turn.
+
+"It's Ernest Switzer," cried Kathleen. "I have not seen him for ever so
+long. How splendidly he is looking! Hello, Ernest!" she cried, waving
+her hand and running forward to meet him, followed by the critical eyes
+of Jack Romayne.
+
+The young man came hurrying toward her. "Kathleen!" he cried. "Is it
+really you?" He threw down his pole as he spoke and took her hand in
+both of his, the flush on his fair face spreading to the roots of his
+hair.
+
+"You know Mrs. Waring-Gaunt," said Kathleen to him, for he paid no
+attention at all to the others. Mrs. Waring-Gaunt acknowledged Switzer's
+heel clicks, as also did her brother when introduced.
+
+"You have been keeping the logs running, Ernest, I see. That is very
+good of you," said Kathleen.
+
+"Yes, there was the beginning of a nice little jamb here," said Switzer.
+"They are running right enough now. But when did you return?" he
+continued, dropping into a confidential tone and turning his back upon
+the others. "Do you know I have not seen you for nine months?"
+
+"Nine months?" said Kathleen. "I was away seven months."
+
+"Yes, but I was away two months before you went. You forget that,"
+he added reproachfully. "But I do not forget. Nine months--nine long
+months. And are you glad to be back, Kathleen, glad to see all your
+friends again, glad to see me?"
+
+"I am glad to be at home, Ernest, glad to see all of my friends,
+of course, glad to get to the West again, to the woods here and the
+mountains and all."
+
+"And you did not come in to see us as you passed," gazing at her with
+reproachful eyes and edging her still further away from the others.
+
+"Oh, we intended to come in on our way back."
+
+"Let's move on," said Romayne to his sister.
+
+"We must be going, Kathleen dear," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "You will
+soon be coming to see us?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, you may be sure. It is so good to see you," replied the
+girl warmly, as Mrs. Waring-Gaunt kissed her good-bye. "Good-bye, Mr.
+Romayne; we must finish our discussion another time."
+
+"Always at your service," replied Mr. Romayne, "although I am rather
+afraid of you. Thank you again for your hospitality. Good-bye." He held
+her hand, looking down into the blue depths of her eyes until as
+before the crimson in her face recalled him. "Good-bye. This has been a
+wonderful day to me." He mounted his horse, lifted his hat, and rode off
+after his sister.
+
+"What sort of a chap is the Johnnie?" said Jack to his sister as they
+rode away.
+
+"Not a bad sort at all; very bright fellow, quite popular in this
+community with the young fellows. He has lots of money, you know, and
+spends it. Of course, he is fearfully German, military style and all
+that."
+
+"Seems to own that girl, eh?" said Jack, glancing back over his shoulder
+at the pair.
+
+"Oh, the two families are quite intimate. Ernest and his sister were in
+Larry's musical organisations and they are quite good friends."
+
+"By Jove, Sybil, she is wonderful! Why didn't you give me a hint?"
+
+"I did. But really, she has come on amazingly. That college in
+Winnipeg--"
+
+"Oh, college! It is not a question of college!" said her brother
+impatiently. "It's herself. Why, Sybil, think of that girl in London in
+a Worth frock. But no! That would spoil her. She is better just as she
+is. Jove, she completely knocked me out! I made a fool of myself."
+
+"She has changed indeed," said his sister. "She is a lovely girl and so
+simple and unaffected. I have come really to love her. We must see a lot
+of her."
+
+"But where did she get that perfectly charming manner? Do you realise
+what a perfectly stunning girl she is? Where did she get that style of
+hers?"
+
+"You must see her mother, Jack. She is a charming woman, simple, quiet,
+a Quaker, I believe, but quite beautiful manners. Her father, too, is a
+gentleman, a Trinity man, I understand."
+
+"Well," said her brother with a laugh, "I foresee myself falling in love
+with that girl in the most approved style."
+
+"You might do worse," replied his sister, "though I doubt if you are not
+too late."
+
+"Why? That German Johnnie?"
+
+"Well, it is never wise to despise the enemy. He really is a fine chap,
+his prospects are very good; he has known her for a long while, and he
+is quite mad about her."
+
+"But, good Lord, Sybil, he's a German!"
+
+"A German," said his sister, "yes. But what difference does that make?
+He is a German, but he is also a Canadian. We are all Canadians here
+whatever else we may be or have ever been. We are all sorts and classes,
+high and low, rich and poor, and of all nationalities--Germans, French,
+Swedes, Galicians, Russians--but we all shake down into good Canadian
+citizens. We are just Canadians, and that is good enough for me. We are
+loyal to Canada first."
+
+"You may be right as far as other nationalities are concerned, but,
+Sybil, believe me, you do not know the German. I know him and there is
+no such thing as a German loyal to Canada first."
+
+"But, Jack, you are so terribly insular. You must really get rid of all
+that. I used to think like you, but here we have got to the place where
+we can laugh at all that sort of thing."
+
+"I know, Sybil. I know. They are laughing in England to-day at Roberts
+and Charlie Beresford. But I know Germany and the German mind and the
+German aim and purpose, and I confess to you that I am in a horrible
+funk at the state of things in our country. And this chap Switzer--you
+say he has been in Germany for two years? Well, he has every mark
+characteristic of the German. He reproduces the young German that I have
+seen the world over--in Germany, in the Crown Prince's coterie (don't
+I know them?), in South Africa, in West Africa, in China. He has every
+mark, the same military style, the same arrogant self-assertion, the
+same brutal disregard of the ordinary decencies."
+
+"Why, Jack, how you talk! You are actually excited."
+
+"Did you not notice his manner with that girl? He calmly took possession
+of her and ignored us who were of her party, actually isolated her from
+us."
+
+"But, Jack, this seems to me quite outrageous."
+
+"Yes, Sybil, and there are more like you. But I happen to know from
+experience what I am talking about. The elementary governing principle
+of life for the young German of to-day is very simple and is easily
+recognised, and it is this: when you see anything you want, go for it
+and take it, no matter if all the decencies of life are outraged."
+
+"Jack, I cannot, frankly, I cannot agree with you in regard to young
+Switzer. I know him fairly well and--"
+
+"Let's not talk about it, Sybil," said her brother, quietly.
+
+"Oh, all right, Jack."
+
+They rode on in silence, Romayne gloomily keeping his eye on the
+trail before him until they neared the Gwynne gate, when the young man
+exclaimed abruptly:
+
+"My God, it would be a crime!"
+
+"Whatever do you mean, Jack?"
+
+"To allow that brute to get possession of that lovely girl."
+
+"But, Jack," persisted his sister. "Brute?"
+
+"Sybil, I have seen them with women, their own and other women; and,
+now listen to me, I have yet to see the German who regards or treats
+his frau as an English gentleman treats his wife. That is putting it
+mildly."
+
+"Oh, Jack!"
+
+"It ought to be stopped."
+
+"Well, stop it then."
+
+"I wish to God I could," said her brother.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+YOU FORGOT ME
+
+
+The Lakeside House, substantially built of logs, with "frame" kitchen
+attached, stood cosily among the clump of trees, poplar and spruce,
+locally described as a bluff. The bluff ran down to the little lake
+a hundred yards away, itself an expansion of Wolf Willow Creek. The
+whitewashed walls gleaming through its festoons of Virginia creeper,
+a little lawn bordered with beds filled with hollyhocks, larkspur,
+sweet-william and other old-fashioned flowers and flanked by a heavy
+border of gorgeous towering sunflowers, gave a general air, not only
+of comfort and thrift, but of refinement as well, too seldom found in
+connection with the raw homesteads of the new western country.
+
+At a little distance from the house, at the end of a lane leading
+through the bluff, were visible the stables, granary and other
+outhouses, with corral attached.
+
+Within, the house fulfilled the promise of its external appearance
+and surroundings. There was dignity without stiffness, comfort without
+luxury, simplicity without any suggestion of the poverty that painfully
+obtrudes itself.
+
+At the open window whose vine shade at once softened the light and
+invited the summer airs, sat Mrs. Gwynne, with her basket of mending
+at her side. Eight years of life on an Alberta ranch had set their mark
+upon her. The summers' suns and winters' frosts and the eternal summer
+and winter winds had burned and browned the soft, fair skin of her
+earlier days. The anxieties inevitable to the struggle with poverty had
+lined her face and whitened her hair. But her eyes shone still with the
+serene light of a soul that carries within it the secret of triumph over
+the carking cares of life.
+
+Seated beside her was her eldest daughter Kathleen, sewing; and
+stretched upon the floor lay Nora, frankly idle and half asleep,
+listening to the talk of the other two. Their talk turned upon the theme
+never long absent from their thought--that of ways and means.
+
+"Tell you what, Mummie," droned Nora, lazily extending her lithe young
+body to its utmost limits, "there is a simple way out of our never
+ending worries, namely, a man, a rich man, if handsome, so much the
+better, but rich he must be, for Kathleen. They say they are hanging
+round the Gateway City of the West in bunches. How about it, Kate?"
+
+"My dear Nora," gently chided her mother, "I wish you would not talk in
+that way. It is not quite nice. In my young days--"
+
+"In your young days I know just exactly what happened, Mother. There
+was always a long queue of eligible young men dangling after the awfully
+lovely young Miss Meredith, and before she was well out of her teens the
+gallant young Gwynne carried her off."
+
+"We never talked about those things, my dear," said her mother, shaking
+her head at her.
+
+"You didn't need to, Mother."
+
+"Well, if it comes to that, Nora," said her sister, "I don't think you
+need to, very much, either. You have only got to look at--"
+
+"Halt!" cried Nora, springing to her feet. "But seriously, Mother dear,
+I think we can weather this winter right enough. Our food supply is
+practically visible. We have oats enough for man and beast, a couple of
+pigs to kill, a steer also, not to speak of chickens and ducks. We shall
+have some cattle to sell, and if our crops are good we ought to be able
+to pay off those notes. Oh, why will Dad buy machinery?"
+
+"My dear," said her mother with gentle reproach, "your father says
+machinery is cheaper than men and we really cannot do without machines."
+
+"That's all right, Mother. I'm not criticising father. He is a perfect
+dear and I am awfully glad he has got that Inspectorship."
+
+"Yes," replied her mother, "your father is suited to his new work and
+likes it. And Larry will be finishing his college this year, I think.
+And he has earned it too," continued the mother. "When I think of all
+he has done and how generously he has turned his salary into the family
+fund, and how often he has been disappointed--" Here her voice trembled
+a little.
+
+Nora dropped quickly to her knees, taking her mother in her arms. "Don't
+we all know, Mother, what he has done? Shall I ever forget those first
+two awful years, the winter mornings when he had to get up before
+daylight to get the house warm, and that awful school. Every day he had
+to face it, rain, sleet, or forty below. How often I have watched him
+in the school, always so white and tired. But he never gave up. He just
+would not give up. And when those big boys were unruly--I could have
+killed those boys--he would always keep his temper and joke and jolly
+them into good order. And all the time I knew how terribly his head was
+aching. What are you sniffling about, Kate?"
+
+"I think it was splendid, just splendid, Nora," cried Kathleen, swiftly
+wiping away her tears. "But I can't help crying, it was all so terrible.
+He never thought of himself, and year after year he gave up his money--"
+
+"Hello!" cried a voice at the door. "Who gave up his money and to whom
+and is there any more around?" His eye glanced around the group. "What's
+up, people? Mummie, are these girls behaving badly? Let me catch them at
+it!" The youth stood smiling down upon them. His years in the West had
+done much for him. He was still slight, but though his face was pale
+and his body thin, his movements suggested muscular strength and sound
+health. He had not grown handsome. His features were irregular, mouth
+wide, cheek bones prominent, ears large; yet withal there was a singular
+attractiveness about his appearance and manner. His eyes were good;
+grey-blue, humorous, straight-looking eyes they were, deep set under
+overhanging brows, and with a whimsical humour ever lingering about
+them; over the eyes a fore-head, broad, suggesting intellect, and set
+off by heavy, waving, dark hair.
+
+"Who gave his money? I insist upon knowing. No reply, eh? I have
+evidently come upon a deep and deadly plot. Mother?--no use asking you.
+Kathleen, out with it."
+
+"You gave your money," burst forth Nora in a kind of passion as she flew
+at him, "and everything else. But now that's all over. You are going to
+finish your college course this year, that's what."
+
+"Oh, that's it, eh? I knew there was some women's scheme afloat.
+Well, children," said the youth, waving his hand over them in paternal
+benediction, "since this thing is up we might as well settle it 'right
+here and n-a-o-w,' as our American friend, Mr. Ralph Waldo Farwell,
+would say, and a decent sort he is too. I have thought this all out.
+Why should not a man gifted with a truly great brain replete with grey
+matter (again in the style of the aforesaid Farwell) do the thinking
+for his wimmin folk? Why not? Hence the problem is already solved. The
+result is hereby submitted, not for discussion but for acceptance, for
+acceptance you understand, to-wit and namely, as Dad's J. P. law books
+have it: I shall continue the school another year."
+
+"You shan't," shouted Nora, seizing him by the arm and shaking him with
+all the strength of her vigorous young body.
+
+"Larry, dear!" said his mother.
+
+"Oh, Larry!" exclaimed Kathleen.
+
+"We shall then be able to pay off all our indebtedness," continued
+Larry, ignoring their protests, "and that is a most important
+achievement. This new job of Dad's means an addition to our income. The
+farm management will remain in the present capable hands. No, Miss Nora,
+I am not thinking of the boss, but of the head, the general manager."
+He waved his hand toward his mother. "The only change will be in the
+foreman. A new appointment will be made, one who will bring to her task
+not only experience and with it a practical knowledge, but the advantage
+of intellectual discipline recently acquired at a famous educational
+centre; and the whole concern will go on with its usual verve, swing,
+snap, toward another year's success. Then next year me for the giddy
+lights of the metropolitan city and the sacred halls of learning."
+
+"And me," said Nora, "what does your high mightiness plan for me this
+winter, pray?"
+
+"Not quite so much truculence, young lady," replied her brother. "For
+you, the wide, wide world, a visit to the seat of light and learning
+already referred to, namely, Winnipeg."
+
+For one single moment Nora looked at him. Then, throwing back her head,
+she said with unsteady voice: "Not this time, old boy. One man can lead
+a horse to water but ten cannot make him drink, and you may as well
+understand now as later that this continual postponement of your college
+career is about to cease. We have settled it otherwise. Kathleen will
+take your school--an awful drop for the kids, but what joy for the big
+boys. She and I will read together in the evenings. The farm will go on.
+Sam and Joe are really very good and steady; Joe at least, and Sam most
+of the time. Dad's new work will not take him from home so much,
+he says. And next year me for the fine arts and the white lights of
+Winnipeg. That's all that needs to be said."
+
+"I think, dear," said the mother, looking at her son, "Nora is right."
+
+"Now, Mother," exclaimed Larry, "I don't like to hear your foot come
+down just yet. I know that tone of finality, but listen--"
+
+"We have listened," said Kathleen, "and we know we are right. I shall
+take the school, Mr. Farwell--"
+
+"Mr. Farwell, eh?--" exclaimed Nora significantly.
+
+"Mr. Farwell has promised me," continued Kathleen, "indeed has offered
+me, the school. Nora and I can study together. I shall keep up my music.
+Nora will keep things going outside, mother will look after every thing
+as usual, Dad will help us outside and in. So that's settled."
+
+"Settled!" cried her brother. "You are all terribly settling. It seems
+to me that you apparently forget--"
+
+Once more the mother interposed. "Larry, dear, Kathleen has put it very
+well. Your father and I have talked it over"--the young people glanced
+at each other and smiled at this ancient and well-worn phrase--"we
+have agreed that it is better that you should finish your college this
+winter. Of course we know you would suggest delay, but we are anxious
+that you should complete your course."
+
+"But, Mother, listen--" began Larry.
+
+"Nonsense, Larry, 'children, obey your parents' is still valid," said
+Nora. "What are you but a child after all, though with your teaching and
+your choral society conducting, and your nigger show business, and
+your preaching in the church, and your popularity, you are getting so
+uplifted that there's no holding you. Just make up your mind to do your
+duty, do you hear? Your duty. Give up this selfish determination to have
+your own way, this selfish pleasing of yourself." Abruptly she paused,
+rushed at him, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "You
+darling old humbug," she said with a very unsteady voice. "There, I will
+be blubbering in a minute. I am off for the timber lot. What do you say,
+Katty? It's cooler now. We'll go up the cool road. Are you coming?"
+
+"Yes; wait until I change."
+
+"All right, I will saddle up. You coming, Larry?"
+
+"No, I'll catch up later."
+
+"Now, Mother," warned Nora, "I know his ways and wiles. Remember your
+duty to your children. You are also inclined to be horribly selfish. Be
+firm. Hurry up, Kate."
+
+Left alone with his mother, Larry went deliberately to work with her.
+Well he knew the immovable quality of her resolution when once her mind
+was made up. Patiently, quietly, steadily, he argued with her, urging
+Nora's claims for a year at college.
+
+"She needs a change after her years of hard work."
+
+Her education was incomplete; the ground work was sound enough, but
+she had come to the age when she must have those finishing touches that
+girls require to fit them for their place in life. "She is a splendid
+girl, but in some ways still a child needing discipline; in other ways
+mature, too mature. She ought to have her chance and ought to have it
+now." One never knew what would happen in the case of girls.
+
+His mother sighed. "Poor Nora, she has had discipline enough of a kind,
+and hard discipline it has been indeed for you all."
+
+"Nonsense, Mother, we have had a perfectly fine time together, all of
+us. God knows if any one has had a hard time it is not the children in
+this home. I do not like to think of those awful winters, Mother, and of
+the hard time you had with us all."
+
+"A hard time!" exclaimed his mother. "I, a hard time, and with you all
+here beside me, and all so well and strong? What more could I want?" The
+amazed surprise in her face stirred in her son a quick rush of emotion.
+
+"Oh, Mother, Mother, Mother," he whispered in her ear. "There is no one
+like you. Did you ever in all your life seek one thing for yourself,
+one thing, one little thing? Away back there in Ontario you slaved and
+slaved and went without things yourself that all the rest of us might
+get them. Here it has been just the same. Haven't I seen your face
+and your hands, your poor hands,"--here the boy's voice broke with an
+indignant passion--"blue with the cold when you could not get furs to
+protect them? Never, never shall I forget those days." The boy stopped
+abruptly, unable to go on.
+
+Quickly the mother drew her son toward her. "Larry, my son, my son, you
+must never think that a hard time. Did ever a woman have such joy as I?
+When I think of other mothers and of other children, and then think of
+you all here, I thank God every day and many times a day that he has
+given us each other. And, Larry, my son, let me say this, and you will
+remember it afterwards. You have been a continual joy to me, always,
+always. You have never given me a moment's anxiety or pain. Remember
+that. I continually thank God for you. You have made my life very
+happy."
+
+The boy put his face down on her lap with his arms tight around her
+waist. Never in their life together had they been able to open these
+deep, sacred chambers in their souls to each other's gaze. For some
+moments he remained thus, then lifting up his face, he kissed her again
+and again, her forehead, her eyes, her lips. Then rising to his feet, he
+stood with his usual smile about his lips. "You always beat me. But will
+you not think this all over again carefully, and we will do what you
+say? But will you promise, Mother, to think it over again and look at my
+side of it too?"
+
+"Yes, Larry, I promise," said his mother. "Now run after the girls, and
+I shall have tea ready for you."
+
+As Larry rode down the lane he saw the young German, Ernest Switzer, and
+his sister riding down the trail and gave them a call. They pulled up
+and waited.
+
+"Hello, Ernest; whither bound? How are you, Dorothea?"
+
+"Home," said the young man, "and you?"
+
+"Going up by the timber lot, around by the cool road. The girls are on
+before."
+
+"Ah, so?" said the young man, evidently waiting for an invitation.
+
+"Do you care to come? It's not much longer that way," said Larry.
+
+"I might," said the young man. Then looking doubtfully at his sister,
+"You cannot come very well, Dorothea, can you?"
+
+"No, that is, I'm afraid not," she replied. She was a pretty girl with
+masses of yellow hair, light blue eyes, a plump, kindly face and a timid
+manner. As she spoke she, true to her German training, evidently waited
+for an indication of her brother's desire.
+
+"There are the cows, you know," continued her brother.
+
+"Yes, there are the cows," her face clouding as she spoke.
+
+"Oh, rot!" said Larry, "you don't milk until evening, and we get back
+before tea. Come along."
+
+Still the girl hesitated. "Well," said her brother brusquely, "do you
+want to come?"
+
+She glanced timidly at his rather set face and then at Larry. "I don't
+know. I am afraid that--"
+
+"Oh, come along, Dorothea, do you hear me telling you? You will be in
+plenty of time and your brother will help you with the milking."
+
+"Ernest help! Oh, no!"
+
+"Not on your life!" said that young man. "I never milk. I haven't for
+years. Well, come along then," he added in a grudging voice.
+
+"That is fine," said Larry. "But, Dorothea, you ought to make him learn
+to milk. Why shouldn't he? The lazy beggar. Do you mean to say that he
+never helps with the milking?"
+
+"Oh, never," said Dorothea.
+
+"Our men don't do women's work," said Ernest. "It is not the German way.
+It is not fitting."
+
+"And what about women doing men's work?" said Larry. "It seems to me I
+have seen German women at work in the fields up in the Settlement."
+
+"I have no doubt you have," replied Ernest stiffly. "It is the German
+custom."
+
+"You make me tired," said Larry, "the German custom indeed! Does that
+make it right?"
+
+"For us, yes," replied Ernest calmly.
+
+"But you are Canadians, are you not? Are there to be different standards
+in Canada for different nationalities?"
+
+"Oh, the Germans will follow the German way. Because it is German, and
+demonstrated through experience to be the best. Look at our people. Look
+at our prosperity at home, at our growth in population, at our wealth,
+at our expansion in industry and commerce abroad. Look at our social
+conditions and compare them with those in this country or in any other
+country in the world. Who will dare to say that German methods and
+German customs are not best, at least for Germans? But let us move a
+little faster, otherwise we shall never catch up with them." He touched
+his splendid broncho into a sharp gallop, the other horses following
+more slowly behind.
+
+"He is very German, my brother," said Dorothea. "He thinks he is
+Canadian, but he is not the same since he went over Home. He is talking
+all the time about Germany, Germany, Germany. I hate it." Her blue
+eyes flashed fire and her usually timid voice vibrated with an intense
+feeling. Larry gazed at her in astonishment.
+
+"You may look at me, Larry," she cried. "I am German but I do not like
+the German ways. I like the Canadian ways. The Germans treat their
+women like their cows. They feed them well, they keep them warm
+because--because--they have calves--I mean the cows--and the women have
+kids. I hate the German ways. Look at my mother. What is she in that
+house? Day and night she has worked, day and night, saving money--and
+what for? For Ernest. Running to wait on him and on Father and they
+never know it. It's women's work with us to wait on men, and that is the
+way in the Settlement up there. Look at your mother and you. Mein Gott!
+I could kill them, those men!"
+
+"Why, Dorothea, you amaze me. What's up with you? I never heard you talk
+like this. I never knew that you felt like this."
+
+"No, how could you know? Who would tell you? Not Ernest," she replied
+bitterly.
+
+"But, Dorothea, you are happy, are you not?"
+
+"Happy, I was until I knew better, till two years ago when I saw your
+mother and you with her. Then Ernest came back thinking himself a German
+officer--he is an officer, you know--and the way he treated our mother
+and me!"
+
+"Treated your mother! Surely he is not unkind to your mother?" Larry
+had a vision of a meek, round-faced, kindly, contented woman, who was
+obviously proud of her only son.
+
+"Kind, kind," cried Dorothea, "he is kind as German sons are kind. But
+you cannot understand. Why did I speak to you of this? Yes, I will
+tell you why," she added, apparently taking a sudden resolve. "Let's go
+slowly. Ernest is gone anyway. I will tell you why. Before Ernest went
+away he was more like a Canadian boy. He was good to his mother. He is
+good enough still but--oh, it is so hard to show you. I have seen you
+and your mother. You would not let your mother brush your boots for you,
+you would not sit smoking and let her carry in wood in the winter time,
+you would not stand leaning over the fence and watch your mother milk
+the cow. Mein Gott! Ernest, since he came back--the women are only good
+for waiting on him, for working in the house or on the farm. His wife,
+she will not work in the fields; Ernest is too rich for that. But she
+will not be like"--here the girl paused abruptly, a vivid colour dyeing
+her fair skin--"like your wife. I would die sooner than marry a German
+man."
+
+"But Ernest is not like that, Dorothea. He is not like that with my
+sisters. Why, he is rather the other way, awfully polite and all that
+sort of thing, you know."
+
+"Yes, that's the way with young German gentlemen to young ladies, that
+is, other people's ladies. But to their own, no. And I must tell you.
+Oh, I am afraid to tell you," she added breathlessly. "But I will tell
+you, you have been so kind, so good to me. You are my friend, and you
+will not tell. Promise me you will never tell." The girl's usually red
+face was pale, her voice was hoarse and trembling.
+
+"What is the matter, Dorothea? Of course I won't tell."
+
+"Ernest wants to marry your sister, Kathleen. He is just mad to get her,
+and he always gets his way too. I would not like to see your sister his
+wife. He would break her heart and," she added in a lower voice, "yours
+too. But remember you are not to tell. You are not to let him know I
+told you." A real terror shone in her eyes. "Do you hear me?" she cried.
+"He would beat me with his whip. He would, he would."
+
+"Beat you, beat you?" Larry pulled up his horse short. "Beat you in this
+country--oh, Dorothea!"
+
+"They do. Our men do beat their women, and Ernest would too. The women
+do not think the same way about it as your women. You will not tell?"
+she urged.
+
+"What do you think I am, Dorothea? And as for beating you, let me catch
+him. By George, I'd, I'd--"
+
+"What?" said Dorothea, turning her eyes full upon him, her pale face
+flushing.
+
+Larry laughed. "Well, he's a big chap, but I'd try to knock his block
+off. But it's nonsense. Ernest is not that kind. He's an awfully good
+sort."
+
+"He is, he is a good sort, but he is also a German officer and, ah, you
+cannot understand, but do not let him have your sister. I have told you.
+Come, let us go quickly."
+
+They rode on in silence, but did not overtake the others until they
+reached the timber lot where they found the party waiting. With what
+Dorothea had just told him in his mind, Larry could not help a keen
+searching of Kathleen's face. She was quietly chatting with the young
+German, with face serene and quite untouched with anything but the
+slightest animation. "She is not worrying over anything," said Larry to
+himself. Then he turned and looked upon the face of the young man at
+her side. A shock of surprise, of consternation, thrilled him. The young
+man's face was alight with an intensity of eagerness, of desire, that
+startled Larry and filled him with a new feeling of anxiety, indeed of
+dismay.
+
+"Oh, you people are slow," cried Nora. "What is keeping you? Come along
+or we shall be late. Shall we go through the woods straight to the dump,
+or shall we go around?"
+
+"Let's go around," cried Kathleen. "Do you know I have not been around
+for ever so long?"
+
+"Yes," said Larry, "let's go around by Nora's mine."
+
+"Nora's mine!" exclaimed Ernest. "Do you know I've heard about that mine
+a great deal but I have never seen Nora's mine?"
+
+"Come along, then," said Nora, "but there's almost no trail and we shall
+have to hurry while we can. There's only a cow track."
+
+"Move along then," said her brother; "show us the way and we will
+follow. Go on, Ernest."
+
+But Ernest apparently had difficulty with his broncho so that he was
+found at the rear of the line with Kathleen immediately in front of him.
+The cow trail led out of the coolee over a shoulder of a wooded hill
+and down into a ravine whose sharp sides made the riding even to those
+experienced westerners a matter of difficulty, in places of danger. At
+the bottom of the ravine a little torrent boiled and foamed on its way
+to join Wolf Willow Creek a mile further down. After an hour's struggle
+with the brushwood and fallen timber the party was halted by a huge
+spruce tree which had fallen fair across the trail.
+
+"Where now, boss?" cried Larry to Nora, who from her superior knowledge
+of the ground, had been leading the party.
+
+"This is something new," answered Nora. "I think we should cross the
+water and try to break through to the left around the top of the tree."
+
+"No," said Ernest, "the right looks better to me, around the root here.
+It is something of a scramble, but it is better than the left."
+
+"Come along," said Nora; "this is the way of the trail, and we can get
+through the brush of that top all right."
+
+"I am for the right. Come, let's try it, Kathleen, shall we?" said
+Ernest.
+
+Kathleen hesitated. "Come, we'll beat them out. Right turn, march."
+
+The commanding tones of the young man appeared to dominate the girl.
+She set her horse to the steep hillside, following her companion to the
+right. A steep climb through a tangle of underbrush brought them into
+the cleared woods, where they paused to breathe their animals.
+
+"Ah, that was splendidly done. You are a good horsewoman," said Ernest.
+"If you only had a horse as good as mine we could go anywhere together.
+You deserve a better horse, too. I wonder if you know how fine you
+look."
+
+"My dear old Kitty is not very quick nor very beautiful, but she is very
+faithful, and so kind," said Kathleen, reaching down and patting her
+mare on the nose. "Shall we go on?"
+
+"We need not hurry," replied her companion. "We have beaten them
+already. I love the woods here, and, Kathleen, I have not seen you for
+ever so long, for nine long months. And since your return fifteen days
+ago I have seen you only once, only once."
+
+"I am sorry," said Kathleen, hurrying her horse a little. "We happened
+to be out every time you called."
+
+"Other people have seen you," continued the young man with a note almost
+of anger in his voice. "Everywhere I hear of you, but I cannot see you.
+At church--I go to church to see you--but that, that Englishman is with
+you. He walks with you, you go in his motor car, he is in your house
+every day."
+
+"What are you talking about, Ernest? Mr. Romayne? Of course. Mother
+likes him so much, and we all like him."
+
+"Your mother, ah!" Ernest's tone was full of scorn.
+
+"Yes, my mother--we all like him, and his sister, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt,
+you know. They are our nearest neighbours, and we have come to know them
+very well. Shall we go on?"
+
+"Kathleen, listen to me," said the young man.
+
+At this point a long call came across the ravine.
+
+"Ah, there they are," cried the girl. "Let's hurry, please do." She
+brought her whip down unexpectedly on Kitty's shoulders. The mare,
+surprised at such unusual treatment from her mistress, sprang forward,
+slipped on the moss-covered sloping rock, plunged, recovered herself,
+slipped again, and fell over on her side. At her first slip, the young
+man was off his horse, and before the mare finally pitched forward was
+at her head, and had caught the girl from the saddle into his arms. For
+a moment she lay there white and breathing hard.
+
+"My God, Kathleen!" he cried. "You are hurt? You might have been
+killed." His eyes burned like two blazing lights, his voice was husky,
+his face white. Suddenly crushing her to him, he kissed her on the cheek
+and again on her lips. The girl struggled to get free.
+
+"Oh, let me go, let me go," she cried. "How can you, how can you?"
+
+But his arms were like steel about her, and again and again he continued
+to kiss her, until, suddenly relaxing, she lay white and shuddering in
+his arms.
+
+"Kathleen," he said, his voice hoarse with passion, "I love you, I love
+you. I want you. Gott in Himmel, I want you. Open your eyes, Kathleen,
+my darling. Speak to me. Open your eyes. Look at me. Tell me you love
+me." But still she lay white and shuddering. Suddenly he released her
+and set her on her feet. She stood looking at him with quiet, searching
+eyes.
+
+"You love me," she said, her voice low and quivering with a passionate
+scorn, "and you treat me so? Let us go." She moved toward her horse.
+
+"Kathleen, hear me," he entreated. "You must hear me. You shall hear
+me." He caught her once more by the arm. "I forgot myself. I saw you
+lying there so white. How could I help it? I meant no harm. I have loved
+you since you were a little girl, since that day I saw you first herding
+the cattle. You had a blue dress and long braids. I loved you then. I
+have loved you every day since. I think of you and I dream of you. The
+world is full of you. I am offering you marriage. I want you to be my
+wife." The hands that clutched her arm were shaking, his voice was thick
+and broken. But still she stood with her face turned from him, quietly
+trying to break from his grasp. But no word did she speak.
+
+"Kathleen, I forgot myself," he said, letting go of her arm. "I was
+wrong, but, my God, Kathleen, I am not stone, and when I felt your heart
+beat against mine--"
+
+"Oh," she cried, shuddering and drawing further away from him.
+
+"--and your face so white, your dear face so near mine, I forgot
+myself."
+
+"No," said the girl, turning her face toward him and searching him with
+her quiet, steady, but contemptuous eyes, "you forgot me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+EXCEPT HE STRIVE LAWFULLY
+
+
+The Wolf Willow Dominion Day Celebration Committee were in session in
+the schoolhouse with the Reverend Evans Rhye in the chair, and all
+of the fifteen members in attendance. The reports from the various
+sub-committees had been presented and approved.
+
+The programme for the day was in the parson's hand. "A fine programme,
+ladies and gentlemen, thanks to you all, and especially to our friend
+here," said Mr. Rhye, placing his hand on Larry's shoulder.
+
+A chorus of approval greeted his remark, but Larry protested. "Not at
+all. Every one was keen to help. We are all tremendous Canadians and
+eager to celebrate Dominion Day."
+
+"Well, let us go over it again," said Mr. Rhye. "The football match with
+the Eagle Hill boys is all right. How about the polo match with the High
+River men, Larry?"
+
+"The captain of the High River team wrote to express regret that two
+of his seniors would not be available, but that he hoped to give us a
+decent game."
+
+"There will only be one fault with the dinner and the tea, Mrs. Kemp."
+
+"And what will that be, sir?" enquired Mrs. Kemp, who happened to be
+Convener of the Refreshment Committee.
+
+"They will receive far too much for their money," said Mr. Rhye. "How
+about the evening entertainment, Larry?" he continued.
+
+"Everything is all right, I think, sir," said Larry.
+
+"Are the minstrels in good form?" enquired Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "This
+is your last appearance, you know, and you must go out in a blaze of
+glory."
+
+"We hope to get through somehow," said Larry.
+
+"And the speakers?" enquired Mr. Rhye.
+
+"Both will be on hand. Mr. Gilchrist promises a patriotic address.
+Mr. Alvin P. Jones will represent Wolf Willow in a kind of local
+glorification stunt."
+
+"This is all perfectly splendid," said Mr. Rhye, "and I cannot tell
+you how grateful I am to you all. We ought to have a memorable day
+to-morrow."
+
+And a memorable day it was. The weather proved worthy of Alberta's best
+traditions, for it was sunny, with a fine sweeping breeze to temper the
+heat and to quicken the pulses with its life-bringing ozone fresh from
+the glacier gorges and the pine forests of the Rockies.
+
+The captain of the Wolf Willow football team was awake and afoot soon
+after break of day that he might be in readiness for the Eagle Hill team
+when they arrived. Sam was in his most optimistic mood. His team, he
+knew, were in the finest condition and fit for their finest effort.
+Everything promised victory. But alas! for Sam's hopes. At nine o'clock
+a staggering blow fell when Vial, his partner on the right wing of
+the forward line, rode over with the news that Coleman, their star
+goal-keeper, their ultimate reliance on the defence line, had been
+stepped on by a horse and rendered useless for the day. It was, indeed,
+a crushing calamity. Sam spent an hour trying to dig up a substitute.
+The only possible substitutes were Hepworth and Biggs, neither of them
+first class men but passable, and Fatty Rose. The two former, however,
+had gone for the day to Calgary, and Fatty Rose was hopelessly slow.
+Sam discussed the distressing situation with such members of the team as
+could be hastily got together.
+
+"Dere's dat new feller," suggested Joe.
+
+"That's so," said Vial, familiarly known as Bottles. "That chap Sykes,
+Farwell's friend. He's a dandy dribbler. He could take Cassap's place on
+left wing and let Cassap take goal."
+
+With immense relief the team accepted this solution of the difficulty.
+But gloom still covered Sam's face. "He's only been here two weeks," he
+said, "and you know darn well the rule calls for four."
+
+"Oh, hang it!" said Bottles, "he's going to be a resident all right.
+He's a real resident right now, and anyway, they won't know anything
+about it."
+
+"Oh, cut it out," said Sam, suddenly flaring into wrath. "You know we
+can't do that sort of thing. It ain't the game and we ain't goin' to do
+it."
+
+"What ain't the game?" enquired Larry, who had come upon the anxious and
+downcast group.
+
+Farwell told him the calamitous news and explained the problem under
+discussion. "We'd play Sykes, only he hasn't been here a month yet, and
+Sam won't stand for it," he said.
+
+"Of course Sam won't stand for it, and the Captain is right," said
+Larry. "Is there nobody else, Sam?" Sam shook his head despondently.
+"Would I be any good, Sam? I am not keen about it, but if you think I
+could take Cassap's place on left wing, he could take goal."
+
+Sam brightened up a little. "Guess we can't do no better," he said
+doubtfully. "I mean," he added in answer to the shout of laughter
+from the team--"Aw, shut up, can that cackle. We know the Master hates
+football an' this is goin' to be a real fightin' game. He'll get all
+knocked about an' I don't want that. You know he'll be takin' all kinds
+of chances."
+
+"Oh, quit, Sam. I am in pretty good shape," said Larry. "They can't kill
+me. That's the best I can do anyway, so let's get to them."
+
+The situation was sufficiently gloomy to stir Joe to his supremest
+efforts and to kindle Sam's spirit to a blazing flame. "We don't need
+Sykes nor nobody else," he shouted to his men as they moved on to the
+field. "They can wear their boots out on that defence line of ours an'
+be derned to 'em. An', Bottles, you got to play the game of your life
+to-day. None of your fancy embroidery, just plain knittin'. Every feller
+on the ball an' every feller play to his man. There'll be a lot of
+females hangin' around, but we don't want any frills for the girls to
+admire. But all at it an' all the time." Sam's little red eyes glowed
+with even a more fiery hue than usual; his rat-like face assumed its
+most belligerent aspect.
+
+Before the match Larry took the Eagle Hill captain, a young Englishman
+who had been trying for ten years to make a living on a ranch far up
+among the foothills and was only beginning to succeed, to his mother,
+who had been persuaded to witness the game. They found her in Kathleen's
+care and under instruction from young Farwell as to the fundamental
+principles of the game. Near them a group of men were standing,
+among whom were Switzer, Waring-Gaunt, and Jack Romayne, listening to
+Farwell's dissertation.
+
+"You see, Mrs. Gwynne," he said, "no one may handle the ball--head,
+feet, body, may be used, but not the hands."
+
+"But I understand they sometimes hurt each other, Mr. Farwell."
+
+"Oh, accidents will happen even on the farm, Mrs. Gwynne. For instance,
+Coleman this morning had a horse step on his foot, necessitating Larry's
+going on."
+
+"Is Lawrence going to play?" said Mrs. Gwynne. "Ah, here he is.
+Lawrence, are you in good condition? You have not been playing."
+
+"I am not really very fit, Mother, not very hard, but I have been
+running a good deal. I don't expect I shall be much use. Sam is quite
+dubious about it."
+
+"He will be all right, Mrs. Gwynne," said Farwell confidently. "He is
+the fastest runner in the team. If he were only twenty pounds heavier
+and if he were a bit more keen about the game he would be a star."
+
+"Why don't they play Sykes?" inquired Kathleen. "I heard some of
+the boys say this morning that Sykes was going to play. He is quite
+wonderful, I believe."
+
+"He is," replied Larry, "quite wonderful, but unfortunately he is not
+eligible. But let me introduce Mr. Duckworth, Captain of our enemy."
+
+Mrs. Gwynne received the young man with a bright smile. "I am sorry I
+cannot wish you victory, and all the more now that my own son is to be
+engaged. But I don't understand, Larry," she continued, "why Mr. Sykes
+cannot play."
+
+"Why, because there's a League regulation, Mother, that makes a
+month's residence in the district necessary to a place on the team.
+Unfortunately Sykes has been here only two weeks, and so we are
+unwilling to put one over on our gallant foe. Got to play the game, eh,
+Duckworth?"
+
+Duckworth's face grew fiery red. "Yes, certainly," he said. "Rather an
+awkward rule but--"
+
+"You see, Mother, we want to eliminate every sign of professionalism,"
+said Larry, "and emphasise the principle of local material for clubs."
+
+"Ah, I see, and a very good idea, I should say," said his mother. "The
+Eagle Hill team, for instance, will be made up of Eagle Hill men only.
+That is really much better for the game because you get behind your team
+all the local pride and enthusiasm."
+
+"A foolish rule, I call it," said Switzer abruptly to Kathleen, "and
+you can't enforce it anyway. Who can tell the personality of a team ten,
+twenty or fifty miles away?"
+
+"I fancy they can tell themselves," said Jack Romayne. "Their Captain
+can certify to his men."
+
+"Aha!" laughed Switzer. "That's good. The Captain, I suppose, is keen
+to win. Do you think he would keep a man off his team who is his best
+player, and who may bring him the game?" Switzer's face was full of
+scorn.
+
+"I take it they are gentlemen," was Romayne's quiet rejoinder.
+
+"Of course, Mr. Romayne," said Mrs. Gwynne. "That gets rid of all the
+difficulty. Otherwise it seems to me that all the pleasure would be gone
+from the contest, the essential condition of which is keeping to the
+rules."
+
+"Good for you, Mother. You're a real sport," said Larry.
+
+"Besides," replied his mother, "we have Scripture for it. You remember
+what it says? 'If a man strive for masteries yet is he not crowned
+except he strive lawfully.' 'Except he strive lawfully,' you see. The
+crown he might otherwise win would bring neither honour nor pleasure."
+
+"Good again, Mother. You ought to have a place on the League committee.
+We shall have that Scripture entered on the rules. But I must run and
+dress. Farwell, you can take charge of Duckworth."
+
+But Duckworth was uneasy to be gone. "If you will excuse me, Mrs.
+Gwynne, I must get my men together."
+
+"Well, Mr. Duckworth," said Mrs. Gwynne, smiling on him as she gave him
+her hand, "I am sorry we cannot wish you a victory, but we can wish you
+your very best game and an honourable defeat."
+
+"Thank you," said Duckworth. "I feel you have done your best."
+
+"Come and see us afterward, Mr. Duckworth. What a splendid young man,"
+she continued, as Duckworth left the party and set off to get his men
+together with the words "except he strive lawfully" ringing in his ears.
+
+"She's a wonder," he said to himself. "I wonder how it is she got to me
+as she has. I know. She makes me think--" But Duckworth refused even to
+himself to say of whom she made him think. "Except he strive lawfully"
+the crown would bring "neither honour nor pleasure." Those words,
+and the face which had suddenly been recalled to Duckworth's memory
+reconstructed his whole scheme of football diplomacy. "By George, we
+cannot play Liebold; we can't do it. The boys will kick like steers, but
+how can we? I'm up against a fierce proposition, all right."
+
+And so he found when he called his men together and put to them the
+problem before him. "It seems a rotten time to bring this matter up
+just when we are going on to the ground, but I never really thought much
+about it till that little lady put it to me as I told you. And, fellows,
+I have felt as if it were really up to me to put it before you. They
+have lost their goal man, Coleman--there's no better in the League--and
+because of this infernal rule they decline to put on a cracking good
+player. They are playing the game on honour, and they are expecting
+us to do the same, and as that English chap says, they expect us to be
+gentlemen. I apologise to you all, and if you say go on as we are, I
+will go on because I feel I ought to have kicked before. But I do so
+under protest and feeling like a thief. I suggest that Harremann take
+Liebold's place. Awfully sorry about it, Liebold, and I apologise to
+you. I can't tell you how sorry I am, boys, but that's how it is with
+me."
+
+There was no time for discussion, and strangely enough there was little
+desire for it, the Captain's personality and the action of the Wolf
+Willow team carrying the proposition through. Harremann took his place
+on the team, and Liebold made his contribution that day from the side
+lines. But the team went on to the field with a sense that whatever
+might be the outcome of the match they had begun the day with victory.
+
+The match was contested with the utmost vigour, not to say violence; but
+there was a absence of the rancour which had too often characterised
+the clashing of these teams on previous occasions, the Eagle Hill team
+carrying on to the field a new respect for their opponents as men who
+had shown a true sporting spirit. And by the time the first quarter was
+over their action in substituting an inferior player for Liebold for
+honour's sake was known to all the members of the Wolf Willow team, and
+awakened in them and in their friends among the spectators a new respect
+for their enemy. The match resulted in a victory for the home team, but
+the generous applause which followed the Eagle Hill team from the field
+and which greeted them afterward at the dinner where they occupied an
+honoured place at the table set apart for distinguished guests, and
+the excellent dinner provided by the thrifty Ladies' Aid of All Saints
+Church went far to soothe their wounded spirits and to atone for their
+defeat.
+
+"Awfully fine of you, Duckworth," said Larry, as they left the table
+together. "That's the sort of thing that makes for clean sport."
+
+"I promised to see your mother after the match," said Duckworth. "Can we
+find her now?"
+
+"Sure thing," said Larry.
+
+Mrs. Gwynne received the young man with hand stretched far out to meet
+him.
+
+"You made us lose the game, Mrs. Gwynne," said Duckworth in a
+half-shamed manner, "and that is one reason why I came to see you
+again."
+
+"I?" exclaimed Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"Well, you quoted Scripture against us, and you know you can't stand
+up against Scripture and hope to win, can you?" said Duckworth with a
+laugh.
+
+"Sit down here beside me, Mr. Duckworth," she said, her eyes shining.
+"I won't pretend not to understand you;" she continued when he had taken
+his place beside her. "I can't tell you how proud I am of you."
+
+"Thank you," said Duckworth. "I like to hear that. You see I never
+thought about it very much. I am not excusing myself."
+
+"No, I know you are not, but I heard about it, Mr. Duckworth. We all
+think so much of you. I am sure your mother is proud of you."
+
+Young Duckworth sat silent, his eyes fastened upon the ground.
+
+"Please forgive me. Perhaps she is--no longer with you," said Mrs.
+Gwynne softly, laying her hand upon his. Duckworth nodded, refusing to
+look at her and keeping his lips firmly pressed together. "I was wrong
+in what I said just now," she continued. "She is with you still; she
+knows and follows all your doings, and I believe she is proud of you."
+
+Duckworth cleared his throat and said with an evident effort, "You made
+me think of her to-day, and I simply had to play up. I must go now. I
+must see the fellows." He rose quickly to his feet.
+
+"Come and see us, won't you?" said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"Won't I just," replied Duckworth, holding her hand a moment or two. "I
+can't tell you how glad I am that I met you to-day."
+
+"Oh, wait, Mr. Duckworth. Nora, come here. I want you to meet my second
+daughter. Nora, this is Mr. Duckworth, the Captain."
+
+"Oh, I know him, the Captain of the enemy," cried Nora.
+
+"Of our friends, Nora," said her mother.
+
+"All right, of our friends, now that we have beaten you, but I want to
+tell you, Mr. Duckworth, that I could gladly have slain you many times
+to-day."
+
+"And why, pray?"
+
+"Oh, you were so terribly dangerous, and as for Larry, why you just
+played with him. It was perfectly maddening to me."
+
+"All the same your brother got away from me and shot the winning goal.
+He's fearfully fast."
+
+"A mere fluke, I tell him."
+
+"Don't you think it for one little minute. It was a neat bit of work."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SPIRIT Of CANADA
+
+
+Whatever it was that rendered it necessary for Duckworth to "see the
+fellows," that necessity vanished in the presence of Nora.
+
+"Are you going to take in the polo?" he asked.
+
+"Am I? Am I going to continue breathing?" cried Nora. "Come along,
+Mother, we must go if we are to get a good place."
+
+"May I find one for you," said Mr. Duckworth, quite forgetting that he
+"must see the fellows," and thinking only of his good luck in falling
+in with such a "stunning-looking girl." He himself had changed into
+flannels, and with his athletic figure, his brown, healthy face, brown
+eyes and hair, was a thoroughly presentable young man. He found a place
+with ease for his party, a dozen people offering to make room for them.
+As Mr. Duckworth let his eyes rest upon the young lady at his side his
+sense of good-fortune grew upon him, for Nora in white pique skirt and
+batiste blouse smartly girdled with a scarlet patent leather belt, in
+white canvas shoes and sailor hat, made a picture good to look at. Her
+dark olive brown skin, with rich warm colour showing through the sunburn
+of her cheeks, her dark eyes, and her hair for once "done up in style"
+under Kathleen's supervision, against the white of her costume made
+her indeed what her escort thought, "a stunning-looking girl." Usually
+careless as to her appearance, she had yielded to Kathleen's persuasion
+and had "gotten herself up to kill." No wonder her friends of both sexes
+followed her with eyes of admiration, for no one envied Nora, her frank
+manner, her generous nature, her open scorn at all attempts to win
+admiration, made her only friends.
+
+"Bring your mother over here," cried Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, who rejoiced
+exceedingly in the girl's beauty. "Why, how splendidly you are looking
+to-day," she continued in a more confidential tone as the party grouped
+themselves about her. "What have you been doing to yourself? You are
+looking awfully fine."
+
+"Am I?" said Nora, exceedingly pleased with herself. "I am awfully glad.
+It is all Kathleen's doing. I got me the belt and the hat new for this
+show."
+
+"Very smart, that belt, my dear," said her friend.
+
+"I rather fancy it myself, and Kathleen would do up my hair in this new
+way," said Nora, removing her hat that the full glory of her coiffure
+might appear. "Do you like it?"
+
+"Perfectly spiffing!" ejaculated Mr. Duckworth, who had taken a seat
+just behind her chair.
+
+Nora threw him a challenging glance that made that young man's heart
+skip a beat or two as all the excitements of the match had not.
+
+"Are you a judge?" said the girl, tipping her saucy chin at him.
+
+"Am I? With four sisters and dozens of cousins to practise on, I fancy I
+might claim to be a regular bench show expert."
+
+"Then," cried Nora with sudden animation, "you are the very man I want."
+
+"Thank you so much," replied Mr. Duckworth fervently.
+
+"I mean, perhaps you can advise me. Now as you look at me--" The young
+man's eyes burned into hers so that with all her audacity Nora felt the
+colour rising in her face. "Which would you suggest as the most suitable
+style for me, the psyche knot or the neck roll?"
+
+"I beg your pardon? I rather--"
+
+"Or would you say the French twist?"
+
+"Ah, the French twist--"
+
+"Or simply marcelled and pomped?"
+
+"I am afraid--"
+
+"Or perhaps the pancake or the coronet?"
+
+"Well," said the young man, desperately plunging, "the coronet I should
+say would certainly not be inappropriate. It goes with princesses,
+duchesses and that sort of thing. Don't you think so, Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt?" said Duckworth, hoping to be extricated. That lady,
+however, gave him no assistance but continued to smile affectionately at
+the girl beside her. "What style is this that you have now adopted, may
+I ask?" inquired Mr. Duckworth cautiously.
+
+"Oh, that's a combination of several. It's a creation of Kathleen's
+which as yet has received no name."
+
+"Then it should be named at once," said Duckworth with great emphasis.
+"May I suggest the Thunderbolt? You see, of course--so stunning."
+
+"They are coming on," cried Nora, turning her shoulder in disdain upon
+the young man. "Look, there's your brother, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. I think
+he is perfectly splendid."
+
+"Which is he?" said Mr. Duckworth, acutely interested.
+
+"That tall, fine-looking man on the brown pony."
+
+"Oh, yes, I see. Met him this morning. By Jove, he is some looker too,"
+replied Mr. Duckworth with reluctant enthusiasm.
+
+"And there is the High River Captain," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "on the
+grey."
+
+"Oh, yes, Monteith, he played for All Canada last year, didn't he?" said
+Nora with immense enthusiasm. "He is perfectly splendid."
+
+"I hear the High River club has really sent only its second team, or at
+least two of them," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "Certainly Tremaine is not
+with them."
+
+"I hope they get properly trimmed for it," said Nora, indignantly. "Such
+cheek!"
+
+The result of the match quite exceeded Nora's fondest hopes, for the
+High River team, having made the fatal error of despising the enemy,
+suffered the penalty of their mistake in a crushing defeat. It was
+certainly a memorable day for Wolf Willow, whose inhabitants were
+exalted to a height of glory as they never experienced in all their
+history.
+
+"Serves us right," said Monteith, the High River Captain, apologising
+for his team's poor display to his friend, Hec Ross, who had commanded
+the Wolf Willow team. "We deserved to be jolly well licked, and we got
+what was coming to us."
+
+"Oh, we're not worrying," replied the Wolf Willow Captain, himself a
+sturdy horseman and one of the most famous stick handlers in the West.
+"Of course, we know that if Murray and Knight had been with you the
+result would have been different."
+
+"I am not at all sure about that," replied Monteith. "That new man of
+yours, Romayne, is a wonder. Army man, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes, played in India, I believe."
+
+"Oh, no wonder he's such a don at it. You ought to get together a great
+team here, Ross, and I should like to bring our team down again to give
+you a real game."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Say two weeks. No. That throws it a little late for the harvest. Say a
+week from to-day."
+
+"I shall let you know to-night," said Ross. "You are staying for the
+spellbinding fest and entertainment, are you not?"
+
+"Sure thing; we are out for the whole day. Who are on for the speaking?"
+
+"Gilchrist for one, our Member for the Dominion, you know."
+
+"Oh, yes, strong man, I believe. He's a Liberal, of Course."
+
+"Yes," replied Ross, "he's a Grit all right, hide-bound too--"
+
+"Which you are not, I take it," replied Monteith with a laugh.
+
+"Traditionally I am a Conservative," said Ross, "but last election I
+voted Liberal. I don't know how you were but I was keen on Reciprocity."
+
+"The contrary with me," replied Monteith. "Traditionally I am a Liberal,
+but I voted Conservative."
+
+"You voted against Reciprocity, you a western man voted against a better
+market for our wheat and stuff, and against cheaper machinery?"
+
+"Yes, I knew quite well it would give us a better market for our grain
+here, and it would give us cheaper machinery too, but--do you really
+care to know why I switched?"
+
+"Sure thing; I'd like awfully to hear if you don't mind. We are not
+discussing politics, you understand."
+
+"No. Well," said Monteith, "two things made me change my party. In the
+first place, to be quite frank, I was afraid of American domination.
+We are a small people yet. Their immense wealth would overwhelm our
+manufacturers and flood our markets with cheap stuff, and with trade
+dominance there would more easily go political dominance. You remember
+Taft's speech? That settled it for me. That was one thing. The other was
+the Navy question. I didn't like Laurier's attitude. I am a Canadian,
+born right here in Alberta, but I am an Imperialist. I am keen about the
+Empire and that sort of thing. I believe that our destiny is with the
+Empire and that with the Empire we shall attain to our best. And since
+the Empire has protected us through all of our history, I believe the
+time has come when we should make our contribution to its defence.
+We ought to have a fleet, and that fleet in time of war should
+automatically be merged with the Imperial Navy. That's how I felt at
+the last election. This autonomy stuff of Laurier's is all right, but it
+should not interfere with Imperial unity."
+
+"It's a funny thing," replied Ross. "I take the opposite side on both
+these points. I was born in the Old Country and like most Old Country
+people believe in Free Trade. So I was keen to wipe out all barriers
+between the United States and ourselves in trade. I believe in trading
+wherever you can get the best terms. As for American domination, I have
+not the slightest fear in the world of the Yankees. They might flood
+our markets at first, probably would, but they would certainly bring
+in capital. We need capital badly, you know that. And why should not
+factories be established on this side of the line with American money?
