ity for other men; when
two from afar will be drawn together as old acquaintances. This is more
usual when the sexes are crossed--at least, poets would have it so--but
in all reaches of human habitation there are moments when a man will see
another in a crowd and say to himself, "I'd like to meet that chap!"
Thus it was with Jeb and Sergeant Tim Doreen, one-time citizen of Galway
(the old sod), later American citizen, still later discharged with honor
from a Canadian regiment because of a grievous wound. But wounds meant
less to Tim than fighting and now, within six weeks, he was on his way
back. "Not as I wouldn't love to go wid me Stars an' Stripes, lad," he
carefully explained, "--for 'twould do me 'art good to slug the heathen
Boche from under its majistic folds--but ye'll be some time gittin'
ready over here, whilst the b'ys av me old rigiment is standin' at
attintion waitin' fer me this minute!"

He and Jeb possessed not one thing in common, yet each was endowed with
something the other would have given his all to own. Jeb's face, for
instance, was like a cameo, high-bred, delicate and intellectual; Tim's
was scarred by shrapnel--although it had never been much of a face to
start with! He had always wanted to be handsome, for he loved beauty
extravagantly, be it in man or woman. Jeb, moreover, was tall,
splendidly built, graceful; his hands were smooth, his fingers well
groomed, he carried himself with the air of a gentleman. Tim was short,
perhaps just within the army requirement; he was built like a pine knot,
was smartly soldierly but lacked every other grace; his hands were what
hands should be that had not shirked in the trenches. He could not have
passed for a gentleman--or for what is the usually accepted term for
that individual--with all the arts of Poole and the rest of Piccadilly
thrown in; and Tim's highest ambition would have been to walk some
evening into the Ritz-Carlton, Sheppards, Continental, or Plaza, "wid
clothes enough an' manners enough to make them as eats there break their
sweet necks wid lookin', an' strain their soft eyes wid admirin' av me!"

Jeb could have done it, for he drew just such looks in places given over
to social frivolities; so Tim liked Jeb, because Tim was generous and
knew only a manly man's psychology. Little did he dream which of the two
would attract the smiles of admiration, the tears of adulation, in the
great field of human service! Just one thing he did possess, how