ision.

"You ask her, Betty," entreated Grace at last, turning to the Little
Captain, who had been very silent and thoughtful during the ride. "She'll
do anything for you, you know."

Betty brought back her wandering attention with a start. She had been
thinking of those last words of Allen's, had been seeing again that
exalted look in his eyes, could feel again the trembling of his hands as
he grasped hers in a grip that hurt--hurt gloriously.

"Wh-what did you say?" she asked, dimly conscious of having been
addressed. "I--I'm afraid I wasn't listening."

"I'm afraid you weren't," returned Grace, throwing a loving arm about her.

Then she repeated Amy's confession and her own question, and gradually
there began to dawn in Betty's eyes a real interest.

"Oh, Amy, do tell us about it," she begged earnestly. "You know he has
always been something of a mystery to us because of his reserve, and we'd
love to know more about him. You know we're really not curious--just truly
interested."

"Well," agreed Amy, with a smile, not able to resist Betty--nobody ever
was for long--"of course, I'll tell you all there is to tell--although it
really isn't much. I was hurrying along the parade a day or two ago,
watching the boys drill, when somebody ran plump into me and made me drop
the package I was carrying. I gasped and started to apologize for not
looking where I was going when I saw that it was Sergeant Mullins. Then we
both laughed and he picked up my package and offered to see me safely back
to the Hostess House. Now what are you laughing at, Mollie?"

"I was just thinking," Mollie chuckled, "of the desperate need there was
of a brave escort and of all the lions and tigers that were apt to attack
you on the parade--"

"Well, you don't have to be silly," Amy retorted hotly, flushing despite
herself, adding, rather lamely: "He said it was so no one else would run
into me."

"Worse and worse, and more of it," chortled Mollie, skidding deftly about
a curve. "What an excuse!"

"Oh, all right then," Amy was beginning indignantly, when Grace hurriedly
thrust the candy box beneath her nose.

"Have one, honey," she said, in a voice of sugar sweetness. "You needn't
pay any attention to Mollie, you know. We're listening."

"Well," Amy continued, slightly mollified, "it was then he told me all
about the ambition he had had of being one of the first on the firing line
and how hard it was to train all the boys to go after the Hu