+Pennsylvania does not hurt New York, nor Illinois Dakota. Why then, with
+all trade barriers thrown down, should the United States hurt Canada?
+And then on the other side, we get a market for everything we grow
+at our doors. Reciprocity looked good to me. As for imperilling our
+Imperial connections--I do not mean to be offensive at all--of course
+you see what your position amounts to--that our financial interests
+would swamp our loyalty, that our loyalty is a thing of dollars and
+cents. My idea is that nothing in the world from the outside can ever
+break the bonds that hold Canada to the Empire, and after all, heart
+bonds are the strong bonds. Then in regard to the Navy, I take the other
+view from you also. I believe I am a better Canadian than you, although
+I am not Canadian born. I think there's something awfully fine in
+Canada's splendid independence. She wants to run her own ranch, and by
+George she will, and everything on it. She is going to boss her own job
+and will allow no one else to butt in. I agree with what you say about
+the Empire. Canada ought to have a Navy and quick. She ought to take her
+share of the burden of defence. But I agree here with Laurier. I believe
+her ships should be under her own control. For after all only the
+Canadian Government has the right to speak the word that sends them
+out to war. Of course, when once Canada hands them over to the Imperial
+Navy, they will fall into line and take their orders from the Admiral
+that commands the fleet. Do you know I believe that Laurier is right in
+sticking out for autonomy."
+
+"I am awfully interested in what you say, and I don't believe we are
+so far apart. It's a thousand pities they did not keep together in the
+Commons. They could easily have worked it out."
+
+"Yes, it was a beastly shame," replied Ross.
+
+"But isn't it rather queer," said Monteith, "and isn't it significant,
+too? Here I am, born in Canada, sticking out against reciprocity and
+anxious to guard our Imperial connection and ready to hand our Navy
+clean over to the Imperial authorities, and on the other hand, there
+you are, born in the Old Country, you don't appear to care a darn about
+Imperial connections. You let that take care of itself, and you stick up
+for Canadian autonomy to the limit."
+
+"Well, for one thing," replied Ross, "we ought to get together on
+the Navy business. On the trade question we represent, of course, two
+schools of economics, but we ought not to mix up the flag with our
+freight. This flag-flapping business makes me sick."
+
+"There you are again," said Monteith. "Here I am, born right here in the
+West, and yet I believe in all the flag-flapping you can bring about
+and right here in this country too. Why, you know how it is with these
+foreigners, Ruthenians, Russians, Germans, Poles. Do you know that in
+large sections of this western country the foreign vote controls the
+election? I believe we ought to take every means to teach them to love
+the flag and shout for it too. Oh, I know you Old Country chaps. You
+take the flag for granted, and despise this flag-raising business. Let
+me tell you something. I went across to Oregon a little while ago and
+saw something that opened my eyes. In a little school in the ranching
+country in a settlement of mixed foreigners--Swedes, Italians, Germans,
+Jews--they had a great show they called 'saluting the flag.'
+Being Scotch you despise the whole thing as a lot of rotten slushy
+sentimentality, and a lot of Canadians agree with you. But let me tell
+you how they got me. I watched those kids with their foreign faces,
+foreign speech--you ought to hear them read--Great Scott, you'd have to
+guess at the language. Then came this flag-saluting business. A kid
+with Yiddish written all over his face was chosen to carry in the flag,
+attended by a bodyguard for the colours, and believe me they appeared as
+proud as Punch of the honour. They placed the flag in position, sang a
+hymn, had a prayer, then every kid at a signal shot out his right hand
+toward the flag held aloft by the Yiddish colour bearer and pledged
+himself, heart, and soul, and body, to his flag and to his country.
+The ceremony closed with the singing of the national hymn, mighty poor
+poetry and mighty hard to sing, but do you know listening to those kids
+and watching their foreign faces I found myself with tears in my eyes
+and swallowing like a darn fool. Ever since that day I believe in
+flag-flapping."
+
+"Maybe you are right," replied Ross. "You know we British folk are
+so fearfully afraid of showing our feelings. We go along like graven
+images; the more really stirred up, the more graven we appear. But
+suppose we move over to the platform where the speechifying is to be
+done."
+
+In front of the school building a platform had been erected, and before
+the stage, preparations had been made for seating the spectators as far
+as the school benches and chairs from neighbours' houses would go. The
+programme consisted of patriotic songs and choruses with contributions
+from the minstrel company. The main events of the evening, however, were
+to be the addresses, the principal speech being by the local member for
+the Dominion Parliament, Mr. J. H. Gilchrist, who was to be followed
+by a local orator, Mr. Alvin P. Jones, a former resident of the United
+States, but now an enthusiastic, energetic and most successful farmer
+and business man, possessing one of the best appointed ranches in
+Alberta. The chairman was, of course, Reverend Evans Rhye. The parson
+was a little Welshman, fat and fussy and fiery of temper, but his heart
+was warmly human, and in his ministry he manifested a religion of such
+simplicity and devotion, of such complete unselfishness as drew to
+him the loyal affection of the whole community. Even such sturdy
+Presbyterians as McTavish, the Rosses, Angus Frazer and his mother,
+while holding tenaciously and without compromise to their own particular
+form of doctrine and worship, yielded Mr. Rhye, in the absence of a
+church and minister of their own denomination, a support and esteem
+unsurpassed even among his own folk. Their attitude was considered to be
+stated with sufficient clearness by Angus Frazer in McTavish's store one
+day. "I am not that sure about the doctrine, but he has the right kind
+of religion for me." And McTavish's reply was characteristic: "Doctrine!
+He has as gude as you can expec' frae thae Episcopawlian buddies.
+But he's a Godly man and he aye pays his debts whatever," which from
+McTavish was as high praise as could reasonably be expected.
+
+The audience comprised the total population of Wolf Willow and its
+vicinity, as well as visitors from the country within a radius of ten or
+fifteen miles.
+
+Mr. J. H. Gilchrist, M. P., possessed the initial advantages of Scotch
+parentage and of early Scotch training, and besides these he was a
+farmer and knew the farmer's mind. To these advantages he added those
+of a course of training in Toronto University in the departments of
+metaphysics and economics, and an additional advantage of five years'
+pedagogical experience. He possessed, moreover, the gift of lucid and
+forceful speech. With such equipment small wonder that he was in demand
+for just such occasions as a Dominion Day celebration and in just such
+a community as Wolf Willow. The theme of his address was Canadian
+Citizenship, Its Duties and Its Responsibilities, a theme somewhat worn
+but possessing the special advantage of being removed from the scope
+of party politics while at the same time affording opportunity for
+the elucidation of the political principles of that party which Mr.
+Gilchrist represented, and above all for a fervid patriotic appeal. With
+Scotch disdain of all that savoured of flattery or idle compliment, Mr.
+Gilchrist plunged at once into the heart of his subject.
+
+"First, the area of Canada. Forty-six years ago, when Canada became a
+nation, the Dominion possessed an area of 662,148 square miles; to-day
+her area covers 3,729,665 square miles, one-third the total size of
+the British Empire, as large as the continent of Europe without Russia,
+larger by over one hundred thousand square miles than the United
+States."
+
+"Hear, hear," cried an enthusiastic voice from the rear.
+
+"Aye, water and snow," in a rasping voice from old McTavish.
+
+"Water and snow," replied Mr. Gilchrist. "Yes, plenty of water, 125,000
+square miles of it, and a good thing it is too for Canada. Some people
+sniff at water," continued the speaker with a humorous glance at
+McTavish, "but even a Scotchman may with advantage acknowledge the value
+of a little water." The crowd went off into a roar of laughter at the
+little Scotchman who was supposed to be averse to the custom of mixing
+too much water with his drink.
+
+"My friend, Mr. McTavish," continued the speaker, "has all a Scotchman's
+hatred of bounce and brag. I am not indulging in foolish brag, but I
+maintain that no Canadian can rightly prize the worth of his citizenship
+who does not know something of his country, something of the wealth of
+meaning lying behind that word 'Canada,' and I purpose to tell you this
+evening something of some of Canada's big things. I shall speak of them
+with gratitude and with pride, but chiefly with a solemnising sense of
+responsibility.
+
+"As for the 'water and the snow' question: Let me settle that now. Water
+for a great inland continental country like ours is one of its most
+valuable assets for it means three things. First, cheap transportation.
+We have the longest continuous waterway in the world, and with two small
+cuttings Canada can bring ocean-going ships into the very heart of the
+continent. Second, water means climate rainfall, and there need be no
+fear of snow and frost while great bodies of open water lie about. And
+third, water power. Do you know that Canada stands first in the world in
+its water power? It possesses twice the water power of the United States
+(we like to get something in which we can excel our American cousins),
+and lying near the great centres of population too. Let me give you
+three examples. Within easy reach of Vancouver on the west coast
+there is at least 350,000 horse power, of which 75,000 is now in use.
+Winnipeg, the metropolitan centre of Canada, where more than in any
+place else can be heard the heart beat of the Dominion, has 400,000
+horse power available, of which she now uses 50,000. Toronto lies within
+reach of the great Niagara, whose power no one can estimate, while along
+the course of the mighty St. Lawrence towns and cities lie within touch
+of water power that is beyond all calculation as yet. And do you Alberta
+people realise that right here in your own province the big Bassano
+Dam made possible by a tiny stream taken from the Bow River furnishes
+irrigation power for over a million acres? Perhaps that will do about
+the water."
+
+"Oo aye," said McTavish, with profound resignation in his voice. "Ye'll
+dae wi' that."
+
+"And snow," cried the speaker. "We would not willingly be without our
+snow in Canada. Snow means winter transport, better business, lumbering,
+and above all, wheat. Where you have no snow and frost you cannot get
+the No. 1 hard wheat. Don't quarrel with the snow. It is Canada's
+snow and frost that gives her the first place in the world in wheat
+production. So much for the water and the snow."
+
+McTavish hitched about uneasily. He wanted to have the speaker get done
+with this part of his theme.
+
+From Canada's area Mr. Gilchrist passed on to deal with Canada's
+resources, warning his audience that the greater part of these
+resources was as yet undeveloped and that he should have to indulge in
+loud-sounding phrases, but he promised them that whatever words he
+might employ he would still be unable to adequately picture to their
+imagination the magnitude of Canada's undeveloped wealth. Then in a
+perfect torrent he poured forth upon the people statistics setting forth
+Canada's possessions in mines and forests, in fisheries, in furs, in
+agricultural products, and especially in wheat. At the word "wheat" he
+pulled up abruptly.
+
+"Wheat," he exclaimed, "the world's great food for men. And Canada holds
+the greatest wheat farm in all the world. Not long ago Jim Hill told
+the Minneapolis millers that three-fourths of the wheat lands on the
+American continent were north of the boundary line and that Canada could
+feed every mouth in Europe. Our wheat crop this year will go nearly
+250,000,000 bushels, and this, remember, without fertilisation and with
+very poor farming, for we Western Canadians are poor farmers. We owe
+something to our American settlers who are teaching us something of the
+science and art of agriculture. Remember, too, that our crop comes from
+only one-seventh of our wheat lands. Had the other six-sevenths
+been cropped, our wheat yield would be over three and a half billion
+bushels--just about the world's supply. We should never be content till
+Canada does her full duty to the world, till Canada gives to the world
+all that is in her power to give. I make no apology for dwelling at such
+length upon Canada's extent and resources.
+
+"Now let me speak to you about our privileges and responsibilities as
+citizens of this Dominion. Our possessions and material things will be
+our destruction unless we use them not only for our own good, but for
+the good of the world. And these possessions we can never properly use
+till we learn to prize those other possessions of heart and mind and
+soul."
+
+With a light touch upon the activities of Canadians, in the development
+of their country in such matters as transportation and manufactures,
+he passed to a consideration of the educational, social, industrial,
+political and religious privileges which Canadian citizens enjoyed.
+
+"These are the things," he cried, "that have to do with the nation's
+soul. These are the things that determine the quality of a people and
+their place among the nations, their influence in the world. In the
+matter of education it is the privilege of every child in Canada to
+receive a sound training, not only in the elementary branches of study,
+but even in higher branches as well. In Canada social distinctions are
+based more upon worth than upon wealth, more upon industry and ability
+than upon blue blood. Nowhere in the world is it more profoundly true
+that
+
+
+    "'A man's a man for a' that;
+      The rank is but the guinea's stamp;
+      The man's the gowd for a' that.'"
+
+
+At this old McTavish surprised the audience and himself by crying out,
+"Hear-r-r, hear-r-r," glancing round defiantly as if daring anyone to
+take up his challenge.
+
+"In matters of religion," continued the speaker, "the churches of Canada
+hold a position of commanding influence, not because of any privileges
+accorded them by the State, nor because of any adventitious or
+meretricious aids, but solely because of their ability to minister to
+the social and spiritual needs of the people."
+
+Briefly the speaker proceeded to touch upon some characteristic features
+of Canadian political institutions.
+
+"Nowhere in the world," he said, "do the people of a country enjoy a
+greater measure of freedom. We belong to a great world Empire. This
+connection we value and mean to cherish, but our Imperial relations do
+not in the slightest degree infringe upon our liberties. The Government
+of Canada is autonomous. Forty-six years ago the four provinces of
+Canada were united into a single Dominion with representative Government
+of the most complete kind. Canada is a Democracy, and in no Democracy
+in the world does the will of the people find more immediate and more
+complete expression than in our Dominion. With us political liberty is
+both a heritage and an achievement, a heritage from our forefathers who
+made this Empire what it is, and an achievement of our own people led by
+great and wise statesmen. This priceless possession of liberty we shall
+never surrender, for the nation that surrenders its liberty, no matter
+what other possessions it may retain, has lost its soul."
+
+The address concluded with an appeal to the people for loyal devotion
+to the daily duties of life in their various relations as members of
+families, members of the community, citizens of the Province and of the
+Dominion. In the applause that followed the conclusion of this address,
+even old McTavish was observed to contribute his share with something
+amounting almost to enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE SHADOW OF WAR
+
+
+It was finally agreed that a part at least of the responsibility for the
+disturbance which marred the harmony of the Dominion Day celebration at
+Wolf Willow upon this occasion must rest on the shoulders of Mr. Alvin
+P. Jones. The impressive presentation by Mr. Gilchrist of Canada's
+greatness and the splendour of her future appeared to stimulate Mr.
+Jones to unusual flights of oratory. Under ordinary circumstances Mr.
+Jones' oratory was characterised by such extraordinary physical vigour,
+if not violence, and by such a fluency of orotund and picturesque
+speech, that with the multitude sound passed for eloquence and
+platitudes on his lips achieved the dignity of profound wisdom. Building
+upon the foundation laid by the previous speaker, Mr. Jones proceeded to
+extol the grandeur of the Dominion, the wonders of her possessions, the
+nobility of her people, the splendour of her institutions, the glory of
+her future. He himself was not by birth a Canadian, but so powerful a
+spell had the Dominion cast over him that he had become a Canadian by
+adoption. Proud of his American birth and citizenship, he was even more
+proud of his Canadian citizenship. He saw before him a large number of
+American citizens who had come to throw in their lot with the Dominion
+of Canada. He believed they had done a wise thing, and that among the
+most loyal citizens of this Dominion none would be found more devoted to
+the material welfare and the spiritual well-being of Canada than those
+who came from the other side of the line. He saw a number of those
+who were sometimes improperly called foreigners. He said "improperly"
+because whatever their origin, whether Ruthenian, Swede, French, German,
+or whatever their race might be, here they were simply Canadians with
+all the rights of Canadian citizenship assured to them. He was glad to
+see so many of his German friends present. They represent a great nation
+whose achievements in every department of human activity, in learning,
+in industrial enterprise, in commerce, were the envy and admiration of
+the world (excursus here in glorification of the great German people):
+To these, his German fellow citizens, he would say that no matter how
+deep their devotion to the Vaterland (Mr. Jones pronounced it with a
+"v") he knew they would be loyal citizens of Canada. The German Empire
+had its differences and disagreements with Great Britain, the American
+Republic has had the same, and indeed it was possible that there were a
+number present who might not cherish any very passionate regard for the
+wealthy, complaisant, self-contained somewhat slow-going old gentleman,
+John Bull. But here in Canada, we were all Canadians! First, last and
+all the time, Canadians (great applause). Whatever might be said of
+other countries, their wealth, their power, their glory, Canada was
+good enough for him (more applause, followed by a further elaboration of
+Canada's vast resources, etc., etc.). Canada's future was unclouded by
+the political complications and entanglements of the older countries in
+Europe. For one hundred years they had been at peace with the Republic
+south of that imaginary line which delimited the boundaries, but which
+did not divide the hearts of these two peoples (great applause). For
+his part, while he rejoiced in the greatness of the British Empire he
+believed that Canada's first duty was to herself, to the developing here
+of a strong and sturdy national spirit. Canada for Canadians, Canada
+first, these were the motives that had guided his life both in public
+service and as a private citizen (loud applause). In this country there
+was a place for all, no matter from what country they came, a place for
+the Ruthenian (enumeration of the various European and Asiatic states
+from which potential citizens of Canada had come). Let us join hands
+and hearts in building up a great empire where our children, free
+from old-world entanglements, free to develop in our own way our own
+institutions (eloquent passages on freedom) in obedience to laws of
+our own making, defended by the strong arms and brave hearts of our
+own sons, aided (here the speaker permitted himself a smile of gentle
+humour) by the mighty wing of the American eagle (references to the
+Monroe Doctrine and its protection of Canada's shores) we shall abide
+in peace and security from all aggression and all alarm. (Thunderous and
+continued applause, during which the speaker resumed his seat.)
+
+It was old McTavish who precipitated the trouble. The old Highlander
+belonged to a family that boasted a long line of fighting forbears. Ever
+since The Forty-five when the German king for the time occupying the
+English throne astutely diverted the martial spirit of the Scottish
+clans from the business of waging war against his own armies, their
+chief occupation, to that of fighting his continental foes, The McTavish
+was to be found ever in the foremost ranks of British men-of-war,
+joyously doing battle for his clan and for his king, who, if the truth
+were told, he regarded with scant loyalty. Like so many of the old
+timers in western Canada, this particular McTavish had been at one time
+a servant of the Hudson Bay Company and as such had done his part in the
+occupation, peaceful and otherwise, of the vast territories administered
+by that great trading company. In his fiery fighting soul there burned a
+passionate loyalty to the name and fame of the land of his birth, and a
+passionate pride in the Empire under whose flag the Company's ships had
+safely sailed the northern seas and had safely traded in these vast wild
+lands for nearly three hundred years. Deep as this loyalty and pride in
+the soul of him there lay a cold suspicion of the Yankee. He had met him
+in those old days of trade war, had suffered and had seen his Company
+suffer from his wiles, and finally had been compelled to witness with
+bitter but unavailing hate the steady encroachment of those rival
+traders upon the ancient prerogatives and preserves of his own Company,
+once the sole and undisputed lords of the northern half of the American
+continent. In the person of Mr. Alvin P. Jones, McTavish saw the
+representative of those ancient enemies of his, and in the oration to
+which he had just listened he fancied he detected a note of disloyalty
+to the flag, a suggestion of a break in the allegiance of Canada to the
+Empire, and worst of all, a hint that Canada might safely depend for
+protection upon something other than the naval power which had guarded
+the shores of his country these many years from enemy invasion. These
+things wrought in old McTavish an uncontrollable anger, and no sooner
+had the tumultuous applause died away than he was on his feet and in a
+high, rasping voice demanding audience.
+
+"Will ye per-r-rmit me, Mr. Chair-r-rman, a few words in regar-r-d
+to the remarkable address to which we haf listened?" Permission was
+graciously granted by the chairman, surprise and complaisant delight
+mantling the steaming face of Mr. Alvin P. Jones, albeit at his heart
+there lurked a certain uneasiness, for on more than one occasion had he
+suffered under the merciless heckling of the little Scotchman.
+
+"'Tis a wonderful address we haf been hearing, an eloquent address. Some
+of it iss true an' some of it iss lies [commotion in the audience--the
+smile on Mr. Alvin P. Jones's face slightly less expansive]. The speaker
+has told us about Canada, its great extent, its vast r-r-resources.
+Some of us haf known about these things while yet his mother was
+still sucking him [snickers of delight from the younger members of the
+audience and cries of, 'Go to it, Mack]. 'Tis a great Dominion whatefer
+and will be a gr-r-reater Dominion yet so lang as it keeps to right
+ways. He has told us of the mighty achievements of Cher-r-rmany. I will
+jist be askin' him what has Cher-r-rmany done for this country or for
+any country but her ainsel? She has cluttered us up wi' pot-metal,
+cutlery an' such things, an' cheap cloth that ye can put yer finger
+through, an' that will be done in a month's wear-r-ring. Musick, ye'll
+be sayin'! Musick! I was in Calgary not long since. They took me to what
+they will be callin' a music-kale [delighted roars of laughter from the
+audience]. A music-kale indeed! I haf hear-r-rd of cauld kale an' het
+kale, of kale porridge an' kale brose, but nefer haf I hear-r-rd before
+of a music-kale. Bless me, man, I cud make neither head nor tail o' it,
+and they wer-r-re no better themsel's. They had printed notes about it
+an' a bit man makin' a speech about it, but not one of them knew a
+thing about the hale hypotheck. Musick, quare musick I call it! If it
+is musick yer wantin', gif me Angus there wi' the pipes [wild cheers
+testifying to Angus's popularity] or the master-r-r himsel' an' the
+young lady here [this with a courteous bow to Miss Switzer] wi' their
+feeddles. That's what I will be callin' musick. An' lairnin'! Lairnin'
+that will lay sacraleegious hands upon the Sacred Word, an' tear-r-r it
+to bits. That like thing the Cher-r-rman lairnin' is doin', and ye can
+ask Mr. Rhye yonder. An' other things the Cher-r-rmans are doin' that
+keep us all from restin' quiet in our beds. Let them come her-r-re to us
+if they will. Let them come from all the countries of the ear-r-rth.
+We will share wi' them what we haf, provided they will be behavin'
+themsel's and mindin' their peeziness. But this man is sayin' somethin'
+more. He is tellin' us how safe we are, an' that the great Republic
+south o' us will be guar-r-rdin' us frae our enemies. I doubt it will
+be the fox guar-r-rdin' the chicken frae the weasel. Now I'll ask this
+gentleman what it is that has guar-r-rded these shores for the past two
+hundred and fifty year-r-rs? I will tell him--the Br-r-ritish Navy. What
+has kept the peace of Europe once an' again? The Br-r-ritish Navy.
+Aye, what has protected America not once or twice frae her enemies? The
+Br-r-ritish Navy, an' that same Br-r-ritish Navy is gude enough fer me."
+
+The tumultuous din that followed the conclusion of the cantankerous
+little Highlander's speech was beyond all words, but before the chairman
+could get to his feet, through the uproar a voice strident with passion
+was demanding a hearing. "Mr. Ernest Switzer has the floor," said the
+chairman.
+
+The young man's face was white and his voice shaking when he began. "Mr.
+Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I stand here to claim the fair play that
+you say is British for myself and for my race. I am a Canadian citizen.
+I was born in America, but my blood is German. As a Canadian citizen,
+as an American by birth, as a German by blood, I have been insulted
+to-night, and I demand the right to reply to the man who has insulted
+me. There are Canadians here to guard their own honour; the Americans
+can be trusted to protect themselves. Germany is not here to refute the
+slanders uttered against her, but I claim the honour to speak for that
+great nation, for she is a great nation. There is none greater. There is
+none so great in the world to-day." The young man's voice rang out with
+passionate conviction, his pale set face, his blue eyes flaming with
+rage proclaimed the intensity of his emotion. Before his flaming passion
+the audience was subdued into a silence tense and profound. "What has
+Germany done for the world? this man asks. I would like to ask in reply
+where he has lived for the last twenty-five years, and if during those
+years he has read anything beyond his local newspaper? What has Germany
+done for the world? Germany has shown the way to the world, even to
+America, in every activity of life, in industrial organisation, in
+scientific inquiry in the laboratory and in the practical application
+of science to every-day life. Where do your philosophers go for their
+training? To German universities where they seek to understand the
+philosophy of the immortal Emanuel Kant. Where in the world has social
+reform reached its highest achievement? In Germany. Where do you go for
+your models for municipal government? To Germany. Mention any department
+of human enterprise to-day and in that department Germany stands easily
+in the lead. This man asks what has kept Europe at peace all these
+years, and suggests the British Navy, the one constant menace to the
+peace of Europe and to the freedom of the seas. No, if you ask who has
+kept the peace of Europe I will tell you. The German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.
+To him and to the Empire of which he is the glorious head Europe owes
+its peace and the world its greatest blessings to-day."
+
+When Switzer sat down a half a dozen men were on their feet demanding
+to be heard. Above the din a quiet, but penetrating voice was
+distinguished. "Mr. Romayne has the floor," said the Reverend Mr.
+Rhye, who himself was tingling with desire for utterance. Mr. Romayne's
+appearance and voice suggested the boredom of one who felt the whole
+thing to be rather a nuisance.
+
+"Ladies and Gentlemen," he began, "I must apologise for venturing to
+speak at all, having so recently come to this country, though I am glad
+to say that I have been received with such cordial kindness that I do
+not feel myself a stranger."
+
+"You're all right, Jack," cried a voice. "You're right at home."
+
+"I am at home," said Jack, "and that is one thing that makes me able
+to speak. Few of you can understand the feeling that comes to one who,
+travelling six thousand miles away from the heart of the Empire, finds
+himself still among his own folk and under the same old flag. Nor can I
+express the immense satisfaction and pride that come to me when I find
+here in this new world a virile young nation offering a welcome to men
+of all nationalities, an equal opportunity to make home and fortune for
+themselves, and find also these various nationalities uniting in the one
+purpose of building solid and secure an outpost of the Empire to which
+we all belong. I rise chiefly to say two things. The first is that
+if Germany continues in her present mind she will be at war with our
+country within a very short time. The young man who has just sat down
+assures us that Germany is a great country. Let us at once frankly grant
+this fact, for indeed it is a fact. Whether she is as wonderful or
+as great as she thinks herself to be may be doubted. But it is of
+importance to know that the opinion stated here to-night is the opinion
+held by the whole body of the German people from the Kaiser to the
+lowest peasant in the Empire. The universal conviction throughout that
+Empire is that not only is Germany the greatest nation on earth, but
+that it has a divine mission to confer her own peculiar quality of
+civilisation upon the other nations of Europe, and indeed upon the whole
+world. We might not quarrel with Germany for cherishing this pleasing
+opinion in regard to herself, but when this opinion is wrought into a
+purpose to dominate the whole world in order that this mission might
+be accomplished the thing takes on a somewhat serious aspect. Let me
+repeat, Germany is a great nation, marvellously organised in every
+department of her life, agricultural, manufacturing, educational,
+commercial. But to what intent? What is the purpose dominating this
+marvellous organisation? The purpose, Ladies and Gentlemen, is war. The
+supreme industry of the German nation is the manufacturing of a mighty
+war machine. I challenge the gentleman who has just spoken to deny
+either of these statements, that Germany believes that she has a
+definite mission to lift up the other nations of Europe to her own high
+level and that to fulfil this mission it is necessary that she be in a
+position of control." The speaker paused for a moment or two. "He cannot
+deny these because he knows they are true. The second thing I wish to
+say is that the Kaiser means war and is waiting only for the favourable
+moment. I believe it is correct to say that for many years after his
+accession to the throne he used his influence on the side of peace, but
+I have every reason to believe that for some years past he has cherished
+another purpose, the purpose of war."
+
+At this point Switzer sprang to his feet and cried, "I challenge the
+truth of that statement. Modern European history proves it to be false,
+and again and again the Kaiser has prevented war. So much is this
+the case that the trustees of the only European fund that recognises
+distinguished service in the interests of peace bestowed upon the Kaiser
+the Nobel Prize."
+
+"That is quite true," replied Mr. Romayne. "But let me recall to this
+young man's mind a few facts. In 1875 Bismarck was determined to make
+war upon France. He was prevented by the united action of England
+and Russia. Germany made the same attempt in '87 and '91. In 1905 so
+definite was the threat of war that France avoided it only by dismissing
+her war minister, Delcasse. Perhaps my young friend remembers the
+Casablanca incident in 1908 where again the Kaiser threatened France
+with war. Indeed, for the last twenty years, even while he was doubtless
+anxious to maintain peace, he has been rattling his sword in his
+scabbard and threatening war against the various nations of Europe. In
+most of these cases even when he wanted peace he bluffed with threats
+of war. Then came the Agadir incident in 1911 when once more the Kaiser
+bluffed. But Great Britain called his bluff that time and the great War
+Lord had to back down with great loss of prestige not only with his own
+people but with the whole of Europe. It hurt the Kaiser to think that
+any nation in Europe should move in any direction without his consent.
+Agadir taught him that he must quit bluffing or make up his mind to
+fight."
+
+Again Switzer was upon his feet. "This is a slanderous falsehood," he
+cried. "How does this man know?"
+
+"I happened to be there," was the quiet reply.
+
+"How do we know?" again cried Switzer.
+
+"Will you kindly repeat that remark?" said Mr. Romayne quietly.
+
+"I believe this statement," shouted Switzer, "to be a slanderous
+falsehood."
+
+"If you accuse me of falsehood," said Romayne even more quietly, "that
+is a matter of which we shall not discuss here, but later. But these
+statements that I have made are history. All Germany knows, all Europe
+knows, that at Agadir the Kaiser backed down. He was not ready to fight,
+and he lost prestige by it. When Italy, one of the Triple Alliance, went
+to war against Turkey without consulting him, this lowered still further
+German prestige. In the late Balkan War Germany was again humiliated.
+She backed the wrong horse. Her protege and pupil in war, Turkey, was
+absolutely beaten. These things convince me that Germany knows that her
+hope of dominating Europe is rapidly waning, and she believes that
+this hope can only be realised by war and, therefore, I repeat that the
+Kaiser and his people are only waiting a favourable moment to launch war
+upon Europe and more particularly upon the British Empire, which,
+along with the great American democracy, stands between her and the
+realisation of her dream."
+
+"The British Empire!" cried Switzer scornfully as Romayne took his seat,
+"the British Empire! at the first stern blow this ramshackle empire
+will fall to pieces. Then Great Britain will be forced to surrender her
+robber hold upon these great free states which she has stolen and which
+she now keeps in chains." (Cries of "Never!" "Rot!" "Shut your trap!")
+Switzer sprang to his feet and, shaking his fist in their faces, cried:
+"I know what I am saying. This you will see before many months have
+passed."
+
+Again Romayne rose to his feet and waited till a silence fell upon the
+audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he said solemnly, "this German officer
+knows what he is talking about. That Germany within a few months will
+make her supreme attempt to smash the British Empire I believe is
+certain. I am equally certain that the result of that attempt will not
+be what this gentleman anticipates and desires."
+
+For some moments the silence remained unbroken. Then young Monteith
+sprang to his feet and led the audience in a succession of mad cheers
+that indicated the depth of passion to which they were stirred. After
+the cheering had subsided Larry rose and in a slightly querulous tone
+and with a humorous smile upon his face he said:
+
+"Mr. Chairman, don't you think we are becoming unnecessarily serious?
+And are there not certain things on which we all agree? First that
+we are all Canadians, first, last and all the time. Secondly, that
+we greatly respect and admire our American cousins and we desire only
+better mutual acquaintance for our mutual good. Third, that we are loyal
+to and immensely proud of our Empire, and we mean to stick to it. And
+fourth, that Germany is a great country and has done great things for
+the world. As to the historical questions raised, these are not settled
+by discussion but by reliable historic documents. As to the prophecies
+made, we can accept or reject them as we choose. Personally I confess
+that I am unable to get up any real interest in this German war menace.
+I believe Germany has more sense, not to say proper Christian feeling,
+than to plunge herself and the world into war. I move, Mr. Chairman,
+that we pass to the next order of business."
+
+"Hear! Hear!" cried some. "Go on with the programme."
+
+"No! No!" said others. "Let's have it out."
+
+"Mr. Chairman," said Hec Ross, rising to his feet, "this thing is better
+than any silly old programme, let's have it out."
+
+But the chairman, much against his inclination, for he was a fighter,
+ruled otherwise. "The differences that separate us from one another here
+to-night are not differences that can be settled by argument. They are
+differences that are due partly to our history and partly to the ideals
+which we cherish. We shall go on with the programme."
+
+At first the people were in no mood for mere amusement. They had been
+made to face for a brief moment the great and stern reality of war. The
+words and more the manner of Jack Romayne had produced a deep sense in
+their minds of the danger of a European conflagration, and the ominous
+words of the young German spoken as from intimate knowledge only
+served to deepen the impression made by Romayne. But the feeling
+was transitory, and speedily the possibility of war was dismissed as
+unthinkable. The bogey of a German war was familiar and therefore losing
+its power to disturb them. So after two or three musical numbers had
+been given the audience had settled back into its normal state of mind
+which accepted peace as the natural and permanent condition for the
+world.
+
+The entertainment would have come to a perfectly proper and harmonious
+close had it not been for the unrestrained exuberance of Sam's humorous
+qualities on the one hand and the complete absence of sense of humour
+in Ernest Switzer on the other. The final number on the programme,
+which was to be a series of humorous character sketches, had been left
+entirely in Sam's hands and consisted of a trilogy representing the
+characteristics as popularly conceived of the French Canadian habitant,
+the humorous Irishman and the obese Teuton. Sam's early association
+with the vaudeville stage had given him a certain facility in the use
+of stage properties and theatrical paraphernalia generally, and this
+combined with a decided gift of mimicry enabled him to produce a
+really humorous if somewhat broadly burlesqued reproduction of these
+characters. In the presentation of his sketch Sam had reserved to the
+close his representation of the obese Teuton. The doings of this Teuton,
+while sending the audience into roars of laughter, had quite a different
+effect upon Switzer, who after a few moments of wrathful endurance made
+toward the rear of the audience.
+
+Meantime the obese Teuton has appeared upon the stage in a famished
+condition demanding vociferously and plaintively from the world at large
+sausage. But no sausage is available. At this point a stray dog wanders
+upon the stage. With a cry of delight the famished Teuton seizes the
+unfortunate cur and joyously announcing that now sausage he will have,
+forthwith disappears. Immediately from the wings arise agonised canine
+howlings with which mingles the crashing of machinery. Gradually the
+howlings die into choking silence while the crash of the machinery
+proceeds for a few moments longer. Thereupon reappears the Teuton,
+ecstatic and triumphant, bearing with him a huge sausage, which he
+proceeds to devour with mingled lamentations over his departed "hund"
+and raptures over its metamorphosed condition. In the midst of this
+mingled lamentation and rapture is heard in the distance upon a mouth
+organ band the sound of the German national air. The Teuton is startled,
+drops his sausage upon the stage and exclaiming "Der Kronprinz," hastily
+beats a retreat.
+
+At the mention of this august name Switzer disappears from the rear
+of the audience and makes his way to the back of the stage. In the
+meantime, to the accompaniment of organs and drums, appears upon the
+stage no less a personage than "der Kronprinz," to the reproduction of
+whose features Sam's peculiar facial appearance admirably lends itself.
+From this point the action proceeds with increased rapidity. No sooner
+had "der Kronprinz," who is also in a famished condition, appeared upon
+the stage than his eyes light upon the sausage. With a cry of delight
+he seizes it and proceeds ravenously to devour it. But at the first
+mouthful renewed howlings arise. "Der Kronprinz," in a state of intense
+excitement, drops his sausage and begins a wild search in the corners
+of the stage and in the wings for the source of the uproar. The sausage
+thus abandoned, aided by an invisible cord, wabbles off the stage
+before the eyes of the wondering and delighted audience. Thereafter "der
+Kronprinz" reappears with his "hund" under his arm and begins an active
+and distracted search for his precious sausage. Disappointed in his
+search for the sausage and rendered desperate by his famished condition,
+he seizes the wretched cur and begins gnawing at the tail and retires
+from the scene, accompanied by the howls of the unhappy canine and the
+applauding shouts of the audience.
+
+Meantime while Sam is engaged in executing a lightning change from the
+role of "der Kronprinz" to that of the original obese Teuton, Switzer
+beside himself with rage comes upon him at the precise moment when he is
+engaged in tying up his shoe preparatory to making his final entry upon
+the stage. The posture is irresistibly inviting. The next instant the
+astonished audience beholds the extraordinary spectacle of the obese
+Teuton under the impulse of the irate Switzer's boot in rapid flight
+across the stage upon all fours, bearing down with terrific speed upon
+the rear of the unsuspecting chairman who, facing the audience and with
+a genial smile upon his countenance, is engaged in applauding Sam's
+previous performance. Making frantic but futile efforts to recover
+himself, Sam plunges head on with resistless impact full upon the exact
+spot where the legs of the parson effect a junction with the rest of
+his person and carries that gentleman with him clear off the stage and
+fairly upon the top of old McTavish, who at that moment is engaged in
+conversation with little Miss Haight immediately behind him. Immediately
+there is a terrific uproar, in which through the delighted yells of the
+crowd, the crashing of the overturned chairs, and the general confusion
+could be heard the shrieks of the little spinster and weird Scotch
+oaths from McTavish. After the noise had somewhat subsided and when
+the confusion had been reduced to a semblance of order, McTavish was
+discovered with his hand upon the collar of the dazed parson who in turn
+held the obese Teuton in a firm and wrathful grip, at which once more
+the whole crowd rocked with an unholy but uncontrollable joy.
+
+It was Larry who saved the situation by appearing upon the stage and
+gravely announcing that this unfortunate catastrophe was due to a sudden
+international upheaval which as usual in such cases had come about in
+an absolutely unexpected manner and as a result of misunderstandings and
+mistakes for which no one could be held responsible. He proposed in
+the name of the audience votes of thanks to those who had laboured so
+diligently to make the Dominion Day celebration so great a success,
+especially to the ladies and gentlemen who had served upon the various
+committees, to the speakers of the evening, to those who had provided
+the entertainment, and last but not least to the chairman who had
+presided with such grace and dignity over the proceedings of the
+evening. The motion was carried with tumultuous applause, and after the
+singing of "The Maple Leaf" and the national anthem, the meeting came to
+a close.
+
+After the entertainment was over Larry and his mother slowly took the
+trail homewards, declining many offers of a lift from their friends
+in cars and carriages. It was the Harvest Moon. Upon the folds of
+the rolling prairie, upon the round tops of the hills, upon the broad
+valleys, and upon the far-away peaks in the west the white light lay
+thick and soft like a mantle. Above the white-mantled world the concave
+of the sky hung blue and deep and pricked out with pale star points.
+About the world the night had thrown her mystic jewelled robes of white
+and blue, making a holy shrine, a very temple of peace for God and man.
+For some minutes they walked together in silence, after they had bidden
+good-night to the last of their friends.
+
+"What a world it is, Mother!" said Larry, gazing about him at the beauty
+of the night.
+
+"Yes, but alas, alas, that God's own children should spoil all this
+glory with hatred and strife! This very night in the unhappy Balkan
+States men are killing each other. It is too sad and too terrible to
+think of. Oh, if men would be content only to do justly by each other."
+
+"Those people of the Balkan States are semi-barbarians," said Larry,
+"and therefore war between them is to be expected; but I cannot
+get myself to believe in the possibility of war between Christians,
+civilised nations to-day. But, Mother, for the first time in my life,
+listening to those two men, Romayne and Switzer, I had a feeling that
+war might be possible. Switzer seemed so eager for it, and so sure
+about it, didn't he? And Romayne, too, seemed ready to fight. But then
+I always remember that military men and military nations are for ever
+talking war."
+
+"That is quite true, my dear," said his mother. "I too find it difficult
+to believe that war is possible in spite of what we have heard to-night.
+Our Friends at Home do not believe that war is imminent. They tell me
+that the feeling between Germany and Britain is steadily improving."
+
+"And yet two years ago, Mother, in connection with the Agadir incident
+war might have happened any minute."
+
+"That is true," replied his mother, "but every year of peace makes
+war less likely. The Friends are working and praying for a better
+understanding between these nations, and they are very confident that
+these peace delegations that are exchanging visits are doing a great
+deal for peace. Your Uncle Matthew, who has had a great deal to do with
+them, is very hopeful that a few years of peace will carry us past the
+danger point."
+
+"Well, I hope so, Mother. I loathe the very thought of war," said Larry.
+"I think I am like you in this. I never did fight, you know; as a boy I
+always got out of it. Do you know, Mother, I think I would be afraid to
+fight."
+
+"I hope so," replied his mother. "Fighting is no work for man, but for
+brute."
+
+"But you would not be afraid, Mother. I know you would stand up to
+anything."
+
+"Oh, no, no," cried his mother. "I could stand up to very little. After
+all, it is only God that makes strong to endure."
+
+"But it is not quite the question of enduring, it is not the suffering,
+Mother. It is the killing. I don't believe I could kill a man, and yet
+in the Bible they were told to kill."
+
+"But surely, Larry, we read our Bible somewhat differently these days.
+Surely we have advanced since the days of Abraham. We do not find our
+Lord and master commanding men to kill."
+
+"But, Mother, in these present wars should not men defend their women
+and children from such outrages as we read about?"
+
+"When it comes to the question of defending women and children it seems
+to me that the question is changed," said his mother. "As to that I can
+never quite make up my mind, but generally speaking we hold that it is
+the Cross, not the sword, that will save the world from oppression and
+break the tyrant's power."
+
+"But after all, Mother," replied Larry, "it was not Smithfield that
+saved England's freedom, but Naseby."
+
+"Perhaps both Naseby and Smithfield," said his mother. "I am not very
+wise in these things."
+
+At the door of their house they came upon Nora sitting in the moonlight.
+"Did you meet Ernest and Mr. Romayne?" she inquired. "They've only gone
+five minutes or so. They walked down with us."
+
+"No, we did not meet them."
+
+"You must be tired after the wild excitement of the day, Mother," said
+Nora. "I think you had better go at once to bed. As for me, I am going
+for a swim."
+
+"That's bully; I'm with you," said Larry.
+
+In a few minutes they were dressed in their bathing suits, and, wrapped
+up in their mackintosh coats, they strolled toward the little lake.
+
+"Let's sit a few moments and take in this wonderful night," said Nora.
+"Larry, I want to talk to you about what we heard to-night from those
+two men. They made me feel that war was not only possible but near."
+
+"It did not impress me in the very least," said Larry. "They talked as
+military men always talk. They've got the war bug. These men have both
+held commissions in their respective armies. Romayne, of course, has
+seen war, and they look at everything from the military point of view."
+
+As he was speaking there came across the end of the lake the sound of
+voices. Over the water the still air carried the words distinctly to
+their ears.
+
+"Explain what?" It was Switzer's voice they heard, loud and truculent.
+
+"Just what you meant by the words 'slanderous falsehood' which you used
+to-night," replied a voice which they recognised to be Jack Romayne's.
+
+"I meant just what I said."
+
+"Did you mean to impugn my veracity, because--"
+
+"Because what?"
+
+"Because if you did I should have to slap your face just now."
+
+"Mein Gott! You--!"
+
+"Not so loud," said Romayne quietly, "unless you prefer an audience."
+
+"You schlap my face!" cried the German, in his rage losing perfect
+control of his accent. "Ach, if you were only in my country, we could
+settle this in the only way."
+
+"Perhaps you will answer my question." Romayne's voice was low and clear
+and very hard. "Did you mean to call me a liar? Yes or no."
+
+"A liar," replied the German, speaking more quietly. "No, it is not a
+question of veracity. It is a question of historical accuracy."
+
+"Oh, very well. That's all."
+
+"No, it is not all," exclaimed the German. "My God, that I should have
+to take insult from you! In this country of barbarians there is no way
+of satisfaction except by the beastly, the savage method of fists, but
+some day we will show you schwein of England--"
+
+"Stop!" Romayne's voice came across the water with a sharp ring like the
+tap of a hammer on steel. "You cannot use your hands, I suppose? That
+saves you, but if you say any such words again in regard to England or
+Englishmen, I shall have to punish you."
+
+"Punish me!" shouted the German. "Gott in Himmel, that I must bear
+this!"
+
+"They are going to fight," said Nora in an awed and horrified voice.
+"Oh, Larry, do go over."
+
+"He-l-l-o," cried Larry across the water. "That you, Switzer? Who is
+that with you? Come along around here, won't you?"
+
+There was a silence of some moments and then Romayne's voice came
+quietly across the water. "That you, Gwynne? Rather late to come around,
+I think. I am off for home. Well, Switzer, that's all, I think, just
+now. I'll say good-night." There was no reply from Switzer.
+
+"You won't come then?" called Larry. "Well, goodnight, both of you."
+
+"Good-night, good-night," came from both men.
+
+"Do you think they will fight?" said Nora.
+
+"No, I think not. There's Switzer riding off now. What fools they are."
+
+"And Jack Romayne is so quiet and gentlemanly," said Nora.
+
+"Quiet, yes, and gentlemanly, yes too. But I guess he'd be what Sam
+calls a 'bad actor' in a fight. Oh, these men make me tired who can't
+have a difference of opinion but they must think of fighting."
+
+"Oh, Larry, I don't understand you a bit," cried Nora. "Of course they
+want to fight when they get full of rage. I would myself."
+
+"I believe you," said Larry. "You are a real Irish terrier. You are like
+father. I am a Quaker, or perhaps there's another word for it. I only
+hope I shall never be called on to prove just what I am. Come on, let's
+go in."
+
+For a half hour they swam leisurely to and fro in the moonlit water. But
+before they parted for the night Nora returned to the subject which they
+had been discussing.
+
+"Larry, I don't believe you are a coward. I could not believe that of
+you," she said passionately; "I think I would rather die."
+
+"Well, don't believe it then. I hope to God I am not, but then one can
+never tell. I cannot see myself hitting a man on the bare face, and
+as for killing a fellow being, I would much rather die myself. Is that
+being a coward?"
+
+"But if that man," breathed Nora hurriedly, for the household were
+asleep, "if that man mad with lust and rage were about to injure your
+mother or your sisters--"
+
+"Ah," said Larry, drawing in his breath quickly, "that would be
+different, eh?"
+
+"Good-night, you dear goose," said his sister, kissing him quickly. "I
+am not afraid for you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MEN AND A MINE
+
+
+It was early in July that Mr. Gwynne met his family with a proposition
+which had been elaborated by Ernest Switzer to form a company for the
+working of Nora's mine. With characteristic energy and thoroughness
+Switzer had studied the proposition from every point of view, and the
+results of his study he had set down in a document which Mr. Gwynne laid
+before his wife and children for consideration. It appeared that the
+mine itself had been investigated by expert friends of Switzer's from
+the Lethbridge and Crows' Nest mines. The reports of these experts were
+favourable to a degree unusual with practical mining men, both as to
+the quality and quantity of coal and as to the cost of operation. The
+quality was assured by the fact that the ranchers in the neighbourhood
+for years had been using the coal in their own homes. In addition to
+this Switzer had secured a report from the Canadian Pacific Railway
+engineers showing that the coal possessed high steaming qualities. And
+as to quantity, the seam could be measured where the creek cut through,
+showing enough coal in sight to promise a sufficient supply to warrant
+operation for years to come. In brief, the report submitted by the young
+German was that there was every ground for believing that a paying
+mine, possibly a great mine, could be developed from the property on Mr.
+Gwynne's land. In regard to the market, there was of course no doubt.
+Every ton of coal produced could be sold at the mine mouth without
+difficulty. There remained only the question of finance to face. This
+also Switzer had considered, and the result of his consideration was
+before them in a detailed scheme. By this scheme a local company was
+to be organised with a capitalisation of $500,000, which would be
+sufficient to begin with. Of this amount $200,000 should be assigned
+to the treasury, the remaining $300,000 disposed of as follows: to Mr.
+Gwynne, as owner of the mine, should be allotted $151,000 stock, thus
+giving him control; the remaining $149,000 stock should be placed
+locally. The proposition contained an offer from Switzer to organise the
+company and to place the stock, in consideration for which service he
+asked a block of stock such as the directors should agree upon, and
+further that he should be secretary of the company for a term of five
+years at a salary of $2,000 per annum, which should be a first charge
+upon the returns from the mine.
+
+"Ernest insists on being secretary?" said Nora.
+
+"Yes, naturally. His interests are all here. He insists also that I be
+president."
+
+"And why, Dad?" enquired Nora.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Gwynne, with a slight laugh, "he frankly says he would
+like to be associated with me in this business. Of course, he said some
+nice things about me which I need not repeat."
+
+"Oh pshaw!" exclaimed Nora, patting him on the shoulder, "I thought
+you were a lot smarter man than that. Can't you see why he wants to be
+associated with you? Surely you don't need me to tell you."
+
+"Nora dear, hush," said her mother.
+
+With an imploring look at her sister, Kathleen left the room.
+
+"Indeed, Mother, I think it is no time to hush. I will tell you, Dad,
+why he wants to be associated with you in this coal mine business.
+Ernest Switzer wants our Kathleen. Mother knows it. We all know it."
+
+Her father gazed at her in astonishment.
+
+"Surely this is quite unwarranted, Nora," he said. "I cannot allow a
+matter of this kind to be dragged into a matter of business."
+
+"How would it do to take a few days to turn it over in our minds?" said
+his wife. "We must not forget, dear," she continued, a note of grave
+anxiety in her voice, "that if we accept this proposition it will mean a
+complete change in our family life."
+
+"Family life, Mother," said Mr. Gwynne with some impatience. "You don't
+mean--"
+
+"I mean, my dear," replied the mother, "that we shall no longer be
+ranchers, but shall become coal miners. Let us think it over and
+perhaps you might consult with some of our neighbours, say with Mr.
+Waring-Gaunt."
+
+"Surely, surely," replied her husband. "Your advice is wise, as always.
+I shall just step over to Mr. Waring-Gaunt's immediately."
+
+After Mr. Gwynne's departure, the others sat silent for some moments,
+their minds occupied with the question raised so abruptly by Nora.
+
+"You may as well face it, Mother," said the girl. "Indeed, you must face
+it, and right now. If this Company goes on with Ernest as secretary, it
+means that he will necessarily be thrown into closer relationship with
+our family. This will help his business with Kathleen. This is what he
+means. Do you wish to help it on?"
+
+The mother sat silent, her face showing deep distress. "Nora dear," at
+length she said, "this matter is really not in our hands. Surely you can
+see that. I can't discuss it with you." And so saying she left the room.
+
+"Now, Nora," said Larry severely, "you are not to worry Mother. And
+besides you can't play Providence in this way. You must confess that you
+have a dreadful habit of trying to run things. I believe you would have
+a go at running the universe."
+
+"Run things?" cried Nora. "Why not? There is altogether too much of
+letting things slide in this family. It is all very well to trust to
+Providence. Providence made the trees grow in the woods, but this house
+never would have been here if Mr. Sleighter had not got on to the
+job. Now I am going to ask you a straight question. Do you want Ernest
+Switzer to have Kathleen?"
+
+"Well, he's a decent sort and a clever fellow," began Larry.
+
+"Now, Larry, you may as well cut that 'decent sort,' 'clever fellow'
+stuff right out. I want to know your mind. Would you like to see Ernest
+Switzer have Kathleen, or not?"
+
+"Would you?" retorted her brother.
+
+"No. I would not," emphatically said Nora.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"To tell the truth, ever since that concert night I feel I can't trust
+him. He is different from us. He is no real Canadian. He is a German."
+
+"Well, Nora, you amaze me," said Larry. "What supreme nonsense you are
+talking! You have got that stuff of Romayne's into your mind. The war
+bug has bitten you too. For Heaven's sake be reasonable. If you object
+to Ernest because of his race, I am ashamed of you and have no sympathy
+with you."
+
+"Not because of his race," said Nora, "though, Larry, let me tell you he
+hates Britain. I was close to him that night, and hate looked out of his
+eyes. But let that pass. I have seen Ernest with 'his women' as he calls
+them, and, Larry, I can't bear to think of our Kathleen being treated as
+he treats his mother and sister."
+
+"Now, Nora, let us be reasonable. Let us look at this fairly," began
+Larry.
+
+"Oh, Larry! stop or I shall be biting the furniture next. When you
+assume that judicial air of yours I want to swear. Answer me. Do you
+want him to marry Kathleen? Yes or no."
+
+"Well, as I was about to say--"
+
+"Larry, will you answer yes or no?"
+
+"Well, no, then," said Larry.
+
+"Thank God!" cried Nora, rushing at him and shaking him vigorously. "You
+wretch! Why did you keep me in suspense? How I wish that English stick
+would get a move on!"
+
+"English stick? Whom do you mean?"
+
+"You're as stupid as the rest, Larry. Whom should I mean? Jack Romayne,
+of course. There's a man for you. I just wish he'd waggle his finger at
+me! But he won't do things. He just 'glowers' at her, as old McTavish
+would say, with those deep eyes of his, and sets his jaw like a wolf
+trap, and waits. Oh, men are so stupid with women!"
+
+"Indeed?" said Larry. "And how exactly?"
+
+"Why doesn't he just make her love him, master her, swing her off her
+feet?" said Nora.
+
+"Like Switzer, eh? The cave man idea?"
+
+"No, no. Surely you see the difference?"
+
+"Pity my ignorance and elucidate the mystery."
+
+"Mystery? Nonsense. It is quite simple. It is a mere matter of
+emphasis."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Larry, "or at least I don't see. But credit me with
+the earnest and humble desire to understand."
+
+"Well," said his sister, "the one--"
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"Switzer. He is mad to possess her for his very own. He would carry her
+off against her will. He'd bully her to death."
+
+"Ah, you would like that?"
+
+"Not I. Let him try it on. The other, Romayne, is mad to have her too.
+He would give her his very soul. But he sticks there waiting till she
+comes and flings herself into his arms."
+
+"You prefer that, eh?"
+
+"Oh, that makes me tired!" said Nora in a tone of disgust.
+
+"Well, I give it up," said Larry hopelessly. "What do you want?"
+
+"I want both. My man must want me more than he wants Heaven itself, and
+he must give me all he has but honour. Such a man would be my slave! And
+such a man--oh, I'd just love to be bullied by him."
+
+For some moments Larry stood looking into the glowing black eyes, then
+said quietly, "May God send you such a man, little sister, or none at
+all."
+
+In a few weeks the Alberta Coal Mining and Development Company was
+an established fact. Mr. Waring-Gaunt approved of it and showed his
+confidence in the scheme by offering to take a large block of stock
+and persuade his friends to invest as well. He also agreed that it was
+important to the success of the scheme both that Mr. Gwynne should
+be the president of the company and that young Switzer should be its
+secretary. Mr. Gwynne's earnest request that he should become the
+treasurer of the company Mr. Waring-Gaunt felt constrained in the
+meantime to decline. He already had too many irons in the fire. But
+he was willing to become a director and to aid the scheme in any way
+possible. Before the end of the month such was the energy displayed by
+the new secretary of the company in the disposing of the stock it was
+announced that only a small block of about $25,000 remained unsold. A
+part of this Mr. Waring-Gaunt urged his brother-in-law to secure.
+
+"Got twenty thousand myself, you know--looks to me like a sound
+proposition--think you ought to go in--what do you say, eh, what?"
