Had her eyes been looking at him then she might have seen something in
his drawn face and blanched cheeks that would have struck dismay into
her very soul; but, as it was, she attributed the question purely and
simply to his eagerness for service, and answered with a suggestion of
sharpness that was not lost on him:

"Because there's a limit, Jeb, to the patience of a country, just as
there is to the patience of men and women. Even the mildest of us reach
the end of our endurance, sooner or later," she added, not knowing
whether she wanted to laugh or be furious.

"Oh, come," he cried, squaring his shoulders. "I thought maybe you had
some inside news from your father! Don't be a gloom, Marian! The war's
three thousand miles away from us, and that's where it's going to
stay--take my word for it!"

"But I thought you were crazy for it," she turned on him in surprise.

He shifted uneasily, but his voice rang strong and true as he answered:

"I am crazy for it! What d'you suppose I've been getting ready for all
these months? But you leave wars and that sort of thing to us men! You
haven't anything to do with 'em!"

"We have to nurse you in wars, Jeb, just as we do in times of peace,"
she laughed. "Really, I don't see how such big babies as some men I know
can conduct a first class war, anyhow!"

This was the old Marian again; lightly bantering, deliciously good to
look upon. He moved close to her, and asked earnestly:

"Why did you run away from me?"

"I wanted to be a nurse," she answered.

"But why did you decide so quickly to be a nurse?"

She hesitated, then smiled:

"It was better than the other alternative."

"Now that you are a nurse, can't you accept the other alternative, too?
You know I want you just as much."

His voice, deep and resonant with a timbre that went to women's hearts,
thrilled her delightfully. But she had not forgiven him for the paper
target episode, wherein she had been pushed aside to make way for his
skill. There were, moreover, plans that had been fermenting in her mind
for many months--plans of which marriage should not be a part--and she
answered him frankly:

"I really don't know at all, Jeb--I haven't had time to think. Of
course, should our country get into this war, daddy has promised to let
me go across at once; otherwise he insists that I can't. Still, if I go
to France, you will, too, for that matter," she added brightly. Then the
color flew to her cheeks. "Maybe when