d all his
courage in order to go through with it gamely.

... "You can't have this sort of thing." The words had reached him
distinctly--spoken by the one they called Sir John; and the one that
Sir John called "Colonel" said with equal distinctness, "Certainly
not."

Dale's heart beat more easily. As he hoped and believed, they must be
talking of the soldier. Then the heart-beats came heavy again. Were
they talking of him and not of the soldier? He caught a few other
broken phrases of enigmatic import--such as "storm in teacup,"
"trouble caused," "no complaints"--and then the voices were lowered,
and he heard no more of the conversation at the table.

Presently he saw that the secretary was producing a fresh file of
papers, and at the same moment, quite inexplicably, his attention
wandered. He had brought out a handkerchief, and while with a slow
mechanical movement he rubbed the palms of his hands, he noticed and
thought about the furniture and decoration of the room. Clock, map,
and calendar; some busts on top of a bookless bookcase; red turkey
carpet, the treacherous parquetry, and these stiff-looking
chairs--really that was all. The emptiness and tidiness surprised him,
and he began to wonder what the Postmaster-General's room was like.
Surely there would be richer furniture and more litter of business
there. Then, with a little nervous jerk, as of his internal machinery
starting again after a breakdown, he felt how utterly absurd it was
to be thinking about chairs and desks at such a moment. He must pull
himself together, or he was going to make an ass of himself.

"Now, if you please." They were calling him to the table. He slowly
marched across to them, and stood with folded hands.

"Well now, Mr. Dale." The Colonel was speaking, while Sir John read
some letters handed to him by the secretary. "We have gone into this
matter very carefully, and I may tell you at once that we have come to
certain conclusions."

"Yes, sir." Dale found himself obliged to clear his throat before
uttering the two words. His voice had grown husky since he last spoke.

"You have caused us a lot of trouble--really an immense amount of
trouble."

Dale looked at the Colonel unflinchingly, and his voice was all right
this time. "Trouble, sir, is a thing we can't none of us get away
from--not even in private affairs, much less in public affairs."

"No; but there is what is called taking trouble, and there is what is
called making