+
+"Very well; get ten or fifteen thousand for me," said his
+brother-in-law.
+
+Within two days Mr. Waring-Gaunt found that the stock had all been
+disposed of. "Energetic chap, that young Switzer,--got all the stock
+placed--none left, so he told me."
+
+"Did you tell him the stock was for me?" enquired Romayne.
+
+"Of course, why not?"
+
+"Probably that accounts for it. He would not be especially anxious to
+have me in."
+
+"What do you say? Nothing in that, I fancy. But I must see about that,
+what?"
+
+"Oh, let it go," said Romayne.
+
+"Gwynne was after me again to take the treasurership," said
+Waring-Gaunt, "but I am busy with so many things--treasurership very
+hampering--demands close attention--that sort of thing, eh, what?"
+
+"Personally I wish you would take it," said Romayne. "You would be able
+to protect your own money and the investments of your friends. Besides,
+I understand the manager is to be a German, which, with a German
+secretary, is too much German for my idea."
+
+"Oh, you don't like Switzer, eh? Natural, I suppose. Don't like him
+myself; bounder sort of chap--but avoid prejudice, my boy, eh, what?
+German--that sort of thing--don't do in this country, eh?
+English, Scotch, Irish, French, Galician, Swede, German--all sound
+Canadians--melting pot idea, eh, what?"
+
+"I am getting that idea, too," said his brother-in-law. "Sybil has been
+rubbing it into me. I believe it is right enough. But apart altogether
+from that, frankly I do not like that chap; I don't trust him. I fancy I
+know a gentleman when I see him."
+
+"All right, all right, my boy, gentleman idea quite right too--but new
+country, new standards--'Old Family' idea played out, don't you know.
+Burke's Peerage not known here--every mug on its own bottom--rather
+touchy Canadians are about that sort of thing--democracy stuff and all
+that you know. Not too bad either, eh, what? for a chap who has got the
+stuff in him--architect of his fortune--founder of his own family and
+that sort of thing, don't you know. Not too bad, eh, what?"
+
+"I quite agree," cried Jack, "at least with most of it. But all the same
+I hope you will take the treasurership. Not only will you protect your
+own and your friends' investments, but you will protect the interests of
+the Gwynnes. The father apparently is no business man, the son is to
+be away; anything might happen. I would hate to see them lose out. You
+understand?"
+
+His brother-in-law turned his eyes upon him, gazed at him steadily for
+a few moments, then taking his hand, shook it warmly, exclaiming,
+"Perfectly, old chap, perfectly--good sort, Gwynne--good family. Girl
+of the finest--hope you put it off, old boy. Madame has put me on, you
+know, eh, what? Jolly good thing."
+
+"Now what the deuce do you mean?" said Romayne angrily.
+
+"All right--don't wish to intrude, don't you know. Fine girl
+though--quite the finest thing I've seen--could go anywhere."
+
+His brother-in-law's face flushed fiery red. "Now look here, Tom," he
+said angrily, "don't be an ass. Of course I know what you mean but as
+the boys say here, 'Nothing doing!'"
+
+"What? You mean it? Nothing doing? A fine girl like that--sweet
+girl--good clean stock--wonderful mother--would make a wife any man
+would be proud of--the real thing, you know, the real thing--I have
+known her these eight years--watched her grow up--rare courage--pure
+soul. Nothing doing? My God, man, have you eyes?" It was not often that
+Tom Waring-Gaunt allowed himself the luxury of passion, but this seemed
+to him to be an occasion in which he might indulge himself. Romayne
+stood listening to him with his face turned away, looking out of the
+window. "Don't you hear me, Jack?" said Waring-Gaunt. "Do you mean
+there's nothing in it, or have you burned out your heart with those fool
+women of London and Paris?"
+
+Swiftly his brother-in-law turned to him. "No, Tom, but I almost wish to
+God I had. No, I won't say that; rather do I thank God that I know now
+what it is to love a woman. I am not going to lie to you any longer,
+old chap. To love a sweet, pure woman, sweet and pure as the flowers out
+there, to love her with every bit of my heart, with every fibre of my
+soul, that is the finest thing that can come to a man. I have treated
+women lightly in my time, Tom. I have made them love me, taken what they
+have had to give, and left them without a thought. But if any of them
+have suffered through me, and if they could know what I am getting now,
+they would pity me and say I had got enough to pay me out. To think that
+I should ever hear myself saying that to another man, I who have made
+love to women and laughed at them and laughed at the poor weak devils
+who fell in love with women. Do you get me? I am telling you this and
+yet I feel no shame, no humiliation! Humiliation, great heaven! I am
+proud to say that I love this girl. From the minute I saw her up there
+in the woods I have loved her. I have cursed myself for loving her. I
+have called myself fool, idiot, but I cannot help it. I love her. It
+is hell to me or heaven, which you like. It's both." He was actually
+trembling, his voice hoarse and shaking.
+
+Amazement, then pity, finally delight, succeeded each other in rapid
+succession across the face of his brother-in-law as he listened. "My
+dear chap, my dear chap," he said when Romayne had finished. "Awfully
+glad, you know--delighted. But why the howl? The girl is there--go in
+and get her, by Jove. Why not, eh, what?"
+
+"It's no use, I tell you," said Romayne. "That damned German has got
+her. I have seen them together too often. I have seen in her eyes the
+look that women get when they are ready to give themselves body and soul
+to a man. She loves that man. She loves him, I tell you. She has known
+him for years. I have come too late to have a chance. Too late, my God,
+too late!" He pulled himself up with an effort, then with a laugh said,
+"Do you recognise me, Tom? I confess I do not recognise myself. Well,
+that's out. Let it go. That's the last you will get from me. But, Tom,
+this is more than I can stand. I must quit this country, and I want you
+to make it easy for me to go. We'll get up some yarn for Sibyl. You'll
+help me out, old man? God knows I need help in this."
+
+"Rot, beastly rot. Give her up to that German heel-clicking
+bounder--rather not. Buck up, old man--give the girl a chance
+anyway--play the game out, eh, what? Oh, by the way, I have made up my
+mind to take that treasurership--beastly nuisance, eh? Goin'? Where?"
+
+"Off with the dogs for a run somewhere."
+
+"No, take the car--too beastly hot for riding, don't you know. Take my
+car. Or, I say, let's go up to the mine. Must get to know more about the
+beastly old thing, eh, what? We'll take the guns and Sweeper--we'll be
+sure to see some birds and get the evening shoot coming back. But, last
+word, my boy, give the girl a chance to say no. Think of it, a German,
+good Lord! You go and get the car ready. We'll get Sybil to drive while
+we shoot."
+
+Tom Waring-Gaunt found his great, warm, simple heart overflowing with
+delight at the tremendous news that had come to him. It was more than
+his nature could bear that he should keep this from his wife. He found
+her immersed in her domestic duties and adamant against his persuasion
+to drive them to the mine.
+
+"A shoot," she cried, "I'd love to. But, Tom, you forget I am a
+rancher's wife, and you know, or at least you don't know, what that
+means. Run along and play with Jack. Some one must work. No, don't tempt
+me. I have my programme all laid out. I especially prayed this morning
+for grace to resist the lure of the outside this day. 'Get thee behind
+me--' What? I am listening, but I shouldn't be. What do you say? Tom,
+it cannot be!" She sat down weakly in a convenient chair and listened to
+her husband while he retailed her brother's great secret.
+
+"And so, my dear, we are going to begin a big campaign--begin
+to-day--take the girls off with us for a shoot--what do you say, eh?"
+
+"Why, certainly, Tom. Give me half an hour to get Martha fairly on the
+rails, and I am with you. We'll take those dear girls along. Oh, it is
+perfectly splendid. Now let me go; that will do, you foolish boy. Oh,
+yes, how lovely. Trust me to back you up. What? Don't spoil things.
+Well, I like that. Didn't I land you? That was 'some job,' as dear Nora
+would say. You listen to me, Tom. You had better keep in the background.
+Finesse is not your forte. Better leave these things to me. Hurry up
+now. Oh, I am so excited."
+
+Few women can resist an appeal for help from a husband. The
+acknowledgment of the need of help on the part of the dominating partner
+is in itself the most subtle flattery and almost always irresistible. No
+woman can resist the opportunity to join in that most fascinating of
+all sport--man-hunting. And when the man runs clear into the open wildly
+seeking not escape from but an opening into the net, this only adds a
+hazard and a consequent zest to the sport. Her husband's disclosures had
+aroused in Sybil Waring-Gaunt not so much her sporting instincts, the
+affair went deeper far than that with her. Beyond anything else in life
+she desired at that time to bring together the two beings whom, next to
+her husband, she loved best in the world. From the day that her brother
+had arrived in the country she had desired this, and more or less
+aggressively had tried to assist Providence in the ordering of events.
+But in Kathleen, with all her affection and all her sweet simplicity,
+there was a certain shy reserve that prevented confidences in the matter
+of her heart affairs.
+
+"How far has the German got with her? That is what I would like to
+know," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt to herself as she hastily prepared for
+the motor ride. "There's no doubt about him. Every one can see how he
+stands, and he has such a masterful way with him that it makes one think
+that everything is settled. If it is there is no chance for Jack, for
+she is not the changing kind." Meantime she would hope for the best and
+play the game as best she could.
+
+"Would you mind running into the Gwynnes' as we pass, Tom?" said his
+wife as they settled themselves in the car. "I have a message for Nora."
+
+"Righto!" said her husband, throwing his wife a look which she refused
+utterly to notice. "But remember you must not be long. We cannot lose
+the evening shoot, eh, what?"
+
+"Oh, just a moment will do," said his wife.
+
+At the door Nora greeted them. "Oh, you lucky people--guns and a dog,
+and a day like this," she cried.
+
+"Come along--lots of room--take my gun," said Mr. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Don't tempt me, or I shall come."
+
+"Tell us what is your weakness, Miss Nora," said Jack. "How can we get
+you to come?"
+
+"My weakness?" cried the girl eagerly, "you all are, and especially
+your dear Sweeper dog there." She put her arms around the neck of the
+beautiful setter, who was frantically struggling to get out to her.
+
+"Sweeper, lucky dog, eh, Jack, what?" said Mr. Waring-Gaunt, with a warm
+smile of admiration at the wholesome, sun-browned face. "Come along,
+Miss Nora--back in a short time, eh, what?"
+
+"Short time?" said Nora. "Not if I go. Not till we can't see the birds."
+
+"Can't you come, Nora?" said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "I want to talk to you,
+and we'll drive to-day and let the men shoot. Where is Kathleen? Is she
+busy?"
+
+"Busy? We are all positively overwhelmed with work. But, oh, do go away,
+or I shall certainly run from it all."
+
+"I am going in to get your mother to send you both out. Have you had a
+gun this fall? I don't believe you have," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Not once. Yes, once. I had a chance at a hawk that was paying too much
+attention to our chickens. No, don't go in, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, I beg of
+you. Well, go, then; I have fallen shamelessly. If you can get Kathleen,
+I am on too."
+
+In a few moments Mrs. Waring-Gaunt returned with Kathleen and her
+mother. "Your mother says, Nora, that she does not need you a bit, and
+she insists on your coming, both of you. So be quick."
+
+"Oh, Mother," cried the girl in great excitement. "You cannot possibly
+get along without us. There's the tea for all those men."
+
+"Nonsense, Nora, run along. I can do quite well without you. Larry is
+coming in early and he will help. Run along, both of you."
+
+"But there isn't room for us all," said Kathleen.
+
+"Room? Heaps," said Mr. Waring-Gaunt. "Climb in here beside me, Miss
+Nora."
+
+"Oh, it will be great," said Nora. "Can you really get along, Mother?"
+
+"Nonsense," said the mother. "You think far too much of yourself. Get
+your hat."
+
+"Hat; who wants a hat?" cried the girl, getting in beside Mr.
+Waring-Gaunt. "Oh, this is more than I had ever dreamed, and I feel so
+wicked!"
+
+"All the better, eh, what?"
+
+"Here, Kathleen," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "here between us."
+
+"I am so afraid I shall crowd you," said the girl, her face showing a
+slight flush.
+
+"Not a bit, my dear; the seat is quite roomy. There, are you
+comfortable? All right, Tom. Good-bye, Mrs. Gwynne. So good of you to
+let the girls come."
+
+In high spirits they set off, waving their farewell to the mother who
+stood watching till they had swung out of the lane and on to the main
+trail.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A DAY IN SEPTEMBER
+
+
+A September day in Alberta. There is no other day to be compared to
+it in any other month or in any other land. Other lands have their
+September days, and Alberta has days in other months, but the
+combination of September day in Alberta is sui generis. The foothill
+country with plain, and hill, and valley, and mighty mountain, laced
+with stream, and river, and lake; the over-arching sheet of blue with
+cloud shapes wandering and wistful, the kindly sun pouring its genial
+sheen of yellow and gold over the face of the earth below, purple in
+the mountains and gold and pearly grey, and all swimming in air blown
+through the mountain gorges and over forests of pine, tingling with
+ozone and reaching the heart and going to the head like new wine--these
+things go with a September day in Alberta.
+
+And like new wine the air seemed to Jack Romayne as the Packard like a
+swallow skimmed along the undulating prairie trail, smooth, resilient,
+of all the roads in the world for motor cars the best. For that day at
+least and in that motor car life seemed good to Jack Romayne. Not many
+such days would be his, and he meant to take all it gave regardless of
+cost. His sister's proposal to call at the Gwynnes' house he would have
+rejected could he have found a reasonable excuse. The invitation to
+the Gwynne girls to accompany them on their shoot he resented also,
+and still more deeply he resented the arrangement of the party that set
+Kathleen next to him, a close fit in the back seat of the car. But at
+the first feeling of her warm soft body wedged closely against him,
+all emotions fled except one of pulsating joy. And this, with the air
+rushing at them from the western mountains, wrought in him the reckless
+resolve to take what the gods offered no matter what might follow. As he
+listened to the chatter about him he yielded to the intoxication of his
+love for this fair slim girl pressing soft against his arm and shoulder.
+He allowed his fancy to play with surmises as to what would happen
+should he turn to her and say, "Dear girl, do you know how fair you are,
+how entrancingly lovely? Do you know I am madly in love with you, and
+that I can hardly refrain from putting this arm, against which you so
+quietly lean your warm soft body, about you?" He looked boldly at the
+red curves of her lips and allowed himself to riot in the imagination of
+how deliciously they would yield to his pressed against them. "My God!"
+he cried aloud, "to think of it."
+
+The two ladies turned their astonished eyes upon him. "What is it, Jack?
+Wait, Tom. Have you lost something?"
+
+"Yes, that is, I never had it. No, go on, Tom, it cannot be helped now.
+Go on, please do. What a day it is!" he continued. "'What a time we are
+having,' as Miss Nora would say."
+
+"Yes, what a time!" exclaimed Nora, turning her face toward them. "Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, I think I must tell you that your husband is making love
+to me so that I am quite losing my head."
+
+"Poor things," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "How could either of you help
+it?"
+
+"Why is it that all the nice men are married?" inquired Nora.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Nora," said Jack in a pained voice.
+
+"I mean--why--I'm afraid I can't fix that up, can I?" she said,
+appealing to Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Certainly you can. What you really mean is, why do all married men
+become so nice?" said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Oh, thank you, the answer is so obvious. Do you know, I feel wild
+to-day."
+
+"And so do I," replied Kathleen, suddenly waking to life. "It is the
+wonderful air, or the motor, perhaps."
+
+"Me, too," exclaimed Jack Romayne, looking straight at her, "only with
+me it is not the air, nor the motor."
+
+"What then!" said Kathleen with a swift, shy look at him.
+
+"'The heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger intermeddleth not
+with its joy.'"
+
+"That's the Bible, I know," said Kathleen, "and it really means 'mind
+your own business.'"
+
+"No, no, not that exactly," protested Jack, "rather that there are
+things in the heart too deep if not for tears most certainly for words.
+You can guess what I mean, Miss Kathleen," said Jack, trying to get her
+eyes.
+
+"Oh, yes," said the girl, "there are things that we cannot trust to
+words, no, not for all the world."
+
+"I know what you are thinking of," replied Jack. "Let me guess."
+
+"No, no, you must not, indeed," she replied quickly. "Look, isn't that
+the mine? What a crowd of people! Do look."
+
+Out in the valley before them they could see a procession of teams and
+men weaving rhythmic figures about what was discovered to be upon a
+nearer view a roadway which was being constructed to cross a little
+coolee so as to give access to the black hole on the hillside beyond
+which was the coal mine. In the noise and bustle of the work the motor
+came to a stop unobserved behind a long wooden structure which Nora
+diagnosed as the "grub shack."
+
+"In your English speech, Mr. Romayne, the dining room of the camp. He is
+certainly a hustler," exclaimed Nora, gazing upon the scene before them.
+
+"Who?" inquired Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Ernest Switzer," said Nora, unable to keep the grudge out of her voice.
+"It is only a week since I was up here and during that time he has
+actually made this village, the streets, the sidewalks--and if that is
+not actually a system of water pipes."
+
+"Some hustler, as you say, Miss Nora, eh, what?" said Tom.
+
+"Wonderful," replied Nora; "he is wonderful."
+
+Jack glanced at the girl beside him. It seemed to him that it needed
+no mind-reader to interpret the look of pride, yes and of love, in the
+wonderful blue-grey eyes. Sick as from a heavy blow he turned away from
+her; the flicker of hope that his brother-in-law's words had kindled
+in his heart died out and left him cold. He was too late; why try to
+deceive himself any longer? The only thing to do was to pull out and
+leave this place where every day brought him intolerable pain. But today
+he would get all he could, to-day he would love her and win such poor
+scraps as he could from her eyes, her smiles, her words.
+
+"Glorious view that," he said, touching her arm and sweeping his hand
+toward the mountains.
+
+She started at his touch, a faint colour coming into her face. "How
+wonderful!" she breathed. "I love them. They bring me my best thoughts."
+
+Before he could reply there came from behind the grub shack a torrent of
+abusive speech florid with profane language and other adornment and in a
+voice thick with rage.
+
+"That's him," said Nora. "Some one is getting it." The satisfaction
+in her voice and look were in sharp contrast to the look of dismay and
+shame that covered the burning face of her sister. From English the
+voice passed into German, apparently no less vigorous or threatening.
+"That's better," said Nora with a wicked glance at Romayne. "You see he
+is talking to some one of his own people. They understand that. There
+are a lot of Germans from the Settlement, Freiberg, you know."
+
+As she spoke Switzer emerged from behind the shack, driving before him
+a cringing creature evidently in abject terror of him. "Get back to your
+gang and carry out your orders, or you will get your time." He caught
+sight of the car and stopped abruptly, and, waving his hand imperiously
+to the workman, strode up to the party, followed by a mild-looking man
+in spectacles.
+
+"Came to see how you are getting on, Switzer, eh, what?" said Tom.
+
+"Getting on," he replied in a loud voice, raising his hat in salutation.
+"How can one get on with a lot of stupid fools who cannot carry out
+instructions and dare to substitute their own ideas for commands. They
+need discipline. If I had my way they would get it, too. But in this
+country there is no such thing as discipline." He made no attempt to
+apologise for his outrageous outburst, was probably conscious of no need
+of apology.
+
+"This is your foreman, I think?" said Nora, who alone of the party
+seemed to be able to deal with the situation.
+
+"Oh, yes, Mr. Steinberg," said Switzer, presenting the spectacled man.
+
+"You are too busy to show us anything this afternoon?" said Nora
+sweetly.
+
+"Yes, much too busy," said Switzer, gruffly. "I have no time for
+anything but work these days."
+
+"You cannot come along for a little shoot?" she said, innocently. Nora
+was evidently enjoying herself.
+
+"Shoot!" cried Switzer in a kind of contemptuous fury. "Shoot, with
+these dogs, these cattle, tramping around here when they need some
+one every minute to drive them. Shoot! No, no. I am not a gentleman of
+leisure."
+
+The distress upon Kathleen's face was painfully apparent. Jack was in no
+hurry to bring relief. Like Nora he was enjoying himself as well. It was
+Tom who brought about the diversion.
+
+"Well, we must go on, Switzer. Coming over to see you one of these days
+and go over the plant. Treasurer's got to know something about it, eh,
+what?"
+
+Switzer started and looked at him in surprise. "Treasurer, who? Are you
+to be treasurer of the company? Who says so? Mr. Gwynne did not ask--did
+not tell me about it."
+
+"Ah, sorry--premature announcement, eh?" said Tom. "Well, good-bye. All
+set."
+
+The Packard gave forth sundry growls and snorts and glided away down the
+trail.
+
+Nora was much excited. "What's this about the treasurership?" she
+demanded. "Are you really to be treasurer, Mr. Waring-Gaunt? I am
+awfully glad. You know this whole mine was getting terribly Switzery.
+Isn't he awful? He just terrifies me. I know he will undertake to run me
+one of these days."
+
+"Then trouble, eh, what?" said Waring-Gaunt, pleasantly.
+
+After a short run the motor pulled up at a wheat field in which the
+shocks were still standing and which lay contiguous to a poplar bluff.
+
+"Good chicken country, eh?" said Tom, slipping out of the car quietly.
+"Nora, you come with me. Quiet now. Off to the left, eh, what? You
+handle Sweeper, Jack."
+
+"I'll drive the car," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "Go on with Jack,
+Kathleen."
+
+"Come on, Miss Kathleen, you take the gun, and I'll look after the dog.
+Let me have the whistle, Tom."
+
+They had not gone ten yards from the car when the setter stood rigid on
+point. "Steady, old boy," said Jack. "Move up quickly, Miss Kathleen. Is
+your gun ready? Sure it's off safe?"
+
+"All right," said the girl, walking steadily on the dog.
+
+Bang! Bang! went Nora's gun. Two birds soared safely aloft. Bang! Bang!
+went Kathleen's gun. "Double, by jove! Steady, Sweeper!" Again the
+dog stood on point. Swiftly Jack loaded the gun. "Here you are, Miss
+Kathleen. You will get another," he said. "There are more here." As he
+spoke a bird flew up at his right. Bang! went Kathleen's gun. "Another,
+good work." Bang! went Nora's gun to the left. "Look out, here he
+comes," cried Jack, as Nora's bird came careening across their front. It
+was a long shot. Once more Kathleen fired. The bird tumbled in the air
+and fell with a thump right at their feet.
+
+Sweeper, released from his point, went bounding joyfully over the
+stubble. Jack rushed up toward the girl, and taking her hand in both of
+his, shook it warmly. "Oh, splendid, partner, splendid, great shooting!"
+
+"Oh, it was easy. Sweeper had them fast," said Kathleen. "And that last
+shot was just awfully good luck."
+
+"Good luck! Good Lord! it was anything but luck. It was great shooting.
+Well, come along. Oh, we're going to have a glorious day, aren't we,
+partner?" And catching hold of her arm, he gave her a friendly little
+shake.
+
+"Yes," she cried, responding frankly to his mood, "we will. Let's have a
+good day."
+
+"Where did you learn to shoot?" inquired Jack.
+
+"Nora and I have always carried guns in the season," replied Kathleen,
+"even when we were going to school. You see, Larry hates shooting. We
+loved it and at times were glad to get them--the birds, I mean. We did
+not do it just for sport."
+
+"Can your sister shoot as well as you?"
+
+"Hardly, I think. She pulls too quickly, you see, but when she steadies
+down she will shoot better than I."
+
+"You are a wonder," said Jack enthusiastically.
+
+"Oh, not a wonder," said the girl.
+
+"Wait till I get the birds back to the car," he cried.
+
+"He-l-l-o," cried his sister as he came running. "What, four of them?"
+
+"Four," he answered. "By jove, she's a wonder, isn't she. She really
+bowls me over."
+
+"Nonsense," said his sister in a low voice. "She's just a fine girl with
+a steady hand and a quick eye, and," she added as Jack turned away from
+her, "a true heart."
+
+"A true heart," Jack muttered to himself, "and given to that confounded
+bully of a German. If it had been any other man--but we have got one day
+at least." Resolutely he brushed away the thoughts that maddened him
+as he ran to Kathleen's side. Meantime, Tom and Nora had gone circling
+around toward the left with Sweeper ranging widely before them.
+
+"Let's beat round this bluff," suggested Kathleen. "They may not have
+left the trees yet."
+
+Together they strolled away through the stubble, the girl moving with
+an easy grace that spoke of balanced physical strength, and with an
+eagerness that indicated the keen hunter's spirit. The bluff brought no
+result.
+
+"That bluff promised chickens if ever a bluff did," said Kathleen in a
+disappointed voice. "We'll get them further down, and then again in the
+stubble."
+
+"Cheer-o," cried Jack. "The day is fine and we are having a ripping
+time, at least I am."
+
+"And I, too," cried the girl. "I love this, the open fields,--and the
+sport, too."
+
+"And good company," said Jack boldly.
+
+"Yes, good company, of course," she said with a quick, friendly glance.
+"And you ARE good company to-day."
+
+"To-day?"
+
+"Yes. Sometimes, you know, you are rather--I don't know what to say--but
+queer, as if you did not like--people, or were carrying some terrible
+secret," she added with a little laugh.
+
+"Secret? I am, but not for long. I am going to tell you the secret. Do
+you want to hear it now?"
+
+The note of desperation in his voice startled the girl. "Oh, no," she
+cried hurriedly. "Where have we got to? There are no birds in this open
+prairie here. We must get back to the stubble."
+
+"You are not interested in my secret, then?" said Jack. "But I am going
+to tell you all the same, Kathleen."
+
+"Oh, please don't," she replied in a distressed voice. "We are having
+such a splendid time, and besides we are after birds, aren't we? And
+there are the others," she added, pointing across the stubble field,
+"and Sweeper is on point again. Oh, let's run." She started forward
+quickly, her foot caught in a tangle of vetch vine and she pitched
+heavily forward. Jack sprang to catch her. A shot crashed at their ears.
+The girl lay prone.
+
+"My God, Kathleen, are you hurt?" said Jack.
+
+"No, no, not a bit, but awfully scared," she panted. Then she shrieked,
+"Oh, oh, oh, Jack, you are wounded, you are bleeding!"
+
+He looked down at his hand. It was dripping blood. "Oh, oh," she moaned,
+covering her face with her hands. Then springing to her feet, she caught
+up his hand in hers.
+
+"It is nothing at all," he said. "I feel nothing. Only a bit of skin.
+See," he cried, lifting his arm up. "There's nothing to it. No broken
+bones."
+
+"Let me see, Jack--Mr. Romayne," she said with white lips.
+
+"Say 'Jack,'" he begged.
+
+"Let me take off your coat--Jack, then. I know a little about this. I
+have done something at it in Winnipeg."
+
+Together they removed the coat. The shirt sleeve was hanging in a
+tangled, bloody mass from the arm.
+
+"Awful!" groaned Kathleen. "Sit down."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, it is not serious."
+
+"Sit down, Jack, dear," she entreated, clasping her hands about his
+sound arm.
+
+"Say it again," said Jack.
+
+"Oh, Jack, won't you sit down, please?"
+
+"Say it again," he commanded sternly.
+
+"Oh, Jack, dear, please sit down," she cried in a pitiful voice.
+
+He sat down, then lay back reclining on his arm. "Now your knife, Jack,"
+she said, feeling hurriedly through his pockets.
+
+"Here you are," he said, handing her the knife, biting his lips the
+while and fighting back a feeling of faintness.
+
+Quickly slipping behind him, she whipped off her white petticoat and
+tore it into strips. Then cutting the bloody shirt sleeve, she laid bare
+the arm. The wound was superficial. The shot had torn a wide gash little
+deeper than the skin from wrist to shoulder, with here and there a bite
+into the flesh. Swiftly, deftly, with fingers that never fumbled, she
+bandaged the arm, putting in little pads where the blood seemed to be
+pumping freely.
+
+"That's fine," said Jack. "You are a brick, Kathleen. I think--I
+will--just lie down--a bit. I feel--rather rotten." As he spoke he
+caught hold of her arm to steady himself. She caught him in her arms and
+eased him down upon the stubble. With eyes closed and a face that looked
+like death he lay quite still.
+
+"Jack," she cried aloud in her terror. "Don't faint. You must not
+faint."
+
+But white and ghastly he lay unconscious, the blood still welling right
+through the bandages on his wounded arm. She knew that in some way
+she must stop the bleeding. Swiftly she undid the bandages and found a
+pumping artery in the forearm. "What is it that they do?" she said to
+herself. Then she remembered. Making a tourniquet, she applied it to the
+upper arm. Then rolling up a bloody bandage into a pad, she laid it upon
+the pumping artery and bound it firmly down into place. Then flexing the
+forearm hard upon it, she bandaged all securely again. Still the wounded
+man lay unconscious. The girl was terrified. She placed her hand over
+his heart. It was beating but very faintly. In the agony and terror of
+the moment as in a flash of light her heart stood suddenly wide open to
+her, and the thing that for the past months had lain hidden within her
+deeper than her consciousness, a secret joy and pain, leaped strong
+and full into the open, and she knew that this man who lay bleeding and
+ghastly before her was dearer to her than her own life. The sudden rush
+of this consciousness sweeping like a flood over her soul broke down and
+carried away the barrier of her maidenly reserve. Leaning over him in a
+passion of self-abandonment, she breathed, "Oh, Jack, dear, dear Jack."
+As he lay there white and still, into her love there came a maternal
+tender yearning of pity. She lifted his head in her arm, and murmured
+brokenly, "Oh, my love, my dear love." She kissed him on his white lips.
+
+At the touch of her lips Jack opened his eyes, gazed at her for a
+moment, then with dawning recognition, he said with a faint smile,
+"Do--it--again."
+
+"Oh, you heard," she cried, the red blood flooding face and neck, "but I
+don't care, only don't go off again. You will not, Jack, you must not."
+
+"No--I won't," he said. "It's rotten--of me--to act--like this
+and--scare you--to death. Give me--a little--time. I will be--all
+right."
+
+"If they would only come! If I could only do something!"
+
+"You're all right--Kathleen. Just be--patient with me--a bit. I am
+feeling--better every minute."
+
+For a few moments he lay quiet. Then with a little smile he looked up
+at her again and said, "I would go off again just to hear you say those
+words once more."
+
+"Oh, please don't," she entreated, hiding her face.
+
+"Forgive me, Kathleen, I am a beast. Forget it. I am feeling all right.
+I believe I could sit up."
+
+"No, no, no," she cried. "Lie a little longer."
+
+She laid his head down, ran a hundred yards to the wheat field,
+returning with two sheeves, and made a support for his head and
+shoulders. "That is better," she said.
+
+"Good work," he said. "Now I am going to be fit for anything in a few
+moments. But," he added, "you look rather badly, as if you might faint
+yourself."
+
+"I? What difference does it make how I look? I am quite right. If they
+would only come! I know what I will do," she cried. "Where are your
+cartridges?" She loaded the gun and fired in quick succession half a
+dozen shots. "I think I see them," she exclaimed, "but I am not sure
+that they heard me." Again she fired several shots.
+
+"Don't worry about it," said Jack, into whose face the colour was
+beginning to come back. "They are sure to look us up. Just sit down,
+won't you please, beside me here? There, that's good," he continued,
+taking her hand. "Kathleen," he cried, "I think you know my secret."
+
+"Oh, no, no, please don't," she implored, withdrawing her hand and
+hiding her face from him. "Please don't be hard on me. I really do not
+know what I am doing and I am feeling dreadfully."
+
+"You have reason to feel so, Kathleen. You have been splendidly brave,
+and I give you my word I am not going to worry you."
+
+"Oh, thank you; you are so good, and I love you for it," she cried in a
+passion of gratitude. "You understand, don't you?"
+
+"I think I do," he said. "By the way, do you know I think I could
+smoke."
+
+"Oh, splendid!" she cried, and, springing up, she searched through
+his coat pockets, found pipe, pouch, matches, and soon he had his pipe
+going. "There, that looks more like living," said Kathleen, laughing
+somewhat hysterically. "Oh, you did frighten me!" Again the red flush
+came into her face and she turned away from him.
+
+"There they are coming. Sure enough, they are coming," she cried with a
+sob in her voice.
+
+"Steady, Kathleen," said Jack quietly. "You won't blow up now, will you?
+You have been so splendid! Can you hold on?"
+
+She drew a deep breath, stood for a minute or two in perfect silence,
+and then she said, "I can and I will. I am quite right now."
+
+Of course they exclaimed and stared and even wept a bit--at least the
+ladies did--but Jack's pipe helped out amazingly, and, indeed, he had
+recovered sufficient strength to walk unhelped to the car. And while
+Tom sent the Packard humming along the smooth, resilient road he kept up
+with Nora and his sister a rapid fire of breezy conversation till they
+reached their own door. It was half an hour before Tom could bring
+the doctor, during which time they discussed the accident in all its
+bearings and from every point of view.
+
+"I am glad it was not I who was with you," declared Nora. "I cannot
+stand blood, and I certainly should have fainted, and what would you
+have done then?"
+
+"Not you," declared Jack. "That sort of thing does not go with your
+stock. God knows what would have happened to me if I had had a silly
+fool with me, for the blood was pumping out all over me. But, thank God,
+I had a woman with a brave heart and clever hands."
+
+When the doctor came, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt went in to assist him, but when
+the ghastly bloody spectacle lay bare to her eyes she found herself grow
+weak and hurried to the kitchen where the others were.
+
+"Oh, I am so silly," she said, "but I am afraid I cannot stand the sight
+of it."
+
+Kathleen sprang at once to her feet. "Is there no one there?" she
+demanded with a touch of impatience in her voice, and passed quickly
+into the room, where she stayed while the doctor snipped off the frayed
+patches of skin and flesh and tied up the broken arteries, giving aid
+with quick fingers and steady hands till all was over.
+
+"You have done this sort of thing before, Miss Gwynne?" said the doctor.
+
+"No, never," she replied.
+
+"Well, you certainly are a brick," he said, turning admiring eyes upon
+her. He was a young man and unmarried. "But this is a little too much
+for you." From a decanter which stood on a side table he poured out a
+little spirits. "Drink this," he said.
+
+"No, thank you, Doctor, I am quite right," said Kathleen, quietly
+picking up the bloody debris and dropping them into a basin which she
+carried into the other room. "He is all right now," she said to Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, who took the basin from her, exclaiming,
+
+"My poor dear, you are awfully white. I am ashamed of myself. Now you
+must lie down at once."
+
+"No, please, I shall go home, I think. Where is Nora?"
+
+"Nora has gone home. You won't lie down a little? Then Tom shall take
+you in the car. You are perfectly splendid. I did not think you had it
+in you."
+
+"Oh, don't, don't," cried the girl, a quick rush of tears coming to her
+eyes. "I must go, I must go. Oh, I feel terrible. I don't know what I
+have done. Let me go home." She almost pushed Mrs. Waring-Gaunt from her
+and went out of the house and found Tom standing by the car smoking.
+
+"Take her home, Tom," said his wife. "She needs rest."
+
+"Come along, Kathleen; rest--well, rather. Get in beside me here. Feel
+rather rotten, eh, what? Fine bit of work, good soldier--no, don't
+talk--monologue indicated." And monologue it was till he delivered her,
+pale, weary and spent, to her mother.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY NURSE
+
+
+"A letter for you, Nora," said Larry, coming just in from the post
+office.
+
+"From Jane!" cried Nora, tearing open the letter. "Oh, glory," she
+continued. "They are coming. Let's see, written on the ninth, leaving
+to-morrow and arrive at Melville Station on the twelfth. Why, that's
+tomorrow."
+
+"Who, Nora?" said Larry. "Jane?"
+
+"Yes, Jane and her father. She says, 'We mean to stay two or three days,
+if you can have us, on our way to Banff.'"
+
+"Hurrah! Good old Jane! What train did you say?" cried Larry.
+
+"Sixteen-forty-five to-morrow at Melville Station."
+
+"'We'll have one trunk and two boxes, so you will need some sort of rig,
+I am afraid. I hope this will not be too much trouble.'"
+
+"Isn't that just like Jane?" said Larry. "I bet you she gives the size
+of the trunk, doesn't she, Nora?"
+
+"A steamer trunk and pretty heavy, she says."
+
+"Same old girl. Does she give you the colour?" inquired Larry. "Like an
+old maid, she is."
+
+"Nonsense," said Nora, closing up her letter. "Oh, it's splendid. Let's
+see, it is eight years since we saw her."
+
+"Just about fifteen months since I saw her," said Larry.
+
+"And about four months for me," said Kathleen.
+
+"But eight years for me," cried Nora, "and she has never missed writing
+me every week, except once when she had the mumps, and she made her
+father write that week. Now we shall have to take our old democrat to
+meet her, the awful old thing," said Nora in a tone of disgust.
+
+"Jane won't mind if it is a hayrack," said Larry.
+
+"No, but her father. He's such a swell. I hate meeting him with that old
+bone cart. But we can't help it. Oh, I am just nutty over her coming. I
+wonder what she's like?"
+
+"Why, she's the same old Jane," said Larry. "That's one immense
+satisfaction about her. She is always the same, no matter when, how or
+where you meet her. There's never a change in Jane."
+
+"I wonder if she has improved--got any prettier, I mean."
+
+"Prettier! What the deuce are you talking about?" said Larry
+indignantly. "Prettier! Like a girl that is! You never think of looks
+when you see Jane. All you see is just Jane and her big blue eyes and
+her smile. Prettier! Who wants her prettier?"
+
+"Oh, all right, Larry. Don't fuss. She IS plain-looking, you know. But
+she is such a good sort. I must tell Mrs. Waring-Gaunt."
+
+"Do," said Larry, "and be sure to ask her for her car."
+
+Nora made a face at him, but ran to the 'phone and in an ecstatic jumble
+of words conveyed the tremendous news to the lady at the other end of
+the wire and to all the ears that might be open along the party line.
+
+"Is that Mrs. Waring-Gaunt?--it's Nora speaking. I have the most
+glorious news for you. Jane is coming!--You don't know Jane? My
+friend, you know, in Winnipeg. You must have often heard me speak
+of her.--What?--Brown.--No, Brown, B-r-o-w-n. And she's coming
+to-morrow.--No, her father is with her.--Yes, Dr. Brown of
+Winnipeg.--Oh, yes. Isn't it splendid?--Three days only, far too short.
+And we meet her to-morrow.--I beg your pardon?--Sixteen-forty-five,
+she says, and she is always right. Oh, a change in the time table
+is there?--Yes, I will hold on.--Sixteen-forty-five, I might have
+known.--What do you say?--Oh, could you? Oh, dear Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, how
+perfectly splendid of you! But are you sure you can?--Oh, you are just
+lovely.--Yes, she has one trunk, but that can come in the democrat. Oh,
+that is perfectly lovely! Thank you so much. Good-bye.--What? Yes, oh,
+yes, certainly I must go.--Will there be room for him? I am sure he will
+love to go. That will make five, you know, and they have two bags. Oh,
+lovely; you are awfully good.--We shall need to start about fifteen
+o'clock. Good-bye. Oh, how is Mr. Romayne?--Oh, I am so sorry, it is too
+bad. But, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, you know Dr. Brown is a splendid doctor,
+the best in Winnipeg, one of the best in Canada. He will tell you
+exactly what to do.--I beg your pardon?--Yes, she's here. Kathleen, you
+are wanted. Hurry up, don't keep her waiting. Oh, isn't she a dear?"
+
+"What does she want of me?" said Kathleen, a flush coming to her cheek.
+
+"Come and see," said Nora, covering the transmitter with her hand, "and
+don't keep her waiting. What is the matter with you?"
+
+Reluctantly Kathleen placed the receiver to her ear. "Yes, Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, it is Kathleen speaking.--Yes, thank you, quite well.--Oh,
+I have been quite all right, a little shaken perhaps.--Yes, isn't it
+splendid? Nora is quite wild, you know. Jane is her dearest friend and
+she has not seen her since we were children, but they have kept up a
+most active correspondence. Of course, I saw a great deal of her last
+year. She is a splendid girl and they were so kind; their house was like
+a home to me. I am sure it is very kind of you to offer to meet them.--I
+beg your pardon?--Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. We thought he was
+doing so well. What brought that on?--Blood-poisoning!--Oh, Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, you don't say so? How terrible! Isn't it good that Dr.
+Brown is coming? He will know exactly what is wrong.--Oh, I am so
+sorry to hear that. Sleeplessness is so trying.--Yes--Yes--Oh, Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, I am afraid I couldn't do that." Kathleen's face had
+flushed bright crimson. "But I am sure Mother would be so glad to go,
+and she is a perfectly wonderful nurse. She knows just what to do.--Oh,
+I am afraid not. Wait, please, a moment."
+
+"What does she want?" asked Nora.
+
+Kathleen covered the transmitter with her hand. "She wants me to go and
+sit with Mr. Romayne while she drives you to the station. I cannot,
+I cannot do that. Where is Mother? Oh, Mother, I cannot go to Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt's. I really cannot."
+
+"What nonsense, Kathleen!" cried Nora impatiently. "Why can't you go,
+pray? Let me speak to her." She took the receiver from her sister's
+hand. "Yes, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, it is Nora.--I beg your pardon?--Oh, yes,
+certainly, one of us will be glad to go.--No, no, certainly not. I would
+not have Mr. Waring-Gaunt leave his work for the world.--I know, I
+know, awfully slow for him. We had not heard of the change. It is too
+bad.--Yes, surely one of us will be glad to come. We will fix it up some
+way. Good-bye."
+
+Nora hung up the receiver and turned fiercely upon her sister. "Now,
+what nonsense is this," she said, "and she being so nice about the car,
+and that poor man suffering there, and we never even heard that he
+was worse? He was doing so splendidly, getting about all right.
+Blood-poisoning is so awful. Why, you remember the Mills boy? He almost
+lost his arm."
+
+"Oh, my dear Nora," said her mother. "There is no need of imagining
+such terrible things, but I am glad Dr. Brown is to be here. It is quite
+providential. I am sure he will put poor Mr. Romayne right. Kathleen,
+dear," continued the mother, turning to her elder daughter, "I think
+it would be very nice if you would run over to-morrow while Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt drives to the station. I am sure it is very kind of her."
+
+"I know it is, Mother dear," said Kathleen. "But don't you think you
+would be so much better?"
+
+"Oh, rubbish!" cried Nora. "If it were not Jane that is coming, I would
+go myself; I would only be too glad to go. He is perfectly splendid, so
+patient, and so jolly too, and Kathleen, you ought to go."
+
+"Nora, dear, we won't discuss it," said the mother in the tone that the
+family knew meant the end of all conversation. Kathleen hurried away
+from them and took refuge in her own room. Then shutting the door, she
+began pacing the floor, fighting once more the battle which during that
+last ten days she had often fought with herself and of which she was
+thoroughly weary. "Oh," she groaned, wringing her hands, "I cannot do
+it. I cannot look at him." She thought of that calm, impassive face
+which for the past three months this English gentleman had carried in
+all of his intercourse with her, and over against that reserve of
+his she contrasted her own passionate abandonment of herself in that
+dreadful moment of self-revelation. The contrast caused her to writhe in
+an agony of self-loathing. She knew little of men, but instinctively
+she felt that in his sight she had cheapened herself and never could she
+bear to look at him again. She tried to recall those glances of his
+and those broken, passionate words uttered during the moments of his
+physical suffering that seemed to mean something more than friendliness.
+Against these, however, was the constantly recurring picture of a calm
+cold face and of intercourse marked with cool indifference. "Oh, he
+cannot love me," she cried to herself. "I am sure he does not love me,
+and I just threw myself at him." In her march up and down the room she
+paused before her mirror and looked at the face that stared so wildly
+back at her. Her eyes rested on the red line of her mouth. "Oh," she
+groaned, rubbing vigorously those full red lips. "I just kissed him."
+She paused in the rubbing operation, gazed abstractedly into the glass;
+a tender glow drove the glare from her eyes, a delicious softness as
+from some inner well overflowed her countenance, the red blood surged
+up into her white face; she fled from her accusing mirror, buried her
+burning face in the pillow in an exultation of rapture. She dared not
+put into words the thoughts that rioted in her heart. "But I loved it,
+I loved it; I am glad I did." Lying there, she strove to recall in
+shameless abandon the sensation of those ecstatic moments, whispering in
+passionate self-defiance, "I don't care what he thinks. I don't care if
+I was horrid. I am NOT sorry. Besides, he looked so dreadful." But she
+was too honest not to acknowledge to herself that not for pity's sake
+but for love's she had kissed him, and without even his invitation. Then
+once again she recalled the look in his eyes of surprise in the moment
+of his returning consciousness, and the little smile that played around
+his lips. Again wave upon wave of sickening self-loathing flooded from
+her soul every memory of the bliss of that supreme moment. Even now she
+could feel the bite of the cold, half humorous scorn in the eyes that
+had opened upon her as she withdrew her lips from his. On the back of
+this came another memory, sharp and stabbing, that this man was ill,
+perhaps terribly ill. "We are a little anxious about him," his sister
+had said, and she had mentioned the word "blood-poisoning." Of the full
+meaning of that dread word Kathleen had little knowledge, but it
+held for her a horror of something unspeakably dangerous. He had been
+restless, sleepless, suffering for the last two days and two nights.
+That very night and that very hour he was perhaps tossing in fever. An
+uncontrollable longing came over her to go to him. Perhaps she might
+give him a few hours' rest, might indeed help to give him the turn to
+health again. After all, what mattered her feelings. What difference
+if he should despise her, provided she brought him help in an hour of
+crisis. Physically weary with the long struggle through which she had
+been passing during the last ten days, sick at heart, and torn with
+anxiety for the man she loved, she threw herself upon her bed and
+abandoned herself to a storm of tears. Her mother came announcing tea,
+but this she declined, pleading headache and a desire to sleep. But
+no sooner had her mother withdrawn than she rose from her bed and with
+deliberate purpose sat herself down in front of her mirror again. She
+would have this out with herself now. "Well, you are a beauty, sure
+enough," she said, addressing her swollen and disfigured countenance.
+"Why can't you behave naturally? You are acting like a fool and you are
+not honest with yourself. Come now, tell the truth for a few minutes
+if you can. Do you want to go and see this man or not? Answer truly."
+"Well, I do then." The blue eyes looked back defiantly at her. "Why? to
+help him? for his sake? Come, the truth." "Yes, for his sake, at least
+partly." "And for your own sake, too? Come now, none of that. Never mind
+the blushing." "Yes, for my own sake, too." "Chiefly for your own sake?"
+"No, I do not think so. Chiefly I wish to help him." "Then why not go?"
+Ah, this is a poser. She looks herself fairly in the eye, distinctly
+puzzled. Why should she not simply go to him and help him through a bad
+hour? With searching, deliberate persistence she demanded an answer. She
+will have the truth out of herself. "Why not go to him if you so desire
+to help him?" "Because I am ashamed, because I have made myself cheap,
+and I cannot bear his eyes upon me. Because if I have made a mistake and
+he does not care for me--oh, then I never want to see him again, for
+he would pity me, and that I cannot bear." "What? Not even to bring him
+rest and relief from his pain? Not to help him in a critical hour? He
+has been asking for you, remember." Steadily they face each other, eye
+to eye, and all at once she is conscious that the struggle is over, and,
+looking at the face in the glass, she says, "Yes, I think I would be
+willing to do that for him, no matter how it would shame me." Another
+heart-searching pause, and the eyes answer her again, "I will go
+to-morrow." At once she reads a new peace in the face that gazes at her
+so weary and wan, and she knows that for the sake of the man she loves
+she is willing to endure even the shame of his pity. The battle was
+over and some sort of victory at least she had won. An eager impatience
+possessed her to go to him at once. "I wish it were to-morrow now, this
+very minute."
+
+She rose and looked out into the night. There was neither moon nor stars
+and a storm was brewing, but she knew she could find her way in the
+dark. Quietly and with a great peace in her heart she bathed her swollen
+face, changed her dress to one fresh from the ironing board--pale blue
+it was with a dainty vine running through it--threw a wrap about her and
+went out to her mother.
+
+"I am going up to the Waring-Gaunts', Mother. They might need me," she
+said in a voice of such serene control that her mother only answered,
+
+"Yes, dear, Larry will go with you. He will soon be in."
+
+"There is no need, Mother, I am not afraid."
+
+Her mother made no answer but came to her and with a display of
+tenderness unusual between them put her arms about her and kissed her.
+"Good-night, then, darling; I am sure you will do them good."
+
+The night was gusty and black, but Kathleen had no fear. The road was
+known to her, and under the impulse of the purpose that possessed her
+she made nothing of the darkness nor of the approaching storm. She
+hurried down the lane toward the main trail, refusing to discuss with
+herself the possible consequence of what she was doing. Nor did she know
+just what situation she might find at the Waring-Gaunts'. They would
+doubtless be surprised to see her. They might not need her help at all.
+She might be going upon a fool's errand, but all these suppositions and
+forebodings she brushed aside. She was bent upon an errand of simple
+kindness and help. If she found she was not needed she could return home
+and no harm done.
+
+Receiving no response to her knock, she went quietly into the living
+room. A lamp burned low upon the table. There was no one to be seen.
+Upstairs a child was wailing and the mother's voice could be heard
+soothing the little one to sleep. From a bedroom, of which the door
+stood open, a voice called. The girl's heart stood still. It was Jack's
+voice, and he was calling for his sister. She ran upstairs to the
+children's room.
+
+"He is calling for you," she said to Mrs. Waring-Gaunt without
+preliminary greeting. "Let me take Doris."
+
+But Doris set up a wail of such acute dismay that the distracted mother
+said, "Could you just step in and see what is wanted? Jack has been
+in bed for two days. We have been unable to get a nurse anywhere, and
+tonight both little girls are ill. I am so thankful you came over.
+Indeed, I was about to send for one of you. Just run down and see what
+Jack wants. I hope you don't mind. I shall be down presently when Doris
+goes to sleep."
+
+"I am not going to sleep, Mamma," answered Doris emphatically. "I am
+going to keep awake, for if I go to sleep I know you will go away."
+
+"All right, darling, Mother is going to stay with you," and she took the
+little one in her arms, adding, "Now we are all right, aren't we."
+
+Kathleen ran downstairs, turned up the light in the living room and
+passed quietly into the bedroom.
+
+"Sorry to trouble you, Sybil, but there's something wrong with this
+infernal bandage."
+
+Kathleen went and brought in the lamp. "Your sister cannot leave Doris,
+Mr. Romayne," she said quietly. "Perhaps I can be of use."
+
+For a few moments the sick man gazed at her as at a vision. "Is this
+another of them?" he said wearily. "I have been having hallucinations
+of various sorts for the last two days, but you do look real. It is you,
+Kathleen, isn't it?"
+
+"Really me, Mr. Romayne," said the girl cheerfully. "Let me look at your
+arm."
+
+"Oh, hang it, say 'Jack,' won't you, and be decent to a fellow. My God,
+I have wanted you for these ten days. Why didn't you come to me? What
+did I do? I hurt you somehow, but you know I wouldn't willingly. Why
+have you stayed away from me?" He raised himself upon his elbow, his
+voice was high, thin, weak, his eyes glittering, his cheeks ghastly with
+the high lights of fever upon them.
+
+Shocked, startled and filled with a poignant mothering pity, Kathleen
+struggled with a longing to take him in her arms and comfort him as the
+mother was the little wailing child upstairs.
+
+"Excuse me just a moment," she cried, and ran out into the living room
+and then outside the door and stood for a moment in the dark, drawing
+deep breaths and struggling to get control of the pity and of the joy
+that surged through her heart. "Oh, God," she cried, lifting her hands
+high above her head in appeal, "help me to be strong and steady. He
+needs me and he wants me too."
+
+From the darkness in answer to her appeal there came a sudden quietness
+of nerve and a sense of strength and fitness for her work. Quickly she
+entered the house and went again to the sick room.
+
+"Thank God," cried Jack. "I thought I was fooled again. You won't go
+away, Kathleen, for a little while, will you? I feel just like a kiddie
+in the dark, do you know? Like a fool rather. You won't go again?" He
+raised himself upon his arm, the weak voice raised to a pitiful appeal.
+
+It took all her own fortitude to keep her own voice steady. "No, Jack, I
+am going to stay. I am your nurse, you know, and I am your boss too. You
+must do just as I say. Remember that. You must behave yourself as a sick
+man should."
+
+He sank back quietly upon the pillow. "Thank God. Anything under heaven
+I promise if only you stay, Kathleen. You will stay, won't you?"
+
+"Didn't you hear me promise?"
+
+"Yes, yes," he said, a great relief in his tired face. "All right, I am
+good. But you have made me suffer, Kathleen."
+
+"Now, then, no talk," said Kathleen. "We will look at that arm."
+
+She loosened the bandages. The inflamed and swollen appearance of the
+arm sickened and alarmed her. There was nothing she could do there. She
+replaced the bandages. "You are awfully hot. I am going to sponge your
+face a bit if you will let me."
+
+"Go on," he said gratefully, "do anything you like if only you don't go
+away again."
+
+"Now, none of that. A nurse doesn't run away from her job, does she?"
+She had gotten control of herself, and her quick, clever fingers, with
+their firm, cool touch, seemed to bring rest to the jangling nerves of
+the sick man. Whatever it was, whether the touch of her fingers or the
+relief of the cool water upon his fevered face and arm, by the time the
+bathing process was over, Jack was lying quietly, already rested and
+looking like sleep.
+
+"I say, this is heavenly," he murmured. "Now a drink, if you please. I
+believe there is medicine about due too," he said. She gave him a drink,
+lifting up his head on her strong arm. "I could lift myself, you know,"
+he said, looking up into her face with a little smile, "but I like this
+way so much better if you don't mind."
+
+"Certainly not; I am your nurse, you know," replied Kathleen. "Now your
+medicine." She found the bottle under his direction and, again lifting
+his head, gave him his medicine.
+
+"Oh, this is fine. I will take my medicine as often as you want me to,
+and I think another drink would be good." She brought him the glass. "I
+like to drink slowly," he said, looking up into her eyes. But she shook
+her head at him.
+
+"No nonsense now," she warned him.
+
+"Nonsense!" he said, sinking back with a sigh, "I want you to believe
+me, Kathleen, it is anything but nonsense. My God, it is religion!"
+
+"Now then," said Kathleen, ignoring his words, "I shall just smooth
+out your pillows and straighten down your bed, tuck you in and make you
+comfortable for the night and then--"
+
+"And then," he interrupted eagerly, "oh, Kathleen, all good children get
+it, you know."
+
+A deep flush tinged her face. "Now you are not behaving properly."
+
+"But, Kathleen," he cried, "why not? Listen to me. There's no use. I
+cannot let you go till I have this settled. I must know. No, don't pull
+away from me, Kathleen. You know I love you, with all my soul, with all
+I have, I love you. Oh, don't pull away from me. Ever since that day
+when I first saw you three months ago I have loved you. I have tried not
+to. God knows I have tried not to because I thought you were pledged
+to that--that German fellow. Tell me, Kathleen. Why you are shaking,
+darling! Am I frightening you? I would not frighten you. I would not
+take advantage of you. But do you care a little bit? Tell me. I have had
+ten days of sheer hell. For one brief minute I thought you loved me.
+You almost said you did. But then you never came to me and I have feared
+that you did not care. But to-night I must know. I must know now."
+He raised himself up to a sitting posture. "Tell me, Kathleen; I must
+know."
+
+"Oh, Jack," she panted. "You are not yourself now. You are weak and just
+imagine things."
