ing it equally well. It sharpens up the
young wits to be pitted against the older ones, and it--well, it
burnishes the elder rapiers and keeps them keen."

"All right, this is your party," agreed Charlotte, and she went back to
her duties.

"You're not afraid it will be too much for you, little girl?" Captain
Rayburn asked Celia, whose smile had faded, and who lay with her head
turned away.

"Oh--no."

"Mercury a little low in the tube this morning?"

"Just a little."

"Any good reason why?"

"N-no."

"Except the best reason in the world--heavy atmospheric pressure. Knee a
trifle slow to become a solid, capable, energetic knee, such as its
owner demands. Owner a bit restless, physically and mentally. Plans for
the winter upset--second lieutenant winning spurs while the colonel lies
in the hospital tent, fighting imaginary battles and trying to keep cool
under the strain."

Celia looked round and smiled again, but her head went back to its old
position, and tears forced themselves out from under the eyelids which
she shut tightly together.

"And a little current of anxiety for the inhabitants of New Mexico keeps
flowing under the edge of the tent and makes the colonel fear it's not
pitched in the right place?"

Celia nodded.

"Well, that's not warranted in the face of the facts. Latest advices
from New Mexico report improvement, even sooner than we could have
expected. Then at home--Lanse is conquering the situation in the
locomotive shops very satisfactorily. Doctor Churchill told me yesterday
that he's won the liking of nearly all the men in his shop--which means
more than a girl like you can guess. Jeff and Just are prospering in
school, according to Charlotte, who is herself working up in her new
profession, and whose last beefsteak was broiled to a turn, as her
critical soldier guest appreciates. As for Celia--"

He got to his feet slowly, grasped his two stout hickory canes and
limped across the room to the couch, showing as he went a pitiful
weakness in the tall figure, whose lines still suggested the martial
bearing which it had not long ago presented, and which it might never
present again. Captain Rayburn sat down close beside Celia and took her
hand.

"In one thing I made a misstatement," he said, softly. "They're not
imaginary battles that the colonel lies fighting in the hospital tent.
They're real enough."

There was a short silence; then Celia spoke unsteadily from the depths
of her