, Colonel, he
wrote me such a glorious letter back that I had to show it to Daddy.
He was delighted, and he said that any two men who fought over the
battles of a dead war were 'old fools.'"

Colonel Fairfax winced.

"So," finished the girl with glowing eyes, "Uncle Edward came rushing
North in a great state of excitement, and that's how I came to be down
here over Christmas."

In her impetuous criticism of the war-time quarrel that had separated
the Verney twins for more than forty years, and the expression of her
broad, impulsive patriotism. Colonel Fairfax had listened to certain
truths which had long been subconsciously germinating in his own mind.
Before he could recover from the surprise of finding that he agreed
with her, Ruth, touched by the lines of care graven upon his fine old
face, had caught her breath with a little sob, slipped from her place
by the fire, and was kneeling, beside his chair, her eyes starry with
light, her lovely face glorified with its tender appeal.

"Colonel," she cried, a catch in her voice, "I'm going to marry Dick!
It was he who praised Uncle Edward so."

The Colonel's face grew scarlet; then he laid a trembling hand upon the
girl's bowed head. "Child," he said, "you--you--" Tears blinded his
eyes and he stopped.

In the silence that followed came the sharp sound of a quick footfall.
The Colonel looked up. Dick Fairfax stood in the doorway, his eyes
burning strangely in the white misery of his face.

The father rose and straightened himself with something of his old,
stern dignity; but at a warm, girlish touch he gulped.

"Dick," he said queerly, holding out a trembling hand, "we're--we're
both citizens of the United States, and--it's Christmas Day."

[Illustration: "Dick," he said queerly, holding out a trembling hand,
"we're--we're both citizens of the United States, and--it's Christmas
Day."]

Almost before he had finished the boy had bounded across the floor and
wrung the outstretched hand, his face radiant with delight. By the
fire Ruth cried softly and the Colonel gently patted her dark head, his
eyes full of tenderness. Then taking refuge from the sharp pain of his
emotion in austere command:

"Dick," he said sternly, "go to your mother."

When Uncle Noah, in a state of beatification impossible to describe,
summoned the four to the wonderful Christmas dinner Colonel Fairfax was
eagerly listening to the tales of Dick's success as told by Ruth, and
Dick was