+
+"Imagine things," he cried with a kind of fierce rage. "Imagine! Haven't
+I for these three months fought against this every day? Oh, Kathleen, if
+you only knew. Do you love me a little, even a little?"
+
+Suddenly the girl ceased her struggling. "A little!" she cried. "No,
+Jack, not a little, but with all my heart I love you. I should not tell
+you to-night, and, oh, I meant to be so strong and not let you speak
+till you were well again, but I can't help it. But are you quite sure,
+Jack? Are you sure you won't regret this when you are well again?"
+
+He put his strong arm round about her and drew her close. "I can't
+half hold you, darling," he said in her ear. "This confounded arm of
+mine--but you do it for me. Put your arms around me, sweetheart, and
+tell me that you love me."
+
+She wreathed her arms round about his neck and drew him close. "Oh,
+Jack," she said, "I may be wrong, but I am so happy, and I never thought
+to be happy again. I cannot believe it. Oh, what awful days these have
+been!" she said with a break in her voice and hiding her face upon his
+shoulder.
+
+"Never mind, sweetheart, think of all the days before us."
+
+"Are you sure, Jack?" she whispered to him, still hiding her face. "Are
+you very sure that you will not be ashamed of me? I felt so dreadful and
+I came in just to help you, and I was so sure of myself. But when I saw
+you lying there, Jack, I just could not help myself." Her voice broke.
+
+He turned her face up a little toward him. "Look at me," he said. She
+opened her eyes and, looking steadily into his, held them there. "Say,
+'Jack, I love you,'" he whispered to her.
+
+A great flood of red blood rushed over her face, then faded, leaving
+her white, but still her eyes held his fast. "Jack," she whispered, "my
+Jack, I love you."
+
+"Kathleen, dear heart," he said.
+
+Closer he drew her lips toward his. Suddenly she closed her eyes, her
+whole body relaxed, and lay limp against him. As his lips met hers,
+her arms tightened about him and held him in a strong embrace. Then she
+opened her eyes, raised herself up, and gazed at him as if in surprise.
+"Oh, Jack," she cried, "I cannot think it is true. Are you sure? I could
+not bear it if you were mistaken."
+
+There was the sound of a footstep on the stair. "Let me go, Jack;
+there's your sister coming. Quick! Lie down." Hurriedly, she began once
+more to bathe his face as Mrs. Waring-Gaunt came in.
+
+"Is he resting?" she said. "Why, Jack, you seem quite feverish. Did you
+give him his medicine?"
+
+"Yes, about an hour ago, I think."
+
+"An hour! Why, before you came upstairs? How long have you been in?"
+
+"Oh, no, immediately after I came down," said the girl in confusion. "I
+don't know how long ago. I didn't look at the time." She busied herself
+straightening the bed.
+
+"Sybil, she doesn't know how long ago," said Jack. "She's been behaving
+as I never have heard of any properly trained nurse behaving. She's been
+kissing me."
+
+"Oh, Jack," gasped Kathleen, flushing furiously.
+
+"Kissing you!" exclaimed Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, looking from one to the
+other.
+
+"Yes, and I have been kissing her," continued Jack shamelessly.
+
+"Oh, Jack," again gasped Kathleen, looking at Mrs. Waring-Gaunt
+beseechingly.
+
+"Yes," continued Jack in a voice of triumph, "and we are going to do it
+right along every day and all day long with suitable pauses for other
+duties and pleasures."
+
+"Oh, you darling," exclaimed Mrs. Waring-Gaunt rushing at her. "I am
+so glad. Well, you are a 'wunner' as the Marchioness says. I had
+thought--but never mind. Jack, dear, I do congratulate you. I think you
+are in awful luck. Yes, and you too, Kathleen, for he is a fine boy. I
+will go and tell Tom this minute."
+
+"Do," said Jack, "and please don't hurry. My nurse is perfectly
+competent to take care of me in the meantime."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE COMING OF JANE
+
+
+At sixteen-forty-five the Waring-Gaunt car was standing at the Melville
+Station awaiting the arrival of the train which was to bring Jane and
+her father, but no train was in sight. Larry, after inquiry at the
+wicket, announced that she was an hour late. How much more the agent,
+after the exasperating habit of railroad officials, could not say, nor
+could he assign any reason for the delay.
+
+"Let me talk to him," said Nora impatiently. "I know Mr. Field."
+
+Apparently the official reserve in which Mr. Field had wrapped himself
+was not proof against the smile which Nora flung at him through the
+wicket.
+
+"We really cannot say how late she will be, Miss Nora. I may tell
+you, but we are not saying anything about it, that there has been an
+accident."
+
+"An accident!" exclaimed Nora. "Why, we are expecting--"
+
+"No, there is no one hurt. A freight has been derailed, and torn up the
+track a bit. The passenger train is held up just beyond Fairfield. It
+will be a couple of hours, perhaps three, before she arrives." At this
+point the telegraph instrument clicked. "Just a minute, Miss Nora, there
+may be something on the wire." With his fingers on the key he executed
+some mysterious prestidigitations, wrote down some words, and came to
+the wicket again. "Funny," he said, "it is a wire for you, Miss Nora."
+
+Nora took the yellow slip and read: "Delayed by derailed freight. Time
+of arrival uncertain. Very sorry, Jane."
+
+"What do you think of this?" cried Nora, carrying the telegram out to
+the car. "Isn't it perfectly exasperating? That takes off one of their
+nights."
+
+"Where is the accident?" inquired Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Just above Fairfield."
+
+"Fairfield! The poor things! Jump in and we will be there in no time. It
+is not much further to Wolf Willow from Fairfield than from here. Hurry
+up, we must make time."
+
+"Now, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, I know your driving. Just remember that I am an
+only son. I prefer using all four wheels on curves, please."
+
+"Let her go," cried Nora.
+
+And Mrs. Waring-Gaunt "let her go" at such speed that Larry declared he
+had time for only two perfectly deep breaths, one before they started,
+the other after they had pulled up beside the Pullman car at the scene
+of the wreck.
+
+"Jane, Jane, Jane," yelled Larry, waving his hands wildly to a girl who
+was seen sitting beside a window reading. The girl looked up, sprang
+from her seat, and in a moment or two appeared on the platform. "Come
+on," yelled Larry. He climbed over a wire fence, and up the steep grade
+of the railroad embankment. Down sprang the girl, met him half way up
+the embankment, and gave him both her hands. "Jane, Jane," exclaimed
+Larry. "You are looking splendidly. Do you know," he added in a low
+voice, "I should love to kiss you right here. May I? Look at all the
+people; they would enjoy it so much."
+
+The girl jerked away her hands, the blood showing dully under her brown
+skin. "Stop it, you silly boy. Is that Nora? Yes, it is." She waved her
+hand wildly at Nora, who was struggling frantically with the barbed wire
+fence. "Wait, I am coming, Nora," cried Jane.
+
+Down the embankment she scrambled and, over the wire, the two girls
+embraced each other to the delight of the whole body of the passengers
+gathered at windows and on platforms, and to the especial delight of
+a handsome young giant, resplendent in a new suit of striped flannels,
+negligee shirt, blue socks with tie to match, and wearing a straw hat
+adorned with a band in college colours. With a wide smile upon his
+face he stood gazing down upon the enthusiastic osculation of the young
+ladies.
+
+"Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, this is Jane," cried Nora. "Mrs. Waring-Gaunt has
+come to meet you and take you home," she added to Jane. "You know we
+have no car of our own."
+
+"How do you do," said Jane, smiling at Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I can't get
+at you very well just now. It was very kind of you to come for us."
+
+"And she has left her brother very sick at home," said Nora in a low
+voice.
+
+"We won't keep you waiting," said Jane, beginning to scramble up the
+bank again. "Come, Larry, I shall get father and you shall help with our
+things."
+
+"Right you are," said Larry.
+
+"Met your friends, I see, Miss Brown," said the handsome giant. "I know
+it is mean of me, but I am really disgusted. It is bad enough to be held
+up here for a night, but to lose your company too."
+
+"Well, I am awfully glad," said Jane, giving him such a delighted smile
+that he shook his head disconsolately.
+
+"No need telling me that. Say," he added in an undertone, "that's your
+friend Nora, ain't it? Stunning girl. Introduce me, won't you?"
+
+"Yes, if you will help me with my things. I am in an awful hurry and
+don't want to keep them waiting. Larry, this is Mr. Dean Wakeham." The
+young man shook hands with cordial frankness, Larry with suspicion in
+his heart.
+
+"Let me have your check, Jane, and I will go and get your trunk," said
+Larry.
+
+"No, you come with me, Larry," said Jane decidedly. "The trunk is too
+big for you to handle. Mr. Wakeham, you will get it for me, won't you,
+please? I will send a porter to help."
+
+"Gladly, Miss Brown. No, I mean with the deepest pain and regret," said
+Wakeham, going for the trunk while Larry accompanied her in quest of the
+minor impedimenta that constituted her own and her father's baggage.
+
+"Jane, have you any idea how glad I am to see you?" demanded Larry as
+they passed into the car.
+
+Jane's radiant smile transformed her face. "Yes, I think so," she said
+simply. "But we must hurry. Oh, here is Papa."
+
+Dr. Brown hailed Larry with acclaim. "This is very kind of you, my dear
+boy; you have saved us a tedious wait."
+
+"We must hurry, Papa," said Jane, cutting him short. "Mrs. Waring-Gaunt,
+who has come for us in her car, has left her brother ill at home." She
+marshalled them promptly into the car and soon had them in line for the
+motor, bearing the hand baggage and wraps, the porter following with
+Jane's own bag. "Thank you, porter," said Jane, giving him a smile that
+reduced that functionary to the verge of grinning imbecility, and a tip
+which he received with an air of absent-minded indifference. "Good-bye,
+porter; you have made us very comfortable," said Jane, shaking hands
+with him.
+
+"Thank you, Miss; it shuah is a pleasuah to wait on a young lady like
+you, Miss. It shuah is, Miss. Ah wish you a prospec jounay, Miss, Ah
+do."
+
+"I wonder what is keeping Mr. Wakeham," said Jane. "I am very sorry to
+keep you waiting, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. Larry, would you mind?"
+
+"Certainly not," said Larry, hurrying off toward the baggage car. In a
+few minutes Mr. Wakeham appeared with the doleful news that the trunk
+was not in the car and must have been left behind.
+
+"I am quite sure it is there," said Jane, setting off herself for the
+car, the crestfallen Mr. Wakeham and the porter following behind her.
+
+At the door of the car the baggage man met her with regretful apologies.
+"The trunk must have been left behind."
+
+He was brusquely informed by Jane that she had seen it put on board.
+
+"Then it must have been put off by mistake at Calgary?" This suggestion
+was brushed aside as unworthy of consideration. The trunk was here in
+this car, she was sure. This the baggage man and Mr. Wakeham united
+in declaring quite impossible. "We have turned the blasted car upside
+down," said the latter.
+
+"Impossible?" exclaimed Jane, who had been exploring the dark recesses
+of the car. "Why, here it is, I knew it was here."
+
+"Hurrah," cried Larry, "we have got it anyway."
+
+Mr. Wakeham and the baggage man went to work to extricate the trunk from
+the lowest tier of boxes. They were wise enough to attempt no excuse
+or explanation, and in Jane's presence they felt cribbed, cabined and
+confined in the use of such vocabulary as they were wont to consider
+appropriate to the circumstances, and in which they prided themselves as
+being adequately expert. A small triumphal procession convoyed the trunk
+to the motor, Jane leading as was fitting, Larry and Mr. Wakeham forming
+the rear guard. The main body consisted of the porter, together with the
+baggage man, who, under a flagellating sense of his incompetence, was so
+moved from his wonted attitude of haughty indifference as to the fate of
+a piece of baggage committed to his care when once he had contemptuously
+hurled it forth from the open door of his car as to personally aid in
+conducting by the unusual and humiliating process of actually handling
+this particular bit of baggage down a steep and gravelly bank and over a
+wire fence and into a motor car.
+
+"Jane's a wonder," confided Larry to Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"She sure is," said that young man. "You cannot slip anything past her,
+and she's got even that baggage man tamed and tied and ready to catch
+peanuts in his mouth. First time I have seen that done."
+
+"You just wait till she smiles her farewell at him," said Larry, hugely
+enjoying the prospect.
+
+Together they stood awaiting the occurrence of this phenomenon.
+"Gosh-a-mighty, look at him," murmured Mr. Wakeham. "Takes it like pie.
+He'd just love to carry that blasted trunk up the grade and back to
+the car, if she gave him the wink. Say, she ain't much to look at, but
+somehow she's got me handcuffed and chained to her chariot wheels.
+Say," he continued with a shyness not usual with him, "would you mind
+introducing me to the party?"
+
+"Come along," said Larry.
+
+The introduction, however, was performed by Jane, who apparently
+considered Mr. Wakeham as being under her protection. "Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, this is Mr. Wakeham. Mr. Wakeham is from Chicago, but,"
+she hastened to add, "he knows some friends of ours in Winnipeg."
+
+"So you see I am fairly respectable," said Mr. Wakeham, shaking hand
+with Mrs. Waring-Gaunt and Nora.
+
+When the laughter had ceased, Mr. Wakeham said, "If your car were only a
+shade larger I should beg hospitality along with Dr. and Miss Brown."
+
+"Room on the top," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt with a smile, "but it seems
+the only place left. You are just passing through, Mr. Wakeham?"
+
+"Yes, I am going on to Manor Mine."
+
+"Oh, that's only twenty miles down the line."
+
+"Then may I run up to see you?" eagerly asked Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"Certainly, we shall be delighted to see you," said the lady.
+
+"Count on me, then," said the delighted Mr. Wakeham, lifting his hat in
+farewell.
+
+Dr. Brown took his place in the front seat beside Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, the
+three young people occupying the seat in the rear.
+
+"Who is he?" asked Larry when they had finally got under way.
+
+"A friend of the James Murrays in Winnipeg. You remember them, don't
+you? Ethel Murray was in your year. He is very nice indeed, don't you
+think so, Papa?" said Jane, appealing to her father.
+
+"Fine young chap," said Dr. Brown with emphasis. "His father is in mines
+in rather a big way, I believe. Lives in Chicago, has large holdings
+in Alberta coal mines about here somewhere, I fancy. The young man is a
+recent graduate from Cornell and is going into his father's business. He
+strikes me as an exceptionally able young fellow." And for at least five
+miles of the way Dr. Brown discussed the antecedents, the character, the
+training, the prospects of the young American till Larry felt qualified
+to pass a reasonably stiff examination on that young man's history,
+character and career.
+
+"Now tell me," said Larry to Jane at the first real opening that
+offered, "what does this talk about a three days' visit to us mean. The
+idea of coming a thousand miles on your first visit to your friends,
+some of whom you have not seen for eight years and staying three days!"
+
+"You see Papa is on his way to Banff," explained Jane, "and then he goes
+to the coast and he only has a short time. So we could plan only for
+three days here."
+
+"We can plan better than that," said Larry confidently, "but never mind
+just now. We shall settle that to-morrow."
+
+The journey home was given to the careful recital of news of Winnipeg,
+of the 'Varsity, and of mutual friends. It was like listening to the
+reading of a diary to hear Jane bring up to date the doings and goings
+and happenings in the lives of their mutual friends for the past year.
+Gossip it was, but of such kindly nature as left no unpleasant taste in
+the mouth and gave no unpleasant picture of any living soul it touched.
+
+"Oh, who do you think came to see me two weeks ago? An old friend of
+yours, Hazel Sleighter. Mrs. Phillips she is now. She has two lovely
+children. Mr. Phillips is in charge of a department in Eaton's store."
+
+"You don't tell me," cried Larry. "How is dear Hazel? How I loved her
+once! I wonder where her father is and Tom and the little girl. What was
+her name?"
+
+"Ethel May. Oh, she is married too, in your old home, to Ben--somebody."
+
+"Ben, big Ben Hopper? Why, think of that kid married."
+
+"She is just my age," said Jane soberly, glad of the dusk of the falling
+night. She would have hated to have Larry see the quick flush that came
+to her cheek. Why the reference to Ethel May's marriage should have made
+her blush she hardly knew, and that itself was enough to annoy her, for
+Jane always knew exactly why she did things.
+
+"And Mr. and Mrs. Sleighter," said Jane, continuing her narrative, "have
+gone to Toronto. They have become quite wealthy, Hazel says, and Tom is
+with his father in some sort of financial business. What is it, Papa?"
+
+Dr. Brown suddenly waked up. "What is what, my dear? You will have to
+forgive me. This wonderful scenery, these hills here and those mountains
+are absorbing my whole attention. So wonderful it all is that I hardly
+feel like apologising to Mrs. Waring-Gaunt for ignoring her."
+
+"Don't think of it," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Do you know, Jane," continued Dr. Brown, "that at this present moment
+you are passing through scenery of its kind unsurpassed possibly in the
+world?"
+
+"I was talking to Larry, Papa," said Jane, and they all laughed at her.
+
+"I was talking to Jane," said Larry.
+
+"But look at this world about you," continued her father, "and look, do
+look at the moon coming up behind you away at the prairie rim." They all
+turned about except Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, whose eyes were glued to the
+two black ruts before her cutting through the grass. "Oh, wonderful,
+wonderful," breathed Dr. Brown. "Would it be possible to pause, Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, at the top of this rise?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "but at the top of the rise beyond, where
+you will get the full sweep of the country in both directions."
+
+"Is that where we get your lake, Nora," inquired Jane, "and the valley
+beyond up to the mountains?"
+
+"How do you know?" said Nora.
+
+"I remember Larry told me once," she said.
+
+"That's the spot," said Nora. "But don't look around now. Wait until you
+are told."
+
+"Papa," said Jane in a quiet, matter-of-fact voice, "what is it that Tom
+is doing?" Larry shouted.
+
+"Tom, what Tom? Jane, my dear," said Dr. Brown in a pained voice, "does
+Tom matter much or any one else in the midst of all this glory?"
+
+"I think so, Papa," said Jane firmly. "You matter, don't you? Everybody
+matters. Besides, we were told not to look until we reached the top."
+
+"Well, Jane, you are an incorrigible Philistine," said her father, "and
+I yield. Tom's father is a broker, and Tom is by way of being a broker
+too, though I doubt if he is broking very much. May I dismiss Tom for a
+few minutes now?" Again they all laughed.
+
+"I don't see what you are all laughing at," said Jane, and lapsed into
+silence.
+
+"Now then," cried Nora, "in three minutes."
+
+At the top of the long, gently rising hill the motor pulled up, purring
+softly. They all stood up and gazed around about them. "Look back,"
+commanded Nora. "It is fifty miles to that prairie rim there." From
+their feet the prairie spread itself in long softly undulating billows
+to the eastern horizon, the hollows in shadow, the crests tipped with
+the silver of the rising moon. Here and there wreaths of mist lay just
+above the shadow lines, giving a ghostly appearance to the hills. "Now
+look this way," said Nora, and they turned about. Away to the west in
+a flood of silvery light the prairie climbed by abrupt steps, mounting
+ever higher over broken rocky points and rocky ledges, over bluffs of
+poplar and dark masses of pine and spruce, up to the grey, bare sides
+of the mighty mountains, up to their snow peaks gleaming elusive,
+translucent, faintly discernible against the blue of the sky. In the
+valley immediately at their feet the waters of the little lake gleamed
+like a polished shield set in a frame of ebony. "That's our lake," said
+Nora, "with our house just behind it in the woods. And nearer in that
+little bluff is Mrs. Waring-Gaunts home."
+
+"Papa," said Jane softly, "we must not keep Mrs. Waring-Gaunt."
+
+"Thank you, Jane," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I fear I must go on."
+
+"Don't you love it?" inquired Larry enthusiastically and with a touch of
+impatience in his voice.
+
+"Oh, yes, it is lovely," said Jane.
+
+"But, Jane, you will not get wild over it," said Larry.
+
+"Get wild? I love it, really I do. But why should I get wild over it.
+Oh, I know you think, and Papa thinks, that I am awful. He says I have
+no poetry in me, and perhaps he is right."
+
+In a few minutes the car stopped at the door of Mrs. Waring-Gaunt's
+house. "I shall just run in for a moment," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+"Kathleen will want to see you, and perhaps will go home with you. I
+shall send her out."
+
+Out from the vine-shadowed porch into the white light came Kathleen,
+stood a moment searching the faces of the party, then moved toward Dr.
+Brown with her hands eagerly stretched out. "Oh, Dr. Brown," she cried,
+"it is so good to see you here."
+
+"But my dear girl, my dear girl, how wonderful you look! Why, you have
+actually grown more beautiful than when we saw you last!"
+
+"Oh, thank you, Dr. Brown. And there is Jane," cried Kathleen, running
+around to the other side of the car. "It is so lovely to see you and so
+good of you to come to us," she continued, putting her arms around Jane
+and kissing her.
+
+"I wanted to come, you know," said Jane.
+
+"Yes, it is Jane's fault entirely," said Dr. Brown. "I confess I
+hesitated to impose two people upon you this way, willy-nilly. But Jane
+would have it that you would be glad to have us."
+
+"And as usual Jane was right," said Larry with emphasis.
+
+"Yes," said Kathleen, "Jane was right. Jane is a dear to think that way
+about us. Dr. Brown," continued Kathleen with a note of anxiety in her
+voice, "Mrs. Waring-Gaunt wondered if you would mind coming in to see
+her brother. He was wounded with a gunshot in the arm about ten days
+ago. Dr. Hudson, who was one of your pupils, I believe, said he would
+like to have you see him when you came. I wonder if you would mind
+coming in now." Kathleen's face was flushed and her words flowed in a
+hurried stream.
+
+"Not at all, not at all," answered the doctor, rising hastily from the
+motor and going in with Kathleen.
+
+"Oh, Larry," breathed Jane in a rapture of delight, "isn't she lovely,
+isn't she lovely? I had no idea she was so perfectly lovely." Not the
+moon, nor the glory of the landscape with all its wonder of plain and
+valley and mountain peak had been able to awaken Jane to ecstasy, but
+the rare loveliness of this girl, her beauty, her sweet simplicity, had
+kindled Jane to enthusiasm.
+
+"Well, Jane, you are funny," said Larry. "You rave and go wild over
+Kathleen, and yet you keep quite cool over that most wonderful view."
+
+"View!" said Jane contemptuously. "No, wait, Larry, let me explain. I
+do think it all very wonderful, but I love people. People after all are
+better than mountains, and they are more wonderful too."
+
+"Are they?" said Larry dubiously. "Not so lovely, sometimes."
+
+"Some people," insisted Jane, "are more wonderful than all the Rocky
+Mountains together. Look at Kathleen," she cried triumphantly. "You
+could not love that old mountain there, could you? But, Kathleen--"
+
+"Don't know about that," said Larry. "Dear old thing."
+
+"Tell me how Mr. Romayne was hurt," said Jane, changing the subject.
+
+In graphic language Nora gave her the story of the accident with all the
+picturesque details, recounting Kathleen's part in it with appropriate
+emotional thrills. Jane listened with eyes growing wider with each
+horrifying elaboration.
+
+"Do you think his arm will ever be all right?" she inquired anxiously.
+
+"We do not know yet," said Nora sombrely.
+
+"Nonsense," interrupted Larry sharply. "His arm will be perfectly
+all right. You people make me tired with your passion for horrors and
+possible horrors."
+
+Nora was about to make a hot reply when Jane inquired quietly, "What
+does the doctor say? He ought to know."
+
+"That's just it," said Nora. "He said yesterday he did not like the look
+of it at all. You know he did, Larry. Mrs. Waring-Gaunt told me so. They
+are quite anxious about it. But we will hear what Dr. Brown says and
+then we will know."
+
+But Dr. Brown's report did not quite settle the matter, for after the
+approved manner of the profession he declined to commit himself to
+any definite statement except that it was a nasty wound, that it might
+easily have been worse, and he promised to look in with Dr. Hudson
+to-morrow. Meantime he expressed the profound hope that Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt might get them as speedily as was consistent with safety to
+their destination, and that supper might not be too long delayed.
+
+"We can trust Mrs. Waring-Gaunt for the first," said Larry with
+confidence, "and mother for the second." In neither the one nor the
+other was Larry mistaken, for Mrs. Waring-Gaunt in a very few minutes
+discharged both passengers and freight at the Gwynnes' door, and supper
+was waiting.
+
+"We greatly appreciate your kindness, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt," said Dr.
+Brown, bowing courteously over her hand. "I shall look in upon your
+brother to-morrow morning. I hardly think there is any great cause for
+anxiety."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Dr. Brown, I am glad to hear you say that. It would be
+very good of you to look in to-morrow."
+
+"Good-night," said Jane, her rare smile illuminating her dark face. "It
+was so good of you to come for us. It has been a delightful ride. I hope
+your brother will be better to-morrow."
+
+"Thank you, my dear," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I should be glad to have
+you come over to us. I am sure my brother would be glad to know you."
+
+"Do you think so," said Jane doubtfully. "You know I am not very clever.
+I am not like Kathleen or Nora." The deep blue eyes looked wistfully at
+her out of the plain little face.
+
+"I am perfectly certain he would love to know you, Jane--if I may call
+you so," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, impulsively kissing her.
+
+"Oh, you are so kind," said Jane. "I will come then to-morrow."
+
+The welcome to the Gwynne home was without fuss or effusiveness but had
+the heart quality that needs no noisy demonstration.
+
+"We are glad to have you with us at Lakeside Farm," said Mr. Gwynne
+heartily, as he ushered Dr. Brown and Jane into the big living room,
+where his wife stood waiting.
+
+"You are welcome to us, Dr. Brown," said the little lady. And something
+in the voice and manner made Dr. Brown know that the years that had
+passed since his first meeting with her had only deepened the feeling of
+gratitude and affection in her heart toward him. "We have not forgotten
+nor shall we ever forget your kindness to us when we were strangers
+passing through Winnipeg, nor your goodness to Larry and Kathleen while
+in Winnipeg. They have often told us of your great kindness."
+
+"And you may be quite sure, Mrs. Gwynne," said Dr. Brown heartily, "that
+Larry brought his welcome with him, and as for Kathleen, we regard her
+as one of our family."
+
+"And this is Jane," said Mrs. Gwynne. "Dear child, you have grown. But
+you have not changed. Come away to your room."
+
+Once behind the closed door she put her arms around the girl and kissed
+her. Then, holding her at arm's length, scrutinised her face with
+searching eyes. "No," she said again with a little sigh of relief, "you
+have not changed. You are the same dear, wise girl I learned to love in
+Winnipeg."
+
+"Oh, I am glad you think I am not changed, Mrs. Gwynne," said Jane, with
+a glow of light in her dark blue eyes. "I do not like people to change
+and I would hate to have you think me changed. I know," she added shyly,
+"I feel just the same toward you and the others here. But oh, how lovely
+they are, both Kathleen and Nora."
+
+"They are good girls," said Mrs. Gwynne quietly, "and they have proved
+good girls to me."
+
+"I know, I know," said Jane, with impulsive fervour, "and through those
+winters and all. Oh, they were so splendid."
+
+"Yes," said the mother, "they never failed, and Larry too."
+
+"Yes, indeed," cried Jane with increasing ardour, her eyes shining,
+"with his teaching,--going there through the awful cold,--lighting the
+school fires,--and the way he stuck to his college work. Nora's letters
+told me all about it. How splendid that was! And you know, Mrs. Gwynne,
+in the 'Varsity he did so well. I mean besides his standing in the
+class lists, in the Societies and in all the college life. He was really
+awfully popular," added Jane with something of a sigh.
+
+"You must tell me, dear, sometime all about it. But now you must be
+weary and hungry. Come away out if you are ready, and I hope you will
+feel as if you were just one of ourselves."
+
+"Do you know, that is just the way I feel, Mrs. Gwynne," said Jane,
+putting the final touch to her toilet. "I seem to know the house,
+and everything and everybody about it. Nora is such a splendid
+correspondent, you see."
+
+"Well, dear child, we hope the days you spend here will always be a very
+bright spot in your life," said Mrs. Gwynne as they entered the living
+room.
+
+The next few days saw the beginning of the realisation of that hope, for
+of all the bright spots in Jane's life none shone with a brighter and
+more certain lustre than the days of her visit to Lakeside Farm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOSPITALITY WITHOUT GRUDGING
+
+
+By arrangement made the previous evening Jane was awake before the
+family was astir and in Nora's hands preparing for a morning ride with
+Larry, who was to give her her first lesson in equitation.
+
+"Your habit will be too big for me, Nora, I am afraid," she said.
+
+"Habit!" cried Nora. "My pants, you mean. You can pull them up, you
+know. There they are."
+
+"Pants!" gasped Jane. "Pants! Nora, pants! Do you mean to say you wear
+these things where all the men will see you?" Even in the seclusion of
+her bedroom Jane's face at the thought went a fiery red. Nora laughed at
+her scornfully. "Oh, but I can't possibly go out in these before Larry.
+I won't ride at all. Haven't you a skirt, a regular riding habit?"
+
+But Nora derided her scruples. "Why, Jane, we all wear them here."
+
+"Does Kathleen?"
+
+"Of course she does, and Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, and everybody."
+
+"Oh, she might, but I am sure your mother would not."
+
+Nora shouted joyfully. "Well, that is true, she never has, but then she
+has never ridden out here. Put them on, hurry up, your legs are straight
+enough, your knees don't knock."
+
+"Oh, Nora, they are just terrible," said Jane, almost in tears. "I know
+I will just squat down if Larry looks at me."
+
+"Why should he look at you? Don't you ever let on but that you have worn
+them often, and he will never think of looking at you."
+
+In face of many protests Jane was at length arrayed in her riding
+apparel.
+
+"Why, you look perfectly stunning," said Nora. "You have got just the
+shape for them. Pull them up a little. There, that is better. Now step
+out and let me see you."
+
+Jane walked across the room and Nora rocked in laughter. "Oh, Nora, I
+will just take them off. You are as mean as you can be. I will pull them
+off."
+
+"Not a bit," said Nora, still laughing, "only stretch your legs a bit
+when you walk. Don't mince along. Stride like a man. These men have
+had all the fun in the matter of clothes. I tell you it was one of the
+proudest moments of my life when I saw my own legs walking. Now step
+out and swing your arms. There, you are fine, a fine little chap, Jane,
+round as a barrel, and neat as a ballet dancer, although I never saw one
+except in magazines."
+
+Trim and neat Jane looked, the riding suit showing off the beautiful
+lines of her round, shapely figure. Shrinking, blushing, and horribly
+conscious of her pants, Jane followed Nora from her bedroom. A swift
+glance she threw around the room. To her joy it was empty but for Mrs.
+Gwynne, who was ready with a big glass of rich milk and a slice of
+home-made bread and delicious butter.
+
+"Good morning, my dear," said Mrs. Gwynne, kissing her. "You will need
+something before you ride. You will have breakfast after your return."
+
+Jane went close to her and stood beside her, still blushing. "Oh, thank
+you," she cried, "I am really hungry already. I hope I won't get killed.
+I never was on a horse before, you know."
+
+"Oh, never fear, Lawrence is very careful. If it were Nora now I would
+not be so sure about you, but Lawrence is quite safe."
+
+At this point Larry came in. "Well, Jane, all ready? Good for you. I
+like a girl that is always on time."
+
+"How do you like her pants, Larry?" said Nora, wickedly.
+
+"Perfectly splendiferous," cried Larry.
+
+"Oh, you mean thing, Nora," cried Jane, dropping hurriedly into a chair
+with scarlet face and indignant eyes.
+
+"Come along, Jane, old chap, don't mind her. Those pants never looked
+so well before, I assure you. We are going to have a great time. I
+guarantee that in a few minutes you will be entirely oblivious of such
+trivial things as mere pants."
+
+They all passed out into the front yard to see Jane mount and take her
+first lesson.
+
+"This is Polly," said Larry. "She has taught us all to ride, and though
+she has lost her shape a bit, she has still 'pep' enough to decline to
+take a dare."
+
+"What do I do?" said Jane, gazing fearfully at the fat and shapeless
+Polly.
+
+"There is just one rule in learning to ride," said Larry, "step on and
+stick there. Polly will look after the rest."
+
+"Step on--it is easy to say, but--"
+
+"This way," said Nora. She seized hold of the horn of the saddle, put
+her foot into the stirrup and sprang upon Polly's back. "Oh, there's
+where the pants come in," she added as her dress caught on to the rear
+of the saddle. "Now up you go. Make up your mind you are going to DO it,
+not going to TRY."
+
+A look of serious determination came into Jane's face, a look that
+her friends would have recognised as the precursor of a resolute and
+determined attempt to achieve the thing in hand. She seized the horn of
+the saddle, put her foot into the stirrup and "stepped on."
+
+The riding lesson was an unqualified success, though for some reason,
+known only to herself, Polly signalised the event by promptly running
+away immediately her head was turned homeward, and coming back down the
+lane at a thundering gallop.
+
+"Hello!" cried Nora, running out to meet them. "Why, Jane, you have been
+fooling us all along. You needn't tell me this is your first ride."
+
+"My very first," said Jane, "but I hope not my last."
+
+"But, my dear," said Mrs. Gwynne, who had also come out to see the
+return, "you are doing famously."
+
+"Am I?" cried Jane, her face aglow and her eyes shining. "I think it is
+splendid. Shall we ride again to-day, Larry?"
+
+"Right away after breakfast and all day long if you like. You are a born
+horsewoman, Jane."
+
+"Weren't you afraid when Polly ran off with you like that?" inquired
+Nora.
+
+"Afraid? I didn't know there was any danger. Was there any?" inquired
+Jane.
+
+"Not a bit," said Nora, "so long as you kept your head."
+
+"But there really was no danger, was there, Larry?" insisted Jane.
+
+"None at all, Jane," said Nora, "I assure you. Larry got rattled when
+he saw you tear off in that wild fashion, but I knew you would be all
+right. Come in; breakfast is ready."
+
+"And so am I," said Jane. "I haven't been so hungry I don't know when."
+
+"Why, she's not plain-looking after all," said Nora to her mother as
+Jane strode manlike off to her room.
+
+"Plain-looking?" exclaimed her mother. "I never thought her
+plain-looking. She has that beauty that shines from within, a beauty
+that never fades, but grows with every passing year."
+
+A council of war was called by Nora immediately after breakfast, at
+which plans were discussed for the best employment of the three precious
+days during which the visitors were to be at the ranch. There were so
+many things to be done that unless some system were adopted valuable
+time would be wasted.
+
+"It appears to me, Miss Nora," said Dr. Brown after a somewhat prolonged
+discussion, "that to accomplish all the things that you have suggested,
+and they all seem not only delightful but necessary, we shall require at
+least a month of diligent application."
+
+"At the very least," cried Nora.
+
+"So what are we going to do?" said the doctor.
+
+It was finally decided that the Browns should extend their stay at
+Lakeside House for a week, after which the doctor should proceed to the
+coast and be met on his return at Banff by Jane, with Nora as her guest.
+
+"Then that's all settled," said Larry. "Now what's for to-day?"
+
+As if in answer to that question a honk of a motor car was heard
+outside. Nora rushed to the door, saying, "That's Mrs. Waring-Gaunt."
+But she returned hastily with heightened colour.
+
+"Larry," she said, "it's that Mr. Wakeham."
+
+"Wakeham," cried Larry. "What's got him up so early, I wonder?" with a
+swift look at Jane.
+
+"I wonder," said Nora, giving Jane a little dig.
+
+"I thought I would just run up and see if you had all got home safely
+last night," they heard his great voice booming outside to Larry.
+
+"My, but he is anxious," said Nora.
+
+"But who is he, Nora?" inquired her mother.
+
+"A friend of Jane's, and apparently terribly concerned about her
+welfare."
+
+"Stop, Nora," said Jane, flushing a fiery red. "Don't be silly. He is a
+young man whom we met on the train, Mrs. Gwynne, a friend of some of our
+Winnipeg friends."
+
+"We shall be very glad to have him stay with us, my dear," said Mrs.
+Gwynne. "Go and bring him in."
+
+"Go on, Jane," said Nora.
+
+"Now, Nora, stop it," said Jane. "I will get really cross with you.
+Hush, there he is."
+
+The young man seemed to fill up the door with his bulk. "Mr. Wakeham,"
+said Larry, as the young fellow stood looking around on the group with
+a frank, expansive smile upon his handsome face. As his eye fell upon
+a little lady the young man seemed to come to attention. Insensibly he
+appeared to assume an attitude of greater respect as he bowed low over
+her hand.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my coming here so early in the morning," he said
+with an embarrassed air. "I have the honour of knowing your guests."
+
+"Any friend of our guests is very welcome here, Mr. Wakeham," said Mrs.
+Gwynne, smiling at him with gentle dignity.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Wakeham," said Jane, coming forward with outstretched
+hand. "You are very early in your calls. You could not have slept very
+much."
+
+"No, indeed," replied Mr. Wakeham, "and that is one reason why I waked
+so early. My bed was not so terribly attractive."
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Nora in a disappointed tone, as she shook hands with
+him, "we thought you were anxious to see us."
+
+"Quite right," said the young man, holding her hand and looking boldly
+into her eyes. "I have come to see you."
+
+Before his look Nora's saucy eyes fell and for some unaccountable
+reason her usually ready speech forsook her. Mr. Wakeham fell into easy
+conversation with Mr. Gwynne and Dr. Brown concerning mining matters, in
+which he was especially interested. He had spent an hour about the Manor
+Mine and there he had heard a good deal about Mr. Gwynne's mine and was
+anxious to see that if there were no objections. He wondered if he might
+drive Mr. Gwynne--and indeed, he had a large car and would be glad to
+fill it up with a party if any one cared to come. He looked at Mrs.
+Gwynne as he spoke.
+
+"Yes, Mother, you go. It is such a lovely day," said Nora
+enthusiastically, "and Jane can go with you."
+
+"Jane is going riding," said Larry firmly.
+
+"I am going to Mrs. Waring-Gaunt's," said Jane. "I arranged with her
+last night."
+
+While they were settling Mrs. Gwynne's protests, and covered by the
+noise of conversation, Mr. Wakeham managed to get close to Nora. "I want
+you to come," he said in a low voice. "That's what I came for."
+
+Startled and confused by this extraordinary announcement, Nora could
+think of no answer.
+
+"I think you were to show me the mine," he added. Then while Nora gasped
+at him, he said aloud, "My car is a seven passenger, so we can take
+quite a party."
+
+"Why not Kathleen?" suggested Jane.
+
+"Yes, indeed, Kathleen might like to go," said Mrs. Gwynne.
+
+"Then let's all go," cried Nora.
+
+"Thank you awfully," murmured Mr. Wakeham. "We shall only be two or
+three hours at most," continued Nora. "We shall be back in time for
+lunch."
+
+"For that matter," said Mr. Gwynne, "we can lunch at the mine."
+
+"Splendid," cried Nora. "Come along. We'll run up with you to the
+Waring-Gaunts' for Kathleen," she added to Mr. Wakeham.
+
+At the Waring-Gaunts' they had some difficulty persuading Kathleen to
+join the party, but under the united influence of Jack and his sister,
+she agreed to go.
+
+"Now then," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "you have your full party, Mr.
+Wakeham--Mr. and Mrs. Gwynne, Dr. Brown, and the three girls."
+
+"What about me?" said Larry dolefully.
+
+"I shall stay with you," cried Nora, evading Mr. Wakeham's eyes.
+
+"No, Nora," said Jane in a voice of quiet decision. "Last night Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt and I arranged that I should visit her to-day."
+
+There was a loud chorus of protests, each one making an alternative
+suggestion during which Jane went to Mrs. Waring-Gaunt's side and said
+quietly, "I want to stay with you to-day."
+
+"All right, dear," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "Stay you shall." And, then
+to the company announced, "We have it all arranged. Jane and I are to
+have a visit together. The rest of you go off."
+
+"And what about me, Jane?" again said Larry.
+
+"You are going with the others," said Jane calmly, "and in the afternoon
+we are to have our ride."
+
+"And this is Jane," said Jack Romayne as Mrs. Waring-Gaunt ushered the
+girl into his room. "If half of what I have heard is true then I am a
+lucky man to-day. Kathleen has been telling me about you."
+
+Jane's smile expressed her delight. "I think I could say the same of
+you, Mr. Romayne."
+
+"What? Has Kathleen been talking about me?"
+
+"No, I have not seen Kathleen since I came, but there are others, you
+know."
+
+"Are there?" asked Jack. "I hadn't noticed. But I know all about you."
+
+It was a hasty introduction for Jane. Kathleen was easily a subject for
+a day's conversation. How long she discoursed upon Kathleen neither
+of them knew. But when Mrs. Waring-Gaunt had finished up her morning
+household duties Jane was still busy dilating upon Kathleen's charms
+and graces and expatiating upon her triumphs and achievements during her
+stay in Winnipeg the previous winter.
+
+"Still upon Kathleen?" inquired Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"Oh, I am learning a great deal and enjoying myself immensely," said
+Jack.
+
+"You must be careful, Jane. Don't tell Jack everything about Kathleen.
+There are certain things we keep to ourselves, you know. I don't tell
+Tom everything."
+
+Jane opened her eyes. "I have not told Jane yet, Sybil," said Jack
+quietly. "She doesn't know, though perhaps she has guessed how dear to
+me Kathleen is."
+
+"Had you not heard?" inquired Mrs. Waring-Gaunt.
+
+"No, I only came last night, you see." Then turning to Jack, she added,
+"And is--is Kathleen going to marry you?" Her astonishment was evident
+in her voice and eyes.
+
+"I hope so," said Jack, "and you are no more astonished than I am
+myself. I only found it out night before last."
+
+It was characteristic of Jane that she sat gazing at him in silence; her
+tongue had not learned the trick of easy compliment. She was trying to
+take in the full meaning of this surprising announcement.
+
+"Well?" said Jack after he had waited for some moments.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said hurriedly. "I congratulate you. I
+think you are a very lucky man."
+
+"I am, indeed," said Jack with emphasis. "And Kathleen? You are not so
+sure about her luck?"
+
+"Well, I don't know you yet," said Jane gravely, "and Kathleen is a very
+lovely girl, the very loveliest girl I know."
+
+"You are quite right," said Jack in a tone as grave as her own. "I am
+not good enough for her."
+
+"Oh, I did not say that. Only I don't know you, and you see I know
+Kathleen. She is so lovely and so good. I love her." Jane's face was
+earnest and grave.
+
+"And so do I, Jane, if I may call you so," said Jack, "and I am going to
+try to be worthy of her."
+
+Jane's eyes rested quietly on his face. She made up her mind that it was
+an honest face and a face one could trust, but to Jane it seemed as if
+something portentous had befallen her friend and she could not bring
+herself immediately to accept this new situation with an outburst of
+joyous acclaim such as ordinarily greets an announcement of this kind.
+For a reason she could not explain her mind turned to the memory she
+cherished of her own mother and of the place she had held with her
+father. She wondered if this man could give to Kathleen a place so high
+and so secure in his heart. While her eyes were on his face Jack could
+see that her mind was far away. She was not thinking of him.
+
+"What is it, Jane?" he said gently.
+
+Jane started and the blood rushed to her face. She hesitated, then said
+quietly but with charming frankness, "I was thinking of my mother. She
+died when I was two years old. Father says I am like her. But I am not
+at all. She was very lovely. Kathleen makes me think of her, and father
+often tells me about her. He has never forgotten her. You see I think he
+loved her in quite a wonderful way, and he--" Jane paused abruptly.
+
+Mrs. Waring-Gaunt rose quietly, came to her side. "Dear Jane, dear
+child," she said, kissing her. "That's the only way to love. I am sure
+your mother was a lovely woman, and a very happy woman, and you are like
+her."
+
+But Jack kept his face turned away from them.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Waring-Gaunt," cried Jane, shaking her head emphatically,
+"I am not the least bit like her. That is one of the points on which I
+disagree with father. We do not agree upon everything, you know."
+
+"No? What are some of the other points?"
+
+"We agree splendidly about Kathleen," said Jane, laughing. "Just now we
+differ about Germany."
+
+"Aha, how is that?" inquired Jack, immediately alert.
+
+"Of course, I know very little about it, you understand, but last winter
+our minister, Mr. McPherson, who had just been on a visit to Germany
+the summer before, gave a lecture in which he said that Germany had made
+enormous preparations for war and was only waiting a favourable moment
+to strike. Papa says that is all nonsense."
+
+"Oh, Jane, Jane," cried Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "you have struck upon a very
+sore spot in this house. Jack will indorse all your minister said. He
+will doubtless go much further."
+
+"What did he say, Jane?" inquired Jack.
+
+"He was greatly in earnest and he urged preparation by Canada. He thinks
+we ought at the very least to begin getting our fleet ready right away."
+
+"That's politics, of course," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "and I do not know
+what you are."
+
+"I am not sure that I do either," she replied, "but I believe too that
+Canada ought to get at her fleet without loss of time."
+
+"But what did he say about Germany?" continued Jack.
+
+"I can't tell you everything, of course, but he assured us that Germany
+had made the greatest possible preparation, that the cities, towns and
+villages were full of drilling men; that there were great stores of war
+material, guns and shells, everywhere throughout Germany; that they were
+preparing fleets of Zeppelins and submarines too; that they were ready
+to march at twenty-four hours' notice; that the whole railroad system
+of Germany was organised, was really built for war; that within the last
+few years the whole nation had come to believe that Germany must go to
+war in order to fulfil her great destiny. Father says that this is all
+foolish talk, and that all this war excitement is prompted chiefly by
+professional soldiers, like Lord Roberts and others, and by armament
+makers like the Armstrongs and the Krupps."
+
+"What do you think about it all, Jane?" inquired Jack, looking at her
+curiously.
+
+"Well, he had spent some months in Germany and had taken pains to
+inquire of all kinds of people, officers and professors and preachers
+and working people and politicians, and so I think he ought to know
+better than others who just read books and the newspapers, don't you
+think so?"
+
+"I think you are entirely right, and I hope that minister of yours will
+deliver that lecture in many places throughout this country, for there
+are not many people, even in England, who believe in the reality of the
+German menace. But this is my hobby, my sister says, and I don't want to
+bore you."
+
+"But I am really interested, Mr. Romayne. Papa laughs at me, and Larry
+too. He does not believe in the possibility of war. But I think that if
+there is a chance, even the slightest chance, of it being true, it is
+so terrible that we all ought to be making preparation to defend
+ourselves."
+
+"Well, if it won't bore you," said Jack, "I shall tell you a few
+things."
+
+"Then excuse me," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I have some matters to attend
+to. I have no doubt that you at least, Jack, will have a perfectly
+lovely time."
+
+"I am sure I shall too," cried Jane enthusiastically. "I just want to
+hear about this."
+
+"Will you please pass me that green book?" said Jack, after Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt had left the room. "No, the next one. Yes. The first thing
+that it is almost impossible for us Britishers to get into our minds is
+this, that Germany, not simply the Kaiser and the governing classes, but
+the whole body of the German people, take themselves and their empire
+and their destiny with most amazing seriousness. Listen to this, for
+instance. This will give you, I say, the psychological condition out of
+which war may easily and naturally arise." He turned the leaves of the
+book and read:
+
+"'To live and expand at the expense of other less meritorious peoples
+finds its justification in the conviction that we are of all people the
+most noble and the most pure, destined before others to work for the
+highest development of humanity.'
+
+"One of their poets--I haven't got him here--speaks of the 'German life
+curing all the evils of humanity by mere contact with it.' You see that
+row of books? These are only a few. Most of them are German. They are
+all by different authors and on different subjects, but they are quite
+unanimous in setting forth the German ideal, the governing principle
+of German World politics. They are filled with the most unbelievable
+glorification of Germany and the German people, and the most
+extraordinary prophecies as to her wonderful destiny as a World Power.
+Unhappily the German has no sense of humour. A Britisher talking in
+this way about his country would feel himself to be a fool. Not so the
+German. With a perfectly serious face he will attribute to himself and
+to his nation all the virtues in the calendar. For instance, listen to
+this:
+
+"'Domination belongs to Germany because it is a superior nation, a noble
+race, and it is fitting that it should control its neighbours just as
+it is the right and duty of every individual endowed with superior
+intellect and force to control inferior individuals about him.'
+
+"Here's another choice bit:
+
+"'We are the superior race in the fields of science and of art. We are
+the best colonists, the best sailors, the best merchants.'
+
+"That's one thing. Then here's another. For many years after his
+accession I believe the Kaiser was genuinely anxious to preserve the
+peace of Europe and tried his best to do so, though I am bound to say
+that at times he adopted rather peculiar methods, a mingling of bullying
+and intrigue. But now since 1904--just hand me that thin book, please.
+Thank you--the Kaiser has changed his tone. For instance, listen to
+this:
+
+"'God has called us to civilise the world. We are the missionaries of
+human progress.'
+
+"And again this:
+
+"'The German people will be the block of granite on which our Lord will
+be able to elevate and achieve the civilisation of the world.'
+
+"But I need not weary you with quotations. The political literature of
+Germany for the last fifteen years is saturated with this spirit. The
+British people dismiss this with a good-natured smile of contempt. To
+them it is simply an indication of German bad breeding. If you care I
+shall have a number of these books sent you. They are somewhat difficult
+to get. Indeed, some of them cannot be had in English at all. But you
+read German, do you not? Kathleen told me about your German prize."
+
+"I do, a little. But I confess I prefer the English," said Jane with a
+little laugh.
+
+"The chief trouble, however, is that so few English-speaking people care
+to read them. But I assure you that the one all-absorbing topic of the
+German people is this one of Germany's manifest destiny to rule and
+elevate the world. And remember these two things go together. They have
+no idea of dominating the world intellectually or even commercially--but
+perhaps you are sick of this."
+
+"Not at all. I am very greatly interested," said Jane.
+
+"Then I shall just read you one thing more. The German has no idea that
+he can benefit a nation until he conquers it. Listen to this:
+
+"'The dominion of German thought can only be extended under the aegis of
+political power, and unless we act in conformity to this idea we shall
+be untrue to out great duties toward the human race.'"
+
+"I shall be very glad to get those books," said Jane, "and I wish you
+would mark some of these passages. And I promise you I shall do all I
+can to make all my friends read them. I shall begin with Papa and Larry.
+They are always making fun of me and my German scare."
+
+"I can quite understand that," replied Jack. "That is a very common
+attitude with a great majority of the people of England to-day. But you
+see I have been close to these things for years, and I have personal
+knowledge of many of the plans and purposes in the minds of the German
+Kaiser and the political and military leaders of Germany, and unhappily
+I know too the spirit that dominates the whole body of the German
+people."
+
+"You lived in Germany for some years?"
+
+"Yes, for a number of years."
+
+"And did you like the life there?"
+
+"In many ways I did. I met some charming Germans, and then there is
+always their superb music."
+
+And for an hour Jack Romayne gave his listener a series of vivid
+pictures of his life in Germany and in other lands for the past ten
+years, mingling with personal reminiscences incidents connected with
+international politics and personages. He talked well, not only because
+his subject was a part of himself, but also because Jane possessed that
+rare ability to listen with intelligence and sympathy. Never had she met
+with a man who had been in such intimate touch with the world's Great
+Affairs and who was possessed at the same time of such brilliant powers
+of description.
+
+Before either of them was aware the party from the mine had returned.
+
+"We have had a perfectly glorious time," cried Nora as she entered the
+room with her cheeks and eyes glowing.
+
+"So have we, Miss Nora," said Jack. "In fact, I had not the slightest
+idea of the flight of time."
+
+"You may say so," exclaimed Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "These two have been so
+utterly absorbed in each other that my presence in the room or absence
+from it was a matter of perfect indifference. And how Jane managed it
+I don't know, but she got Jack to do for her what he has never done for
+me. He has actually been giving her the story of his life."
+
+Jane stood by listening with a smile of frank delight on her face.
+
+"How did you do it, Jane?" asked Kathleen shyly. "He has never told me."
+
+"Oh, I just listened," said Jane.
+
+"That's a nasty jar for you others," said Nora.
+
+"But he told me something else, Kathleen," said Jane with a bright
+blush, "and I am awfully glad." As she spoke she went around to Kathleen
+and, kissing her, said, "It is perfectly lovely for you both."
+
+"Oh, you really mean that, do you?" said Jack. "You know she was
+exceedingly dubious of me this morning."
+
+"Well, I am not now," said Jane. "I know you better, you see."
+
+"Thank God," said Jack fervently. "The day has not been lost. You will
+be sure to come again to see me," he added as Jane said good-bye.
+
+"Yes, indeed, you may be quite sure of that," replied Jane, smiling
+brightly back at him as she left the room with Nora.
+
+"What a pity she is so plain," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt when she had
+returned from seeing Jane on her way with Nora and Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"My dear Sybil, you waste your pity," said her brother. "That young lady
+is so attractive that one forgets whether she is plain or not. I can't
+quite explain her fascination for me. There's perfect sincerity to begin
+with. She is never posing. And perfect simplicity. And besides that she
+is so intellectually keen, she keeps one alive."
+
+"I just love her," said Kathleen. "She has such a good heart."
+
+"You have said it," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt, "and that is why Jane will
+never lose her charm."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE TRAGEDIES OF LOVE
+
+
+When the week had fled Dr. Brown could hardly persuade himself and his
+hosts at Lakeside Farm that the time had come for his departure to the
+coast. Not since he had settled down to the practice of his profession
+at Winnipeg more than twenty years ago had such a holiday been his.
+Alberta, its climate, its life of large spaces and far visions, its
+hospitable people, had got hold of him by so strong a grip that in
+parting he vowed that he would not await an opportunity but make one to
+repeat his visit to the ranch. And so he departed with the understanding
+that Jane should follow him to Banff ten days later with her friend
+Nora.
+
+The ten days were to Jane as a radiant, swiftly moving dream. Yet with
+so much to gratify her, one wish had remained ungratified. Though from
+early morning until late night she had ridden the ranges now with one
+and now with another, but for the most part with Larry, Jane had never
+"done the mine."
+
+"And I just know I shall go away without seeing that mine, and Winnipeg
+people will be sure to ask me about it, and what shall I say? And I have
+never seen that wonderful secretary, Mr. Switzer, either."
+
+"To-morrow," said Larry solemnly, "no matter what happens we shall have
+you see that mine and the wonderful Mr. Switzer."
+
+It was the seeing of Mr. Switzer that brought to Jane the only touch of
+tragedy to the perfect joy of her visit to Alberta. Upon arrival at
+the mine she was given over by Larry to Mr. Switzer's courteous and
+intelligent guidance, and with an enthusiasm that never wearied, her
+guide left nothing of the mine outside or in, to which with painstaking
+minuteness he failed to call her attention. It was with no small degree
+of pride that Mr. Switzer explained all that had been accomplished
+during the brief ten weeks during which the mine had been under his
+care. For although it was quite true that Mr. Steinberg was the manager,
+Switzer left no doubt in Jane's mind, as there was none in his own, that
+the mine owed its present state of development to his driving energy and
+to his organising ability. Jane readily forgave him his evident pride
+in himself as he exclaimed, sweeping his hand toward the little village
+that lay along the coolee,
+
+"Ten weeks ago, Miss Brown, there was nothing here but a little black
+hole in the hillside over there. To-day look at it. We have a company
+organised, a village built and equipped with modern improvements, water,
+light, drainage, etc. We are actually digging and shipping coal. It is
+all very small as yet, but it is something to feel that a beginning has
+been made."
