oment
is to be lost in impressing on the disabled man the paramount necessity
of becoming again the captain of his soul. He who was a hero in the
field must again lead us in those qualities of enterprise and endurance
which have made him the admiration of the world."

The three soldiers 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