idered to be not according to
Hoyle."

"Nonsense!" cried Patricia indignantly. "Jack took me yesterday to see
the work. He showed me all the plans and we went over the grounds. It is
a most splendid thing, Mamma! He is laying out athletic grounds for his
men, with a club house and all that sort of thing. They are going to be
perfectly splendid! Do you mean to say they were blaming him for this?
Who was?" And Patricia stood ready for battle.

"Kamerad!" cried Vic, holding up his hands. "Not me! However, Jack was
exonerated, for it appears he sent them a letter two weeks ago,
telling them what he proposed to do, to which letter they had raised no
objection."

"Well, what then?" inquired Patricia.

"Oh, the usual thing. They all resolved to stand pat--no surrender--or,
rather, let the whole line advance--you know the stuff--when into
this warlike atmosphere walked the deputation from the Ministerial
Association. It gave the E. D. C. a slight shock, so my Dad says. The
Doctor fired the first gun. My governor says that it was like a breath
from another world. His face was enough. Everybody felt mean for just
being what they were. I know exactly what that is, for I know the way he
makes me feel when I look at him in church. You know what I mean, Pat."

"I know," said Patricia softly, letting her hand fall upon her mother's
shoulder.

"Well," continued Vic, "the Doctor just talked to them as if they were
his children. They hadn't been very good and he was sorry for them.
He would like to help them to be better. The other side, too, had been
doing wrong, and they were having a bad time. They were suffering, and
as he went on to tell them in that wonderful voice of his about the
women and children, every man in the room, so the governor said, was
wondering how much he had in his pocket. And then he told them of how
wicked it was for men whose sons had died together in France to be
fighting each other here in Canada. Well, you know my governor. As he
told me this tale, we just both of us bowed our heads and wept. It's the
truth, so help me, just as you are doing now, Pat."

"I am not," cried Patricia indignantly. "And I don't care if I am. He is
a dear and those men are just--"

"Hush, dear," said Mrs. Templeton gently. "And did they agree to
anything?"

"Alas, not they, for at that moment some old Johnny began asking
questions and then that old fire-eater, McGinnis, horned in again. No
Arbitration Committee for him--