+
+"I think it is really quite a remarkable achievement, Mr. Switzer. And I
+feel sure that I do not begin to know all that this means. They all say
+that you have accomplished great things in the short time you have been
+at work."
+
+"We are only beginning," said Switzer again, "but I believe we shall
+have a great mine. It will be a good thing--for the Gwynnes, I mean--and
+that is worth while. Of course, my own money is invested here too and I
+am working for myself, but I assure you that I chiefly think of them. It
+is a joy, Miss Brown, to work for those you love."
+
+"It is," replied Jane, slightly puzzled at this altruistic point of
+view; "The Gwynnes are dear people and I am glad for their sakes. I love
+them."
+
+"Yes," continued Switzer, "this will be a great mine. They will be
+wealthy some day."
+
+"That will be splendid," said Jane. "You see I have only got to know
+them well during this visit. Nine years ago I met them in Winnipeg when
+I was a little girl. Of course, Kathleen was with us a great deal
+last winter. I got to know her well then. She is so lovely, and she is
+lovelier now than ever. She is so happy, you know."
+
+Switzer looked puzzled. "Happy? Because you are here?"
+
+"No, no. Because of her engagement. Haven't you heard? I thought
+everybody knew."
+
+Switzer stood still in his tracks. "Her engagement?" he said in a hushed
+voice. "Her engagement to--to that"--he could not apparently get the
+word out without a great effort--"that Englishman?"
+
+Looking at his white face and listening to his tense voice, Jane felt
+as if she were standing at the edge of a mine that might explode at any
+moment.
+
+"Yes, to Mr. Romayne," she said, and waited, almost holding her breath.
+
+"It is not true!" he shouted. "It's a lie. Ha, Ha." Switzer's laugh
+was full of incredulous scorn. "Engaged? And how do YOU know?" He swung
+fiercely upon her, his eyes glaring out of a face ghastly white.
+
+"I am sorry I said anything, Mr. Switzer. It was not my business to
+speak of it," said Jane quietly. "But I thought you knew."
+
+Gradually the thing seemed to reach his mind. "Your business?" he said.
+"What difference whose business it is? It is not true. I say it is not
+true. How do you know? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me." He seized her by the
+arm, and at each "Tell me" shook her violently.
+
+"You are hurting me, Mr. Switzer," said Jane.
+
+He dropped her arm. "Then, my God, will you not tell me? How do you
+know?"
+
+"Mr. Switzer, believe me it is true," said Jane, trying to speak
+quietly, though she was shaking with excitement and terror. "Mr. Romayne
+told me, they all told me, Kathleen told me. It is quite true, Mr.
+Switzer."
+
+He stared at her as if trying to take in the meaning of her words, then
+glared around him like a hunted animal seeking escape from a ring of
+foes, then back at her again. There were workmen passing close to them
+on the path, but he saw nothing of them. Jane was looking at his ghastly
+face. She was stricken with pity for him.
+
+"Shall we walk on this way?" she said, touching his arm.
+
+He shook off her touch but followed her away from the busy track of
+the workers, along a quieter path among the trees. Sheltered from
+observation, she slowed her steps and turned towards him.
+
+"She loves him?" he said in a low husky voice. "You say she loves him?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Switzer, she loves him," said Jane. "She cannot help herself.
+No one can help one's self. You must not blame her for that, Mr.
+Switzer."
+
+"She does not love me," said Switzer as if stunned by the utterly
+inexplicable phenomenon. "But she did once," he cried. "She did before
+that schwein came." No words could describe the hate and contempt in
+his voice. He appeared to concentrate his passions struggling for
+expression, love, rage, hate, wounded pride, into one single stream of
+fury. Grinding his teeth, foaming, sputtering, he poured forth his words
+in an impetuous torrent.
+
+"He stole her from me! this schwein of an Englishman! He came like a
+thief, like a dog and a dog's son and stole her! She was mine! She would
+have been mine! She loved me! She was learning to love me. I was too
+quick with her once, but she had forgiven me and was learning to love
+me. But this pig!" He gnashed his teeth upon the word.
+
+"Stop, Mr. Switzer," said Jane, controlling her agitation and her
+terror. "You must not speak to me like that. You are forgetting
+yourself."
+
+"Forgetting myself!" he raged, his face livid blue and white.
+"Forgetting myself! Yes, yes! I forget everything but one thing. That I
+shall not forget. I shall not forget him nor how he stole her from
+me. Gott in Himmel! Him I shall never forget. No, when these hairs
+are white," he struck his head with his clenched fist, "I shall still
+remember and curse him." Abruptly he stayed the rush of his words. Then
+more deliberately but with an added intensity of passion he continued,
+"But no, never shall he have her. Never. God hears me. Never. Him I
+will kill, destroy." He had wrought himself up into a paroxysm of
+uncontrollable fury, his breath came in jerking gasps, his features
+worked with convulsive twitchings, his jaws champed and snapped upon his
+words like a dog's worrying rats.
+
+To Jane it seemed a horrible and repulsive sight, yet she could not stay
+her pity from him. She remembered it was love that had moved him to this
+pitch of madness. Love after all was a terrible thing. She could not
+despise him. She could only pity. Her very silence at length recalled
+him. For some moments he stood struggling to regain his composure.
+Gradually he became aware that her eyes were resting on his face. The
+pity in her eyes touched him, subdued him, quenched the heat of his
+rage.
+
+"I have lost her," he said, his lips quivering. "She will never change."
+
+"No, she will never change," replied Jane gently. "But you can always
+love her. And she will be happy."
+
+"She will be happy?" he exclaimed, looking at her in astonishment. "But
+she will not be mine."
+
+"No, she will not be yours," said Jane still very gently, "but she will
+be happy, and after all, that is what you most want. You are anxious
+chiefly that she shall be happy. You would give everything to make her
+happy."
+
+"I would give my life. Oh, gladly, gladly, I would give my life, I would
+give my soul, I would give everything I have on earth and heaven too."
+
+"Then don't grieve too much," said Jane, putting her hand on his arm.
+"She will be happy."
+
+"But what of me?" he cried pitifully, his voice and lips trembling like
+those of a little child in distress. "Shall I be happy?"
+
+"No, not now," replied Jane steadily, striving to keep back her tears,
+"perhaps some day. But you will think more of her happiness than of your
+own. Love, you know, seeks to make happy rather than to be happy."
+
+For some moments the man stood as if trying to understand what she had
+said. Then with a new access of grief and rage, he cried, "But my God!
+My God! I want her. I cannot live without her. I could make her happy
+too."
+
+"No, never," said Jane. "She loves him."
+
+"Ach--so. Yes, she loves him, and I--hate him. He is the cause of this.
+Some day I will kill him. I will kill him."
+
+"Then she would never be happy again," said Jane, and her face was full
+of pain and of pity.
+
+"Go away," he said harshly. "Go away. You know not what you say. Some
+day I shall make him suffer as I suffer to-day. God hears me. Some day."
+He lifted his hands high above his head. Then with a despairing cry,
+"Oh, I have lost her, I have lost her," he turned from Jane and rushed
+into the woods.
+
+Shaken, trembling and penetrated with pity for him, Jane made her
+way toward the office, near which she found Larry with the manager
+discussing an engineering problem which appeared to interest them both.
+
+"Where's Ernest?" inquired Larry.
+
+"He has just gone," said Jane, struggling to speak quietly. "I think we
+must hurry, Larry. Come, please. Good-bye, Mr. Steinberg." She hurried
+away toward the horses, leaving Larry to follow.
+
+"What is it, Jane?" said Larry when they were on their way.
+
+"Why didn't you tell me, Larry, that he was fond of Kathleen?" she cried
+indignantly. "I hurt him terribly, and, oh, it was awful to see a man
+like that."
+
+"What do you say? Did he cut up rough?" said Larry.
+
+Jane made no reply, but her face told its own story of shock and
+suffering.
+
+"He need not have let out upon you, Jane, anyway," said Larry.
+
+"Don't, Larry. You don't understand. He loves Kathleen. You don't know
+anything about it. How can you?"
+
+"Oh, he will get over it in time," said Larry with a slight laugh.
+
+Jane flashed on him a look of indignation. "Oh, how can you, Larry? It
+was just terrible to see him. But you do not know," she added with a
+touch of bitterness unusual with her.
+
+"One thing I do know," said Larry. "I would not pour out my grief on
+some one else. I would try to keep it to myself."
+
+But Jane refused to look at him or to speak again on the matter. Never
+in her sheltered life had there been anything suggesting tragedy. Never
+had she seen a strong man stricken to the heart as she knew this man to
+be stricken. The shadow of that tragedy stayed with her during all the
+remaining days of her visit. The sight of Kathleen's happy face never
+failed to recall the face of the man who loved her distorted with agony
+and that cry of despair, "I have lost her, I have lost her."
+
+Not that her last days at the ranch were not happy days. She was far
+too healthy and wholesome, far too sane to allow herself to miss the
+gladness of those last few days with her friends where every moment
+offered its full measure of joy. Nora would have planned a grand picnic
+for the last day on which the two households, including Jack
+Romayne, who by this time was quite able to go about, were to pay a
+long-talked-of visit to a famous canyon in the mountains. The party
+would proceed to the canyon in the two cars, for Mr. Wakeham's car and
+Mr. Wakeham's person as driver had been constantly at the service of the
+Gwynnes and their guests during their stay at the farm.
+
+"But that is our very last day, Nora," said Jane.
+
+"Well, that's just why," replied Nora. "We shall wind up our festivities
+in one grand, glorious finale."
+
+But the wise mother interposed. "It is a long ride, Nora, and you don't
+want to be too tired for your journey. I think the very last day we had
+better spend quietly at home."
+
+Jane's eyes flashed upon her a grateful look. And so it came that the
+grand finale was set back to the day before the last, and proved to be
+a gloriously enjoyable if exhausting outing. The last day was spent
+by Nora in making preparations for her visit with Jane to Banff and
+in putting the final touches to such household tasks as might help to
+lessen somewhat the burden for those who would be left behind. Jane
+spent the morning in a farewell visit to the Waring-Gaunts', which she
+made in company with Kathleen.
+
+"I hope, my dear Jane, you have enjoyed your stay with us here at Wolf
+Willow," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt as Jane was saying good-bye.
+
+"I have been very happy," said Jane. "Never in my life have I had such a
+happy time."
+
+"Now it is good of you to say that," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "You have
+made us all love you."
+
+"Quite true," said her husband. "Repetition of the great Caesar's
+experience veni vidi vici, eh? What?"
+
+"So say I," said Jack Romayne. "It has been a very real pleasure to know
+you, Jane. For my part, I shan't forget your visit to me, and the talks
+we have had together."
+
+"You have all been good to me. I cannot tell you how I feel about it."
+Jane's voice was a little tremulous, but her smile was as bright as
+ever. "I don't believe I shall ever have such a perfectly happy visit
+again."
+
+"What nonsense, my dear," said Mrs. Waring-Gaunt. "I predict many, many
+very happy days for you. You have that beautiful gift of bringing your
+joy with you."
+
+Jack accompanied them on their way to the road. "Kathleen and I are
+hoping that perhaps you may be able to come to our wedding. It will be
+very soon--in a few weeks."
+
+"Yes, could you, Jane, dear?" said Kathleen. "We should like it above
+everything else. I know it is a long, long journey, but if you could."
+
+"When is it to be?" said Jane.
+
+"Somewhere about the middle of October." But Jane shook her head
+disconsolately. By that time she knew she would be deep in her
+university work, and with Jane work ever came before play.
+
+"I am afraid not," she said. "But, oh, I do wish you all the happiness
+in the world. Nothing has ever made me so glad. Oh, but you will be
+happy, I know. Both of you are so lovely." A sudden rush of tears filled
+the deep dark eyes as she shook hands with Jack in farewell. "But," she
+cried in sudden rapture, "why not come to us for a day on your wedding
+trip?"
+
+"That's a splendid idea." For a moment or two Jack and Kathleen stood
+looking at each other.
+
+"Jane, we shall surely come. You may count on us," said Jack.
+
+In the afternoon Mrs. Gwynne sent Jane away for a ride with Larry.
+
+"Just go quietly, Larry," said his mother. "Don't race and don't tire
+Jane."
+
+"I will take care of her," said Larry, "but I won't promise that we
+won't race. Jane would not stand for that, you know. Besides she is
+riding Ginger, and Ginger is not exactly like old Polly. But never fear,
+we shall have a good ride, Mother," he added, waving his hand gaily as
+they rode away, taking the coolee trail to the timber lot.
+
+Larry was in high spirits. He talked of his work for the winter. He was
+hoping great things from this his last year in college. For the first
+time in his university career he would be able to give the full term
+to study. He would be a couple of weeks late on account of Kathleen's
+marriage, but he would soon make that up. He had his work well in hand
+and this year he meant to do something worth while. "I should like to
+take that medal home to Mother," he said with a laugh. "I just fancy
+I see her face. She would try awfully hard not to seem proud, but she
+would just be running over with it." Jane gave, as ever, a sympathetic
+hearing but she had little to say, even less than was usual with her.
+Her smile, however, was as quick and as bright as ever, and Larry
+chattered on beside her apparently unaware of her silence. Up the coolee
+and through the woods and back by the dump their trail led them. On the
+way home they passed the Switzer house.
+
+"Have you seen Mr. Switzer?" said Jane.
+
+"No, by Jove, he hasn't been near us for a week, has he?" replied Larry.
+
+"Poor man, I feel so sorry for him," said Jane.
+
+"Oh, he will be all right. He is busy with his work. He is awfully keen
+about that mine of his, and once the thing is over--after Kathleen is
+married, I mean--it will be different."
+
+Jane rode on in silence for some distance. Then she said,
+
+"I wonder how much you know about it, Larry. I don't think you know the
+very least bit."
+
+"Well, perhaps not," said Larry cheerfully, "but they always get over
+it."
+
+"Oh, do they?" said Jane. "I wonder."
+
+And again she rode on listening in silence to Larry's chatter.
+
+"You will have a delightful visit at Banff, Jane. Do you know Wakeham
+is going to motor up? He is to meet his father there. He asked me to go
+with him," and as he spoke Larry glanced at her face.
+
+"That would be splendid for you, Larry," she said, "but you couldn't
+leave them at home with all the work going on, could you?"
+
+"No," said Larry gloomily, "I do not suppose I could. But I think you
+might have let me say that."
+
+"But it is true, isn't it, Larry?" said Jane.
+
+"Yes, it's true, and there's no use talking about it, and so I told him.
+But," he said, cheering up again, "I have been having a holiday these
+two weeks since you have been here."
+
+"I know," said Jane remorsefully, "we must have cut into your work
+dreadfully."
+
+"Yes, I have loafed a bit, but it was worth while. What a jolly time we
+have had! At least, I hope you have had, Jane."
+
+"You don't need to ask me, do you, Larry?"
+
+"I don't know. You are so dreadfully secretive as to your feelings, one
+never knows about you."
+
+"Now, you are talking nonsense," replied Jane hotly. "You know quite
+well that I have enjoyed every minute of my visit here."
+
+They rode in silence for some time, then Larry said, "Jane, you are the
+best chum a fellow ever had. You never expect a chap to pay you special
+attention or make love to you. There is none of that sort of nonsense
+about you, is there?"
+
+"No, Larry," said Jane simply, but she kept her face turned away from
+him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
+
+
+The results of the University examinations filled three sheets of the
+Winnipeg morning papers. With eager eyes and anxious hearts hundreds
+of the youth of Manitoba and the other western provinces scanned these
+lists. It was a veritable Day of Judgment, a day of glad surprises for
+the faithful in duty and the humble in heart, a day of Nemesis for
+the vainly self-confident slackers who had grounded their hopes upon
+eleventh hour cramming and lucky shots in exam papers. There were
+triumphs which won universal approval, others which received grudging
+praise.
+
+Of the former, none of those, in the Junior year at least, gave more
+general satisfaction than did Jane Brown's in the winning of the German
+prize over Heinrich Kellerman, and for a number of reasons. In the first
+place Jane beat the German in his own language, at his own game, so to
+speak. Then, too, Jane, while a hard student, took her full share
+in college activities, and carried through these such a spirit of
+generosity and fidelity as made her liked and admired by the whole body
+of the students. Kellerman, on the other hand, was of that species of
+student known as a pot-hunter, who took no interest in college life, but
+devoted himself solely to the business of getting for himself everything
+that the college had to offer.
+
+Perhaps Jane alone, of his fellow students, gave a single thought to
+the disappointment of the little Jew. She alone knew how keenly he had
+striven for the prize, and how surely he had counted upon winning it.
+She had the feeling, too, that somehow the class lists did not represent
+the relative scholarship of the Jew and herself. He knew more German
+than she. It was this feeling that prompted her to write him a note
+which brought an answer in formal and stilted English.
+
+"Dear Miss Brown," the answer ran, "I thank you for your beautiful
+note, which is so much like yourself that in reading it I could see
+your smile, which so constantly characterises you to all your friends.
+I confess to disappointment, but the disappointment is largely mitigated
+by the knowledge that the prize which I failed to acquire went to one
+who is so worthy of it, and for whom I cherish the emotions of profound
+esteem and good will. Your devoted and disappointed rival, Heinrich
+Kellerman."
+
+"Rather sporting of him, isn't it?" said Jane to her friend Ethel
+Murray, who had come to dinner.
+
+"Sporting?" said Ethel. "It is the last thing I would have said about
+Kellerman."
+
+"That is the worst of prizes," said Jane, "some one has to lose."
+
+"Just the way I feel about Mr. MacLean," said Ethel. "He ought to have
+had the medal and not I. He knows more philosophy in a minute than I in
+a week."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't say that," said Jane judicially. "And though I am
+awfully glad you got it, Ethel, I am sorry for Mr. MacLean. You know he
+is working his way through college, and has to keep up a mission through
+the term. He is a good man."
+
+"Yes, he is good, a little too good," said Ethel, making a little face.
+"Isn't it splendid about Larry Gwynne getting the Proficiency, and
+the first in Engineering? Now he is what I call a sport. Of course he
+doesn't go in for games much, but he's into everything, the Lit., the
+Dramatic Society, and Scuddy says he helped him tremendously with the
+Senior class in the Y. M. C. A. work."
+
+"Yes," said Jane, "and the Register told Papa that the University had
+never graduated such a brilliant student. And Ramsay Dunn told me that
+he just ran the Athletic Association and was really responsible for the
+winning of the track team."
+
+"What a pity about Ramsay Dunn," said Ethel. "He just managed to
+scrape through. Do you know, the boys say he kept himself up mostly on
+whiskey-and-sodas through the exams. He must be awfully clever, and he
+is so good-looking."
+
+"Poor Ramsay," said Jane, "he has not had a very good chance. I mean,
+he has too much money. He is coming to dinner to-night, Ethel, and Frank
+Smart, too."
+
+"Oh, Frank Smart! They say he is doing awfully well. Father says he is
+one of the coming men in his profession. He is a great friend of yours,
+isn't he, Jane?" said Ethel, with a meaning smile.
+
+"We have known him a long time," said Jane, ignoring the smile. "We
+think a great deal of him."
+
+"When have you seen Larry?" enquired Ethel. "He comes here a lot,
+doesn't he?"
+
+"Yes. He says this is his Winnipeg home. I haven't seen him all to-day."
+
+"You don't mean to tell me!" exclaimed Ethel.
+
+"I mean I haven't seen him to congratulate him on his medal. His mother
+will be so glad."
+
+"You know his people, don't you? Tell me about them. You see, I may as
+well confess to you that I have a fearful crush on Larry."
+
+"I know," said Jane sympathetically.
+
+"But," continued Ethel, "he is awfully difficult. His people are
+ranching, aren't they? And poor, I understand."
+
+"Yes, they are ranching," said Jane, "and Larry has had quite a hard
+time getting through. I had a lovely visit last fall with them."
+
+"Oh, tell me about it!" exclaimed Ethel. "I heard a little, you know,
+from Larry."
+
+For half an hour Jane dilated on her western visit to the Lakeside Farm.
+
+"Oh, you lucky girl!" cried Ethel. "What a chance you had! To think of
+it! Three weeks, lonely rides, moonlight, and not a soul to butt in! Oh,
+Jane! I only wish I had had such a chance! Did nothing happen, Jane? Oh,
+come on now, you are too awfully oysteresque. Didn't he come across at
+all?"
+
+Jane's face glowed a dull red, but she made no pretence of failing to
+understand Ethel's meaning. "Oh, there is no nonsense of that kind with
+Larry," she said. "We are just good friends."
+
+"Good friends!" exclaimed Ethel indignantly. "That's just where he is so
+awfully maddening. I can't understand him. He has lots of red blood, and
+he is a sport, too. But somehow he never knows a girl from her brother.
+He treats me just the way he treats Bruce and Leslie. I often wonder
+what he would do if I kissed him. I've tried squeezing his hand."
+
+"Have you?" said Jane, with a delighted laugh. "What did he do?"
+
+"Why, he never knew it. I could have killed him," said Ethel in disgust.
+
+"He is going away to Chicago," said Jane abruptly, "to your friends,
+the Wakehams. Mr. Wakeham is in mines, as you know. Larry is to get two
+thousand dollars to begin with. It is a good position, and I am glad for
+him. Oh, there I see Mr. MacLean and Frank Smart coming in."
+
+When the party had settled down they discussed the Class lists and prize
+winners till Dr. Brown appeared.
+
+"Shall we have dinner soon, Jane?" he said as she welcomed him. "I wish
+to get through with my work early so as to take in the big political
+meeting this evening. Mr. Allen is to speak and there is sure to be a
+crowd."
+
+"I shall have it served at once, Papa. Larry is coming, but we won't
+wait for him."
+
+They were half through dinner before Larry appeared. He came in looking
+worn, pale and thinner even than usual. But there was a gleam in his eye
+and an energy in his movements that indicated sound and vigorous health.
+
+"You are not late, Larry," said Jane; "we are early. Papa is going to
+the political meeting."
+
+"Good!" cried Larry. "So am I. You are going, Frank, and you, MacLean?"
+
+"I don't know yet," said MacLean.
+
+"We are all due at Mrs. Allen's, Larry, you remember. It is a party for
+the Graduating Class, too," said Jane.
+
+"So we are. But we can take in the political meeting first, eh, Mac?"
+
+But MacLean glanced doubtfully at Ethel.
+
+"I have just had a go with Holtzman," said Larry, "the German Socialist,
+you know. He was ramping and raging like a wild man down in front of
+the post office. I know him quite well. He is going to heckle Mr. Allen
+to-night."
+
+The girls were keen to take in the political meeting, but Larry
+objected.
+
+"There will be a rough time, likely. It will be no place for ladies. We
+will take you to the party, then join you again after the meeting."
+
+The girls were indignant and appealed to Dr. Brown.
+
+"I think," said he, "perhaps you had better not go. The young gentlemen
+can join you later, you know, at Allens' party."
+
+"Oh, we don't want them then," said Ethel, "and, indeed, we can go by
+ourselves to the party."
+
+"Now, Ethel, don't be naughty," said Larry.
+
+"I shall be very glad to take you to the party, Miss Murray," said
+MacLean. "I don't care so much for the meeting."
+
+"That will be fine, Mac!" exclaimed Larry enthusiastically. "In this way
+neither they nor we will need to hurry."
+
+"Disgustingly selfish creature," said Ethel, making a face at him across
+the table.
+
+Jane said nothing, but her face fell into firmer lines and her cheeks
+took on a little colour. The dinner was cut short in order to allow Dr.
+Brown to get through with his list of waiting patients.
+
+"We have a few minutes, Ethel," said Larry. "Won't you give us a little
+Chopin, a nocturne or two, or a bit of Grieg?"
+
+"Do, Ethel," said Jane, "although you don't deserve it, Larry. Not a
+bit," she added.
+
+"Why, what have I done?" said Larry.
+
+"For one thing," said Jane, in a low, hurried voice, moving close to
+him, "you have not given me a chance to congratulate you on your medal.
+Where have you been all day?"
+
+The reproach in her eyes and voice stirred Larry to quick defence.
+"I have been awfully busy, Jane," he said, "getting ready to go off
+to-morrow. I got a telegram calling me to Chicago."
+
+"To Chicago? To-morrow?" said Jane, her eyes wide open with surprise.
+"And you never came to tell me--to tell us? Why, we may never see you
+again at all. But you don't care a bit, Larry," she added.
+
+The bitterness in her voice was so unusual with Jane that Larry in his
+astonishment found himself without reply.
+
+"Excuse me, Ethel," she said, "I must see Ann a minute."
+
+As she hurried from the room Larry thought he caught a glint of tears in
+her eyes. He was immediately conscience-stricken and acutely aware
+that he had not treated Jane with the consideration that their long and
+unique friendship demanded. True, he had been busy, but he could have
+found time for a few minutes with her. Jane was no ordinary friend. He
+had not considered her and this had deeply wounded her. And to-morrow
+he was going away, and going away not to return. He was surprised at the
+quick stab of pain that came with the thought that his days in Winnipeg
+were over. In all likelihood his life's work would take him to Alberta.
+This meant that when he left Winnipeg tomorrow there would be an end to
+all that delightful comradeship with Jane which during the years of his
+long and broken college course had formed so large a part of his life,
+and which during the past winter had been closer and dearer than ever.
+Their lives would necessarily drift apart. Other friends would come in
+and preoccupy her mind and heart. Jane had the art of making friends
+and of "binding her friends to her with hooks of steel." He had been
+indulging the opinion that of all her friends he stood first with her.
+Even if he were right, he could not expect that this would continue. And
+now on their last evening together, through his selfish stupidity, he
+had hurt her as never in all the years they had been friends together.
+But Jane was a sensible girl. He would make that right at once. She was
+the one girl he knew that he could treat with perfect frankness. Most
+girls were afraid, either that you were about to fall in love with them,
+or that you would not. Neither one fear nor the other disturbed the
+serenity of Jane's soul.
+
+As Jane re-entered the room, Larry sprang to meet her. "Jane," he said
+in a low, eager tone, "I am going to take you to the party."
+
+But Jane was her own serene self again, and made answer, "There is no
+need, Larry. Mr. MacLean will see us safely there, and after the meeting
+you will come. We must go now, Ethel." There was no bitterness in her
+voice. Instead, there was about her an air of gentle self-mastery,
+remote alike from pain and passion, that gave Larry the feeling that the
+comfort he had thought to bring was so completely unnecessary as to seem
+an impertinence. Jane walked across to where Frank Smart was standing
+and engaged him in an animated conversation.
+
+As Larry watched her, it gave him a quick sharp pang to remember that
+Frank Smart was a friend of older standing than he, that Smart was
+a rising young lawyer with a brilliant future before him. He was a
+constant visitor at this house. Why was it? Like a flash the thing stood
+revealed to him. Without a doubt Smart was in love with Jane. His own
+heart went cold at the thought. But why? he impatiently asked himself.
+He was not in love with Jane. Of that he was quite certain. Why, then,
+this dog-in-the-manger feeling? A satisfactory answer to this was beyond
+him. One thing only stood out before his mind with startling clarity, if
+Jane should give herself to Frank Smart, or, indeed, to any other, then
+for him life would be emptied of one of its greatest joys. He threw down
+the music book whose leaves he had been idly turning and, looking at his
+watch, called out, "Do you know it is after eight o'clock, people?"
+
+"Come, Ethel," said Jane, "we must go. And you boys will have to hurry.
+Larry, don't wait for Papa. He will likely have a seat on the platform.
+Good night for the present. You can find your way out, can't you? And,
+Mr. MacLean, you will find something to do until we come down?"
+
+Smiling over her shoulder, Jane took Ethel off with her upstairs.
+
+"Come, Smart, let's get a move on," said Larry, abruptly seizing his hat
+and making for the door. "We will have to fight to get in now."
+
+The theatre was packed, pit to gods. Larry and his friend with
+considerable difficulty made their way to the front row of those
+standing, where they found a group of University men, who gave them
+enthusiastic welcome to a place in their company. The Chairman had
+made his opening remarks, and the first speaker, the Honourable B. B.
+Bomberton, was well on into his oration by the time they arrived. He
+was at the moment engaged in dilating upon the peril through which the
+country had recently passed, and thanking God that Canada had loyally
+stood by the Empire and had refused to sell her heritage for a mess of
+pottage.
+
+"Rot!" cried a voice from the first gallery, followed by cheers and
+counter cheers.
+
+The Honourable gentleman, however, was an old campaigner and not easily
+thrown out of his stride. He fiercely turned upon his interrupter and
+impaled him upon the spear point of his scornful sarcasm, waving the
+while with redoubled vigour, "the grand old flag that for a thousand
+years had led the embattled hosts of freedom in their fight for human
+rights."
+
+"Rot!" cried the same voice again. "Can the flag stuff. Get busy and say
+something." (Cheers, counter cheers, yells of "Throw him out," followed
+by disturbance in the gallery.)
+
+Once more the speaker resumed his oration. He repeated his statement
+that the country had been delivered from a great peril. The strain upon
+the people's loyalty had been severe, but the bonds that bound them
+to the Empire had held fast, and please God would ever hold fast.
+(Enthusiastic demonstration from all the audience, indicating intense
+loyalty to the Empire.) They had been invited to enter into a treaty for
+reciprocal trade with the Republic south of us. He would yield to none
+in admiration, even affection, for their American neighbours. He knew
+them well; many of his warmest friends were citizens of that great
+Republic. But great as was his esteem for that Republic he was not
+prepared to hand over his country to any other people, even his American
+neighbours, to be exploited and finally to be led into financial
+bondage. He proceeded further to elaborate and illustrate the financial
+calamity that would overtake the Dominion of Canada as a result of the
+establishment of Reciprocity between the Dominion and the Republic. But
+there was more than that. They all knew that ancient political maxim
+"Trade follows the flag." But like most proverbs it was only half a
+truth. The other half was equally true that "The flag followed trade."
+There was an example of that within their own Empire. No nation in
+the world had a prouder record for loyalty than Scotland. Yet in 1706
+Scotland was induced to surrender her independence as a nation and
+to enter into union with England. Why? Chiefly for the sake of trade
+advantages.
+
+"Ye're a dom leear," shouted an excited Scot, rising to his feet in the
+back of the hall. "It was no Scotland that surrendered. Didna Scotland's
+king sit on England's throne. Speak the truth, mon." (Cheers, uproarious
+laughter and cries, "Go to it, Scotty; down wi' the Sassenach. Scotland
+forever!")
+
+When peace had once more fallen the Honourable B. B. Bomberton went on.
+He wished to say that his Scottish friend had misunderstood him. He was
+not a Scot himself--
+
+"Ye needna tell us that," said the Scot. (Renewed cheers and laughter.)
+
+But he would say that the best three-quarters of him was Scotch in that
+he had a Scotch woman for a wife, and nothing that he had said or could
+say could be interpreted as casting a slur upon that great and proud and
+noble race than whom none had taken a larger and more honourable part
+in the building and the maintaining of the Empire. But to resume. The
+country was asked for the sake of the alleged economic advantage to
+enter into a treaty with the neighbouring state which he was convinced
+would perhaps not at first but certainly eventually imperil the Imperial
+bond. The country rejected the proposal. The farmers were offered the
+double lure of high prices for their produce and a lower price for
+machinery. Never was he so proud of the farmers of his country as when
+they resisted the lure, they refused the bait, they could not be bought,
+they declined to barter either their independence or their imperial
+allegiance for gain. (Cheers, groans, general uproar.)
+
+Upon the subsidence of the uproar Frank Smart who, with Larry, had
+worked his way forward among a body of students standing in the first
+row immediately behind the seats, raised his hand and called out in a
+clear, distinct and courteous voice, "Mr. Chairman, a question if you
+will permit me." The chairman granted permission. "Did I understand
+the speaker to say that those Canadians who approved of the policy of
+Reciprocity were ready to barter their independence or their imperial
+allegiance for gain? If so, in the name of one half of the Canadian
+people I want to brand the statement as an infamous and slanderous
+falsehood."
+
+Instantly a thousand people were on their feet cheering, yelling, on
+the one part shouting, "Put him out," and on the other demanding,
+"Withdraw." A half dozen fights started up in different parts of the
+theatre. In Smart's immediate vicinity a huge, pugilistic individual
+rushed toward him and reached for him with a swinging blow, which would
+undoubtedly have ended for him the meeting then and there had not Larry,
+who was at his side, caught the swinging arm with an upward cut so that
+it missed its mark. Before the blow could be repeated Scudamore, the
+centre rush of the University football team, had flung himself upon the
+pugilist, seized him by the throat and thrust him back and back through
+the crowd, supported by a wedge of his fellow students, striking,
+scragging, fighting and all yelling the while with cheerful
+vociferousness. By the efforts of mutual friends the two parties were
+torn asunder just as a policeman thrust himself through the crowd and
+demanded to know the cause of the uproar.
+
+"Here," he cried, seizing Larry by the shoulder, "what does this mean?"
+
+"Don't ask me," said Larry, smiling pleasantly at him. "Ask that
+fighting man over there."
+
+"You were fighting. I saw you," insisted the policeman.
+
+"Did you?" said Larry. "I am rather pleased to hear you say it, but I
+knew nothing of it."
+
+"Look here, Sergeant," shouted Smart above the uproar. "Oh, it's you,
+Mac. You know me. You've got the wrong man. There's the man that started
+this thing. He deliberately attacked me. Arrest him."
+
+Immediately there were clamorous counter charges and demands for arrest
+of Smart and his student crew.
+
+"Come now," said Sergeant Mac, "keep quiet, or I'll be takin' ye all
+into the coop."
+
+Order once more being restored, the speaker resumed by repudiating
+indignantly the accusation of his young friend. Far be it from him to
+impugn the loyalty of the great Liberal party, but he was bound to say
+that while the Liberals might be themselves loyal both to the Dominion
+and to the Empire, their policy was disastrous. They were sound enough
+in their hearts but their heads were weak. After some further remarks
+upon the fiscal issues between the two great political parties and after
+a final wave of the imperial flag, the speaker declared that he now
+proposed to leave the rest of the time to their distinguished fellow
+citizen, the Honourable J. J. Allen.
+
+Mr. Allen found himself facing an audience highly inflamed with passion
+and alert for trouble. In a courteous and pleasing introduction he
+strove to allay their excited feelings and to win for himself a hearing.
+The matter which he proposed to bring to their attention was one of the
+very greatest importance, and one which called for calm and deliberate
+consideration. He only asked a hearing for some facts which every
+Canadian ought to know and for some arguments based thereupon which they
+might receive or reject according as they appealed to them or not.
+
+"You are all right, Jim; go to it," cried an enthusiastic admirer.
+
+With a smile Mr. Allen thanked his friend for the invitation and assured
+him that without loss of time he would accept it. He begged to announce
+his theme: "The Imperative and Pressing Duty of Canada to Prepare to do
+Her Part in Defence of the Empire." He was prepared frankly and without
+hesitation to make the assertion that war was very near the world and
+very near our Empire and for the reason that the great military power
+of Europe, the greatest military power the world had ever
+seen--Germany--purposed to make war, was ready for war, and was waiting
+only a favourable opportunity to begin.
+
+"Oh, r-r-rats-s," exclaimed a harsh voice.
+
+"That's Holtzman," said Larry to Smart.
+
+(Cries of "Shut up!--Go on.")
+
+"I beg the gentleman who has so courteously interrupted me," continued
+Mr. Allen, "simply to wait for my facts." ("Hear! Hear!" from many parts
+of the building.) The sources of his information were three: first,
+his own observation during a three months' tour in Germany; second,
+his conversations with representative men in Great Britain, France and
+Germany; and third, the experience of a young and brilliant attache of
+the British Embassy at Berlin now living in Canada, with whom he had
+been brought into touch by a young University student at present in
+this city. From this latter source he had also obtained possession
+of literature accessible only to a few. He spoke with a full sense of
+responsibility and with a full appreciation of the value of words.
+
+The contrast between the Honourable Mr. Allen and the speaker that
+preceded him was such that the audience was not only willing but eager
+to hear the facts and arguments which the speaker claimed to be in a
+position to offer. Under the first head he gave in detail the story
+of his visit to Germany and piled up an amazing accumulation of facts
+illustrative of Germany's military and naval preparations in the way
+of land and sea forces, munitions and munition factories, railroad
+construction, food supplies and financial arrangements in the way of
+gold reserves and loans. The preparations for war which, in the world's
+history, had been made by Great Powers threatening the world's freedom,
+were as child's play to these preparations now made by Germany, and
+these which he had given were but a few illustrations of Germany's war
+preparations, for the more important of these were kept hidden by her
+from the rest of the world. "My argument is that preparation by a nation
+whose commercial and economic instincts are so strong as those of the
+German people can only reasonably be interpreted to mean a Purpose to
+War. That that purpose exists and that that purpose determines Germany's
+world's politics, I have learned from many prominent Germans, military
+and naval officers, professors, bankers, preachers. And more than that
+this same purpose can be discovered in the works of many distinguished
+German writers during the last twenty-five years. You see this pile of
+books beside me? They are filled, with open and avowed declarations of
+this purpose. The raison d'etre of the great Pan-German League, of the
+powerful Navy League with one million and a half members, and of the
+other great German organisations is war. Bear with me while I read to
+you extracts from some of these writings. I respectfully ask a patient
+hearing. I would not did I not feel it to be important that from
+representative Germans themselves you should learn the dominating
+purpose that has directed and determined the course of German activity
+in every department of its national life for the last quarter of a
+century."
+
+For almost half an hour the speaker read extracts from the pile of
+books on the table beside him. "I think I may now fairly claim to have
+established first the fact of vast preparations by Germany for war and
+the further fact that Germany cherishes in her heart a settled Purpose
+of War." It was interesting to know how this purpose had come to be
+so firmly established in the heart of a people whom we had always
+considered to be devoted to the cultivation of the gentler arts of
+peace. The history of the rise and the development of this Purpose to
+War would be found in the history of Germany itself. He then briefly
+touched upon the outstanding features in the history of the German
+Empire from the days of the great Elector of Brandenburg to the present
+time. During these last three hundred years, while the English people
+were steadily fighting for and winning their rights to freedom and
+self-government from tyrant kings, in Prussia two powers were being
+steadily built up, namely autocracy and militarism, till under Bismarck
+and after the War of 1870 these two powers were firmly established
+in the very fibre of the new modern German Empire. Since the days of
+Bismarck the autocrat of Germany had claimed the hegemony of Europe and
+had dreamed of winning for himself and his Empire a supreme place among
+the nations of the world. And this dream he had taught his people to
+share with him, for to them it meant not simply greater national glory,
+which had become a mania with them, but expansion of trade and larger
+commercial returns. And for the realisation of this dream, the
+German Kaiser and his people with him were ready and were waiting the
+opportunity to plunge the world into the bloodiest war of all time.
+
+At some length the speaker proceeded to develop the idea of the
+necessary connection between autocracy and militarism, and the relation
+of autocratic and military power to wars of conquest. "The German
+Kaiser," he continued, "is ready for war as no would-be world conqueror
+in the world's history has ever been ready. The German Kaiser cherishes
+the purpose to make war, and this purpose is shared in and approved by
+the whole body of the German people." These facts he challenged any
+one to controvert. If these things were so, what should Canada do?
+Manifestly one thing only--she should prepare to do her duty in
+defending herself and the great Empire. "So far," he continued, "I have
+raised no controversial points. I have purposely abstained from dealing
+with questions that may be regarded from a partisan point of view. I
+beg now to refer to a subject which unhappily has become a matter of
+controversy in Canada--the subject, namely, of the construction of a
+Canadian Navy. [Disturbance in various parts of the building.] You
+have been patient. I earnestly ask you to be patient for a few moments
+longer. Both political parties fortunately are agreed upon two points;
+first, that Canada must do its share and is willing to do its share in
+the defence of the Empire. On this point all Canadians are at one, all
+Canadians are fully determined to do their full duty to the Empire which
+has protected Canada during its whole history, and with which it is
+every loyal Canadian's earnest desire to maintain political connection.
+Second, Canada must have a Navy. Unfortunately, while we agree upon
+these two points, there are two points upon which we differ. First,
+we differ upon the method to be adopted in constructing our Navy and,
+second, upon the question of Navy control in war. In regard to the
+second point, I would only say that I should be content to leave the
+settlement of that question to the event. When war comes that question
+will speedily be settled, and settled, I am convinced, in a way
+consistent with what we all desire to preserve, Canadian autonomy.
+In regard to the first, I would be willing to accept any method of
+construction that promised efficiency and speed, and with all my power
+I oppose any method that necessitates delay. Considerations of such
+questions as location of dockyards, the type of ship, the size of ship,
+I contend, are altogether secondary. The main consideration is speed.
+I leave these facts and arguments with you, and speaking not as a party
+politician but simply as a loyal Canadian and as a loyal son of the
+Empire, I would say, 'In God's name, for our country's honour and for
+the sake of our Empire's existence, let us with our whole energy and
+with all haste prepare for war.'"
+
+The silence that greeted the conclusion of this address gave eloquent
+proof of the profound impression produced.
+
+As the chairman rose to close the meeting the audience received a shock.
+The raucous voice of Holtzman was heard again demanding the privilege of
+asking two questions.
+
+"The first question I would ask, Mr. Chairman, is this: Is not this
+immense war preparation of Germany explicable on the theory of the
+purpose of defence? Mr. Allen knows well that both on the eastern
+and southern frontiers Germany is threatened by the aggression of
+the Pan-Slavic movement, and to protect herself from this Pan-Slavic
+movement, together with a possible French alliance, the war preparations
+of Germany are none too vast. Besides, I would ask Mr. Allen, What about
+Britain's vast navy?"
+
+"The answer to this question," said Mr. Allen, "is quite simple. What
+nation has threatened Germany for the past forty years? On the contrary,
+every one knows that since 1875 five separate times has Germany
+threatened war against France and twice against Russia. Furthermore
+military experts assure us that in defensive war an army equipped with
+modern weapons can hold off from four to eight times its own strength.
+It is absurd to say that Germany's military preparations are purely
+defensive. As for Britain's navy, the answer is equally simple.
+Britain's Empire is like no other Empire in the world in that it lies
+spread out upon the seven seas. It is essential to her very life that
+she be able to keep these waterways open to her ships. Otherwise she
+exists solely upon the sufferance of any nation that can wrest from her
+the supremacy of the sea. At her will Germany has the right to close
+against all the world the highways of her empire; the highways of
+Britain's empire are the open seas which she shares with the other
+nations of the world and which she cannot close. Therefore, these
+highways she must be able to make safe."
+
+"If Mr. Allen imagines that this answer of his will satisfy any but the
+most bigoted Britain, I am content. Another question I would ask. Does
+not Mr. Allen think that if the capitalistic classes, who leave their
+burdens to be borne by the unhappy proletariat, were abolished wars
+would immediately cease? Does he not know that recently it was proved in
+Germany that the Krupps were found to be promoting war scares in France
+in the interests of their own infernal trade? And lastly does not
+history prove that Britain is the great robber nation of the world? And
+does he not think that it is time she was driven from her high place by
+a nation which is her superior, commercially, socially, intellectually
+and every other way?"
+
+As if by a preconcerted signal it seemed as if the whole top gallery
+broke into a pandemonium of approving yells, while through other parts
+of the house arose fierce shouts, "Throw him out." Mr. Allen rose and
+stood quietly waiting till the tumult had ceased.
+
+"If the gentleman wishes to engage me in a discussion on socialism, my
+answer is that this is not the time nor place for such a discussion. The
+question which I have been considering is one much too grave to be mixed
+up with an academic discussion of any socialistic theories."
+
+"Aha! Aha!" laughed Holtzman scornfully.
+
+"As for Britain's history, that stands for all the world to read. All
+the nations have been guilty of crimes; but let me say that any one who
+knows the history of Germany for the last three hundred years is aware
+that in unscrupulous aggression upon weaker neighbours, in treachery to
+friend and foe, Germany is the equal of any nation in the world. But
+if you consider her history since 1864 Germany stands in shameless
+and solitary pre-eminence above any nation that has ever been for
+unscrupulous greed, for brutal, ruthless oppression of smaller peoples,
+and for cynical disregard of treaty covenants, as witness Poland,
+Austria, Denmark, Holland and France. As to the treachery of the Krupps,
+I believe the gentleman is quite right, but I would remind him that
+the Kaiser has no better friend to-day than Bertha Krupp, and she is a
+German."
+
+From every part of the theatre rose one mighty yell of delight and
+derision, during which Holtzman stood wildly gesticulating and shouting
+till a hand was seen to reach his collar and he disappeared from view.
+Once more order was restored and the chairman on the point of closing
+the meeting, when Larry said to his friend Smart:
+
+"I should dearly love to take a hand in this."
+
+"Jump in," said Smart, and Larry "jumped in."
+
+"Mr. Chairman," he said quietly, "may I ask Mr. Allen a question?"
+
+"No," said the chairman in curt reply. "The hour is late and I think
+further discussion at present is unprofitable."
+
+But here Mr. Allen interposed. "I hope, Mr. Chairman," he said, "you
+will allow my young friend, Mr. Gwynne, of whose brilliant achievements
+in our University we are all so proud, to ask his question."
+
+"Very well," said the chairman in no good will.
+
+"Allow me to thank Mr. Allen for his courtesy," said Larry. "Further I
+wish to say that though by birth, by training, and by conviction I am a
+pacifist and totally opposed to war, yet to-night I have been profoundly
+impressed by the imposing array of facts presented by the speaker and
+by the arguments built upon these facts, and especially by the fine
+patriotic appeal with which Mr. Allen closed his address. But I am not
+satisfied, and my question is this--"
+
+"Will not Mr. Gwynne come to the platform?" said Mr. Allen.
+
+"Thank you," said Larry, "I prefer to stay where I am, I am much too
+shy."
+
+Cries of "Platform! Platform!" however, rose on every side, to which
+Larry finally yielded, and encouraged by the cheers of his fellow
+students and of his other friends in the audience, he climbed upon the
+platform. His slight, graceful form, the look of intellectual strength
+upon his pale face, his modest bearing, his humorous smile won sympathy
+even from those who were impatient at the prolonging of the meeting.
+
+"Mr. Chairman," he began with an exaggerated look of fear upon his face,
+"I confess I am terrified by the position in which I find myself, and
+were it not that I feel deeply the immense importance of this question
+and the gravity of the appeal with which the speaker closed his address,
+I would not have ventured to say a word. My first question is this: Does
+not Mr. Allen greatly exaggerate the danger of war with Germany? And my
+reasons for this question are these. Every one knows that the relations
+between Great Britain and Germany have been steadily improving during
+the last two or three years. I note in this connection a statement made
+only a few months ago by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston
+Churchill. It reads as follows:
+
+"'The Germans are a nation with robust minds and a high sense of honour
+and fair play. They look at affairs in a practical military spirit.
+They like to have facts put squarely before them. They do not want them
+wrapped up lest they should be shocked by them, and relations between
+the two countries have steadily improved during the past year. They have
+steadily improved side by side with every evidence of our determination
+to maintain our naval supremacy.'
+
+"These words spoken in the British House of Commons give us Mr. Winston
+Churchill's deliberate judgment as to the relations between Germany and
+Great Britain. Further Mr. Allen knows that during the past two years
+various peace delegations composed of people of the highest standing
+in each country have exchanged visits. I understand from private
+correspondence from those who have promoted these delegations that
+the last British delegation was received in Germany with the utmost
+enthusiasm by men of all ranks and professions, generals, admirals,
+burgomasters, professors and by the Kaiser himself, all professing
+devotion to the cause of peace and all wishing the delegation Godspeed.
+Surely these are indications that the danger of war is passing away.
+You, Sir, have made an appeal for war preparation tonight, a great and
+solemn appeal and a moving appeal for war--merciful God, for war! I have
+been reading about war during the past three months, I have been reading
+again Zola's Debacle--a great appeal for preparedness, you would say.
+Yes, but a terrific picture of the woes of war."
+
+Larry paused. A great silence had fallen upon the people. There flashed
+across his mind as he spoke a vision of war's red, reeking way across
+the fair land of France. In a low but far-penetrating voice, thrilling
+with the agonies which were spread out before him in vision, he pictured
+the battlefield with its mad blood lust, the fury of men against men
+with whom they had no quarrel, the mangled ruins of human remains in
+dressing station and hospital, the white-faced, wild-eyed women waiting
+at home, and back of all, safe, snug and cynical, the selfish, ambitious
+promoters of war. Steady as a marching column without pause or falter,
+in a tone monotonous yet thrilling with a certain subdued passion, he
+gave forth his indictment of war. He was on familiar ground for this had
+been the theme of his prize essay last winter. But to-night the thing to
+him was vital, terrifying, horrible. He was delivering no set address,
+but with all the power of his soul he was pleading for comrades
+and friends, for wives and sweethearts, for little babes and for
+white-haired mothers, "and in the face of all this, you are asking us
+to prepare that we Canadians, peaceful and peace-loving, should do our
+share to perpetrate this unspeakable outrage upon our fellow men, this
+insolent affront against Almighty God. Tell me, if Canada, if Britain,
+were to expend one-tenth, one-hundredth part of the energy, skill,
+wealth, in promoting peace which they spend on war, do you not think
+we might have a surer hope of warding off from our Canadian homes this
+unspeakable horror?" With white face and flaming eyes, his form tense
+and quivering, he stood facing the advocate of war. For some moments,
+during which men seemed scarcely to breathe, the two faced each other.
+Then in a voice that rang throughout the theatre as it had not in all
+his previous speech, but vibrant with sad and passionate conviction, Mr.
+Allen made reply.
+
+"It is to ward off from our people and from our Canadian homes this
+calamity that you have so vividly pictured for us that I have made my
+appeal to-night. Your enemy who seeks your destruction will be more
+likely to halt in his spring if you cover him with your gun than if you
+appeal to him with empty hands. For this reason, it is that once more I
+appeal to my fellow Canadians in God's name, in the name of all that
+we hold dear, let us with all our power and with all speed prepare for
+war."
+
+"God Save the King," said the Chairman. And not since the thrilling days
+of Mafeking had Winnipeg people sung that quaint archaic, but moving
+anthem as they sang it that night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE CLOSING OF THE DOOR
+
+
+From the remarks of his friends even as they thronged him, offering
+congratulations, Mr. Allen could easily gather that however impressive
+his speech had been, few of his audience had taken his warning
+seriously.
+
+"You queered my speech, Larry," he said, "but I forgive you."
+
+"Not at all, Sir," replied Larry. "You certainly got me."
+
+"I fear," replied Mr. Allen, "that I am 'the voice crying in the
+wilderness.'"
+
+At the Allens' party Larry was overwhelmed with congratulations on his
+speech, the report of which had been carried before him by his friends.
+
+"They tell me your speech was quite thrilling," said Mrs. Allen as she
+greeted Larry.
+
+"Your husband is responsible for everything," replied Larry.
+
+"No," said Mr. Allen, "Miss Jane here is finally responsible. Hers were
+the big shells I fired."
+
+"Not mine," replied Jane. "I got them from Mr. Romayne, your
+brother-in-law, Larry."
+
+"Well, I'm blowed!" said Larry. "That's where the stuff came from! But
+it was mighty effective, and certainly you put it to us, Mr. Allen.
+You made us all feel like fighting. Even Scuddy, there, ran amuck for a
+while."
+
+"What?" said Mr. Allen, "you don't really mean to say that Scudamore,
+our genial Y. M. C. A. Secretary, was in that scrap? That cheers me
+greatly."
+
+"Was he!" said Ramsay Dunn, whose flushed face and preternaturally grave
+demeanour sufficiently explained his failure to appear at Dr. Brown's
+dinner. "While Mr. Smart's life was saved by the timely upper-cut of our
+distinguished pacifist, Mr. Gwynne, without a doubt Mr. Scudamore--hold
+him there, Scallons, while I adequately depict his achievement--"
+Immediately Scallons and Ted Tuttle, Scudamore's right and left supports
+on the scrimmage line, seized him and held him fast. "As I was saying,"
+continued Dunn, "great as were the services rendered to the cause by our
+distinguished pacifist, Mr. Gwynne, the supreme glory must linger round
+the head of our centre scrim and Y. M. C. A. Secretary, Mr. Scudamore,
+to whose effective intervention both Mr. Smart and Mr. Gwynne owe the
+soundness of their physical condition which we see them enjoying at the
+present moment."
+
+In the midst of his flowing periods Dunn paused abruptly and turned
+away. He had caught sight of Jane's face, grieved and shocked, in
+the group about him. Later he approached her with every appearance of
+profound humiliation. "Miss Brown," he said, "I must apologise for not
+appearing at dinner this evening."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Dunn," said Jane, "why will you do it? Why break the hearts of
+all your friends?"
+
+"Why? Because I am a fool," he said bitterly. "If I had more friends
+like you, Miss Brown," he paused abruptly, then burst forth, "Jane, you
+always make me feel like a beast." But Larry's approach cut short any
+further conversation.
+
+"Jane, I want to talk to you," said Larry impetuously. "Let us get away
+somewhere."
+
+In the library they found a quiet spot, where they sat down.
+
+"I want to tell you," said Larry, "that I feel that I treated you
+shabbily to-day. I have only a poor excuse to offer, but I should like
+to explain."
+
+"Don't, Larry," said Jane, her words coming with hurried impetuosity. "I
+was very silly. I had quite forgotten it. You know we have always told
+each other things, and I expected that you would come in this morning
+just to talk over your medal, and I did want a chance to say how glad I
+was for you, and how glad and how proud I knew your mother would be; and
+to tell the truth really," she added with a shy little laugh, "I wanted
+to have you congratulate me on my prize too. But, Larry, I understand
+how you forgot."
+
+"Forgot!" said Larry. "No, Jane, I did not forget, but this telegram
+from Chicago came last night, and I was busy with my packing all
+morning and then in the afternoon I thought I would hurry through a few
+calls--they always take longer than one thinks--and before I knew it I
+was late for dinner. I had not forgotten; I was thinking of you all day,
+Jane."
+
+"Were you, Larry?" said Jane, a gentle tenderness in her smile. "I am
+glad."
+
+Then a silence fell between them for some moments. They were both
+thinking of the change that was coming to their lives. Larry was
+wondering how he would ever do without this true-hearted friend whose
+place in his life he was only discovering now to be so large. He glanced
+at her. Her eyes were glowing with a soft radiance that seemed to
+overflow from some inner spring.
+
+"Jane," he cried with a sudden impulse, "you are lovely, you are
+perfectly lovely."
+
+A shy, startled, eager look leaped into her eyes. Then her face grew
+pale. She waited, expectant, tremulous. But at that instant a noisy
+group passed into the library.
+
+"Larry," whispered Jane, turning swiftly to him and laying her hand upon
+his arm, "you will take me home to-night."
+
+"All right, Jane, of course," said Larry.
+
+As they passed out from the library Helen Brookes met them. "Larry, come
+here," she said in a voice of suppressed excitement. "Larry, don't you
+want to do something for me? Scuddy wants to take me home tonight, and I
+don't want him to."
+
+"But why not, Helen? You ought to be good to Scuddy, poor chap. He's a
+splendid fellow, and I won't have him abused."
+
+"Not to-night, Larry; I can't have him to-night. You will take me home,
+won't you? I am going very soon."
