, anyhow!" And to Mr. Strong's smile of surprise,
he thundered: "By cracky, I tell you I didn't, Roger! Jeb was too
immature for her--he had yet to prove himself!"

"He's proved himself now," the editor emphatically replied.

"He has, indeed," the Colonel's voice sank to tenderness. "He has,
indeed," he added to himself, as though he could not quite understand
it. "But, Amos, she needs a man of broader calibre--you know she does!
They weren't ever seriously in love with each other, anyhow!--don't
interrupt me again!--I tell you they weren't! Just because their dear
mothers expressed a wish for them to marry, you, and those two little
old maids out there, got to sentimentalizing over it until the poor
children were hypnotized. Why, confound it, I call them lucky to have
escaped! I wonder, by the way," he added thoughtfully, "if this Doctor
What's-his-name talks English, or the jargon in which that clipping is
printed! He'll have a stupid time here in Hillsdale, that's all I've got
to say."

Mr. Strong laughed outright.

"You're mighty cock-sure about him and Marian!"

"Because I don't admit being a pig-headed old fool," the Colonel
grinned. "If ever invisible words were written between lines of a
letter, they're there in your hand! He's asked her, to a certainty; and
she has either said yes, or intends to! Wait for the next mail! The
little vixen is just preparing us--see if I ain't right! Now, read the
other, Amos," he added gently.

The clipping was a long one, being a list of men in the American Army
who had been recommended for the _Croix de Guerre_, and, among the many,
he read:

"'Soldier Jebediah Tumpson, for going through a heavy barrage to search
for a wounded platoon leader, and after two hours under constant fire
bringing him back in safety.'"

"What's that thing they want to give him?" the Colonel asked, after they
had been silent with their own thoughts for several moments. There was a
huskiness in his voice that suggested another approach of tears.

"_Croix de Guerre_," Mr. Strong coughed and answered. "It means the
Cross of War."

"Then why the devil didn't you say Cross of War, Amos," he demanded,
trying valiantly to hide his emotion. "What's the sense of using words
that sound like a dog fight!--g-r-r-r-r!--Croix de G-r-r-r-r,
indeed!--when you know how to say it in decent American English!"

The editor smiled understandingly, and again they relapsed into
meditation; their hearts beating ha