ers had turned what was visible of their faces towards Mr.
Lavender, and, seeing that he had riveted their attention, he proceeded:
"The apathy which hospital produces, together with the present scarcity
of labour, is largely responsible for the dangerous position in which the
disabled man now finds himself. Only we who have not to face his future
can appreciate what that future is likely to be if he does not make the
most strenuous efforts to overcome it. Boys," he added earnestly,
remembering suddenly that this was the word which those who had the
personal touch ever employed, "are you making those efforts? Are you
equipping your minds? Are you taking advantage of your enforced leisure
to place yourselves upon some path of life in which you can largely hold
your own against all comers?"

He paused for a reply.

The soldiers, silent for a moment, in what seemed to Mr. Lavender to be
sheer astonishment, began to fidget; then the one next him turned to his
neighbour, and said:

"Are we, Alf? Are we doin' what the gentleman says?"

"I can answer that for you," returned Mr. Lavender brightly; "for I can
tell by your hospitalized faces that you are living in the present; a
habit which, according to our best writers, is peculiar to the British. I
assure you," he went on with a winning look, "there is no future in that.
If you do not at once begin to carve fresh niches for yourselves in the
temple of industrialism you will be engulfed by the returning flood, and
left high and dry upon the beach of fortune."

During these last few words the half of an irritated look on the faces of
the soldiers changed to fragments of an indulgent and protective
expression.

"Right you are, guv'nor," said the one in the middle. Don't you worry,
we'll see you home all right.

"It is you," said Mr. Lavender, "that I must see home. For that is
largely the duty of us who have not had the great privilege of fighting
for our country."

These words, which completed the soldiers' conviction that Mr. Lavender
was not quite all there, caused them to rise.

"Come on, then," said one; we'll see each other home. We've got to be in
by five. You don't have a string to your dog, I see."

"Oh no!" said Mr. Lavender puzzled "I am not blind."

"Balmy," said the soldier soothingly. "Come on, sir, an' we can talk
abaht it on the way."

Mr. Lavender, delighted at the impression he had made, rose and walked
beside them, taking insensibly the direction