+
+"You are, eh? Well, if you can go within ten minutes, I shall be ready."
+
+"Say fifteen," said Helen, turning to meet Lloyd Rushbrook, the Beau
+Brummel of the college, who came claiming a dance.
+
+Larry at once went in search of Jane to tell her of his engagement with
+Helen Brookes, but could find her nowhere, and after some time spent in
+a vain search, he left a message for her with his hostess. At the head
+of the stairs he found Helen waiting.
+
+"Oh, hurry, Larry," she cried in a fever of excitement. "Let's get away
+quickly."
+
+"Two minutes will do me," said Larry, rushing into the dressing room.
+
+There he found Scudamore pacing up and down in fierce, gloomy silence.
+
+"You are taking her home, Larry?" he said.
+
+"Who?" said Larry. Then glancing at his face, he added, "Yes, Scuddy, I
+am taking Helen home. She is apparently in a great hurry."
+
+"She need not be; I shall not bother her any more," said Scuddy
+bitterly, "and you can tell her that for me, if you like."
+
+"No, I won't tell her that, Scuddy," said Larry, "and, Scuddy," he
+added, imparting a bit of worldly wisdom, "campaigns are not won in a
+single battle, and, Scuddy, remember too that the whistling fisherman
+catches the fish. So cheer up, old boy." But Scuddy only glowered at
+him.
+
+Larry found Helen awaiting him, and quietly they slipped out together.
+"This is splendid of you, Larry," she said, taking his arm and giving
+him a little squeeze.
+
+"I don't know about that, Helen. I left Scuddy raging upstairs there.
+You girls are the very devil for cruelty sometimes. You get men serious
+with you, then you flirt and flutter about till the unhappy wretches
+don't know where they are at. Here's our car."
+
+"Car!" exclaimed Helen. "With this moonlight, Larry? And you going away
+to-morrow? Not if I know it."
+
+"It is fearfully unromantic, Helen, I know. But I must hurry. I have to
+take Jane home."
+
+"Oh, Jane! It's always Jane, Jane!"
+
+"Well, why not?" said Larry. "For years Jane has been my greatest pal,
+my best friend."
+
+"Nothing more?" said Helen earnestly. "Cross your heart, Larry."
+
+"Nothing more, cross my heart and all the rest of it," replied Larry.
+"Why! here's another car, Helen."
+
+"Oh, Larry, you are horrid, perfectly heartless! We may never walk
+together again. Here I am throwing myself at you and you only think
+of getting away back." Under her chaffing words there sounded a deeper
+note.
+
+"So I see," said Larry, laughing and refusing to hear the deeper
+undertone. "But I see something else as well."
+
+"What?" challenged Helen.
+
+"I see Scuddy leading out from Trinity some day the loveliest girl in
+Winnipeg."
+
+"Oh, I won't talk about Scuddy," said Helen impatiently. "I want to talk
+about you. Tell me about this Chicago business."
+
+For the rest of the way home she led Larry to talk of his plans for the
+future. At her door Helen held out her hand. "You won't come in, Larry,
+I know, so we will say good-bye here." Her voice was gentle and earnest.
+The gay, proud, saucy air which she had ever worn and which had been one
+of her chief charms, was gone. The moonlight revealed a lovely wistful
+face from which misty eyes looked into his. "This is the end of our good
+times together, Larry. And we have had good times. You are going to be a
+great man some day. I wish you all the best in life."
+
+"Thank you, Helen," said Larry, touched by the tones of her voice and
+the look in her eyes. "We have been good friends. We shall never be
+anything else. With my heart I wish you--oh, just everything that is
+good, Helen dear. Good-bye," he said, leaning toward her. "How lovely
+you are!" he murmured.
+
+"Good-bye, dear Larry," she whispered, lifting up her face.
+
+"Good-bye, you dear girl," he said, and kissed her.
+
+"Now go," she said, pushing him away from her.
+
+"Be good to Scuddy," he replied as he turned from her and hurried away.
+
+He broke into a run, fearing to be late, and by the time he arrived
+at the Allens' door he had forgotten all about Helen Brookes and was
+thinking only of Jane and of what he wanted to say to her. At the inner
+door he met Macleod and Ethel coming out.
+
+"Jane's gone," said Ethel, "some time ago."
+
+"Gone?" said Larry.
+
+"Yes, Scuddy took her home."
+
+"Are they all gone?" inquired Larry.
+
+"Yes, for the most part."
+
+"Oh, all right then; I think I shall not go in. Good-night," he said,
+turned abruptly about and set off for Dr. Brown's. He looked again at
+his watch. He was surprised to find it was not so very late. Why
+had Jane not waited for him? Had he hurt her again? He was sorely
+disappointed. Surely she had no reason to be offended, and this was his
+last night. As he thought the matter over he came to the conclusion that
+now it was he that had a grievance. Arrived at Dr. Brown's house the
+only light to be seen was in Jane's room upstairs. Should he go in or
+should he go home and wait till to-morrow. He was too miserable to think
+of going home without seeing her. He determined that he must see her at
+all cost to-night. He took a pebble and flung it up against her window,
+and another and another. The window opened and Jane appeared.
+
+"Oh, Larry," she whispered. "Is it you? Wait, I shall be down."
+
+She opened the door for him and stood waiting for him to speak. "Why
+didn't you wait?" he asked, passing into the hall. "I was not very
+long."
+
+"Why should I wait, Larry?" she said quietly. "Scuddy told me you had
+gone home with Helen."
+
+"But didn't I promise that I would take you home?"
+
+"You did, and then went away."
+
+"Well, all I have to say, Jane, is that this is not a bit like you. I am
+sorry I brought you down, and I won't keep you any longer. Good-night. I
+shall see you tomorrow."
+
+But Jane got between him and the door and stood with her back to it.
+"No, Larry, you are not going away like that. Go into the study."
+Larry looked at her in astonishment. This was indeed a new Jane to him.
+Wrathful, imperious, she stood waving him toward the study door. In
+spite of his irritation he was conscious of a new admiration for her.
+Feeling a little like a boy about to receive his punishment, he passed
+into the study.
+
+"Didn't Mrs. Allen give you my message?" he said.
+
+"Your message, Larry?" cried Jane, a light breaking upon her face. "Did
+you leave a message for me?"
+
+"I did. I told Mrs. Allen to tell you where I had gone--Helen was so
+anxious to go--and that I would be right back." Larry's voice was full
+of reproach.
+
+"Oh, Larry, I am so glad," said Jane, her tone indicating the greatness
+of her relief. "I knew it was all right--that something had prevented. I
+am so glad you came in. You must have thought me queer."
+
+"No," said Larry, appeased, "I knew all the time there must be some
+explanation, only I was feeling so miserable."
+
+"And I was miserable, too, Larry," she said gently. "It seemed a pity
+that this should happen on our last night." All her wrath was gone.
+She was once more the Jane that Larry had always known, gentle, sweet,
+straightforward, and on her face the old transfiguring smile. Before
+this change of mood all his irritation vanished. Humbled, penitent, and
+with a rush of warm affection filling his heart, he said,
+
+"I should have known you were not to blame, but you are always right.
+Never once in all these years have you failed me. You always understand
+a fellow. Do you know I am wondering how I shall ever do without you?
+Have you thought, Jane, that to-morrow this old life of ours together
+will end?"
+
+"Yes, Larry." Her voice was low, almost a whisper, and in her eyes an
+eager light shone.
+
+"It just breaks my heart, Jane. We have been--we are such good friends.
+If we had only fallen in love with each other.--But that would have
+spoiled it all. We are not like other people; we have been such chums,
+Jane."
+
+"Yes, Larry," she said again, but the eager light had faded from her
+eyes.
+
+"Let's sit a bit, Larry," she said. "I am tired, and you are tired,
+too," she added quickly, "after your hard day."
+
+For a little time they sat in silence together, both shrinking from the
+parting that they knew was so near. Larry gazed at her, wondering to
+himself that he had ever thought her plain. Tonight she seemed beautiful
+and very dear to him. Next to his mother, was her place in his heart.
+Was this that he felt for her what they called love? With all his soul
+he wished he could take her in his arms and say, "Jane, I love you." But
+still he knew that his words would not ring true. More than that, Jane
+would know it too. Besides, might not her feeling for him be of the
+same quality? What could he say in this hour which he recognised to be
+a crisis in their lives? Sick at heart and oppressed with his feeling
+of loneliness and impotence, he could only look at her in speechless
+misery. Then he thought she, too, was suffering, the same misery was
+filling her heart. She looked utterly spent and weary.
+
+"Jane," he said desperately. She started. She, too, had been thinking.
+"Scuddy is in love with Helen, Macleod is in love with Ethel. I wish to
+God I had fallen in love with you and you with me. Then we would have
+something to look forward to. Do you know, Jane, I am like a boy leaving
+home? We are going to drift apart. Others will come between us."
+
+"No, Larry," cried Jane with quick vehemence. "Not that. You won't let
+that come."
+
+"Can we help it, Jane?" Then her weariness appealed to him. "It is a
+shame to keep you up. I have given you a hard day, Jane." She shook her
+head. "And there is no use waiting. We can only say good-bye." He rose
+from his chair. Should he kiss her, he asked himself. He had had no
+hesitation in kissing Helen an hour ago. That seemed a light thing to
+him, but somehow he shrank from offering to kiss Jane. If he could only
+say sincerely, "Jane, I love you," then he could kiss her, but this he
+could not say truly. Anything but perfect sincerity he knew she would
+detect; and she would be outraged by it. Yet as he stood looking down
+upon her pale face, her wavering smile, her quivering lips, he was
+conscious of a rush of pity and of tenderness almost uncontrollable.
+
+"Good-bye, Jane; God keep you always, dear, dear Jane." He held her
+hands, looking into the deep blue eyes that looked back at him so
+bravely. He felt that he was fast losing his grip upon himself, and he
+must hurry away.
+
+"Good-bye, Larry," she said simply.
+
+"Good-bye," he said again in a husky voice. Abruptly he turned and left
+her and passed out through the door.
+
+Sore, sick at heart, he stumbled down the steps. "My God," he cried,
+"what a fool I am! Why didn't I kiss her? I might have done that at
+least."
+
+He stood looking at the closed door, struggling against an almost
+irresistible impulse to return and take her in his arms. Did he not love
+her? What other was this that filled his heart? Could he honestly say,
+"Jane, I want you for my wife"? He could not. Miserable and cursing
+himself he went his way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE GERMAN TYPE OF CITIZENSHIP
+
+
+Mr. Dean Wakeham was always glad to have a decent excuse to run up to
+the Lakeside Farm. His duties at the Manor Mine were not so pressing
+that he could not on occasion take leave of absence, but to impose
+himself upon the Lakeside household as frequently as he desired made it
+necessary for him to utilise all possible excuses. In the letter which
+he held in his hand and which he had just read he fancied he had found a
+perfectly good excuse for a call. The letter was from his sister Rowena
+and was dated May 15th, 1914. It was upon his sister's letters that he
+depended for information regarding the family life generally and about
+herself in particular. His mother's letters were intimate and personal,
+reflecting, however, various phases of her ailments, her anxieties for
+each member of the family, but especially for her only son now so far
+from her in that wild and uncivilised country, but ever overflowing with
+tender affection. Dean always put down his mother's letters with a smile
+of gentle pity on his face. "Poor, dear Mater," he would say. "She is at
+rest about me only when she has me safely tucked up in my little bed."
+His father's letters kept him in touch with the office and, by an
+illuminating phrase or two, with the questions of Big Business. But when
+he had finished Rowena's letters he always felt as if he had been paying
+a visit to his home. Through her letters his sister had the rare gift of
+transmitting atmosphere. There were certain passages in his letter just
+received which he felt he should at the earliest moment share with the
+Lakeside Farm people, in other words, with Nora.
+
+His car conveyed him with all speed to Lakeside Farm in good time
+for the evening meal. To the assembled family Dean proceeded to read
+passages which he considered of interest to them. "'Well, your Canadian
+has really settled down into his place in the office and into his own
+rooms. It was all we could do to hold him with us for a month, he is so
+fearfully independent. Are all Canadians like that? The Mater would have
+been glad to have had him remain a month longer. But would he stay? He
+has a way with him. He has struck up a terrific friendship with Hugo
+Raeder. You remember the Yale man who has come to Benedick, Frame and
+Company, father's financial people? Quite a presentable young man he is
+of the best Yale type, which is saying something. Larry and he have tied
+up to each other in quite a touching way. In the office, too, Larry has
+found his place. He captured old Scread the very first day by working
+out some calculations that had been allowed to accumulate, using some
+method of his own which quite paralysed the old chap. Oh, he has a way
+with him, that Canadian boy! Father, too, has fallen for him. To hear
+him talk you would imagine that he fully intended handing over ere long
+the business to Larry's care. The Mater has adopted him as well, but
+with reservations. Of course, what is troubling her is her dread of a
+Canadian invasion of her household, especially--'um um--" At this point
+Mr. Dean Wakeham read a portion of the letter to himself with slightly
+heightened colour. "'While as for Elfie, he has captured her, baggage
+and bones. The little monkey apparently lives only for him. While as for
+Larry, you would think that the office and the family were the merest
+side issues in comparison with the kid. All the same it is very
+beautiful to see them together. At times you would think they were
+the same age and both children. At other times she regards him with
+worshipful eyes and drinks in his words as if he were some superior
+being and she his equal in age and experience. She has taken possession
+of him, and never hesitates to carry him off to her own quarters,
+apparently to his delight. Oh, he has a way with him, that Canadian
+boy! The latest is that he has invited Elfie to stay a month with him in
+Alberta when he gets his first holiday. He has raved to her over Polly.
+Elfie, I believe, has accepted his invitation regardless of the wishes
+of either family. The poor little soul is really better, I believe,
+for his companionship. She is not so fretful and she actually takes her
+medicine without a fight and goes to bed at decent hours upon the merest
+hint of his Lordship's desire in the matter. In short, he has the family
+quite prostrate before him. I alone have been able to stand upright and
+maintain my own individuality.'"
+
+"I am really awfully glad about the kid," said Dean. "After all she
+really has rather a hard time. She is so delicate and needs extra care
+and attention, and that, I am afraid, has spoiled her a bit."
+
+"Why shouldn't the little girl spend a few weeks with us here this
+summer, Mr. Wakeham?" said Mrs. Gwynne. "Will you not say to your mother
+that we should take good care of her?"
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gwynne, that is awfully good of you, but I am a little afraid
+you would find her quite a handful. As I have said, she is a spoiled
+little monkey and not easy to do with. She would give you all a lot of
+trouble," added Dean, looking at Nora.
+
+"Trouble? Not at all," said Nora. "She could do just as she likes here.
+We would give her Polly and let her roam. And on the farm she would find
+a number of things to interest her."
+
+"It would be an awfully good thing for her, I know," said Dean, vainly
+trying to suppress the eagerness in his tone, "and if you are really
+sure that it would not be too much of a burden I might write."
+
+"No burden at all, Mr. Wakeham," said Mrs. Gwynne. "If you will write
+and ask Mrs. Wakeham, and bring her with you when you return, we shall
+do what we can to make her visit a happy one, and indeed, it may do the
+dear child a great deal of good."
+
+Thus it came about that the little city child, delicate, fretted,
+spoiled, was installed in the household at Lakeside Farm for a visit
+which lengthened out far beyond its original limits. The days spent upon
+the farm were full of bliss to her, the only drawback to the perfect
+happiness of the little girl being the separation from her beloved fidus
+Achates, with whom she maintained an epistolary activity extraordinarily
+intimate and vivid. Upon this correspondence the Wakeham family came
+chiefly to depend for enlightenment as to the young lady's activities
+and state of health, and it came to be recognised as part of Larry's
+duty throughout the summer to carry a weekly bulletin regarding Elfie's
+health and manners to the Lake Shore summer home, where the Wakehams
+sought relief from the prostrating heat of the great city. These week
+ends at the Lake Shore home were to Larry his sole and altogether
+delightful relief from the relentless drive of business that even
+throughout the hottest summer weather knew neither let nor pause.
+
+It became custom that every Saturday forenoon Rowena's big car would
+call at the Rookery Building and carry off her father, if he chanced to
+be in town, and Larry to the Lake Shore home. An hour's swift run over
+the perfect macadam of the Lake Shore road that wound through park
+and boulevard, past splendid summer residences of Chicago financial
+magnates, through quiet little villages and by country farms, always
+with gleams of Michigan's blue-grey waters, and always with Michigan's
+exhilarating breezes in their faces, would bring them to the cool depths
+of Birchwood's shades and silences, where for a time the hustle and
+heat and roar of the big city would be as completely forgotten as if a
+thousand miles away. It was early on a breathless afternoon late in July
+when from pavement and wall the quivering air smote the face as if blown
+from an opened furnace that Rowena drove her car down La Salle Street
+and pulled up at the Rookery Building resolved to carry off with her as
+a special treat "her men" for an evening at Birchwood.
+
+"Come along, Larry, it is too hot to live in town today," she said as
+she passed through the outer office where the young man had his desk. "I
+am just going in to get father, so don't keep me waiting."
+
+"Miss Wakeham, why will you add to the burdens of the day by breezing
+thus in upon us and making us discontented with our lot. I cannot
+possibly accept your invitation this afternoon."
+
+"What? Not to-day, with the thermometer at ninety-four? Nonsense!" said
+the young lady brusquely. "You look fit to drop."
+
+"It is quite useless," said Larry with a sigh. "You see we have a man in
+all the way from Colorado to get plans of a mine which is in process
+of reconstruction. These plans will take hours to finish. The work is
+pressing, in short must be done to-day."
+
+"Now, look here, young man. All work in this office is pressing but none
+so pressing that it cannot pause at my command."
+
+"But this man is due to leave to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, I decline to talk about it; it is much too hot. Just close up your
+desk," said the young lady, as she swept on to her father's office.
+
+In a short time she returned, bearing that gentleman in triumph with
+her. "Not ready?" she said. "Really you are most exasperating, Larry."
+
+"You may as well throw up your hands, Larry. You'd better knock off for
+the day," said Mr. Wakeham. "It is really too hot to do anything else
+than surrender."
+
+"You see, it is like this, sir," said Larry. "It is that Colorado mine
+reconstruction business. Their manager, Dimock, is here. He must leave,
+he says, tomorrow morning. Mr. Scread thinks he should get these off as
+soon as possible. So it is necessary that I stick to it till we get it
+done."
+
+"How long will it take?" said Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"I expect to finish to-night some time. I have already had a couple of
+hours with Dimock to-day. He has left me the data."
+
+"Well, I am very sorry, indeed," said Mr. Wakeham. "It is a great pity
+you cannot come with us, and you look rather fagged. Dimock could not
+delay, eh?"
+
+"He says he has an appointment at Kansas City which he must keep."
+
+"Oh, it is perfect rubbish," exclaimed Rowena impatiently, "and we have
+a party on to-night. Your friend, Mr. Hugh Raeder, is to be out, and
+Professor Schaefer and a friend of his, and some perfectly charming
+girls."
+
+"But why tell me these things now, Miss Wakeham," said Larry, "when you
+know it is impossible for me to come?"
+
+"You won't come?"
+
+"I can't come."
+
+"Come along then, father," she said, and with a stiff little bow she
+left Larry at his desk.
+
+Before the car moved off Larry came hurrying out.
+
+"Here is Elfie's letter," he said. "Perhaps Mrs. Wakeham would like to
+see it." Miss Wakeham was busy at the wheel and gave no sign of having
+heard or seen. So her father reached over and took the letter from him.
+
+"Do you know," said Larry gravely, "I do not think it is quite so hot as
+it was. I almost fancy I feel a chill."
+
+"A chill?" said Mr. Wakeham anxiously. "What do you mean?"
+
+Miss Wakeham bit her lip, broke into a smile and then into a laugh. "Oh,
+he's a clever thing, he is," she said. "I hope you may have a real good
+roast this afternoon."
+
+"I hope you will call next Saturday," said Larry earnestly. "It is sure
+to be hot."
+
+"You don't deserve it or anything else that is good."
+
+"Except your pity. Think what I am missing."
+
+"Get in out of the heat," she cried as the car slipped away.
+
+For some blocks Miss Wakeham was busy getting her car through the crush
+of the traffic, but as she swung into the Park Road she remarked, "That
+young man takes himself too seriously. You would think the business
+belonged to him."
+
+"I wish to God I had more men in my office," said her father, "who
+thought the same thing. Do you know, young lady, why it is that so many
+greyheads are holding clerk's jobs? Because clerks do not feel that
+the business is their own. The careless among them are working for five
+o'clock, and the keen among them are out for number one. Do you know if
+that boy keeps on thinking that the business is his he will own a big
+slice of it or something better before he quits. I confess I was greatly
+pleased that you failed to move him."
+
+"All the same, he is awfully stubborn," said his daughter.
+
+"You can't bully him as you do your old dad, eh?"
+
+"I had counted on him for our dinner party to-night. I particularly want
+to have him meet Professor Schaefer, and now we will have a girl too
+many. It just throws things out."
+
+They rolled on in silence for some time through the park when suddenly
+her father said, "He may be finished by six o'clock, and Michael could
+run in for him."
+
+At six o'clock Miss Wakeham called Larry on the 'phone. "Are you still
+at it?" she enquired. "And when will you be finished?"
+
+"An hour, I think, will see me through," he replied.
+
+"Then," said Miss Wakeham, "a little before seven o'clock the car will
+be waiting at your office door."
+
+"Hooray!" cried Larry. "You are an angel. I will be through."
+
+At a quarter of seven Larry was standing on the pavement, which was
+still radiating heat, and so absorbed in watching for the Wakehams' big
+car that he failed to notice a little Mercer approaching till it drew up
+at his side.
+
+"What, you, Miss Rowena?" he cried. "Your own self? How very lovely of
+you, and through all this heat!"
+
+"Me," replied the girl, "only me. I thought it might still be hot and a
+little cool breeze would be acceptable. But jump in."
+
+"Cool breeze, I should say so!" exclaimed Larry. "A lovely, cool, sweet
+spring breeze over crocuses and violets! But, I say, I must go to my
+room for my clothes."
+
+"No evening clothes to-night," exclaimed Rowena.
+
+"Ah, but I have a new, lovely, cool suit that I have been hoping to
+display at Birchwood. These old things would hardly do at your dinner
+table."
+
+"We'll go around for it. Do get in. Do you know, I left my party to come
+for you, partly because I was rather nasty this afternoon?"
+
+"You were indeed," said Larry. "You almost broke my heart, but this
+wipes all out; my heart is singing again. That awfully jolly letter
+of Elfie's this week made me quite homesick for the open and for the
+breezes of the Alberta foothills."
+
+"Tell me what she said," said Rowena, not because she wanted so much to
+hear Elfie's news but because she loved to hear him talk, and upon no
+subject could Larry wax so eloquent as upon the foothill country of
+Alberta. Long after they had secured Larry's new suit and gone on their
+way through park and boulevard, Larry continued to expatiate upon the
+glories of Alberta hills and valleys, upon its cool breezes, its flowing
+rivers and limpid lakes, and always the western rampart of the eternal
+snow-clad peaks.
+
+"And how is the mine doing?" inquired Rowena, for Larry had fallen
+silent.
+
+"The mine? Oh, there's trouble there, I am afraid. Switzer--you have
+heard of Switzer?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I know all about him and his tragic disappointment. He's the
+manager, isn't he?"
+
+"The manager? No, he's the secretary, but in this case it means the same
+thing, for he runs the mine. Well, Switzer wants to sell his stock. He
+and his father hold about twenty-five thousand dollars between them. He
+means to resign. And to make matters worse, the manager left last week.
+They are both pulling out, and it makes it all the worse, for they had
+just gone in for rather important extensions. I am anxious a bit. You
+see they are rather hard up for money, and father raised all he could on
+his ranch and on his mining stock."
+
+"How much is involved?" inquired Rowena.
+
+"Oh, not so much money as you people count it, but for us it is all we
+have. He raised some fifty thousand dollars. While the mine goes on and
+pays it is safe enough, but if the mine quits then it is all up with
+us. There is no reason for anxiety at present as far as the mine is
+concerned, however. It is doing splendidly and promises better every
+day. But Switzer's going will embarrass them terribly. He was a perfect
+marvel for work and he could handle the miners as no one else could.
+Most of them, you know, are his own people."
+
+"I see you are worrying," said Rowena, glancing at his face, which she
+thought unusually pale.
+
+"Not a bit. At least, not very much. Jack is a levelheaded chap--Jack
+Romayne, I mean--my brother-in-law. By the way, I had a wire to say that
+young Jack had safely arrived."
+
+"Young Jack? Oh, I understand. Then you are Uncle Larry."
+
+"I am. How ancient I feel! And what a lot of responsibility it lays upon
+me!"
+
+"I hope your sister is quite well."
+
+"Everything fine, so I am informed. But what was I saying? Oh, yes,
+Jack is a level-headed chap and his brother-in-law, Waring-Gaunt, who is
+treasurer of the company, is very solid. So I think there's no doubt but
+that they will be able to make all necessary arrangements."
+
+"Well, don't worry to-night," said Rowena. "I want you to have a good
+time. I am particularly anxious that you should meet and like Professor
+Schaefer."
+
+"A German, eh?" said Larry.
+
+"Yes--that is, a German-American. He is a metallurgist, quite wonderful,
+I believe. He does a lot of work for father, and you will doubtless have
+a good deal to do with him yourself. And he spoke so highly of Canada
+and of Canadians that I felt sure you would be glad to meet him. He is
+really a very charming man, musical and all that, but chiefly he is
+a man of high intelligence and quite at the top of his profession. He
+asked to bring a friend of his with him, a Mr. Meyer, whom I do not know
+at all; but he is sure to be interesting if he is a friend of Professor
+Schaefer's. We have some nice girls, too, so we hope to have an
+interesting evening."
+
+The company was sufficiently varied to forbid monotony, and sufficiently
+intellectual to be stimulating, and there was always the background of
+Big Business. Larry was conscious that he was moving amid large ideas
+and far-reaching interests, and that though he himself was a small
+element, he was playing a part not altogether insignificant, with a
+promise of bigger things in the future. Professor Schaefer became easily
+the centre of interest in the party. He turned out to be a man of the
+world. He knew great cities and great men. He was a connoisseur in art
+and something more than an amateur in music. His piano playing, indeed,
+was far beyond that of the amateur. But above everything he was a man
+of his work. He knew metals and their qualities as perhaps few men in
+America, and he was enthusiastic in his devotion to his profession.
+After dinner, with apologies to the ladies, he discoursed from full and
+accurate knowledge of the problems to be met within his daily work and
+their solutions. He was frequently highly technical, but to everything
+he touched he lent a charm that captivated his audience. To Larry he was
+especially gracious. He was interested in Canada. He apparently had a
+minute knowledge of its mineral history, its great deposits in metals,
+in coal, and oil, which he declared to be among the richest in the
+world. The mining operations, however, carried out in Canada, he
+dismissed as being unworthy of consideration. He deplored the lack of
+scientific knowledge and the absence of organisation.
+
+"We should do that better in our country. Ah, if only our Government
+would take hold of these deposits," he exclaimed, "the whole world
+should hear of them." The nickel mining industry alone in the Sudbury
+district he considered worthy of respect. Here he became enthusiastic.
+"If only my country had such a magnificent bit of ore!" he cried. "But
+such bungling, such childish trifling with one of the greatest, if not
+the very greatest, mining industries in the world! To think that the
+Government of Canada actually allows the refining of that ore to be done
+outside of its own country! Folly, folly, criminal folly! But it is
+all the same in this country, too. The mining work in America is
+unscientific, slovenly, unorganised, wasteful. I am sorry to say," he
+continued, turning suddenly upon Larry, "in your western coal fields
+you waste more in the smoke of your coke ovens than you make out of
+your coal mines. Ah, if only those wonderful, wonderful coal fields were
+under the organised and scientific direction of my country! Then you
+would see--ah, what would you not see!"
+
+"Your country?" said Hugo Raeder, smiling. "I understood you were an
+American, Professor Schaefer."
+
+"An American? Surely! I have been eighteen years in this country."
+
+"You are a citizen, I presume?" said Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"A citizen? Yes. I neglected that matter till recently; but I love my
+Fatherland."
+
+"Speaking of citizenship, I have always wanted to know about the
+Delbruck Law, Professor Schaefer, in regard to citizenship," said Larry.
+
+The professor hesitated, "The Delbruck Law?"
+
+"Yes," said Larry. "How does it affect, for instance, your American
+citizenship?"
+
+"Not at all, I should say. Not in the very least," replied Professor
+Schaefer curtly and as if dismissing the subject.
+
+"I am not so sure of that, Professor Schaefer," said Hugo Raeder. "I
+was in Germany when that law was passed. It aroused a great deal of
+interest. I have not looked into it myself, but on the face of it I
+should say it possesses certain rather objectionable features."
+
+"Not at all, not at all, I assure you," exclaimed Professor Schaefer.
+"It is simply a concession to the intense, but very natural affection
+for the Fatherland in every German heart, while at the same time it
+facilitates citizenship in a foreign country. For instance, there are
+millions of Germans living in America who like myself shrank from taking
+the oath which breaks the bond with the Fatherland. We love America, we
+are Americans, we live in America, we work in America; but naturally our
+hearts turn to Germany, and we cannot forget our childhood's home. That
+is good, that is worthy, that is noble--hence the Delbruck Law."
+
+"But what does it provide exactly?" enquired Mr. Wakeham. "I confess I
+never heard of it."
+
+"It permits a German to become an American citizen, and at the same
+time allows him to retain his connection, his heart connection, with the
+Fatherland. It is a beautiful law."
+
+"A beautiful law," echoed his friend, Mr. Meyer.
+
+"Just what is the connection?" insisted Hugo Raeder.
+
+"Dear friend, let me explain to you. It permits him to retain his place,
+his relations with his own old country people. You can surely see the
+advantage of that. For instance: When I return to Germany I find myself
+in full possession of all my accustomed privileges. I am no stranger.
+Ah, it is beautiful! And you see further how it establishes a new bond
+between the two countries. Every German-American will become a bond of
+unity between these two great nations, the two great coming nations of
+the world."
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful, glorious!" echoed Meyer.
+
+"But I do not understand," said Larry. "Are you still a citizen of
+Germany?"
+
+"I am an American citizen, and proud of it," exclaimed Professor
+Schaefer, dramatically.
+
+"Ach, so, geviss," said Meyer. "Sure! an American citizen!"
+
+"But you are also a citizen of Germany?" enquired Hugo Raeder.
+
+"If I return to Germany I resume the rights of my German citizenship, of
+course."
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful!" exclaimed Meyer.
+
+"Look here, Schaefer. Be frank about this. Which are you to-day, a
+citizen of Germany or of America?"
+
+"Both, I tell you," exclaimed Schaefer proudly. "That is the beauty of
+the arrangement."
+
+"Ah, a beautiful arrangement!" said Meyer.
+
+"What? You are a citizen of another country while you claim American
+citizenship?" said Raeder. "You can no more be a citizen of two
+countries at the same time than the husband of two wives at the same
+time."
+
+"Well, why not?" laughed Schaefer. "An American wife for America, and
+a German wife for Germany. You will excuse me," he added, bowing toward
+Mrs. Wakeham.
+
+"Don't be disgusting," said Hugo Raeder. "Apart from the legal
+difficulty the chief difficulty about that scheme would be that whatever
+the German wife might have to say to such an arrangement, no American
+wife would tolerate it for an instant."
+
+"I was merely joking, of course," said Schaefer.
+
+"But, Professor Schaefer, suppose war should come between Germany and
+America," said Larry.
+
+"War between Germany and America--the thing is preposterous nonsense,
+not to be considered among the possibilities!"
+
+"But as a mere hypothesis for the sake of argument, what would your
+position be?" persisted Larry.
+
+Professor Schaefer was visibly annoyed. "I say the hypothesis is
+nonsense and unthinkable," he cried.
+
+"Come on, Schaefer, you can't escape it like that, you know," said Hugo
+Raeder. "By that law of yours, where would your allegiance be should war
+arise? I am asking what actually would be your standing. Would you be a
+German citizen or an American citizen?"
+
+"The possibility does not exist," said Professor Schaefer.
+
+"Quite impossible," exclaimed Meyer.
+
+"Well, what of other countries then?" said Hugo, pursuing the subject
+with a wicked delight. His sturdy Americanism resented this bigamous
+citizenship. "What of France or Britain?"
+
+"Ah," said Professor Schaefer with a sharpening of his tone. "That is
+quite easy."
+
+"You would be a German, eh?" said Raeder.
+
+"You ask me," exclaimed Professor Schaefer, "you ask me as between
+Germany and France, or between Germany and Britain? I reply," he
+exclaimed with a dramatic flourish of his hand, "I am a worshipper of
+the life-giving sun, not of the dead moon; I follow the dawn, not the
+dying day."
+
+But this was too much for Larry. "Without discussing which is the sun
+and which is the moon, about which we might naturally differ, Professor
+Schaefer, I want to be quite clear upon one point. Do I understand you
+to say that if you were, say a naturalised citizen of Canada, having
+sworn allegiance to our Government, enjoying the full rights and
+privileges of our citizenship, you at the same time would be free to
+consider yourself a citizen of Germany, and in case of war with Britain,
+you would feel in duty bound to support Germany? And is it that which
+the Delbruck Law is deliberately drawn, to permit you to do?"
+
+"Well put, Larry!" exclaimed Hugo Raeder, to whom the German's attitude
+was detestable.
+
+Professor Schaefer's lips curled in an unpleasant smile. "Canada,
+Canadian citizenship! My dear young man, pardon! Allow me to ask you a
+question. If Britain were at war with Germany, do you think it at all
+likely that Canada would allow herself to become involved in a European
+war? Canada is a proud, young, virile nation. Would she be likely to
+link her fortunes with those of a decadent power? Excuse me a moment,"
+checking Larry's impetuous reply with his hand. "Believe me, we know
+something about these things. We make it our business to know. You
+acknowledge that we know something about your mines; let me assure you
+that there is nothing about your country that we do not know. Nothing.
+Nothing. We know the feeling in Canada. Where would Canada be in such
+a war? Not with Germany, I would not say that. But would she stand with
+England?"
+
+Larry sprang to his feet. "Where would Canada be? Let me tell you,
+Professor Schaefer," shaking his finger in the professor's face. "To her
+last man and her last dollar Canada would be with the Empire."
+
+"Hear, hear!" shouted Hugo Raeder.
+
+The professor looked incredulous. "And yet," he said with a sneer,
+"one-half of your people voted for Reciprocity with the United States."
+
+"Reciprocity! And yet you say you know Canada," exclaimed Larry in a
+tone of disgust. "Do you know, sir, what defeated Reciprocity with this
+country? Not hostility to the United States; there is nothing but the
+kindliest feeling among Canadians for Americans. But I will tell you
+what defeated Reciprocity. It was what we might call the ultra loyal
+spirit of the Canadian people toward the Empire. The Canadians were
+Empire mad. The bare suggestion of the possibility of any peril to the
+Empire bond made them throw out Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal
+Party. That, of course, with other subordinate causes."
+
+"I fancy our Mr. Taft helped a bit," said Hugo Raeder.
+
+"Undoubtedly Mr. Taft's unfortunate remarks were worked to the limit by
+the Conservative Party. But all I say is that any suggestion, I will not
+say of disloyalty, but even of indifference, to the Empire of Canada is
+simply nonsense."
+
+At this point a servant brought in a telegram and handed it to Mr.
+Wakeham. "Excuse me, my dear," he said to his wife, opened the wire,
+read it, and passed it to Hugo Raeder. "From your chief, Hugo."
+
+"Much in that, do you think, sir?" inquired Hugo, passing the telegram
+back to him.
+
+"Oh, a little flurry in the market possibly," said Mr. Wakeham. "What do
+you think about that, Schaefer?" Mr. Wakeham continued, handing him the
+wire.
+
+Professor Schaefer glanced at the telegram. "My God!" he exclaimed,
+springing to his feet. "It is come, it is come at last!" He spoke
+hurriedly in German to his friend, Meyer, and handed him the telegram.
+
+Meyer read it. "God in heaven!" he cried. "It is here!" In intense
+excitement he poured forth a torrent of interrogations in German,
+receiving animated replies from Professor Schaefer. Then grasping the
+professor's hand in both of his, he shook it with wild enthusiasm.
+
+"At last!" he cried. "At last! Thank God, our day has come!"
+
+Completely ignoring the rest of the company, the two Germans carried
+on a rapid and passionate conversation in their own tongue with excited
+gesticulations, which the professor concluded by turning to his hostess
+and saying, "Mrs. Wakeham, you will excuse us. Mr. Wakeham, you can send
+us to town at once?"
+
+By this time the whole company were upon their feet gazing with
+amazement upon the two excited Germans.
+
+"But what is it?" cried Mrs. Wakeham. "What has happened? Is there
+anything wrong? What is it, Professor Schaefer? What is your wire about,
+Garrison?"
+
+"Oh, nothing at all, my dear, to get excited about. My financial
+agent wires me that the Press will announce to-morrow that Austria has
+presented an ultimatum to Servia demanding an answer within forty-eight
+hours."
+
+"Oh, is that all," she said in a tone of vast relief. "What a start you
+all gave me. An ultimatum to Servia? What is it all about?"
+
+"Why, you remember, my dear, the murder of the Archduke Ferdinand about
+three weeks ago?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I remember. I had quite forgotten it. Poor thing, how terrible
+it was! Didn't they get the murderer? It seems to me they caught him."
+
+"You will excuse us, Mrs. Wakeham," said Professor Schaefer, approaching
+her. "We deeply regret leaving this pleasant party and your hospitable
+home, but it is imperative that we go."
+
+"But, my dear Professor Schaefer, to-night?" exclaimed Mrs. Wakeham.
+
+"Why, Schaefer, what's the rush? Are you caught in the market?" said
+Wakeham with a little laugh. "You cannot do anything to-night at any
+rate, you know. We will have you in early to-morrow morning."
+
+"No, no, to-night, now, immediately!" shouted Meyer in uncontrollable
+excitement.
+
+"But why all the excitement, Schaefer?" said Hugo Raeder, smiling at
+him. "Austria has presented an ultimatum to Servia--what about it?"
+
+"What about it? Oh, you Americans; you are so provincial. Did you read
+the ultimatum? Do you know what it means? It means war!"
+
+"War!" cried Meyer. "War at last! Thank God! Tonight must we in New York
+become."
+
+Shaking hands hurriedly with Mrs. Wakeham, and with a curt bow to
+the rest of the company, Meyer hurriedly left the room, followed by
+Professor Schaefer and Mr. Wakeham.
+
+"Aren't they funny!" said Rowena. "They get so excited about nothing."
+
+"Well, it is hardly nothing," said Hugo Raeder. "Any European war is
+full of all sorts of possibilities. You cannot throw matches about in a
+powder magazine without some degree of danger."
+
+"May I read the ultimatum?" said Larry to Mrs. Wakeham, who held the
+telegram in her hand.
+
+"Pretty stiff ultimatum," said Hugo Raeder. "Read it out, Larry."
+
+"Servia will have to eat dirt," said Larry when he had finished. "Listen
+to this: She must 'accept the collaboration in Servia of representatives
+of the Austro-Hungarian Government for the consideration of the
+subversive movements directed against the Territorial integrity of
+the Monarchy.' 'Accept collaboration' of the representatives of the
+Austro-hungarian Government in this purely internal business, mind you.
+And listen to this: 'Delegates of the Austro-Hungarian Government will
+take part in the investigation relating thereto.' Austrian lawyers and
+probably judges investigating Servian subjects in Servia? Why, the thing
+is impossible."
+
+"It is quite evident," said Hugo Raeder, "that Austria means war."
+
+"Poor little Servia, she will soon be eaten up," said Rowena. "She must
+be bankrupt from her last war."
+
+"But why all this excitement on the part of our German friends?"
+inquired Mrs. Wakeham. "What has Germany to do with Austria and Servia?"
+
+At this point Professor Schaefer and his friend re-entered the room
+ready for their departure.
+
+"I was just inquiring," said Mrs. Wakeham, "how this ultimatum of
+Austria's to Servia can affect Germany particularly."
+
+"Affect Germany?" cried Professor Schaefer.
+
+"Yes," said Hugo Raeder, "what has Germany to do with the scrap unless
+she wants to butt in?"
+
+"Ha! ha! My dear man, have you read no history of the last twenty years?
+But you Americans know nothing about history, nothing about anything
+except your own big, overgrown country."
+
+"I thought you were an American citizen, Schaefer?" inquired Hugo.
+
+"An American," exclaimed Schaefer, "an American, ah, yes, certainly; but
+in Europe and in European politics, a German, always a German."
+
+"But why should Germany butt in?" continued Hugo.
+
+"Butt in, Germany butt in? Things cannot be settled in Europe without
+Germany. Besides, there is Russia longing for the opportunity to
+attack."
+
+"To attack Germany?"
+
+"To attack Austria first, Germany's ally and friend, and then Germany.
+The trouble is you Americans do not live in the world. You are living
+on your own continent here removed from the big world, ignorant of all
+world movements, the most provincial people in all the world. Else
+you would not ask me such foolish questions. This ultimatum means war.
+First, Austria against Servia; Russia will help Servia; France will help
+Russia; Germany will help Austria. There you have the beginning of a
+great European war. How far this conflagration will spread, only God
+knows."
+
+The car being announced, the Germans made a hurried exit, in their
+overpowering excitement omitting the courtesy of farewells to household
+and guests.
+
+"They seem to be terribly excited, those Germans," said Miss Rowena.
+
+"They are," said Hugo; "I am glad I am not a German. To a German war is
+so much the biggest thing in life."
+
+"It is really too bad," said Mrs. Wakeham; "we shall not have the
+pleasure of Professor Schaefer's music. He plays quite exquisitely. You
+would all have greatly enjoyed it. Rowena, you might play something.
+Well, for my part," continued Mrs. Wakeham, settling herself placidly
+in her comfortable chair, "I am glad I am an American. Those European
+countries, it seems to me, are always in some trouble or other."
+
+"I am glad I am a Canadian," said Larry. "We are much too busy to think
+of anything so foolish and useless as war."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WAR
+
+
+"Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top
+of the hill before we get ready for church," said Ethel Murray. "It will
+be worth seeing to-day."
+
+"Me too, me too," shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals,
+clutching Jane about the legs.
+
+"All right, Isabel; all right, Helen. I'll take you with me," said Jane.
+"But you must let me go, you know."
+
+They all raced around the house and began to climb the sheer, rocky hill
+that rose straight up from the rear.
+
+"Here, Jim, help me with these kiddies," said Jane to a lank lad of
+fifteen, whom she ran into at the corner of the house just where the
+climb began.
+
+Jim swung the younger, little Helen, upon his shoulder and together they
+raced to the top, scrambling, slipping, falling, but finally arriving
+there, breathless and triumphant. Before them lay a bit of Canada's
+loveliest lake, the Lake of the Woods, so-called from its myriad,
+heavily wooded islands, that make of its vast expanse a maze of
+channels, rivers and waterways. Calm, without a ripple, lay the glassy,
+sunlit surface, each island, rock and tree meeting its reflected image
+at the water line, the sky above flecked with floating clouds, making
+with the mirrored sky below one perfect whole.
+
+"Oh, Ethel, I had forgotten just how beautiful this is," breathed Jane,
+while the rest stood silent looking down upon the mirrored rocks and
+islands, trees and sky.
+
+Even the two little girls stood perfectly still, for they had been
+taught to take the first views from the top in silence.
+
+"Look at the Big Rock," said Helen. "They are two rocks kissing each
+other."
+
+"Oh, you little sweetheart," said Jane, kissing her. "That is just what
+they are doing. It is not often that you get it so perfectly still as
+this, is it, Jim?"
+
+"Not so very often. Sometimes just at sunrise you get it this way."
+
+"At sunrise! Do you very often see it then?"
+
+"Yes, he gets up to catch fishes," said wee Helen.
+
+"Do you?"
+
+Jim nodded. "Are you game to come along to-morrow morning?"
+
+"At what hour?"
+
+"Five o'clock."
+
+"Don't do it, Jane," said Ethel. "It tires you for the day."
+
+"I will come, Jim; I would love to come," said Jane.
+
+For some time they stood gazing down upon the scene below them. Then
+turning to the children abruptly, Ethel said, "Now, then, children, you
+run down and get ready; that is, if you are going to church. Take them
+down, Jim."
+
+"All right, Ethel," said Jim. "See there, Jane," he continued, "that
+neck of land across the traverse--that's where the old Hudson Bay trail
+used to run that goes from the Big Lakes to Winnipeg. It's the old war
+trail of the Crees too. Wouldn't you like to have seen them in the old
+days?"
+
+"I would run and hide," said Isabel, "so they could not see me."
+
+"I would not be afraid," said Helen, straightening up to her full height
+of six years. "I would shoot them dead."
+
+"Poor things," said Jane, in a pitiful voice. "And then their little
+babies at home would cry and cry."
+
+Helen looked distressed. "I would not shoot the ones that had babies."
+
+"But then," said Jane, "the poor wives would sit on the ground and wail
+and wail, like the Indians we heard the other night. Oh, it sounded very
+sad."
+
+"I would not shoot the ones with wives or babies or anything," said
+Helen, determined to escape from her painful dilemma.
+
+"Oh, only the boys and young men?" said Jane. "And then the poor old
+mothers would cry and cry and tear their hair for the boys who would
+never come back."
+
+Helen stood in perplexed silence. Then she said shyly, "I wouldn't shoot
+any of them unless they tried to shoot me or Mother or Daddy."
+
+"Or me," said Jane, throwing her arms around the little girl.
+
+"Yes," said Helen, "or you, or anybody in our house."
+
+"That seems a perfectly safe place to leave it, Helen," said Ethel.
+"I think even the most pronounced pacifist would accept that as a
+justification of war. I fancy that is why poor little Servia is fighting
+big bullying Austria to-day. But run down now; hurry, hurry; the launch
+will be ready in a few minutes, and if you are not ready you know Daddy
+won't wait."
+
+But they were ready and with the round dozen, which with the visitors
+constituted the Murray household at their island home, they filled the
+launch, Jim at the wheel. It was a glorious Sunday morning and the whole
+world breathed peace. Through the mazes of the channels among the
+wooded islands the launch made its way, across open traverse, down long
+waterways like rivers between high, wooded banks, through cuts and gaps,
+where the waters boiled and foamed, they ran, for the most part drinking
+in silently the exquisite and varied beauty of lake and sky and woods.
+Silent they were but for the quiet talk and cheery laughter of the
+younger portion of the company, until they neared the little town,
+when the silence that hung over the lake and woods was invaded by other
+launches outbound and in. The Kenora docks were crowded with rowboats,
+sailboats, canoes and launches of all sorts and sizes, so that it took
+some steering skill on Jim's part to land them at the dock without
+bumping either themselves or any one else.
+
+"Oh, look!" exclaimed Isabel, whose sharp eyes were darting everywhere.
+"There's the Rushbrooke's lovely new launch. Isn't it beautiful!"
+
+"Huh!" shouted Helen. "It is not half as pretty as ours."
+
+"Oh, hush, Helen," said the scandalised Isabel. "It is lovely, isnt it,
+Jane? And there is Lloyd Rushbrooke. I think he's lovely, too. And who
+is that with him, Jane--that pretty girl? Oh, isn't she pretty?"
+
+"That's Helen Brookes," said Jane in a low voice.
+
+"Oh, isn't she lovely!" exclaimed Isabel.
+
+"Lovely bunch, Isabel," said Jim with a grin.
+
+"I don't care, they are," insisted Isabel. "And there is Mr. McPherson,
+Jane," she added, her sharp eyes catching sight of their Winnipeg
+minister through the crowd. "He's coming this way. What are the people
+all waiting for, Jane?"
+
+The Reverend Andrew McPherson was a tall, slight, dark man, straight but
+for the student's stoop of his shoulders, and with a strikingly Highland
+Scotch cast of countenance, high cheek bones, keen blue eyes set deep
+below a wide forehead, long jaw that clamped firm lips together. He came
+straight to where Mr. Murray and Dr. Brown were standing.
+
+"I have just received from a friend in Winnipeg the most terrible news,"
+he said in a low voice. "Germany has declared war on Russia and France."
+
+"War! War! Germany!" exclaimed the men in awed, hushed voices, a
+startled look upon their grave faces.
+
+"What is it, James?" said Mrs. Murray.
+
+Mr. Murray repeated the news to her.
+
+"Germany at war?" she said. "I thought it was Austria and Servia. Isn't
+it?"
+
+"Yes, my dear," said Mr. Murray hastily, as if anxious to cover up his
+wife's display of ignorance of the European situation. "Austria has
+been at war with Servia for some days, but now Germany has declared war
+apparently upon France and Russia."
+
+"But what has Germany to do with it, or Russia either, or France?"
+
+They moved off together from the docks toward the church, discussing the
+ominous news.
+
+"Oh, look, Jane," said Isabel once more. "There's Ramsay Dunn. Isn't he
+looking funny?"
+
+"Pickled, I guess," said Jim, with a glance at the young man who with
+puffed and sodden face was gazing with dull and stupid eyes across the
+lake. On catching sight of the approaching party Ramsay Dunn turned his
+back sharply upon them and became intensely absorbed in the launch at
+his side. But Jane would not have it thus.
+
+"Ask him to come over this afternoon," she said to Ethel. "His mother
+would like it."
+
+"Good morning, Ramsay," said Ethel as they passed him.
+
+Ramsay turned sharply, stood stiff and straight, then saluted with an
+elaborate bow. "Good morning, Ethel. Why, good morning, Jane. You down
+here? Delighted to see you."
+
+"Ramsay, could you come over this afternoon to our island?" said Ethel.
+"Jane is going back this week."
+
+"Sure thing, Ethel. Nothing but scarlet fever, small-pox, or other
+contectious or infagious, confagious or intexious--eh, disease will
+prevent me. The afternoon or the evening?" he added with what he meant
+to be a most ingratiating smile. "The late afternoon or the early
+evening?"
+
+The little girls, who had been staring at him with wide, wondering eyes,
+began to giggle.
+
+"I'll be there," continued Ramsay. "I'll be there, I'll be there, when
+the early evening cometh, I'll be there." He bowed deeply to the young
+ladies and winked solemnly at Isabel, who by this time was finding it
+quite impossible to control her giggles.
+
+"Isn't he awfully funny?" she said as they moved off. "I think he is
+awfully funny."
+
+"Funny!" said Ethel. "Disgusting, I think."
+
+"Oh, Ethel, isn't it terribly sad?" said Jane. "Poor Mrs. Dunn, she
+feels so awfully about it. They say he is going on these days in a
+perfectly dreadful way."
+
+The little brick church was comfortably filled with the townsfolk and
+with such of the summer visitors as had not "left their religion behind
+them in Winnipeg," as Jane said. The preacher was a little man whose
+speech betrayed his birth, and the theology and delivery of whose sermon
+bore the unmistakable marks of his Edinburgh training. He discoursed in
+somewhat formal but in finished style upon the blessings of rest, with
+obvious application to the special circumstances of the greater part
+of his audience who had come to this most beautiful of all Canada's
+beautiful spots seeking these blessings. To further emphasise the value
+of their privileges, he contrasted with their lot the condition of
+unhappy Servia now suffering from the horrors of war and threatened with
+extinction by its tyrannical neighbour, Austria. The war could end only
+in one way. In spite of her gallant and heroic fight Servia was doomed
+to defeat. But a day of reckoning would surely come, for this was not
+the first time that Austria had exercised its superior power in an act
+of unrighteous tyranny over smaller states. The God of righteousness was
+still ruling in his world, and righteousness would be done.
+
+At the close of the service, while they were singing the final hymn, Mr.
+McPherson, after a whispered colloquy with Mr. Murray, made his way to
+the pulpit, where he held an earnest conversation with the minister.
+Instead of pronouncing the benediction and dismissing the congregation
+when the final "Amen" had been sung, the minister invited the people to
+resume their seats, when Mr. McPherson rose and said,
+
+"Friends, we have just learned that a great and terrible evil has fallen
+upon the world. Five days ago the world was shocked by the announcement
+that Austria had declared war upon Servia. Through these days the powers
+of Europe, or at least some of them, and chief among them Great Britain,
+have been labouring to localise the war and to prevent its extension.
+To-day the sad, the terrible announcement is made that Germany has
+declared war upon both Russia and France. What an hour may bring forth,
+we know not. But not in our day, or in our fathers' day, have we faced
+so great a peril as we face to-day. For we cannot forget that our Empire
+is held by close and vital ties to the Republic of France in the entente
+cordiale. Let us beseech Almighty God to grant a speedy end to war
+and especially to guide the King's counsellors that they may lead this
+Empire in the way that is wise and right and honourable."
+
+In the brief prayer that followed there fell upon the people an
+overpowering sense of the futility of man's wisdom, and of the need of
+the might and wisdom that are not man's but God's.
+
+Two days later Mr. Murray and the children accompanied Dr. Brown and
+Jane to Kenora on their way back to the city. As they were proceeding to
+the railway station they were arrested by a group that stood in front
+of the bulletin board upon which since the war began the local newspaper
+was wont to affix the latest despatches. The group was standing in awed
+silence staring at the bulletin board before them. Dr. Brown pushed his
+way through, read the despatch, looked around upon the faces beside him,
+read the words once more, came back to where his party were standing and
+stood silent.
+
+"What is it?" inquired Mr. Murray.
+
+"War," said Dr. Brown in a husky whisper. Then clearing his throat,
+"War--Britain and Germany."
+
+War! For the first time in the memory of living man that word was spoken
+in a voice that stopped dead still the Empire in the daily routine of
+its life. War! That word whispered in the secret silent chamber of the
+man whose chief glory had been his title as Supreme War Lord of Europe,
+swift as the lightning's flash circled the globe, arresting multitudes
+of men busy with their peaceful tasks, piercing the hearts of countless
+women with a new and nameless terror, paralysing the activities of
+nations engaged in the arts of peace, transforming into bitter enemies
+those living in the bonds of brotherhood, and loosing upon the world the
+fiends of hell.
+
+Mr. Murray turned to his boy. "Jim," he said, "I must go to Winnipeg.
+Take the children home and tell their mother. I shall wire you to-morrow
+when to meet me." Awed, solemnised and in silence they took their ways.
+
+Arrived at the railway station, Mr. Murray changed his mind. He was a
+man clear in thought and swift in action. His first thought had been of
+his business as being immediately affected by this new and mighty fact
+of war. Then he thought of other and wider interests.
+
+"Let us go back, Dr. Brown," he said. "A large number of our business
+men are at the Lake. I suppose half of our Board of Trade are down
+here. We can reach them more easily here than any place else, and it is
+important that we should immediately get them together. Excuse me while
+I wire to my architect. I must stop that block of mine."
+
+They returned together to the launch. On their way back to their island
+they called to see Mr. McPherson. "You were right," was Mr. Murray's
+greeting to him. "It has come; Britain has declared war."
+
+Mr. McPherson stood gazing at him in solemn silence. "War," he said at
+length. "We are really in."
+
+"Yes, you were right, Mr. McPherson," said Dr. Brown. "I could not
+believe it; I cannot believe it yet. Why we should have gone into this
+particular quarrel, for the life of me I cannot understand."
