it's just the other way round. When you hear men talk about how
fine war is, and how they hope this country will have one some time
soon, you can make up your mind that they are boasters and bullies, and
that if a war really came they'd stay home and let someone else do the
fighting. It isn't the people who talk the most and brag the loudest who
step to the front when there's something really hard to be done. They
leave that to the quiet people."

Then they walked along in silence. The place seemed even more beautiful
now, but Bessie was too upset to appreciate its loveliness. She wondered
if General Seeley would believe her, or if he would be more like Maw
Hoover than Mrs. Chester.

"We'll find him on the porch in the back of the house, I think, Bessie.
If he's there we can find him without going inside and bothering the
servants. So we'll go around and see."

General Seeley was a small man, with white beard and moustache, and at
her first look at him Bessie thought he looked very fierce indeed, and
every inch a soldier, though there were so few inches. He had sharp blue
eyes that were keen and piercing, and after he had risen and bowed to
Mrs. Chester, which he did as soon as he saw her, he looked sharply at
Bessie--so sharply that she was sure at once that he had judged her
already, and was very angry at her.

"Well, well, so you've found the poacher and brought her with you, eh?"
he said. "Sit down, ma'am, sit down, while I talk to her!"

And now Bessie saw that there was really a twinkle in the keen eyes, and
that he wasn't as angry as he looked.

"What's her name? Bessie, eh? Bessie King? Well, sit down, Bessie, and
we'll have a talk. No use standing up--none at all! Might as well be
comfortable!"

"Thank you, sir," said Bessie, and sat down. She was still nervous, but
her fright was lessened. He was much more kindly than she had expected
him to be, somehow.

"Now, let's find out all about this, Bessie. Didn't you know you
oughtn't to frighten the birds? Or didn't you think they'd be
frightened--eh, what?"

Bessie didn't understand, fully, at first.

"But I didn't frighten them, sir," she said.

"They thought so. Stupid birds, eh, to think they were frightened when
they weren't? But you remember they didn't know any better."

He laughed merrily at his own joke, and glanced at Mrs. Chester, as if
he expected her to laugh, too, and to be amused, but her eyes were
troubled, and she was very thoughtful.