fine soldier, and I'm sure he will."

"He will, indeed," the old fellow patted her cheek. "And now let me beg
of you, for your dear father's sake, to let the honor of Hillsdale rest
with Jeb, and you stay home here with us!"

"Oh, I couldn't stay home," she moved restlessly. "Don't put your plea
on old daddy's account--it isn't fair! He has you, now," she added,
trying to smile bravely. "Why, Uncle Roger, I was counting on you to
support me!"

"There, there! I will, I will! When do you want to start?"

"To-day," she answered, again listlessly.

"To-day?" he cried in astonishment. "Why, my dear child----"

She sprang to her feet, fighting back tears, and faced him.

"Certainly to-day," she said quickly. "Aren't men falling
to-day?--suffering and crying for help to-day? Are the Germans going to
stop firing until I get there?--or any of us can get there? Don't you
see the sooner everyone gets busy the sooner it will be over?--and can't
you see that I--I can't stay here a minute longer than is absolutely
necessary?" She looked down again at the fallen targets, and a little
shiver seemed to pass over her; then she crossed to her father, tiptoed
behind him and put her arms around his neck. "Your promise, Daddy?" she
asked, tenderly.

He wheeled, almost savagely, and gathered her close to him, saying
huskily:

"Your daddy never went back on a promise, dear."

"Damn those Hun outcasts!" the Colonel thundered, stamping from the room
and banging the door after him.

CHAPTER III

Jeb had stepped out upon the street with heavy feet. There was a dull
weight at his heart; a sickening weariness permeated his entire body.
The Colonel's words of warning to protect his stomach, the suggestion of
bullets ploughing through it, caused him to stop and loosen his belt,
which had begun to feel uncomfortable. He even ran his had over that
part of his anatomy and found that it seemed actually to be tender.

"What the hell's the matter with me?" he asked himself. "I'm no coward;
there hasn't been a coward in my family since the Crusade. No, it's the
Colonel's eternal cackling that's got my goat!"

Heartened somewhat, he continued at a faster pace and soon turned
through the side gate, thence across the porch into the Tumpson home.
Miss Sallie's voice from upstairs greeted him.

"Back safe, Jeb?"

The tenderness of her inquiry, subtly--though
unintentionally--suggesting that the manor lord had returned and
therefore th