+
+"I was afraid from the very first," said McPherson, "and when once
+Russia and France were in I knew that Britain could not honourably
+escape."
+
+As they were talking together a launch went swiftly by. "That's the
+Rushbrooke's launch," said Jim.
+
+Mr. Murray rushed out upon the pier and, waving his hand, brought it to
+a halt and finally to the dock. "Have you heard the news?" he said to
+the lady who sat near the stern. "Britain has declared war."
+
+"Oh," replied Mrs. Rushbrooke, "why on earth has she done that? It is
+perfectly terrible."
+
+"Terrible, indeed," said Mr. McPherson. "But we must face it. It changes
+everything in life--business, society, home, everything will immediately
+feel the effect of this thing."
+
+"Oh, Mr. McPherson," exclaimed Mrs. Rushbrooke, "I can hardly see how it
+will quite change everything for us here in Canada. For instance," she
+added with a gay laugh, "I do not see that it will change our bonfire
+tonight. By the way, I see you are not gone, Dr. Brown. You and Jane
+will surely come over; and, Mr. Murray, you will bring your young people
+and Mrs. Murray; and, Mr. McPherson, I hope you will be able to come. It
+is going to be a charming evening and you will see a great many of your
+friends. I think a bonfire on one of the islands makes a very pretty
+sight."
+
+"I am not sure whether I can take the time, Mrs. Rushbrooke," said Mr.
+Murray. "I had thought of seeing a number of our business men who are
+down here at the Lake."
+
+"Oh, can't you leave business even while you are here? You really ought
+to forget business during your holidays, Mr. Murray."
+
+"I mean in relation to the war," said Mr. Murray.
+
+"Good gracious, what can they possibly do about the war down here? But
+if you want to see them they will all be with us to-night. So you had
+better come along. But we shall have to hurry, Lloyd; I have a lot of
+things to do and a lot of people to feed. We have got to live, haven't
+we?" she added as the launch got under way.
+
+"Got to live," said Mr. McPherson after they had gone. "Ah, even that
+necessity has been changed. The necessity for living, which I am afraid
+most of us have considered to be of first importance, has suddenly given
+place to another necessity."
+
+"And that?" said Mr. Murray.
+
+"The necessity not to live, but to do our duty. Life has become all at
+once a very simple thing."
+
+"Well, we have got to keep going in the meantime at any rate," said Mr.
+Murray.
+
+"Going, yes; but going where?" said Mr. McPherson. "All roads now, for
+us, lead to one spot."
+
+"And that spot?" said Mr. Murray.
+
+"The battlefield."
+
+"Why, Mr. McPherson, we must not lose our heads; we must keep sane and
+reasonable. Eh, Doctor?"
+
+"I confess that this thing has completely stunned me," said Dr. Brown.
+"You see I could not believe, I would not believe that war was possible
+in our day. I would not believe you, Mr. McPherson. I thought you had
+gone mad on this German scare. But you were right. My God, I can't get
+my bearings yet; we are really at war!"
+
+"God grant that Canada may see its duty clearly," said Mr. McPherson.
+"God make us strong to bear His will."
+
+They hurried back to their island, each busy with his thoughts, seeking
+to readjust life to this new and horrible environment.
+
+Mrs. Murray met them at the dock. "You are back, Dr. Brown," she cried.
+"Did you forget something? We are glad to see you at any rate." Then
+noticing the men's faces, she said, "What is the matter, James? Is there
+anything wrong?"
+
+"We bring terrible news, Mother," he said. "We are at war."
+
+Mrs. Murray's' mind, like her husband's, moved swiftly. She was a life
+partner in the fullest sense. In business as in the home she shared his
+plans and purposes. "What about the block, James?" she asked.
+
+"I wired Eastwood," he replied, "to stop that."
+
+"What is it, Mother?" inquired Isabel, who stood upon the dock clinging
+to her mother's dress, and who saw in the grave, faces about her signs
+of disaster.
+
+"Hush, dear," said her mother. "Nothing that you can understand." She
+would keep from her children this horror as long as she could.
+
+At lunch in the midst of the most animated conversation the talk would
+die out, and all would be busy fitting their lives to war. Like waves
+ever deepening in volume and increasing in force, the appalling thought
+of war beat upon their minds. After lunch they sat together in
+the screened veranda talking quietly together of the issues, the
+consequences to them and to their community, to their country, and to
+the world at large, of this thing that had befallen them. They made the
+amazing discovery that they were almost entirely ignorant of everything
+that had to do with war, even the relative military strength of the
+belligerent nations. One thing like a solid back wall of rock gave them
+a sense of security--the British Navy was still supreme.
+
+"Let's see, did they cut down the Navy estimates during the last
+Parliament? I know they were always talking of reduction," inquired Mr.
+Murray.
+
+"I am afraid I know nothing about it," said Dr. Brown. "Last week I
+would have told you 'I hope so'; to-day I profoundly hope not. Jane, you
+ought to know about this. Jane is the war champion in our family," he
+added with a smile.
+
+"No, there has been no reduction; Winston Churchill has carried on his
+programme. He wanted to halt the building programme, you remember, but
+the Germans would not agree. So I think the Navy is quite up to the
+mark. But, of course," she added, "the German Navy is very strong too."
+
+"Ah, I believe you are right, Jane," said Dr. Brown. "How completely we
+were all hoodwinked. I cannot believe that we are actually at war. Our
+friend Romayne was right. By the way, what about Romayne, Jane?"
+
+"Who is he?" inquired Mr. Murray.
+
+"Romayne?" said Dr. Brown. "Oh, he's a great friend of ours in the West.
+He married a sister of young Gwynne, you know. He was an attache of
+the British Embassy in Berlin, and was, as we thought, quite mad on the
+subject of preparation for war. He and Jane hit it off tremendously last
+autumn when we were visiting the Gwynnes. Was he not an officer in the
+Guards or something, Jane?"
+
+"Yes," replied Jane, fear leaping into her eyes. "Oh, Papa, do you think
+he will have to go? Surely he would not."
+
+"What? Go back to England?" said Dr. Brown. "I hardly think so. I do not
+know, but perhaps he may."
+
+"Oh, Papa!" exclaimed Jane, the quick tears in her eyes. "Think of his
+wife and little baby!"
+
+"My God!" exclaimed Dr. Brown. "It is war that is upon us."
+
+A fresh wave of horror deeper than any before swept their souls. "Surely
+he won't need to go," he said after a pause.
+
+"But his regiment will be going," said Jane, whose face had become very
+pale and whose eyes were wide with horror. "His regiment will be going
+and," she added, "he will go too." The tears were quietly running down
+her face. She knew Jack Romayne and she had the courage to accept the
+truth which as yet her father put from his mind.
+
+Dumb they sat, unschooled in language fitted to deal with the tides of
+emotion that surged round this new and overwhelming fact of war. Where
+next would this dread thing strike?
+
+"Canada will doubtless send some troops," said Dr. Brown. "We sent to
+South Africa, let me see, was it five thousand?"
+
+"More, I think, Papa," said Jane.
+
+"We will send twice or three times that number this time," said Mr.
+Murray.
+
+And again silence fell upon them. They were each busy with the question
+who would go. Swiftly their minds ran over the homes of their friends
+and acquaintances.
+
+"Well, Doctor," said Mr. Murray, with a great effort at a laugh, "you
+can't send your boy at any rate."
+
+"No," said Dr. Brown. "But if my girl had been a boy, I fear I could
+not hold her. Eh, Jane?" But Jane only smiled a very doubtful smile in
+answer.
+
+"We may all have to go, Doctor," said Mr. Murray. "If the war lasts long
+enough."
+
+"Nonsense, James," said his wife with a quick glance at her two little
+girls. Her boy was fifteen. Thank God, she would not have to face the
+question of his duty in regard to war. "They would not be taking old men
+like you, James," she added.
+
+Mr. Murray laughed at her. "Well, hardly, I suppose, my dear," he
+replied. "I rather guess we won't be allowed to share the glory this
+time, Doctor."
+
+Dr. Brown sat silent for a few moments, then said quietly, "The young
+fellows, of course, will get the first chance."
+
+"Oh, let's not talk about it," said Ethel. "Come, Jane, let's go
+exploring."
+
+Jane rose.
+
+"And me, too," cried Isabel.
+
+"And me," cried Helen.
+
+Ethel hesitated. "Let them come, Ethel," said Jane. "We shall go
+slowly."
+
+An exploration of the island was always a thing of unmixed and varied
+delight. There were something over twenty-five acres of wooded hills
+running up to bare rocks, ravines deep in shrub and ferns, and lower
+levels thick with underbrush and heavy timber. Every step of the way new
+treasures disclosed themselves, ferns and grasses, shrubs and vines, and
+everywhere the wood flowers, shy and sweet. Everywhere, too, on fallen
+logs, on the grey rocks, and on the lower ground where the aromatic
+balsams and pines stood silent and thick, were mosses, mosses of all
+hues and depths. In the sunlit open spaces gorgeous butterflies and
+gleaming dragon flies fluttered and darted, bees hummed, and birds sang
+and twittered. There the children's voices were mingled in cheery shouts
+and laughter with the other happy sounds that filled the glades. But
+when they came to the dark pines, solemn and silent except when the wind
+moved in their tasselled tops with mysterious, mournful whispering, the
+children hushed their voices and walked softly upon the deep moss.
+
+"It is like being in church," said Helen, her little soul exquisitely
+sensitive to the mystic, fragrant silences and glooms that haunted the
+pine grove.
+
+On a sloping hillside under the pines they lay upon the mossy bed, the
+children listening for the things that lived in these shadowy depths.
+
+"They are all looking at us," said Isabel in a voice of awed mystery.
+"Lots and lots of eyes are just looking, looking, and looking."
+
+"Why, Isabel, you give me the creeps," laughed Jane. "Whisht! They'll
+hear you," said Isabel, darting swift glances among the trees.
+
+"The dear things," said Jane. "They would love to play with you if they
+only knew how." This was quite a new idea to the children. Hitherto
+the shy things had been more associated with fear than with play. "They
+would love to play tag with you," continued Jane, "round these trees, if
+you could only coax them out. They are so shy."
+
+Stealthily the children began to move among the bushes, alert for the
+watching eyes and the shy faces of the wild things that made their homes
+in these dark dwellings. The girls sat silent, looking out through the
+interlacing boughs upon the gleam of the lake below. They dearly
+loved this spot. It was a favourite haunt with them, the very spot for
+confidence, and many a happy hour had they spent together here. To-day
+they sat without speech; there was nothing that they cared to talk
+about. It was only yesterday in this same place they had talked over all
+things under the sun. They had exchanged with each other their stores of
+kindly gossip about all their friends and their friends' friends. Only
+yesterday it was that Ethel for the twentieth time had gone over with
+Jane all the intricately perplexing and delightful details in regard
+to her coming-out party next winter. All the boys and girls were to be
+invited, and Jane was to help with the serving. It was only yesterday
+that in a moment of quite unusual frankness Ethel had read snatches of
+a letter which had come from Macleod, who was out in a mission field in
+Saskatchewan. How they had laughed together, all in a kindly way, over
+the solemn, formal phrases of the young Scotch Canadian missionary,
+Ethel making sport of his solemnity and Jane warmly defending him. How
+they had talked over the boys' affairs, as girls will talk, and of their
+various loves and how they fared, and of the cruelties practised upon
+them. And last of all Ethel had talked of Larry, Jane listening warily
+the while and offering an occasional bit of information to keep the talk
+going. And all of this only yesterday; not ten years ago, or a year
+ago, but yesterday! And to-day not a word seemed possible. The world
+had changed over night. How different from that unshaded, sunny world
+of yesterday! How sunny it was but yesterday! Life now was a thing of
+different values. Ah, that was it. The values were all altered. Things
+big yesterday had shrunk almost to the point of disappearance to-day.
+Things that yesterday seemed remote and vague, to-day filled their
+horizon, for some of them dark enough. Determined to ignore that gaunt
+Spectre standing there, in the shadow silent and grim, they would begin
+to talk on themes good yesterday for an hour's engrossing conversation,
+but before they were aware they had forgotten the subject of their talk
+and found themselves sitting together dumb and looking out upon the
+gleam of the waters, thinking, thinking and ever thinking, while nearer
+and ever more terrible moved the Spectre of War. It was like the falling
+of night upon their world. From the landscape things familiar and dear
+were blotted out, and in their place moved upon them strange shapes
+unreal and horrible.
+
+At length they gave it up, called the children and went back to the
+others. At the dock they found a launch filled with visitors bringing
+news--great news and glorious. A big naval battle had been fought in the
+North Sea! Ten British battleships had been sunk, but the whole German
+fleet had been destroyed! For the first time war took on some colour.
+Crimson and purple and gold began to shoot through the sombre black and
+grey. A completely new set of emotions filled their hearts, a new sense
+of exultation, a new pride in that great British Navy which hitherto
+had been a mere word in a history book, or in a song. The children who,
+after their manner, were quickest to catch and to carry on to their
+utmost limits the emotions of the moment, were jubilantly triumphant.
+Some of them were carrying little Union Jacks in their hands. For the
+first time in their lives that flag became a thing of pride and power, a
+thing to shout for. It stood for something invisible but very real. Even
+their elders were not insensible to that something. Hitherto they had
+taken that flag for granted. They had hung it out of their windows on
+Empire Day or on Dominion Day as a patriotic symbol, but few of them
+would have confessed, except in a half-shamed, apologetic way, to any
+thrill at the flapping of that bit of bunting. They had shrunk from a
+display of patriotic emotion. They were not like their American cousins,
+who were ever ready to rave over Old Glory. That sort of emotional
+display was un-Canadian, un-British. But to-day somehow the flag had
+changed. The flag had changed because it fluttered in a new world, a new
+light fell upon it, the light of battle. It was a war flag to-day. Men
+were fighting under it, were fighting for all it represented, were dying
+under its folds, and proudly and gladly.
+
+"And all the men will go to fight, your father and my father, and all
+the big boys," Ethel heard a little friend confide to Isabel.
+
+"Hush, Mabel," said Ethel sharply. "Don't be silly."
+
+But the word had been spoken and as a seed it fell upon fertile soil.
+The launch went off with the children waving their flags and cheering.
+And again upon those left upon the dock the shadow settled heavier
+than before. That was the way with that shadow. It was always heavier,
+thicker, more ominous after each interlude of relief.
+
+It was the same at the bonfire in the evening at the Rushbrookes'.
+The island was a fairy picture of mingling lights and shadows. As the
+flaming west grew grey, the pale silver of the moon, riding high and
+serene, fell upon the crowding, gaily decked launches that thronged the
+docks and moored to the shore; upon the dark balsams and silver birches
+hung with parti-coloured gaudy Chinese lanterns; upon the groups of
+girls, fair and sweet in their white summer camping frocks, and young
+men in flannels, their bare necks and arms showing brown and strong;
+upon little clusters of their fathers and mothers gravely talking
+together. From the veranda above, mingling with the laughing, chattering
+voices, the alluring strains of the orchestra invited to waltz, or fox
+trot. As the flame died from the western sky and the shadows crept down
+from the trees, the bonfire was set alight. As the flame leaped high the
+soft strains of the orchestra died away. Then suddenly, clear, full and
+strong, a chord sounded forth, another, and then another. A hush fell
+upon the chattering, laughing crowd. Then as they caught the strain men
+lolling upon the ground sprang to their feet; lads stood at attention.
+
+
+     "Send him victorious,"
+
+
+some one sang timidly, giving words to the music. In one instant a
+hundred throats were wide open singing the words:
+
+
+     "Happy and glorious,
+      Long to reign over us,
+      God save our King."
+
+
+Again the chords sounded and at once the verse from the first was sung
+again.
+
+
+     "God save our gracious King,
+      Long live our noble King,
+      God save our King,
+      Send him victorious,
+      Happy and glorious,
+      Long to reign over us,
+      God save our King."
+
+
+As the last note died Ramsay Dunn leaped upon a huge boulder, threw up
+his hand and began,
+
+
+     "In days of yore, from Britain's shore."
+
+
+A yell greeted him, sudden, fierce, triumphant, drowned his voice, then
+ceased! And again from a hundred throats of men and women, boys and
+girls, the words rang out,
+
+
+     "There may it wave, our boast and pride,
+      And joined in love together,
+      The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine,
+      The Maple Leaf forever."
+
+
+Again and again and once again they followed Ramsay in the quick, shrill
+Canadian cheer that was to be heard in after days in places widely
+different and far remote from that gay, moonlit, lantern-decked,
+boat-thronged, water-lapped island in that far northern Canadian lake.
+Following the cheers there came stillness. Men looked sheepishly at each
+other as if caught in some silly prank. Then once more the Spectre drew
+near. But this time they declined not to look, but with steady, grave,
+appraising eyes they faced The Thing, resolute to know the worst, and in
+quiet undertones they talked together of War.
+
+The bonfire roared gloriously up through the dark night, throwing far
+gleams out upon the moonlit waters in front and upon the dark woods
+behind. The people gathered about the fire and disposed themselves in
+groups upon the sloping, grassy sward under the trees, upon the shelving
+rocks and upon the sandy shore.
+
+But Mr. Murray had business on hand. In company with Dr. Brown and the
+minister, Mr. McPherson, he sought his host. "Would it be possible,
+Mr. Rushbrooke," he said, "to gather a number of business men here
+together?"
+
+"What for?" inquired Rushbrooke.
+
+"Well, I may be all wrong," said Mr. Murray apologetically, "but I have
+the feeling that we ought without delay to discuss what preliminary
+steps should be taken to meet with the critical conditions brought on by
+the war."
+
+"But, Mr. Murray," cried Mrs. Rushbrooke, who was standing by her
+husband's side, "they are all so happy it would seem a great pity to
+introduce this horrible thing at such a time."
+
+"Do you really think it necessary, Murray?" said Mr. Rushbrooke, who was
+an older man than Mr. Murray, and who was unwilling to accede to him any
+position of dominance in the business world of Winnipeg. "There's really
+nothing we can do. It seems to me that we must keep our heads and as far
+as possible prevent undue excitement and guard against panic."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Mr. Rushbrooke. The thought in my mind was that
+we ought to get a meeting together in Winnipeg soon. But everybody is
+away. A great many are here at the Lake; it seemed a good opportunity to
+make some preliminary arrangement."
+
+"My dear Mr. Murray," said Mrs. Rushbrooke, "I cannot help feeling that
+you take this too seriously, besides there can hardly be need for such
+precipitate action. Of course, we are at war, and Canada will do her
+part, but to introduce such a horrible theme in a company of young
+people seems to me to be somehow out of place."
+
+"Very well, Mrs. Rushbrooke, if you say so. I have no desire to
+intrude," said Mr. Murray.
+
+"But, Mr. Rushbrooke, the thing has to be faced," interposed Mr.
+McPherson. "We cannot shut our eyes to the fact of war, and this is the
+supreme fact in our national life to-day. Everything else is secondary."
+
+"Oh, I do not agree with you, Mr. McPherson," said Mrs. Rushbrooke,
+taking the word out of her husband's mouth. "Of course war is terrible
+and all that, but men must do their work. The Doctor here must continue
+to look after his sick, Mr. Murray has his business, you must care for
+your congregation."
+
+"I do not know about that, Mrs. Rushbrooke," said the minister. "I do
+not know about that at all."
+
+"Why, Mr. McPherson, you surprise me! Must not my husband attend to his
+business, must not the Doctor look after his patients?"
+
+A number of men had gathered about during the course of the
+conversation. "No," said Mr. McPherson, his voice ringing out in decided
+tones. "There is only one 'must' for us now, and that is War. For the
+Empire, for every man, woman, and child in Canada, the first thing, and
+by comparison the only thing, is War."
+
+That dread word rang out sharp, insistent, penetrating through the quiet
+hum of voices rising from the groups about the fire. By this time a very
+considerable number of men present had joined themselves to the group
+about the speakers.
+
+"Well, Mr. Murray," said Mr. Rushbrooke, with a laugh, "it seems to me
+that we cannot help it very well. If you wish to discourse upon the war,
+you have your audience and you have my permission."
+
+"It is not my intention to discourse upon the war, Mr. Rushbrooke, but
+with your permission I will just tell our friends here how my mind has
+worked since learning this terrible news this morning. My first impulse
+was to take the first train to Winnipeg, for I know that it will be
+necessary for me to readjust my business to the new conditions created
+by war. My second thought was that there were others like me; that, in
+fact, the whole business public of Winnipeg would be similarly affected.
+I felt the need of counsel so that I should make no mistake that would
+imperil the interests of others. I accepted Mrs. Rushbrooke's invitation
+to come to-night in the hope of meeting with a number of the business
+men of Winnipeg. The more I think of it the more terrible this thing
+becomes. The ordinary conditions of business are gone. We shall all need
+to readjust ourselves in every department of life. It seems to me that
+we must stand together and meet this calamity as best we can, wisely,
+fairly and fearlessly. The main point to be considered is, should we
+not have a general meeting of the business men of Winnipeg, and if so,
+when?"
+
+Mr. Murray's words were received in deep silence, and for a time no one
+made reply. Then Mr. Rushbrooke made answer.
+
+"We all feel the importance of what Mr. Murray has said. Personally,
+though, I am of the opinion that we should avoid all unnecessary
+excitement and everything approaching panic. The war will doubtless be
+a short one. Germany, after long preparation, has decided to challenge
+Great Britain's power. Still, Britain is ready for her. She has
+accepted the challenge; and though her army is not great, she is yet
+not unprepared. Between the enemy and Britain's shores there lies that
+mighty, invisible and invincible line of defence, the British navy. With
+the French armies on the one side and the Russian on the other, Germany
+can not last. In these days, with the terrible engines of destruction
+that science has produced, wars will be short and sharp. Germany will
+get her medicine and I hope it will do her good."
+
+If Mr. Rushbrooke expected his somewhat flamboyant speech to awaken
+enthusiastic approval, he must have been disappointed. His words were
+received in grave silence. The fact of war was far too unfamiliar
+and too overwhelming to make it easy for them to compass it in their
+thoughts or to deal in any adequate way with its possible issues.
+
+After some moments of silence the minister spoke. "I wish I could agree
+with Mr. Rushbrooke," he said. "But I cannot. My study of this question
+has impressed me with the overwhelming might of Germany's military
+power. The war may be short and sharp, and that is what Germany is
+counting upon. But if it be short and sharp, the issue will be a German
+victory. The French army is not fully prepared, I understand. Russia is
+an untrained and unwieldy mass. There is, of course, the British navy,
+and with all my heart I thank God that our fleet appears to be fit for
+service. But with regard even to our navy we ought to remember that
+it is as yet untried in modern warfare. I confess I cannot share Mr.
+Rushbrooke's optimistic views as to the war. But whether he be right
+or I, one thing stands out clear in my mind--that we should prepare
+ourselves to do our duty. At whatever cost to our country or to
+ourselves, as individuals, this duty is laid upon us. It is the first,
+the immediate, the all-absorbing duty of every man, woman and child in
+Canada to make war. God help us not to shrink."
+
+"How many in this company will be in Winnipeg this week, say to-morrow?"
+inquired Mr. Murray. The hand of every business man in the company went
+up. "Then suppose we call a meeting at my office immediately upon the
+arrival of the train." And to this they agreed.
+
+The Rushbrooke bonfire was an annual event and ever the most notable
+of all its kind during the holiday season at the Lake. This year the
+preparations for the festive gathering had exceeded those of previous
+years, and Mrs. Rushbrooke's expectations of a brilliantly successful
+function were proportionately high. But she had not counted upon War.
+And so it came that ever as the applause following song or story died
+down, the Spectre drew near, and upon even the most light-hearted of
+the company a strange quiet would fall, and they would find themselves
+staring into the fire forgetful of all about them, thinking of
+what might be. They would have broken up early but Mrs. Rushbrooke
+strenuously resisted any such attempt. But the sense of the impending
+horror chilled the gaiety of the evening and halted the rush of the fun
+till the hostess gave up in despair and no longer opposed the departure
+of her guests.
+
+"Mr. McPherson," she said, as that gentleman came to bid her good-night,
+"I am quite cross with you. You made us all feel so blue and serious
+that you quite spoiled our bonfire."
+
+"I wish it were only I that had spoiled it, Mrs. Rushbrooke," said Mr.
+McPherson gravely. "But even your graceful hospitality to-night, which
+has never been excelled even by yourself at the Lake of the Woods, could
+not make us forget, and God forgive us if we do forget."
+
+"Oh, Mr. McPherson," persisted Mrs. Rushbrooke, in a voice that strove
+to be gaily reproachful, "we must not become pessimistic. We must be
+cheerful even if we are at war."
+
+"Thank you for that word," said the minister solemnly. "It is a true
+word and a right word, and it is a word we shall need to remember more
+and more."
+
+"The man would drive me mad," said Mrs. Rushbrooke to Mr. Murray as
+they watched the boats away. "I am more than thankful that he is not my
+clergyman."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said her husband, who stood near her and shared her
+feelings of disappointment. "It seems to me he takes things far too
+seriously."
+
+"I wonder," said Dr. Brown, who stood with Mr. Murray preparatory to
+taking his departure. "I wonder if we know just how serious this thing
+is. I frankly confess, Mr. Rushbrooke, that my mind has been in an
+appalling condition of chaos this afternoon; and every hour the thing
+grows more terrible as I think of it. But as you say, we must cheer up."
+
+"Surely we must," replied Rushbrooke impatiently. "I am convinced this
+war will soon be over. In three months the British navy together with
+the armies of their allies will wind this thing up."
+
+Through a wonder world of moonlit waterways and dark, mysterious
+channels, around peninsulas and between islands, across an open traverse
+and down a little bay, they took their course until Jim had them safely
+landed at their own dock again. The magic beauty of the white light upon
+wooded island and gleaming lake held them in its spell for some minutes
+after they had landed till Mrs. Murray came down from the bungalow to
+meet them.
+
+"Safe back again," she cried with an all too evident effort to be
+cheery. "How lovely the night is, and how peaceful! James," she said in
+a low voice, turning to her husband, "I wish you would go to Isabel. I
+cannot get her to sleep. She says she must see you."
+
+"Why, what's up?"
+
+"I think she has got a little fright," said his wife. "She has been
+sobbing pitifully."
+
+Mr. Murray found the little thing wide awake, her breath coming in the
+deep sobs of exhaustion that follows tempestuous tears. "What's the
+trouble, Sweetheart?"
+
+"Oh, Daddy," cried the child, flinging herself upon him and bursting
+anew into an ecstasy of weeping, "she--said--you would--have--to--go.
+But--you won't--will you--Daddy?"
+
+"Why, Isabel, what do you mean, dear? Go where?"
+
+"To the--war--Daddy--they said--you would--have--to go--to the war."
+
+"Who said?"
+
+"Mabel. But--you--won't, will you, Daddy?"
+
+"Mabel is a silly little goose," said Mr. Murray angrily. "No, never
+fear, my Sweetheart, they won't expect me to go. I am far too old, you
+know. Now, then, off you go to sleep. Do you know, the moon is shining
+so bright outside that the little birds can't sleep. I just heard a
+little bird as we were coming home cheeping away just like, you. I
+believe she could not go to sleep."
+
+But the child could not forget that terrible word which had rooted
+itself in her heart. "But you will not go; promise me, Daddy, you will
+not go."
+
+"Why, Sweetheart, listen to me."
+
+"But promise me, Daddy, promise me." The little thing clung to him in a
+paroxysm of grief and terror.
+
+"Listen, Isabel dear," said her father quietly. "You know I always tell
+you the truth. Now listen to me. I promise you I won't go until you send
+me yourself. Will that do?"
+
+"Yes, Daddy," she said, and drew a long breath. "Now I am so tired,
+Daddy." Even as she spoke the little form relaxed in his arms and in a
+moment she was fast asleep.
+
+As her father held her there the Spectre drew near again, but for the
+moment his courage failed him and he dared not look.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE TUCK OF DRUM
+
+
+In the midst of her busy summer work in field and factory, on lake and
+river, in mine and forest, on an August day of 1914, Canada was stricken
+to the heart. Out of a blue summer sky a bolt as of death smote her,
+dazed and dumb, gasping to God her horror and amaze. Without word of
+warning, without thought of preparation, without sense of desert, War,
+brutal, bloody, devilish War, was thrust into her life by that power
+whose business in the world, whose confidence and glory, was war.
+
+For some days, stunned by the unexpectedness of the blow, as much as by
+its weight, Canada stood striving to regain her poise. Then with little
+outcry, and with less complaint, she gathered herself for her spring.
+A week, and then another, she stood breathless and following with eyes
+astrain the figure of her ally, little Belgium, gallant and heroic,
+which had moved out upon the world arena, the first to offer battle to
+the armour-weighted, monstrous war lord of Europe, on his way to sate
+his soul long thirsty for blood--men's if he could, women's and little
+children's by preference, being less costly. And as she stood and
+strained her eyes across the sea by this and other sights moved to her
+soul's depths, she made choice, not by compulsion but of her own
+free will, of war, and having made her choice, she set herself to the
+business of getting ready. From Pacific to Atlantic, from Vancouver to
+Halifax, reverberated the beat of the drum calling for men willing to go
+out and stand with the Empire's sons in their fight for life and faith
+and freedom. Twenty-five thousand Canada asked for. In less than a
+month a hundred thousand men were battering at the recruiting offices
+demanding enlistment in the First Canadian Expeditionary Force. From
+all parts of Canada this demand was heard, but nowhere with louder
+insistence than in that part which lies beyond the Great Lakes. In
+Winnipeg, the Gateway City of the West, every regiment of militia at
+once volunteered in its full strength for active service. Every class in
+the community, every department of activity, gave an immediate response
+to the country's call. The Board of Trade; the Canadian Club, that
+free forum of national public opinion; the great courts of the
+various religious bodies; the great fraternal societies and whatsoever
+organisation had a voice, all pledged unqualified, unlimited,
+unhesitating support to the Government in its resolve to make war.
+
+Early in the first week of war wild rumours flew of victory and
+disaster, but the heart of Winnipeg as of the nation was chiefly
+involved in the tragic and glorious struggle of little Belgium. And when
+two weeks had gone and Belgium, bruised, crushed, but unconquered, lay
+trampled in the bloody dust beneath the brutal boots of the advancing
+German hordes, Canada with the rest of the world had come to measure
+more adequately the nature and the immensity of the work in hand. By
+her two weeks of glorious conflict Belgium had uncovered to the world's
+astonished gaze two portentous and significant facts: one, stark and
+horrible, that the German military power knew neither ruth nor
+right; the other, gloriously conspicuous, that Germany's much-vaunted
+men-of-war were not invincible.
+
+On the first Sunday of the war the churches of Winnipeg were full to the
+doors. Men, whose attendance was more or less desultory and to a certain
+extent dependent upon the weather, were conscious of an impulse to go
+to church. War had shaken the foundations of their world, and men were
+thinking their deepest thoughts and facing realities too often neglected
+or minimised. "I have been thinking of God these days," said a man to
+Mr. Murray as they walked home from business on Saturday, and there were
+many like him in Canada in those first days of August. Without being
+able definitely to define it there was in the hearts of men a sense
+of need of some clear word of guiding, and in this crisis of Canadian
+history the churches of Canada were not found wanting. The same Spirit
+that in ancient days sent forth the Hebrew Isaiah with a message of
+warning and counsel for the people of his day and which in the great
+crises of nations has found utterance through the lips of men of humble
+and believing hearts once more became a source of guidance and of
+courage.
+
+The message varied with the character and training of the messenger.
+In the church of which Reverend Andrew McPherson was the minister the
+people were called to repentance and faith and courage.
+
+"Listen to the Word of God," cried the minister, "spoken indeed to men
+of another race and another time, but spoken as truly for the men of
+this day and of this nation. 'Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the
+Holy One of Israel; I am Jehovah thy God, which teacheth thee to profit,
+which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go. Oh, that thou
+wouldst hearken to my commandments! then would thy peace be as a river,
+and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. . . . There is no peace,
+saith Jehovah, to the wicked.' Echoing down through the centuries, these
+great words have verified themselves in every age and may in our day
+verify themselves anew. Peace and righteousness are necessarily and
+eternally bound together." He refused to discuss with them to-day the
+causes of this calamity that had fallen upon them and upon the world.
+But in the name of that same Almighty, Holy God, he summoned the people
+to repentance and to righteousness, for without righteousness there
+could be no peace.
+
+In the Cathedral there rang out over the assembled people the Call to
+Sacrifice. "He that saveth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth
+his life for My sake shall find it." The instinct to save life was
+fundamental and universal. There were times when man must resist that
+instinct and choose to surrender life. Such was the present time. Dear
+as life was, there were things infinitely more precious to mankind, and
+these things were in peril. For the preserving of these things to the
+world our Empire had resolved upon war, and throughout the Empire the
+call had sounded forth for men willing to sacrifice their lives. To this
+call Canada would make response, and only thus could Canada save
+her life. For faith, for righteousness, for humanity, our Empire had
+accepted war. And now, as ever, the pathway to immortality for men and
+for nations was the pathway of sacrifice.
+
+In St. Mary's the priest, an Irishman of warm heart and of fiery
+fighting spirit, summoned the faithful to faith and duty. To faith in
+the God of their fathers who through his church had ever led his people
+along the stern pathway of duty. The duty of the hour was that of united
+and whole-hearted devotion to the cause of Freedom, for which Great
+Britain had girded on her sword. The heart of the Empire had been
+thrilled by the noble words of the leader of the Irish Party in the
+House of Commons at Home, in which he pledged the Irish people to the
+cause of the world's Freedom. In this great struggle all loyal Sons of
+Canada of all races and creeds would be found united in the defence of
+this sacred cause.
+
+The newspaper press published full reports of many of the sermons
+preached. These sermons all struck the same note--repentance, sacrifice,
+service. On Monday morning men walked with surer tread because the light
+was falling clearer upon the path they must take.
+
+In the evening, when Jane and her friend, Ethel Murray, were on their
+way downtown, they heard the beat of a drum. Was it fancy, or was there
+in that beat something they had never heard in a drum beat before,
+something more insistent, more compelling? They hurried to Portage
+Avenue and there saw Winnipeg's famous historic regiment, the Ninetieth
+Rifles, march with quick, brisk step to the drum beat of their bugle
+band.
+
+"Look," cried Ethel, "there's Pat Scallons, and Ted Tuttle, and Fred
+Sharp, too. I did not know that he belonged to the Ninetieth." And as
+they passed, rank on rank, Ethel continued to name the friends whom she
+recognised.
+
+But Jane stood uttering no word. The sight of these lads stepping to
+the drum beat so proudly had sent a chill to her heart and tears to
+her eyes. "Oh, Ethel," she cried, touching her friend's arm, "isn't it
+terrible?"
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" cried Ethel, glancing at her. "Think of what
+they are marching to!"
+
+"Oh, I can't bear it," said Jane.
+
+But Ethel was more engaged with the appearance of the battalion, from
+the ranks of which she continued to pick out the faces of her friends.
+"Look," she cried, "that surely is not Kellerman! It is! It is! Look,
+Jane, there's that little Jew. Is it possible?"
+
+"Kellerman?" cried Jane. "No, it can't be he. There are no Jews in the
+Ninetieth."
+
+"But it is," cried Ethel. "It is Kellerman. Let us go up to Broadway and
+we shall meet them again."
+
+They turned up a cross street and were in time to secure a position
+from which they could get a good look at the faces of the lads as they
+passed. The battalion was marching at attention, and so rigid was
+the discipline that not a face was turned toward the two young ladies
+standing at the street corner. A glance of the eye and a smile they
+received from their friends as they passed, but no man turned his head.
+
+"There he is," said Jane. "It is Kellerman--in the second row, see?"
+
+"Sure enough, it is Kellerman," said Ethel. "Well, what has come to
+Winnipeg?"
+
+"War," said Jane solemnly. "And a good many more of the boys will be
+going too, if they are any good."
+
+As Kellerman came stepping along he caught sight of the girls standing
+there, but no sign of recognition did he make. He was too anxious to
+be considered a soldier for that. Steadiness was one of the primary
+principles knocked into the minds of recruits by the Sergeant Major.
+
+The girls moved along after the column had passed at a sufficient
+distance to escape the rabble. At the drill hall they found the street
+blocked by a crowd of men, women and children.
+
+"What is all this, I wonder?" said Ethel. "Let us wait here awhile.
+Perhaps we may come across some one we know."
+
+It was a strange crowd that gathered about the entrance to the drill
+hall, not the usual assemblage of noisy, idly curious folk of the
+lighter weight that are wont to follow a marching battalion or gather
+to the sound of a band. It was composed of substantial and solid people,
+serious in face and quiet in demeanour. They were there on business, a
+business of the gravest character. As the girls stood waiting they heard
+far down Broadway the throbbing of drums.
+
+"Listen, Ethel," cried Jane. "The Pipes!"
+
+"The Pipes!" echoed Ethel in great excitement. "The Kilties!"
+
+Above the roll and rattle of the drums they caught those high,
+heart-thrilling sounds which for nearly two hundred years have been
+heard on every famous British battlefield, and which have ever led
+Scotland's sons down the path of blood and death to imperishable glory.
+
+A young Ninetieth officer, intent on seeing that the way was kept clear
+for the soldiers, came striding out of the armoury.
+
+"Oh, there's Frank Smart," said Ethel. "I wish he would see us."
+
+As if in answer to her wish, Smart turned about and saw them in the
+crowd. Immediately he came to them.
+
+"I didn't know you were a soldier, Frank," said Jane, greeting him with
+a radiant smile.
+
+"I had almost forgotten it myself," said Frank. "But I was at church
+yesterday and I went home and looked up my uniform and here I am."
+
+"You are not going across, Frank, are you?" said Ethel.
+
+"If I can. There is very strong competition between both officers and
+men. I have been paying little attention to soldiering for a year or so;
+I have been much too busy. But now things are different. If I can make
+it, I guess I will go."
+
+"Oh, Frank, YOU don't need to go, said Ethel. I mean there are heaps of
+men all over Canada wanting to go. Why should YOU go?"
+
+"The question a fellow must ask himself is rather why should he stay,"
+replied the young officer. "Don't you think so, Jane?"
+
+"Yes," said Jane, drawing in her breath sharply but smiling at him.
+
+"Do you want to go in?" asked Frank.
+
+"Oh, do let's go in," said Ethel.
+
+But Jane shrank back. "I don't like to go through all those men," she
+said, "though I should like greatly to see Kellerman," she added. "I
+wonder if I could see him."
+
+"Kellerman?"
+
+"Yes, he's Jane's special, you know," said Ethel. "They ran close
+together for the German prize, you remember. You don't know him? A
+little Jew chap."
+
+"No, I don't know him," said Smart. "But you can certainly see him if
+you wish. Just come with me; I will get you in. But first I have got to
+see that this way is kept clear for the Highlanders."
+
+"Oh, let's wait to see them come up," said Ethel.
+
+"Well, then, stand here," said Frank. "There may be a crush, but if you
+don't mind that we will follow right after them. Here they come. Great
+lads, aren't they?"
+
+"And they have their big feather bonnets on, too," said Ethel.
+
+Down the street the Highlanders came in column of fours, the pipe band
+leading.
+
+"Aren't they gorgeous?" said Smart with generous praise for a rival
+battalion. "Chesty-looking devils, eh?" he added as they drew near. "You
+would think that Pipe Major owned at least half of Winnipeg."
+
+"And the big drummer the other half," added Ethel. "Look at his sticks.
+He's got a classy twirl, hasn't he?"
+
+Gorgeous they were, their white spats flashing in time with their step,
+their kilts swaying free over their tartan hose and naked knees, their
+white tunics gleaming through the dusk of the evening, and over all the
+tossing plumes of their great feather bonnets nodding rhythmically with
+their swinging stride.
+
+"Mighty glad we have not to fight those boys," said Frank as the column
+swung past into the armoury.
+
+The crowd which on other occasions would have broken into enthusiastic
+cheers to-night stood in silence while the Highlanders in all their
+gorgeous splendour went past. That grave silence was characteristic of
+the Winnipeg crowds those first days of war. Later they found voice.
+
+"Now we can go in. Come right along," said Smart. "Stand clear there,
+boys. You can't go in unless you have an order."
+
+"We ar-r-e wantin' tae join," said a Scotch voice.
+
+"You are, eh? Come along then. Fall into line there." The men
+immediately dropped into line. "Ah, you have been there before, I see,"
+said Smart.
+
+"Aye, ye'er-r-r right ther-r-re, sir-r-r," answered the voice.
+
+"You will be for the Kilties, boys?" said Frank.
+
+"Aye. What else?" asked the same man in surprise.
+
+"There is only one regiment for the Scotchman apparently," said Frank,
+leading the way to the door. "Just hold these men here until I see
+what's doing, will you?" he said to the sentry as he passed in. "Now,
+then, young ladies, step to your right and await me in that corner.
+I must see what's to be done with these recruits. Then I shall find
+Kellerman for you."
+
+But he had no need to look for Kellerman, for before he returned the
+little Jew had caught sight of the young ladies and had made his way to
+them.
+
+"Why, how splendid you look, Mr. Kellerman," said Ethel. "I did not know
+you were in the Ninetieth."
+
+"I wasn't until Friday."
+
+"Do you mean to say you joined up to go away?" inquired Ethel.
+
+"That's what," said Kellerman.
+
+"But you are--I mean--I do not see--" Ethel stopped in confusion.
+
+"What you mean, Miss Murray, is that you are surprised at a Jew joining
+a military organisation," said Kellerman with a quiet dignity quite
+new to him. Formerly his normal condition was one of half defiant, half
+cringing nervousness in the presence of ladies. To-night he carried
+himself with an easy self-possession, and it was due to more than the
+uniform.
+
+"I am afraid you are right. It is horrid of me and I am awfully sorry,"
+said Ethel, impulsively offering him her hand.
+
+"Why did you join, Mr. Kellerman?" said Jane in her quiet voice.
+
+"Why, I hardly know if I can tell you. I will, though," he added with a
+sudden impulse, "if you care to hear."
+
+"Oh, do tell us," said Ethel. But Kellerman looked at Jane.
+
+"If you care to tell, Mr. Kellerman," she said.
+
+The little Jew stood silent a few minutes, leaning upon his rifle and
+looking down upon the ground. Then in a low, soft voice he began: "I was
+born in Poland--German Poland. The first thing I remember is seeing my
+mother kneeling, weeping and wringing her hands beside my father's
+dead body outside the door of our little house in our village. He was a
+student, a scholar, and a patriot." Kellerman's voice took on a deeper
+and firmer tone. "He stood for the Polish language in the schools. There
+was a riot in our village. A German officer struck my father down
+and killed him on the ground. My mother wiped the blood off his white
+face--I can see that white face now--with her apron. She kept that
+apron; she has it yet. We got somehow to London soon after that. The
+English people were good to us. The German people are tyrants. They have
+no use for free peoples." The little Jew's words snapped through his
+teeth. "When war came a week ago I could not sleep for two nights. On
+Friday I joined the Ninetieth. That night I slept ten hours." As he
+finished his story the lad stood staring straight before him into the
+moving crowd. He had forgotten the girls who with horror-stricken faces
+had been listening to him. He was still seeing that white face smeared
+with blood.
+
+"And your mother?" said Jane gently as she laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+The boy started. "My mother? Oh, my mother, she went with me to the
+recruiting office and saw me take the oath. She is satisfied now."
+
+For some moments the girls stood silent, unable to find their voices.
+Then Jane said, her eyes glowing with a deep inner light, "Mr.
+Kellerman, I am proud of you."
+
+"Thank you, Miss Brown; it does me good to hear you say that. But you
+have always been good to me."
+
+"And I want you to come and see me before you go," said Jane as she gave
+him her hand. "Now will you take us out through the crowd? We must get
+along."
+
+"Certainly, Miss Brown. Just come with me." With a fine, soldierly tread
+the young Jew led them through the crowd and put them on their way. He
+did not shake hands with them as he said good-bye, but gave them instead
+a military salute, of which he was apparently distinctly proud.
+
+"Tell me, Jane," said Ethel, as they set off down the street, "am I
+awake? Is that little Kellerman, the greasy little Jew whom we used to
+think such a beast?"
+
+"Isn't he splendid?" said Jane. "Poor little Kellerman! You know, Ethel,
+he had not one girl friend in college? I am sorry now we were not better
+to him."
+
+The streets were full of people walking hurriedly or gathered here and
+there in groups, all with grave, solemn faces. In front of The Times
+office a huge concourse stood before the bulletin boards reading
+the latest despatches. These were ominous enough: "The Germans Still
+Battering Liege Forts--Kaiser's Army Nearing Brussels--Four Millions
+of Men Marching on France--Russia Hastening Her Mobilisation--Kitchener
+Calls for One Hundred Thousand Men--Canada Will Send Expeditionary Force
+of Twenty-five Thousand Men--Camp at Valcartier Nearly Ready--Parliament
+Assembles Thursday." Men read the bulletins and talked quietly to each
+other. They had not yet reached clearness in their thinking as to how
+this dread thing had fallen upon their country so far from the storm
+centre, so remote in all vital relations. There was no cheering--the
+cheering days came later--no ebullient emotion, but the tightening of
+lip and jaw in their stern, set faces was a sufficient index of the
+tensity of feeling. Canadians were thinking things out, thinking keenly
+and swiftly, for in the atmosphere and actuality of war mental processes
+are carried on at high pressure.
+
+As the girls stood at the corner of Portage Avenue and Main waiting for
+a crossing, an auto held up in the traffic drew close to their side.
+
+"Hello, Ethel! Won't you get in?" said a voice at their ear.
+
+"Hello, Lloyd! Hello, Helen!" cried Ethel. "We will, most certainly. Are
+you joying, or what?"
+
+"Both," said Lloyd Rushbrooke, who was at the wheel. "Helen wanted to
+see the soldiers. She is interested in the Ninetieth but he wasn't there
+and I am just taking her about."
+
+"We saw the Ninetieth and the Kilties too," said Ethel. "Oh, they are
+fine! Oh, Helen, whom do you think we saw in the Ninetieth? You will
+never guess--Heinrich Kellerman."
+
+"Good Lord! That greasy little Sheeney?" exclaimed Rushbrooke.
+
+"Look out, Lloyd. He's Jane's friend," said Ethel.
+
+Lloyd laughed uproariously at the joke. "And you say the little Yid was
+in the Ninetieth? Well, what is the Ninetieth coming to?"
+
+"Lloyd, you mustn't say a word against Mr. Kellerman," said Jane. "I
+think he is a real man."
+
+"Oh, come, Jane. That little Hebrew Shyster? Why, he does not wash more
+than once a year!"
+
+"I don't care if he never washes at all. I won't have you speak of him
+that way," said Jane. "I mean it. He is a friend of mine."
+
+"And of mine, too," said Ethel, "since to-night. Why, he gave me thrills
+up in the armoury as he told us why he joined up."
+
+"One ten per, eh?" said Lloyd.
+
+"Shall I tell him?" said Ethel.
+
+"No, you will not," said Jane decidedly. "Lloyd would not understand."
+
+"Oh, I say, Jane, don't spike a fellow like that. I am just joking."
+
+"I won't have you joke in that way about Mr. Kellerman, at least, not
+to me." Few of her college mates had ever seen Jane angry. They all
+considered her the personification of even-tempered serenity.
+
+"If you take it that way, of course I apologise," said Lloyd.
+
+"Now listen to me, Lloyd," said Jane. "I am going to tell you why he
+joined up." And in tones thrilling with the intensity of her emotion and
+finally breaking, she recounted Kellerman's story. "And that is why he
+is going to the war, and I am proud of him," she added.
+
+"Splendid!" cried Helen Brookes. "You are in the Ninetieth, too, Lloyd,
+aren't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Lloyd. "At least, I was. I have not gone much lately. I have
+not had time for the military stuff, so I canned it."
+
+"And we saw Pat Scallons and Ted Tuttle in the Ninetieth, too, and
+Ramsay Dunn--oh, he did look fine in his uniform--and Frank Smart--he is
+going if he can," said Ethel. "I wonder what his mother will do. He is
+the only son, you know."
+
+"Well, if you ask me, I think that is rot. It is not right for Smart.
+There are lots of fellows who can go," said Lloyd in quite an angry
+tone. "Why, they say they have nearly got the twenty-five thousand
+already."
+
+"My, I would like to be in the first twenty-five thousand if I were a
+man," said Ethel. "There is something fine in that. Wouldn't you, Jane?"
+
+"I am not a man," said Jane shortly.
+
+"Why the first twenty-five thousand?" said Lloyd. "Oh, that is just
+sentimental rot. If a man was really needed, he would go; but if not,
+why should he? There's no use getting rattled over this thing. Besides,
+somebody's got to keep things going here. I think that is a fine British
+motto that they have adopted in England, 'Business as usual.'"
+
+"'Business as usual!'" exclaimed Jane in a tone of unutterable contempt.
+"I think I must be going home, Lloyd," she added. "Can you take me?"
+
+"What's the rush, Jane? It is early yet. Let's take a turn out to the
+Park."
+
+But Jane insisted on going home. Never before in all her life had she
+found herself in a mood in which she could with difficulty control her
+speech. She could not understand how it was that Lloyd Rushbrooke, whom
+she had always greatly liked, should have become at once distasteful to
+her. She could hardly bear the look upon his handsome face. His clever,
+quick-witted fun, which she had formerly enjoyed, now grated horribly.
+Of all the college boys in her particular set, none was more popular,
+none better liked, than Lloyd Rushbrooke. Now she was mainly conscious
+of a desire to escape from his company. This feeling distressed her. She
+wanted to be alone that she might think it out. That was Jane's way. She
+always knew her own mind, could always account for her emotions, because
+she was intellectually honest and had sufficient fortitude to look facts
+in the face. At the door she did not ask even her friend, Ethel, to come
+in with her. Nor did she make excuse for omitting this courtesy. That,
+too, was Jane's way. She was honest with her friends as with herself.
+She employed none of the little fibbing subterfuges which polite manners
+approve and which are employed to escape awkward situations, but which,
+of course, deceive no one. She was simple, sincere, direct in her mental
+and moral processes, and possessed a courage of the finest quality.
+Under ordinary circumstances she would have cleared up her thinking
+and worked her soul through the mist and stress of the rough weather
+by talking it over with her father or by writing a letter to Larry. But
+during the days of the past terrible week she had discovered that her
+father, too, was tempest-tossed to an even greater degree than she was
+herself; and somehow she had no heart to write to Larry. Indeed, she
+knew not what to say. Her whole world was in confusion.
+
+And in Winnipeg there were many like her. In every home, while faces
+carried bold fronts, there was heart searching of the ultimate depths
+and there was purging of souls. In every office, in every shop, men went
+about their work resolute to keep minds sane, faces calm, and voices
+steady, but haunted by a secret something which they refused to call
+fear--which was not fear--but which as yet they were unwilling to
+acknowledge and which they were unable to name. With every bulletin from
+across the sea the uncertainty deepened. Every hour they waited for news
+of a great victory for the fleet. The second day of the war a rumour of
+such a victory had come across the wires and had raised hopes for a
+day which next day were dashed to despair. One ray of light, thin but
+marvellously bright, came from Belgium. For these six breathless days
+that gallant little people had barred the way against the onrushing
+multitudes of Germany's military hosts. The story of the defence of
+Liege was to the Allies like a big drink of wine to a fainting man. But
+Belgium could not last. And what of France? What France would do no man
+could say. It was exceedingly doubtful whether there was in the French
+soul that enduring quality, whether in the army or in the nation, that
+would be steadfast in the face of disaster. The British navy was fit,
+thank God! But as to the army, months must elapse before a British army
+of any size could be on the fighting line.
+
+Another agonising week passed and still there was no sure word of hope
+from the Front. In Canada one strong, heartening note had been sounded.
+The Canadian Parliament had met and with splendid unhesitating unanimity
+had approved all the steps the Government had taken, had voted large
+sums for the prosecution of the war, and had pledged Canada to the
+Empire to the limit of her power. That fearless challenge flung out into
+the cloud wrapped field of war was like a clear bugle call in the
+night. It rallied and steadied the young nation, touched her pride,
+and breathed serene resolve into the Canadian heart. Canadians of all
+classes drew a long, deep breath of relief as they heard of the action
+of their Parliament. Doubts, uncertainties vanished like morning mists
+blown by the prairie breeze. They knew not as yet the magnitude of the
+task that lay before them, but they knew that whatever it might be, they
+would not go back from it.
+
+At the end of the second week the last fort in Liege had fallen;
+Brussels, too, was gone; Antwerp threatened. Belgium was lost. From
+Belgian villages and towns were beginning to come those tales of
+unbelievable atrocities that were to shock the world into horrified
+amazement. These tales read in the Canadian papers clutched men's
+throats and gripped men's hearts as with cruel fingers of steel.
+Canadians were beginning to see red. The blood of Belgium's murdered
+victims was indeed to prove throughout Canada and throughout the world
+the seed of mighty armies.
+
+At the end of the second week Jane could refrain no longer. She wrote to
+Larry.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A NEUTRAL NATION
+
+
+The first days of the war were for Larry days of dazed bewilderment and
+of ever-deepening misery. The thing which he had believed impossible had
+come. That great people upon whose generous ideals and liberal Christian
+culture he had grounded a sure hope of permanent peace had flung to the
+winds all the wisdom, and all justice, and all the humanity which the
+centuries had garnered for them, and, following the primal instincts of
+the brute, had hurled forth upon the world ruthless war. Even the great
+political party of the Social Democrats upon which he had relied to make
+war impossible had without protest or division proclaimed enthusiastic
+allegiance to the war programme of the Kaiser. The universities and the
+churches, with their preachers and professors, had led the people in mad
+acclaim of war. His whole thinking on the subject had been proved wrong.
+Passionately he had hoped against hope that Britain would not allow
+herself to enter the war, but apparently her struggle for peace had
+been in vain. His first feeling was one of bitter disappointment and of
+indignation with the great leaders of the British people who had allowed
+themselves to become involved in a Mid-European quarrel. Sir Edward
+Grey's calm, moderate--sub-moderate, indeed--exposition of the causes
+which had forced Britain into war did much to cool his indignation, and
+Bethmann-Hollweg's cynical explanation of the violation of Belgium's
+neutrality went far to justify Britain's action consequent upon that
+outraging of treaty faith. The deliberate initiation of the policy
+of "frightfulness" which had heaped such unspeakable horrors upon the
+Belgian people tore the veil from the face of German militarism and
+revealed in its sheer brutality the ruthlessness and lawlessness of that
+monstrous system.
+
+From the day of Austria's ultimatum to Servia Larry began to read
+everything he could find dealing with modern European history, and
+especially German history. Day and night he studied with feverish
+intensity the diplomacy and policies of the great powers of Europe till
+at length he came to a somewhat clear understanding of the modern theory
+and world policy of the German state which had made war inevitable. But,
+though his study made it possible for him to relieve his country from
+the charge of guilt in this war, his anxiety and his misery remained.
