may give it."

"Well, grandfather, I was very angry at the use they'd put the flag
to, and I--well, I didn't just know what I was doing."

Pen's voice had died away almost to a whisper.

"And that," said the colonel, "is your only excuse?"

"Yes, sir. Except that I didn't mean it; not any of it."

"Of course you didn't mean it. If you had meant it, it would have been
a crime instead of a gross offense. But the fact remains that, in the
heat of passion, without forethought, without regard to your patriotic
ancestry, you have wantonly defamed your country and heaped insults on
her flag."

Pen tried to speak, but he could not. He clung to the back of his
chair and stood mute while the colonel went on:

"My paternal grandfather, sir, fought valiantly in the army of General
Putnam in the Revolutionary war, and my maternal grandfather was an
aide to General Washington. My father helped to storm the heights of
Chapultepec in 1847 under that invincible commander, General Worth. I,
myself, shared the vicissitudes of the Army of the Potomac, through
three years of the civil war. And now it has come to this, that my
grandson has trodden under his feet the flag for which his gallant
ancestors fought, and has defamed the country for which they shed
their blood."

The colonel's voice had risen as he went on, until now, vibrant with
emotion, it echoed through the room. He rose from his chair and began
pacing up and down the library floor.

Still Pen stood mute. Even if he had had the voice to speak there was
nothing more that he could say. It seemed to him that it was hours
that his grandfather paced the floor, and it was a relief to have him
stop and speak again, no matter what he should say.

"I have decided," said the colonel, "that you shall apologize for your
offense. It is the least reparation that can be made. Your apology
will be in public, at your school, and will be directed to your
teacher, to your country, to your flag, and to Master Sands who was
bearing the colors at the time of the assault."

Before his teacher, his country and his flag, Pen would have been
willing to humble himself into the dust. But, to apologize to Aleck
Sands!

Colonel Butler did not wait for a reply, but sat down at his desk and
arranged his materials for writing.

"I shall communicate my purpose to Miss Grey," he said, "in a letter
which you will take to her to-morrow."

Then, for the first time in many minutes, Pen found his voi