ling. They looked
at one another, the four men, and there was not a volunteer for the
task. After a minute, however, Arthur, lifting his eyes from the rug
which he had been intently studying, found the others were all facing
him.

"You're the one," said Captain Stephen Thorndyke.

"I think you are," agreed Colonel Chester Thorndyke.

"It's up to you, Art," declared Cadet Lieutenant Thorndyke, with his
usual decision of manner.

So, although Arthur protested that he was not as fit for the mission as
any of the others, they would not let him off.

"You're the one he swears by," Stephen said, and Stuart added:

"Put on your old khaki clothes, Art; that'll tickle the major so he
won't mind what you tell him."

It was a suggestion which appealed to the young clergyman as he lay
awake that night, thinking how he should tell the boy in the morning. It
seemed to him somehow that it would take the edge off the thing if he
could meet David in the old uniform which the child was always begging
to see.

Just before he fell asleep he thought of his Memorial Day address. Since
the morning, day before yesterday, when David's play had interrupted his
first futile efforts at it, he had found no time to work on it. He had
had a wedding and two funerals to attend, besides having to look after
the preparation for his Sunday services. The following Saturday would be
Memorial Day. Meanwhile--there was David.

The next morning Mrs. Thorndyke, on her way to Arthur's study to tell
him that the doctor had telephoned that he would bring the English
surgeon to the house at eleven o'clock for the preliminary examination,
ran into a tall figure in a khaki uniform, a battered slouch hat in his
hand.

"Why, Arthur!" she cried, then added quickly: "Oh, my dear, that's just
what will please him! I'm so glad it's you who are to tell him--you'll
know how."

"I don't know how," said her brother, and she saw that his eyes were
heavy. "But I expect the Commander-in-Chief will show me how." And with
these words he went into his study and closed the door for a moment
before David should come, in order that he might get his instructions
from headquarters.

When the boy came in on his crutches, he found a soldierly figure
awaiting him. He saluted, and the tall corporal returned the salute. The
deep eyes of the man met the clear, bright ones of the child, and the
corporal said to the major:

"I am ordered to report to you, sir, that the enemy is