+For one thing, he was oppressed with an overwhelming loneliness. He
+began to feel that he was dwelling among an alien people. He had made
+many and close friends during the months of his stay in Chicago. But
+while they were quick to offer him sympathy in his anxiety and misery,
+he could not fail to observe on every hand the obvious and necessary
+indications of the neutral spirit. He could expect nothing else. In this
+conflict America had decided that she was not immediately concerned and
+she was resolute to remain unconcerned. A leading representative of the
+Chicago press urged Americans to be careful not to "rock the boat." The
+President of the United States counselled his people "to keep calm"
+and to observe the strictest neutrality. Larry discovered, too, an
+unconfessed, almost unconscious desire in the heart of many an American,
+a relic of Revolutionary days, to see England not destroyed or even
+seriously disabled, but, say, "well trimmed." It would do her good.
+There was, beside, a large element in the city distinctly and definitely
+pro-German and intensely hostile to Great Britain. On his way to the
+office one afternoon Larry found himself held up by a long procession
+of young German reservists singing with the utmost vigour and with an
+unmistakable note of triumph the German national air, "Die Wacht Am
+Rhein," and that newer song which embodied German faith and German
+ambition, "Deutschland Uber Alles." When he arrived at the office that
+afternoon he was surprised to find that he was unable to go on with his
+work for the trembling of his hands. In the office he was utterly alone,
+for, however his friends there might take pains to show extra kindness,
+he was conscious of complete isolation from their life. Unconcerned,
+indifferent, coolly critical of the great conflict in which his people
+were pouring out blood like water, they were like spectators at a
+football match on the side lines willing to cheer good play on either
+side and ready to acclaim the winner.
+
+The Wakehams, though extremely careful to avoid a word or act that might
+give him pain, naturally shared the general feeling of their people.
+For them the war was only another of those constantly recurring European
+scraps which were the inevitable result of the forms of government which
+these nations insisted upon retaining. If peoples were determined to
+have kings and emperors, what other could they expect but wars. France,
+of course, was quite another thing. The sympathy of America with
+France was deep, warm and sincere. America could not forget the gallant
+Lafayette. Besides, France was the one European republic. As for
+Britain, the people of Chicago were content to maintain a profoundly
+neutral calm, and to a certain extent the Wakehams shared this feeling.
+
+In Larry's immediate circle, however, there were two exceptions.
+One, within the Wakeham family, was Elfie. Quick to note the signs of
+wretchedness in him and quick to feel the attitude of neutrality assumed
+by her family toward the war, the child, without stint and without
+thought, gave him a love and a sympathy so warm, so passionate, that
+it was to his heart like balm to an open wound. There was no neutrality
+about Elfie. She was openly, furiously pro-Ally. The rights and wrongs
+of the great world conflict were at first nothing to her. With Canada
+and the Canadians she was madly in love, they were Larry's people and
+for Larry she would have gladly given her life. Another exception to the
+general state of feeling was that of Hugo Raeder. From the first Raeder
+was an intense and confessed advocate of the cause of the Allies. From
+personal observation he knew Germany well, and from wide reading he had
+come to understand and appreciate the significance of her world policy.
+He recognised in German autocracy and in German militarism and in German
+ambition a menace to the liberties of Europe. He represented a large and
+intellectually influential class of men in the city and throughout the
+country generally. Graduates of the great universities, men high in the
+leadership of the financial world, the editors of the great newspapers
+almost to a man, magazine editors and magazine writers untinged by
+racial or personal affinity with Germany, these were represented by
+Raeder, and were strongly and enthusiastically in sympathy with the aims
+of the Allies, and as the war advanced became increasingly eager to have
+their country assume a definite stand on the side of those nations whom
+they believed to be fighting for the liberties and rights of humanity.
+But though these exceptions were a source of unspeakable comfort to him,
+Larry carried day by day a growing sense of isolation and an increasing
+burden of anxiety.
+
+Then, too, there was the question of his duty. He had no clear
+conviction as to what his duty was. With all his hatred and loathing of
+war, he had come to the conviction that should he see it to be the
+right thing for him, he would take his place in the fighting line. There
+appeared, however, to be no great need for men in Canada just now.
+In response to the call for twenty-five thousand men for the First
+Expeditionary Force, nearly one hundred thousand had offered. And yet
+his country was at war; his friends whether enlisted for the fighting
+line or in the civilian ranks were under the burden. Should he not
+return to Canada and find some way to help in the great cause? But
+again, on the other hand, his work here was important, he had been
+treated with great consideration and kindness, he had made a place for
+himself where he seemed to be needed. The lack of clear vision of his
+duty added greatly to his distress.
+
+A wire had informed him in the first days of the war that his
+brother-in-law had gone to rejoin his old regiment in the Coldstream
+Guards. A letter from Nora did not help much. "Jack has gone," she
+wrote. "We all felt he could do nothing else. Even poor, dear Mother
+agreed that nothing else was possible. Kathleen amazes us all. The very
+day after the awful news came, without a word from Jack, I found her
+getting his things together. 'Are you going to let him go?' I asked
+her, perfectly amazed at her coolness. 'Let me go?' said Jack, who was
+muddling about her. 'Let me go? She would not let me stay. Would you,
+Kathleen?' 'No,' she said, 'I do not think I would like you to stay,
+Jack.' And this is our pacifist, Kathleen, mind you! How she came to see
+through this thing so rapidly I don't know. But sooner than any of us
+Kathleen saw what the war was about and that we must get in. She goes
+about her work quietly, cheerfully. She has no illusions, and there is
+no bravado. Oh, Larry dear, I do not believe I could do it. When she
+smiles at the dear wee man in her arms I have to run away or I should
+howl. I must tell you about Duckworth. You know what a dear he is. We
+have seen a good deal of him this year. He has quite captivated Mother.
+Well, he had a letter from his father saying, 'I am just about rejoining
+my regiment; your brother has enlisted; your sister has gone to the Red
+Cross. We have given our house to the Government for a hospital. Come
+home and join up.' What a man he must be! The dear boy came to see us
+and, Larry, he wanted me. Oh, I wish I could have said yes, but somehow
+I couldn't. Dear boy, I could only kiss him and weep over him till he
+forgot himself in trying to comfort me. He went with the Calgary boys.
+Hec Ross is off, too; and Angus Fraser is up and down the country with
+kilt and pipes driving Scotchmen mad to be at the war. He's going, too,
+although what his old mother will do without him I do not know. But she
+will hear of nothing less. Only four weeks of this war and it seems like
+a year. Switzer has gone, you know, the wicked devil. If it had not been
+for Sam, who had been working around the mine, the whole thing would
+have been blown up with dynamite. Sam discovered the thing in time. The
+Germans have all quit work. Thank God for that. So the mine is not
+doing much. Mother is worried about the war, I can see, thinking things
+through."
+
+A letter from Jane helped him some. It was very unlike Jane and
+evidently written under the stress of strong emotion. She gave him full
+notes of the Reverend Andrew McPherson's sermons, which she appeared
+to set great store by. The rapid progress of recruiting filled her with
+delight. It grieved her to think that her friends were going to the
+war, but that grief was as nothing compared to the grief and indignation
+against those who seemed to treat the war lightly. She gave a page of
+enthusiastic appreciation to Kellerman. Another page she devoted to
+an unsuccessful attempt to repress her furious contempt for Lloyd
+Rushbrooke, who talked largely and coolly about the need of keeping
+sane. The ranks of the first contingent were all filled up. She knew
+there were two million Canadians in the United States who if they were
+needed would flock back home. They were not needed yet, and so it would
+be very foolish for them to leave good positions in the meantime.
+
+Larry read the last sentence with a smile. "Dear old Jane," he said to
+himself. "She wants to help me out; and, by George, she does." Somehow
+Jane's letter brought healing to his lacerated nerves and heart, and
+steadied him to bear the disastrous reports of the steady drive of the
+enemy towards Paris that were released by the censor during the last
+days of that dreadful August. With each day of that appalling retreat
+Larry's agony deepened. The reports were vague, but one thing was
+clear--the drive was going relentlessly forward, and the French and the
+British armies alike were powerless to stay the overwhelming torrent.
+The check at the Marne lifted the gloom a bit. But the reports of that
+great fight were meagre and as yet no one had been able to estimate the
+full significance of that mighty victory for the Allied armies, nor
+the part played therein by the gallant and glorious little army that
+constituted the British Expeditionary Force.
+
+Blacker days came in late September, when the news arrived of the
+disaster to the Aboukir and her sister ships, and a month later of the
+destruction of the Good Hope and the Monmouth in the South Pacific
+sea fight. On that dreadful morning on his way downtown he purchased
+a paper. After the first glance he crushed the paper together till he
+reached his office, where he sat with the paper spread out before him on
+his desk, staring at the headlines, unable to see, unable to think, able
+only to suffer. In the midst of his misery Professor Schaefer passed
+through the office on his way to consult with Mr. Wakeham and threw him
+a smile of cheery triumph. It was a way Schaefer had these days.
+The very sight of him was enough to stir Larry to a kind of frenzied
+madness. This morning the German's smile was the filling up of his cup
+of misery. He stuffed the paper into his desk, took up his pen and began
+to make figures on his pad, gnawing his lips the while.
+
+An hour later Hugo Raeder came in with a message for him. Raeder after
+one look at his face took Larry away with him, sick with rage and fear,
+in his car, and for an hour and a half drove through the Park at a rate
+that defied the traffic regulations, talking the while in quiet, hopeful
+tones of the prospects of the Allies, of the marvellous recovery of
+the French and British armies on the Marne and of the splendid Russian
+victories. He touched lightly upon the recent naval disaster, which
+was entirely due to the longer range of the enemy's guns and to a few
+extraordinarily lucky shots. The clear, crisp air, the swift motion,
+the bright sun, above all the deep, kindly sympathy of this strong,
+clear-thinking man beside him, brought back to Larry his courage if not
+his cheer. As they were nearly back to the office again, he ventured his
+first observation, for throughout the drive he had confined his speech
+to monosyllabic answers to Raeder's stream of talk.
+
+"In spite of it all, I believe the navy is all right," he said, with
+savage emphasis.
+
+"My dear chap," exclaimed Raeder, "did you ever doubt it? Did you read
+the account of the fight?"
+
+"No," said Larry, "only the headlines."
+
+"Then you did not see that the British ships were distinctly outclassed
+in guns both as to range and as to weight. Nothing can prevent disaster
+in such a case. It was a bit of British stupidity to send those old
+cruisers on such an expedition. The British navy is all right. If not,
+then God help America."
+
+"Say, old chap," said Larry as they stepped out of the car, "you have
+done me a mighty good turn this morning, and I will not forget it."
+
+"Oh, that is all right," said Raeder. "We have got to stand together in
+this thing, you know."
+
+"Stand together?" said Larry.
+
+"Yes, stand together. Don't you forget it. We are with you in this. Deep
+down in the heart America is utterly sound; she knows that the cause of
+the Allies is the cause of justice and humanity. America has no use for
+either brutal tyranny or slimy treachery. The real American heart is
+with you now, and her fighting army will yet be at your side."
+
+These sentiments were so unusual in his environment that Larry gazed at
+him in amazement.
+
+"That is God's truth," said Raeder. "Take a vote of the college men
+to-day, of the big business men, of the big newspaper men--these control
+the thinking and the acting of America--and you will find, ninety per
+cent. of these pro-Ally. Just be patient and give the rest of us time.
+Americans will not stand for the bully," added Raeder, putting his hand
+on Larry's shoulder. "You hear me, my boy. Now I am going in to see the
+boss. He thinks the same way, too, but he does not say much out loud."
+
+New hope and courage came into Larry's heart as he listened to the
+pronouncement of this clear-headed, virile young American. Oh, if
+America would only say out loud what Raeder had been saying, how it
+would tone up the spirit of the Allies! A moral vindication of their
+cause from America would be worth many an army corps.
+
+The morning brought him another and unexpected breeze of cheer in the
+person of Dean Wakeham straight from Alberta and the Lakeside Farm. A
+little before lunch he walked in upon Larry, who was driving himself to
+his work that he might forget. It was a veritable breath from home for
+Larry, for Dean was one who carried not only news but atmosphere as
+well. He was a great, warm-hearted boy, packed with human energies of
+body, heart and soul.
+
+"Wait till I say good-morning to father," he said after he had shaken
+hands warmly with Larry. "I will be back then in a minute or two."
+
+But in a few minutes Mr. Wakeham appeared and called Larry to him. "Come
+in, boy, and hear the news," he said.
+
+Larry went in and found Dean in the full tide of a torrential outpouring
+of passionate and enthusiastic, at times incoherent, tales of the
+Canadians, of their spirit, of their sacrifice and devotion in their
+hour of tragedy.
+
+"Go on, Dean," said Raeder, who was listening with face and eyes aglow.
+
+"Go on? I cannot stop. Never have I come up against anything like
+what is going on over there in Canada. Not in one spot, either, but
+everywhere; not in one home, but in every home; not in one class, but in
+every class. In Calgary during the recruiting I saw a mob of men in from
+the ranches, from the C. P. R. shops, from the mines, from the offices,
+fighting mad to get their names down. My God! I had to go away or I
+would have had mine in too. The women, too, are all the same. No man is
+getting under his wife's skirts. You know old Mrs. Ross, Larry, an old
+Scotch woman up there with four sons. Well, her eldest son could not
+wait for the Canadian contingent, but went off with Jack Romayne and
+joined the Black Watch. He was in that Le Cateau fight. Oh, why don't
+these stupid British tell the people something about that great fighting
+retreat from Mons to the Marne? Well, at Le Cateau poor Hec Ross in
+a glorious charge got his. His Colonel wrote the old lady about it. I
+never saw such a letter; there never was one like it. I motored Mrs.
+Gwynne, your mother, Larry, over to see her. Say, men, to see those two
+women and to hear them! There were no tears, but a kind of exaltation.
+Your mother, Larry, is as bad, as good, I mean, as any of them now. I
+heard that old Scotch woman say to your mother in that Scotch voice of
+hers, 'Misthress Gwynne, I dinna grudge my boy. I wouldna hae him back.'
+Her youngest son is off with the Canadians. As she said good-bye to us
+I heard her say to your mother, 'I hae gi'en twa sons, Misthress
+Gwynne, an' if they're wanted, there's twa mair.' My God! I found myself
+blubbering like a child. It sounds all mad and furious, but believe me,
+there is not much noise, no hurrahing. They know they are up against a
+deadly serious business, and that is getting clearer every minute. Did
+you see that the Government had offered one hundred and fifty thousand
+men now, and more if wanted? And all classes are the same. That little
+Welch preacher at Wolf Willow--Rhye, his name is, isn't it? By George,
+you should hear him flaming in the pulpit. He's the limit. There won't
+be a man in that parish will dare hold back. He will just have to go to
+war or quit the church. And it is the same all over. The churches are
+a mighty force in Canada, you know, even a political force. I have been
+going to church every Sunday, Father, this last year. Believe me, God is
+some real Person to those people, and I want to tell you He has become
+real to me too." As Dean said this he glanced half defiantly at his
+father as if expecting a challenge.
+
+But his father only cleared his throat and said, "All right, my boy. We
+won't do anything but gladly agree with you there. And God may come to
+be more real to us all before we are through with this thing. Go on."
+
+"Let's see, what was I talking about?"
+
+"Churches."
+
+"Yes, in Calgary, on my way down this time, the Archdeacon preached a
+sermon that simply sent thrills down my spine. In Winnipeg I went with
+the Murrays to church and heard a clergyman, McPherson, preach. The
+soldiers were there. Great Caesar! No wonder Winnipeg is sending out
+thousands of her best men. He was like an ancient Hebrew prophet, Peter
+the Hermit and Billy Sunday all rolled into one. Yet there was no
+noisy drum pounding and no silly flag flapping. Say, let me tell you
+something. I said there was a battalion of soldiers in church that day.
+The congregation were going to take Holy Communion. You know the Scotch
+way. They all sit in their pews and you know they are fearfully strict
+about their Communion, have rules and regulations and so on about it.
+Well, that old boy McPherson just leaned over his pulpit and told the
+boys what the thing stood for, that it was just like swearing in, and he
+told them that he would just throw the rules aside and man to man would
+ask them to join up with God. Say, that old chap got my goat. The boys
+just naturally stayed to Communion and I stayed too. I was not fit, I
+know, but I do not think it did me any harm." At this point the boy's
+voice broke up and there was silence for some moments in the office.
+Larry had his face covered with his hands to hide the tears that were
+streaming down. Dean's father was openly wiping his eyes, Raeder looking
+stern and straight in front of him.
+
+"Father," said Dean suddenly, "I want to give you warning right now.
+If it ever comes that Canada is in need of men, I am not going to hold
+back. I could not do it and stay in the country. I am an American,
+heart, body and soul, but I would count myself meaner than a polecat if
+I declined to line up with that bunch of Canadians."
+
+"Think well, my boy," said his father. "Think well. I have only one son,
+but I will never stand between you and your duty or your honour. Now we
+go to lunch. Where shall we go?"
+
+"With me, at the University Club, all of you," said Raeder.
+
+"No, with me," said Mr. Wakeham. "I will put up the fatted calf, for
+this my son is home again. Eh, my boy?"
+
+During the lunch hour try as they would they could not get away from the
+war. Dean was so completely obsessed with the subject that he could not
+divert his mind to anything else for any length of time.
+
+"I cannot help it," he said at length. "All my switches run the same
+way."
+
+They had almost finished when Professor Schaefer came into the dining
+hall, spied them and hastened over to them.
+
+"Here's this German beast," said Dean.
+
+"Steady, Dean. We do business with him," said his father.
+
+"All right, Father," replied the boy.
+
+The Professor drew in a chair and sat down. He only wanted a light lunch
+and if they would allow him he would break in just where they were. He
+was full of excitement over the German successes on sea and on land.
+
+"On land?" said Raeder. "Well, I should not radiate too freely about
+their land successes. What about the Marne?"
+
+"The Marne!" said Schaefer in hot contempt. "The
+Marne--strategy--strategy, my dear sir. But wait. Wait a few days. If
+we could only get that boasted British navy to venture out from their
+holes, then the war would be over. Mark what happens in the Pacific.
+Scientific gunnery, three salvos, two hundred minutes from the first
+gun. It is all over. Two British ships sunk to the bottom. That is the
+German way. They would force war upon Germany. Now they have it. In
+spite of all the Kaiser's peace efforts, they drove Germany into the
+war."
+
+"The Kaiser!" exclaimed Larry, unable any longer to contain his fury.
+"The Kaiser's peace efforts! The only efforts that the Kaiser has made
+for the last few years are efforts to bully Europe into submission
+to his will. The great peace-maker of Europe of this and of the last
+century was not the Kaiser, but King Edward VII. All the world knows
+that."
+
+"King Edward VII!" sputtered Schaefer in a fury of contempt. "King
+Edward VII a peacemaker! A ----!" calling him a vile name. "And his son
+is like him!"
+
+The foul word was like a flame to powder with Larry. His hand closed
+upon his glass of water. "You are a liar," he said, leaning over and
+thrusting his face close up to the German. "You are a slanderous liar."
+He flung his glass of water full into Schaefer's face, sprang quickly
+to his feet, and as the German rose, swung with his open hand and struck
+hard upon the German's face, first on one cheek and then on the other.
+
+With a roar Schaefer flung himself at him, but Larry in a cold fury was
+waiting for him. With a stiff, full-armed blow, which carried the whole
+weight of his body, he caught him on the chin. The professor was lifted
+clear over his chair. Crashing back upon the floor, he lay there still.
+
+"Good boy, Larry," shouted Dean. "Great God! You did something that
+time."
+
+Silent, white, cold, rigid, Larry stood waiting. More than any of them
+he was amazed at what he had done. Some friends of the Professor rushed
+toward them.
+
+"Stand clear, gentlemen," said Raeder. "We are perfectly able to handle
+this. This man offered my friend a deadly insult. My friend simply
+anticipated what I myself would gladly have done. Let me say this
+to you, gentlemen, for some time he and those of his kind have made
+themselves offensive. Every man is entitled to his opinion, but I have
+made up my mind that if any German insults my friends the Allies in my
+presence, I shall treat him as this man has been treated."
+
+There was no more of it. Schaefer's friends after reviving him led him
+off. As they passed out of the dining hall Larry and his friends were
+held up by a score or more of men who crowded around him with warm
+thanks and congratulations. The affair was kept out of the press, but
+the news of it spread to the limits of clubland. The following day
+Raeder thought it best that they should lunch again together at the
+University Club. The great dining-room was full. As Raeder and his
+company entered there was first a silence, then a quick hum of voices,
+and finally applause, which grew in volume till it broke into a ringing
+cheer. There was no longer any doubt as to where the sympathy of the men
+of the University Club, at least, lay in this world conflict.
+
+Two days later a telegram was placed upon Larry's desk. Opening it, he
+read, "Word just received Jack Romayne killed in action." Larry carried
+the telegram quietly into the inner office and laid it upon his chief's
+desk.
+
+"I can stand this no longer, sir," he said in a quiet voice. "I wish you
+to release me. I must return to Canada. I am going to the war."
+
+"Very well, my boy," said Mr. Wakeham. "I know you have thought it over.
+I feel you could not do otherwise. I, too, have been thinking, and I
+wish to say that your place will await you here and your salary will go
+on so long as you are at the war. No! not a word! There is not much we
+Americans can do as yet, but I shall count it a privilege as an American
+sympathising with the Allies in their great cause to do this much
+at least. And you need not worry about that coal mine. Dean has been
+telling me about it. We will see it through."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE MAJOR AND THE MAJOR'S WIFE
+
+
+When Larry went to take farewell of the Wakehams he found Rowena with
+Hugo Raeder in the drawing-room.
+
+"You are glad to leave us," said Rowena, in a tone of reproach.
+
+"No," said Larry, "sorry. You have been too good to me."
+
+"You are glad to go to war?"
+
+"No; I hate the war. I am not a soldier, but, thank God, I see my duty,
+and I am going to have a go at it."
+
+"Right you are," said Hugo. "What else could any man do when his country
+is at war?"
+
+"But I hate to go," said Larry, "and I hate this business of saying
+good-bye. You have all been so good to me."
+
+"It was easy," said Rowena. "Do you know I was on the way to fall in
+love with you? Hugo here and Jane saved me. Oh, I mean it," she added,
+flushing as she laughed.
+
+"Jane!" exclaimed Larry.
+
+"Yes, Jane. Oh, you men are so stupid," said Rowena. "And Hugo helped me
+out, too," she added, with a shy glance at him.
+
+Larry looked from one to the other, then rushed to Hugo. "Oh, you lucky
+beggar! You two lucky beggars! Oh, joy, glory, triumph! Could anything
+be finer in the wide world?" cried Larry, giving a hand to each.
+
+"And, Larry, don't be a fool," said Rowena. "Try to understand your
+dear, foolish heart, and don't break your own or any one's else."
+
+Larry gazed at her in astonishment and then at Hugo, who nodded wisely
+at him.
+
+"She is quite right, Larry. I want to see that young lady Jane. She must
+be quite unique. I owe her something."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Larry. "I have already seen your mother.
+Good-bye, you dear things. God give you everything good. He has already
+given you almost the best."
+
+"Good-bye, you dear boy," said Rowena. "I have wanted to kiss you many
+a time, but didn't dare. But now--you are going to the war"--there was
+a little break in her voice--"where men die. Good-bye, Larry, dear boy,
+good-bye." She put her arms about him. "And don't keep Jane waiting,"
+she whispered in his ear.
+
+"If I were a German, Larry," said Hugo, giving him both hands, "I would
+kiss you too, old boy, but being plain American, I can only say good
+luck. God bless you."
+
+"You will find Elfie in her room," said Rowena. "She refuses to say
+good-bye where any one can see her. She is not going to weep. Soldiers'
+women do not weep, she says. Poor kid!"
+
+Larry found Elfie in her room, with high lights as of fever on her
+cheeks and eyes glittering.
+
+"I am not going to cry," she said between her teeth. "You need not be
+afraid, Larry. I am going to be like the Canadian women."
+
+Larry took the child in his arms, every muscle and every nerve in her
+slight body taut as a fiddle-string. He smoothed her hair gently and
+began to talk quietly with her.
+
+"What good times we have had!" he said. "I remember well the very first
+night I saw you. Do you?"
+
+"Oh," she breathed, "don't speak of it, or I can't hold in."
+
+"Elfie," said Larry, "our Canadian women when they are seeing their men
+off at the station do not cry; they smile and wave their hands. That is,
+many of them do. But in their own rooms, like this, they cry as much as
+they like."
+
+"Oh, Larry, Larry," cried the child, flinging herself upon him. "Let me
+cry, then. I can't hold in any longer."
+
+"Neither can I, little girl. See, Elfie, there is no use trying not to,
+and I am not ashamed of it, either," said Larry.
+
+The pent-up emotion broke forth in a storm of sobbing and tears that
+shook the slight body as the tempest shakes the sapling. Larry,
+holding her in his arms, talked to her about the good days they had had
+together.
+
+"And isn't it fine to think that we have those forever, and, whenever
+we want to, we can bring them back again? And I want you to remember,
+Elfie, that when I was very lonely and homesick here you were the one
+that helped me most."
+
+"And you, Larry, oh, what you did for me!" said the child. "I was so
+sick and miserable and bad and cross and hateful."
+
+"That was just because you were not fit," said Larry. "But now you are
+fit and fine and strong and patient, and you will always be so. Remember
+it is a soldier's duty to keep fit." Elfie nodded. "And I want you to
+send me socks and a lot of things when I get over there. I shall write
+you all about it, and you will write me. Won't you?" Again Elfie nodded.
+
+"I am glad you let me cry," she said. "I was so hot and sore here," and
+she laid her hands upon her throat. "And I am glad you cried too, Larry;
+and I won't cry before people, you know."
+
+"That is right. There are going to be too many sad people about for us
+to go crying and making them feel worse," said Larry.
+
+"But I will say good-bye here, Larry. I could go to the train, but then
+I might not quite smile."
+
+But when the train pulled out that night the last face that Larry saw of
+all his warm-hearted American friends was that of the little girl, who
+stood alone at the end of the platform, waving both her hands wildly
+over her head, her pale face effulgent with a glorious smile, through
+which the tears ran unheeded down her cheeks like rain on a sunny day.
+And on Larry's face, as he turned away, there was the same gleam of
+sunshine and of rain.
+
+"This farewell business is something too fierce," he said to himself
+savagely, thinking with a sinking heart of the little group at Wolf
+Willow in the West to whom he must say farewell, and of the one he must
+leave behind in Winnipeg. "How do these women send their husbands off
+and their sons? God knows, it is beyond me."
+
+Throughout the train journey to Calgary his mind was chiefly occupied
+with the thought of the parting that awaited him. But when he reached
+his destination he found himself so overwhelmed with the rush of
+preparation and with the strenuous daily grind of training that he had
+no time nor energy left for anything but his work. A change, too, was
+coming swiftly over the heart of Canada and over his own heart. The
+tales of Belgian atrocities, at first rejected as impossible, but
+afterwards confirmed by the Bryce Commission and by many private
+letters, kindled in Canadian hearts a passion of furious longing to wipe
+from the face of the earth a system that produced such horrors. Women
+who, with instincts native of their kind, had at the first sought how
+they might with honour keep back their men from the perils of war, now
+in their compassion for women thus relentlessly outraged and for their
+tender babes pitilessly mangled, consulted chiefly how they might best
+fit their men for the high and holy mission of justice for the wronged
+and protection for the helpless. It was this that wrought in Larry
+a fury of devotion to his duty. Night and day he gave himself to his
+training with his concentrated powers of body, mind and soul, till he
+stood head and shoulders above the members of the Officers' Training
+Corps at Calgary.
+
+After six weeks of strenuous grind Larry was ordered to report to
+his battalion at Wolf Willow. A new world awaited him there, a world
+recreated by the mysterious alchemy of war, a world in which men and
+women moved amid high ideals and lofty purposes, a world where the
+dominant note was sacrifice and the regnant motive duty.
+
+Nora met him at the station in her own car, which, in view of her
+activity in connection with the mine where her father was now manager,
+the directors had placed at her disposal.
+
+"How big and fine you look, Larry! You must be pounds heavier," she
+cried, viewing him from afar.
+
+"Twenty pounds, and hard as hickory. Never so fit in my life," replied
+her brother, who was indeed a picture of splendid and vigorous health.
+
+"You are perfectly astonishing. But everything is astonishing these
+days. Why, even father, till he broke his leg--"
+
+"Broke his leg?"
+
+"There was no use worrying you about it. A week ago, while he was
+pottering about the mine, he slipped down a ladder and broke his leg. He
+will probably stay where he belongs now--in the office. But father is
+as splendid as any one could well be. He has gripped that mine business
+hard, and even Switzer in his palmiest days could not get better
+results. He has quite an extraordinary way with the men, and that is
+something these days, when men are almost impossible to get."
+
+"And mother?" enquired Larry.
+
+"Mother is equally surprising. But you will see for yourself. And dear
+old Kathleen. She is at it day and night. They made her President of the
+Women's War Association, and she is--Well, it is quite beyond words.
+I can't talk about it, that's all." Nora's voice grew unsteady and she
+took refuge in silence. After a few moments she went on: "And she has
+had the most beautiful letter from Jack's colonel. It was on the Big
+Retreat from Mons that he was killed at the great fight at Landrecies.
+You know about that, Larry?"
+
+"No, never heard anything; I know really nothing of that retreat," said
+Larry.
+
+"Well, we have had letters about it. It must have been great. Oh,
+it will be a glorious tale some day. They began the fight, only
+seventy-five thousand of the British--think of it! with two hundred guns
+against four hundred thousand Germans with six hundred guns. They began
+the fight on a Saturday. The French on both their flanks gave way. One
+army on each flank trying to hem them in and an army in front pounding
+the life out of them. They fought all Saturday. They began the retreat
+on Saturday night, fought again Sunday, marched Sunday night, they
+fought Monday and marched Monday night, fought Tuesday, and marched
+Tuesday night. The letter said they staggered down the roads like
+drunken men. Wednesday, dead beat, they fought again--and against
+ever fresh masses of men, remember. Wednesday night one corps came to
+Landrecies. At half-past nine they were all asleep in billets. At ten
+o'clock a perfectly fresh army of the enemy, field guns backing them up
+behind, machine guns in front, bore down the streets into the village.
+But those wonderful Coldstreams and Grenadiers and Highlanders just
+filled the streets and every man for himself poured in rifle fire, and
+every machine gun fired into the enemy masses, smashed the attack and
+then they went at them with the bayonet and flung them back. Again and
+again throughout the night this thing was repeated until the Germans
+drew off, leaving five hundred dead before the village and in its
+streets. It was in the last bayonet charge, when leading his men, that
+Jack was killed."
+
+"My God!" cried Larry. "What a great death!"
+
+"And so Kathleen goes about with her head high and Sybil, too,--Mrs.
+Waring-Gaunt, you know," continued Nora, "she is just like the others.
+She never thinks of herself and her two little kids who are going to
+be left behind but she is busy getting her husband ready and helping to
+outfit his men, as all the women are, with socks and mits and all the
+rest of it. Before Tom made up his mind to raise the battalion they were
+both wretched, but now they are both cheery as crickets with a kind of
+exalted cheeriness that makes one feel like hugging the dear things.
+And, Larry, there won't be a man left in this whole country if the war
+keeps on except old McTavish, who is furious because they won't take
+him and who declares he is going on his own. Poor Mr. Rhye is feeling so
+badly. He was rejected--heart trouble, though I think he is more likely
+to injure himself here preaching as he does than at the war."
+
+"And yourself, Nora? Carrying the whole load, I suppose,--ranch, and now
+this mine. You are getting thin, I see."
+
+"No fear," said Nora. "Joe is really doing awfully well on the ranch.
+He practically takes charge. By the way, Sam has enlisted. He says he
+is going to stick to you. He is going to be your batman. And as for the
+mine, since father's accident Mr. Wakeham has been very kind. If he were
+not an American he would have enlisted before this."
+
+"Oh! he would, eh?"
+
+"He would, or he would not be coming about Lakeside Farm."
+
+"Then he does come about?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Nora with an exaggerated air of indifference. "He would
+be rather a nuisance if he were not so awfully useful and so jolly.
+After all, I do not see what we should have done without him."
+
+"Ah, a good man is Dean."
+
+"I had a letter from Jane this week," continued Nora, changing the
+subject abruptly.
+
+"I have not heard for two weeks," said Larry.
+
+"Then you have not heard about Scuddy. Poor Scuddy! But why say 'poor'
+Scuddy? He was doing his duty. It was a patrol party. He was scouting
+and ran into an enemy patrol and was instantly killed. The poor girl,
+Helen Brookes, I think it is."
+
+"Helen Brookes!" exclaimed Larry.
+
+"Yes, Jane says you knew her. She was engaged to Scuddy. And Scallons is
+gone too."
+
+"Scallons!"
+
+"And Smart, Frank Smart."
+
+"Frank Smart! Oh! his poor mother! My God, this war is awful and grows
+more awful every day."
+
+"Jane says Mrs. Smart is at every meeting of the Women's Association,
+quiet and steady, just like our Kathleen. Oh, Larry, how can they do it?
+If my husband--if I had one--were killed I could not, I just could not,
+bear it."
+
+"I fancy, little girl, you would measure up like the others. This is a
+damnable business, but we never knew our women till now. But the sooner
+that cursed race is wiped off the face of the earth the better."
+
+"Why, Larry, is that you? I cannot believe my ears."
+
+"Yes, it is me. I have come to see that there is no possibility of peace
+or sanity for the world till that race of mad militarists is destroyed.
+I am still a pacifist, but, thank God, no longer a fool. Is there no
+other news from Jane?"
+
+"Did you hear about Ramsay Dunn? Oh, he did splendidly. He was wounded;
+got a cross or something."
+
+"Did you know that Mr. Murray had organised a battalion and is
+Lieutenant-Colonel and that Doctor Brown is organising a Field Ambulance
+unit and going out in command?"
+
+"Oh, that is settled, is it? Jane told me it was possible."
+
+"Yes, and perhaps Jane and Ethel Murray will go with the Ambulance Unit.
+Oh, Larry, is there any way I might go? I could do so much--drive a car,
+an ambulance, wash, scrub, carry despatches, anything."
+
+"By Jove, you would be a good one!" exclaimed her brother. "I would like
+to have you in my company."
+
+"Couldn't it be worked in any possible way?" cried Nora.
+
+But Larry made no reply. He knew well that no reply was needed. What was
+her duty this splendid girl would do, whether in Flanders or in Alberta.
+
+At the door of their home the mother met them. As her eyes fell upon her
+son in his khaki uniform she gave a little cry and ran to him with arms
+uplifted.
+
+"Come right in here," she whispered, and took him to the inner room.
+There she drew him to the bedside and down upon his knees. With their
+arms about each other they knelt, mingling tears and sobs together till
+their strength was done. Then through the sobs the boy heard her voice.
+"You gave him to me," he heard her whisper, not in her ordinary manner
+of reverent formal prayer, but as if remonstrating with a friend.
+"You know you gave him to me and I gave him back.--I know he is not
+mine.--But won't you let me have him for a little while?--It will not be
+so very long.--Yes, yes, I know.--I am not holding him back.--No, no, I
+could not, I would not do that.--Oh, I would not.--What am I better than
+the others?--But you will give him back to me again.--There are so
+many never coming back, and I have only one boy.--You will let him come
+back.--He is my baby boy.--It is his mother asking."
+
+Larry could bear it no longer. "Oh, mother, mother, mother," he cried.
+"You are breaking my heart. You are breaking my heart." His sobs were
+shaking the bed on which he leaned.
+
+His mother lifted her head. "What is it, Lawrence, my boy?" she asked
+in surprise. "What is it?" Her voice was calm and steady. "We must be
+steadfast, my boy. We must not grudge our offering. No, with willing
+hearts we must bring our sacrifice." She passed into prayer. "Thou, who
+didst give Thy Son, Thine only Son, to save Thy world, aid me to give
+mine to save our world to-day. Let the vision of the Cross make us both
+strong. Thou Cross-bearer, help us to bear our cross." With a voice
+that never faltered, she poured forth her prayer of sacrifice, of
+thanksgiving, of supplication, till serene, steady, triumphant, they
+arose from their knees. She was heard "in that she feared," in her
+surrender she found victory, in her cross, peace. And that serene calm
+of hers remained undisturbed to the very last.
+
+There were tears again at the parting, but the tears fell gently, and
+through them shone ever her smile.
+
+A few short days Larry spent at his home moving about among those that
+were dearer to him than his own life, wondering the while at their
+courage and patience and power to sacrifice. In his father he seemed to
+discover a new man, so concentrated was he in his devotion to business,
+and so wise, his only regret being that he could not don the king's
+uniform. With Kathleen he spent many hours. Not once throughout all
+these days did she falter in her steady, calm endurance, and in her
+patient devotion to duty. Without tears, without a word of repining
+against her cruel fate, with hardly a suggestion, indeed, of her
+irreparable loss, she talked to him of her husband and of his glorious
+death.
+
+After two months an unexpected order called the battalion on twenty-four
+hours' notice for immediate service over seas, and amid the cheers of
+hundreds of their friends and fellow citizens, although women being
+in the majority, the cheering was not of the best, they steamed out of
+Melville Station. There were tears and faces white with heartache, but
+these only after the last cheer had been flung upon the empty siding out
+of which the cars of the troop-train had passed. The tears and the white
+faces are for that immortal and glorious Army of the Base, whose finer
+courage and more heroic endurance make victory possible to the army of
+the Fighting First Line.
+
+At Winnipeg the train was halted for a day and a night, where the
+battalion ENJOYED the hospitality of the city which never tires of
+welcoming and speeding on the various contingents of citizen soldiers
+of the West en route for the Front. There was a dinner and entertainment
+for the men. For Larry, because he was Acting Adjutant, there was no
+respite from duty through all the afternoon until the men had been
+safely disposed in the care of those who were to act as their hosts at
+dinner. Then the Colonel took him off to Jane and her father, who were
+waiting with their car to take them home.
+
+"My! but you do look fine in your uniform," said Jane, "and so strong,
+and so big; you have actually grown taller, I believe." Her eyes were
+fairly standing out with pride and joy.
+
+"Not much difference north and south," said Larry, "but east and west,
+considerable. And you, Jane, you are looking better than ever. Whatever
+has happened to you?"
+
+"Hard work," said Jane.
+
+"I hear you are in the Big Business up to your neck," said Larry. "There
+is so much to do, I can well believe it. And so your father is going?
+How splendid of him!"
+
+"Oh, every one is doing what he can do best. Father will do the
+ambulance well."
+
+"And I hear you are going too."
+
+"I do not know about that," said Jane. "Isn't it awfully hard to tell
+just what to do? I should love to go, but that is the very reason I
+wonder whether I should. There is so much to do here, and there will be
+more and more as we go on, so many families to look after, so much work
+to keep going; work for soldiers, you know, and for their wives and
+children, and collecting money. And it is all so easy to do, for
+every one is eager to do what he can. I never knew people could be so
+splendid, Larry, and especially those who have lost some one. There is
+Mrs. Smart, for instance, and poor Scallan's mother, and Scuddy's."
+
+"Jane," said Larry abruptly, "I must see Helen. Can we go at once when
+we take the others home?"
+
+"I will take you," said Jane. "I am glad you can go. Oh, she is lovely,
+and so sweet, and so brave."
+
+Leaving the Colonel in Dr. Brown's care, they drove to the home of Helen
+Brookes.
+
+"I dread seeing her," said Larry, as they approached the house.
+
+"Well, you need not dread that," said Jane.
+
+And after one look at Helen's face Larry knew that Jane was right. The
+bright colour in the face, the proud carriage of the head, the saucy
+look in the eye, once so characteristic of the "beauty queen" of the
+'Varsity, were all gone. But the face was no less beautiful, the head
+carried no less proudly, the eye no less bright. There was no shrinking
+in her conversation from the tragic fact of her lover's death. She spoke
+quite freely of Scuddy's work in the battalion, of his place with the
+men and of how they loved him, and all with a fine, high pride in him.
+
+"The officers, from the Colonel down, have been so good to me," she
+said. "They have told me so many things about Harry. And the Sergeants
+and the Corporals, every one in his company, have written me. They are
+beautiful letters. They make me laugh and cry, but I love them. Dear
+boys, how I love them, and how I love to work for them!" She showed
+Larry a thick bundle of letters. "And they all say he was so jolly. I
+like that, for you know, being a Y. M. C. A. man in college and always
+keen about that sort of thing--I am afraid I did not help him much in
+that way--he was not so fearfully jolly. But now I am glad he was that
+kind of a man, a good man, I mean, in the best way, and that he was
+always jolly. One boy says, 'He always bucked me up to do my best,' and
+another, a Sergeant, says, 'He put the fear of God into the slackers,'
+and the Colonel says, 'He was a moral tonic in the mess,' and his chum
+officer said, 'He kept us all jolly and clean.' I love that. So you see
+I simply have to buck up and be jolly too."
+
+"Helen, you are wonderful," said Larry, who was openly wiping away his
+tears. "Scuddy was a big man, a better man I never knew, and you are
+worthy of him."
+
+They were passing out of the room when Helen pulled Larry back again.
+"Larry," she said, her words coming with breathless haste, "don't
+wait, oh, don't wait. Marry Jane before you go. That is my great regret
+to-day. Harry wanted to be married and I did too. But father and mother
+did not think it wise. They did not know. How could they? Oh! Larry,"
+she suddenly wrung her hands, "he wished it so. Now I know it would have
+been best. Don't make my mistake, don't, Larry. Don't make my mistake.
+Thank you for coming to see me. Good-bye, Larry, dear. You were his best
+friend. He loved you so." She put her arms around his neck and kissed
+him, hastily wiped her eyes, and passed out to Jane with a smiling face.
+
+They hurried away, for the hours in Winnipeg were short and there was
+much to do and much to say.
+
+"Let her go, Jane," said Larry. "I am in a deuce of a hurry."
+
+"Why, Larry, what is the rush about just now?" said Jane in a slightly
+grieved voice.
+
+"I have something I must attend to at once," said Larry. "So let her
+go." And Jane drove hard, for the most part in silence, till they
+reached home.
+
+Larry could hardly wait till she had given her car into the chauffeur's
+charge. They found Dr. Brown and the Colonel in the study smoking.
+
+"Dr. Brown," said Larry, in a quick, almost peremptory voice, "may I see
+you for a moment or two in your office?"
+
+"Why, what's up? Not feeling well?" said Dr. Brown, while the others
+looked anxiously at him.
+
+"Oh, I am fit enough," said Larry impatiently, "but I must see you."
+
+"I am sure there is something wrong," said Jane, "he has been acting so
+queer this evening. He is so abrupt. Is that the military manner?"
+
+"Perhaps so," said the Colonel. "Nice chap, Larry--hard worker--good
+soldier--awfully keen in his work--making good too--best officer I've
+got. Tell you a secret, Jane--expect promotion for him any time now."
+
+Meantime Larry was facing Dr. Brown in his office. "Doctor," he said, "I
+want to marry Jane."
+
+"Good heavens, when did this strike you?"
+
+"This evening. I want to marry her right away."
+
+"Right away? When?"
+
+"Right away, before I go. To-night, to-morrow."
+
+"Are you mad? You cannot do things like that, you know. Marry Jane! Do
+you know what you are asking?"
+
+"Yes, Doctor, I know. But I have just seen Helen Brookes. She is
+perfectly amazing, perfectly fine in her courage and all that, and she
+told me about Scuddy's death without a tear. But, Doctor, there was a
+point at which she broke all up. Do you know when? When she told me of
+her chief regret, and that was that she and Scuddy had not been married.
+They both wanted to be married, but her parents were unwilling. Now she
+regrets it and she will always regret it. Doctor, I see it very clearly.
+I believe it is better that we should be married. Who knows what will
+come? So many of the chaps do not come back. You are going out too, I am
+going out. Doctor, I feel that it is best that we should be married."
+
+"And what does Jane think about it?" enquired the Doctor, gazing at
+Larry in a bewildered manner.
+
+"Jane! Good Lord! I don't know. I never asked her!" Larry stood gaping
+at the Doctor.
+
+"Well, upon my word, you are a cool one!"
+
+"I never thought of it, Doctor," said Larry.
+
+"Never thought of it? Are you playing with me, boy?" said the Doctor
+sternly.
+
+"I will go and see her," said Larry, and he dashed from the room. But
+as he entered the study, dinner was announced, and Larry's question
+perforce must wait.
+
+Never was a meal so long-drawn-out and so tedious. The Colonel and Jane
+were full of conversation. They discussed the news from the West, the
+mine and its prospects, the Lakeside Farm and its people, the Colonel's
+own family, the boys who had enlisted and those who were left behind,
+the war spirit of Canada, its women and their work and their heroism
+(here the Colonel talked softly), the war and its prospects. The Colonel
+was a brilliant conversationalist when he exerted himself, and he
+told of the way of the war in England, of the awakening of the British
+people, of the rush to the recruiting offices, of the women's response.
+He had tales, too, of the British Expeditionary Force which he had
+received in private letters, of its glorious work in the Great Retreat
+and afterwards. Jane had to tell of her father's new Unit, now almost
+complete, of Mr. Murray's new battalion, now in barracks, of the
+Patriotic Fund and how splendidly it was mounting up into the hundreds
+of thousands, and of the Women's War Association, of which she was
+Secretary, and of the Young Women's War Organisation, of which she was
+President; and all with such animation, with such radiant smiles, with
+such flashing eyes, such keen swift play of thought and wit that Larry
+could hardly believe his eyes and ears, so immense was the change
+that had taken place in Jane during these ten months. He could hardly
+believe, as he glanced across the table at her vivid face, that this
+brilliant, quick-witted, radiant girl was the quiet, demure Jane of his
+college days, his good comrade, his chum, whom he had been inclined to
+patronise. What was this that had come to her? What had released those
+powers of mind and soul which he could now recognise as being her own,
+but which he had never seen in action. As in a flash it came to him that
+this mighty change was due to the terribly energising touch of War.
+The development which in normal times would have required years to
+accomplish, under the quickening impulse of this mighty force which in a
+day was brought to bear upon the life of Canada, this development became
+a thing of weeks and months only. War had poured its potent energies
+through her soul and her soul had responded in a new and marvellous
+efflorescence. Almost over night as it were the flower of an exquisite
+womanhood, strong, tender, sweet, beautiful, had burst into bloom. Her
+very face was changed. The activities with which her days and nights
+were filled had quickened all her vital forces so that the very texture
+and colour of her skin radiated the bloom of vigorous mental and
+physical health. Yet withal there remained the same quick, wise
+sympathy, quicker, wiser than before war's poignant sorrows had
+disciplined her heart; the same far-seeing vision that anticipated
+problems and planned for their solution; the same proud sense of honour
+that scorned things mean and gave quick approval to things high. As he
+listened Larry felt himself small and poor in comparison with her. More
+than that he had the sense of being excluded from her life. The war
+and its activities, its stern claims, its catastrophic events had taken
+possession of the girl's whole soul. Was there a place for him in this
+new, grand scheme of life? A new and terrible master had come into the
+lordship of her heart. Had love yielded its high place? To that question
+Larry was determined to have an answer to-night. To-morrow he was off
+to the Front. The growing fury of the war, its appalling losses, made it
+increasingly doubtful that he should ever see her face again. What her
+answer would be he could not surely say. But to-night he would have it
+from her. If "yes" there was time to-morrow to be married; if "no" then
+the more gladly he would go to the war.
+
+After dinner the Doctor and the Colonel took their way to the study to
+smoke and talk over matters connected with military organisation, in
+regard to which the Doctor confessed himself to be woefully ignorant.
+Jane led Larry into the library, where a bright fire was burning.
+
+"Awfully jolly, this fire. We'll do without the lights," said Larry,
+touching the switch and drawing their chairs forward to the fire,
+wondering the while how he should get himself to the point of courage
+necessary to his purpose. Had it been a few months ago how easy it would
+have been. He could see himself with easy camaraderie put his arm about
+Jane with never a quiver of voice or shiver of soul, and say to her,
+"Jane, you dear, dear thing, won't you marry me?" But at that time
+he had neither desire nor purpose. Now by some damnable perversity of
+things, when heart and soul were sick with the longing for her, and his
+purpose set to have her, he found himself nerveless and shaking like a
+silly girl. He pushed his chair back so that, unaware to her, his eyes
+could rest upon her face, and planned his approach. He would begin
+by speaking of Helen, of her courage, of her great loss, then of her
+supreme regret, at which point he would make his plea. But Jane would
+give him no help at all. Silent she sat looking into the fire, all
+the vivacity and brilliance of the past hour gone, and in its place a
+gentle, pensive sadness. The firelight fell on her face, so changed from
+what it had been in those pre-war days, now so long ago, yet so familiar
+and so dear. To-morrow at this hour he would be far down the line with
+his battalion, off for the war. What lay beyond that who could say? If
+she should refuse--"God help me then," he groaned aloud, unthinking.
+
+"What is it, Larry?" she said, turning her face quickly toward him.
+
+"I was just thinking, Jane, that to-morrow I--that is--" He paused
+abruptly.
+
+"Oh, Larry, I know, I know." Her hands went quickly to her breast. In
+her eyes he saw a look of pain so acute, so pitiful, that he forgot all
+his plan of approach.
+
+"Jane," he cried in a voice sharp with the intensity of his feeling.
+
+In an instant they were both on their feet and facing each other.
+
+"Jane, dear, dear Jane, I love you so, and I want you so." He stretched
+out his arms to take her.
+
+Startled, her face gone deadly pale, she put out her hands against his
+breast, pushing him away from her.
+
+"Larry!" she said. "Larry, what are you saying?"
+
+"Oh, Jane, I am saying I love you; with all my heart and soul, I love
+you and I want you, Jane. Don't you love me a bit, even a little bit?"
+
+Slowly her arms dropped to her side. "You love me, Larry?" she
+whispered. Her eyes began to glow like stars in a pool of water, deep
+and lustrous, her lips to quiver. "You love me, Larry, and you want me
+to--to--"
+
+"Yes, Jane, I want you to be my wife."
+
+"Your wife, Larry?" she whispered, coming a little closer to him. "Oh,
+Larry," she laid her hands upon his breast, "I love you so, and I
+have loved you so long." The lustrous eyes were misty, but they looked
+steadily into his.
+
+"Dear heart, dear love," he said, drawing her close to him and still
+gazing into her eyes.
+
+She wound her arms about his neck and with lips slightly parted lifted
+her face to his.
+
+"Jane, Jane, you wonderful girl," he said, and kissed the parted lips,
+while about them heaven opened and took them to its bosom.
+
+When they had come back to earth Larry suddenly recalled his
+conversation with her father. "Jane," he said, "when shall we be
+married? I must tell your father."
+
+"Married?" said Jane in a voice of despair. "Not till you return,
+Larry." Then she clung to him trembling. "Oh, why were you so slow,
+Larry? Why did you delay so long?"
+
+"Slow?" cried Larry. "Well, we can make up for it now." He looked at his
+watch. "It's nine o'clock, Jane. We can be married to-night."
+
+"Nonsense, you silly boy!"
+
+"Then to-morrow we shall be married, I swear. We won't make Helen's
+mistake." And he told her of Helen Brookes's supreme regret. "We won't
+make that mistake, Jane. To-morrow! To-morrow! To-morrow it will be!"
+
+"But, Larry, listen. Papa--"
+
+"Your father will agree."
+
+"And my clothes?"
+
+"Clothes? You don't need any. What you have on will do."
+
+"This old thing?"
+
+"Perfectly lovely, perfectly splendid. Never will you wear anything so
+lovely as this."
+
+"And then, Larry, what should I do? Where would I go? You are going
+off."
+
+"And you will come with me."
+
+But Jane's wise head was thinking swiftly. "I might come across with
+Papa," she said. "We were thinking--"
+
+"No," cried Larry. "You come with me. He will follow and pick you up in
+London. Hurry, come along and tell him."
+
+"But, Larry, this is awful."
+
+"Splendid, glorious, come along. We'll settle all that later."
+
+He dragged her, laughing, blushing, almost weeping, to the study. "She
+says she will do it to-morrow, sir," he announced as he pushed open the
+door.
+
+"What do you say?" said the Doctor, gazing open-mouthed at him.
+
+"She says she will marry me to-morrow," he proclaimed as if announcing a
+stupendous victory.
+
+"She does!" said the Doctor, still aghast.
+
+"Good heavens!" exclaimed the Colonel. "To-morrow? We are off
+to-morrow!"
+
+Larry swung upon him eagerly. "Before we go, sir. There is lots of time.
+You see we do not pull out until after three. We have all the morning,
+if you could spare me an hour or so. We could get married, and she would
+just come along with us, sir."
+
+Jane gasped. "With all those men?"
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed the Colonel. "The boy is mad."
+
+"We might perhaps take the later train," suggested Jane demurely. "But,
+of course, Papa, I have never agreed at all," she added quickly, turning
+to her father.
+
+"That settles it, I believe," said Dr. Brown. "Colonel, what do you say?
+Can it be done?"
+
+"Done?" shouted the Colonel. "Of course, it can be done. Military
+wedding, guard of honour, band, and all that sort of thing. Proper
+style, first in the regiment, eh, what?"
+
+"But nothing is ready," said Jane, appalled at the rush of events. "Not
+a dress, not a bridesmaid, nothing."
+
+"You have got a 'phone," cried Larry, gloriously oblivious of
+difficulties. "Tell everybody. Oh, sir," he said, turning to Dr. Brown
+with hand outstretched, "I hope you will let her come. I promise you I
+will be good to her."
+
+Dr. Brown looked at the young man gravely, almost sadly, then at his
+daughter. With a quick pang he noted the new look in her eyes. He put
+out his hand to her and drew her toward him.
+
+"Dear child," he said, and his voice sounded hoarse and strained, "how
+like you are to your mother to-night." Her arms went quickly about his
+neck. He held her close to him for a few moments; then loosing her arms,
+he pushed her gently toward Larry, saying, "Boy, I give her to you. As
+you deal with her, so may God deal with you."
+
+"Amen," said Larry solemnly, taking her hand in his.
+
+Never was such a wedding in Winnipeg! Nothing was lacking to make it
+perfectly, gloriously, triumphantly complete. There was a wedding dress,
+and a bridal veil with orange blossoms. There were wedding gifts, for
+somehow, no one ever knew how, the morning Times had got the news. There
+was a church crowded with friends to wish them well, and the regimental
+band with a guard of honour, under whose arched swords the bride and
+groom went forth. Never had the Reverend Andrew McPherson been so happy
+in his marriage service. Never was such a wedding breakfast with toasts
+and telegrams from absent friends, from Chicago, and from the Lakeside
+Farm in response to Larry's announcements by wire. Two of these excited
+wild enthusiasm. One read, "Happy days. Nora and I following your good
+example. See you later in France. Signed, Dean." The other, from the
+Minister of Militia at Ottawa to Lieutenant-Colonel Waring-Gaunt. "Your
+suggestion approved. Captain Gwynne gazetted to-morrow as Major. Signed,
+Sam Hughes."
+
+"Ladies and Gentlemen," cried the Colonel, beaming upon the company,
+"allow me to propose long life and many happy days for the Major and the
+Major's wife." And as they drank with tumultuous acclaim, Larry turned
+and, looking upon the radiant face at his side, whispered:
+
+"Jane, did you hear what he said?"
+
+"Yes," whispered Jane. "He said 'the Major.'"
+
+"That's nothing," said Larry, "but he said 'the Major's wife!'"
+
+And so together they went to the war.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Major, by Ralph Connor
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