l Navy she could hardly rise and go away. With a stoical
mien he read on to the end of the report, bringing out the name of Bob's
ship with tremendous force.

'No,' she said at last, 'I'll hear no more! Let me read to you.'

The trumpet-major sat down. Anne turned to the military news, delivering
every detail with much apparent enthusiasm. 'That's the subject _I_
like!' she said fervently.

'But--but Bob is in the navy now, and will most likely rise to be an
officer. And then--'

'What is there like the army?' she interrupted. 'There is no smartness
about sailors. They waddle like ducks, and they only fight stupid
battles that no one can form any idea of. There is no science nor
stratagem in sea-fights--nothing more than what you see when two rams run
their heads together in a field to knock each other down. But in
military battles there is such art, and such splendour, and the men are
so smart, particularly the horse-soldiers. O, I shall never forget what
gallant men you all seemed when you came and pitched your tents on the
downs! I like the cavalry better than anything I know; and the dragoons
the best of the cavalry--and the trumpeters the best of the dragoons!'

'O, if it had but come a little sooner!' moaned John within him. He
replied as soon as he could regain self-command, 'I am glad Bob is in the
navy at last--he is so much more fitted for that than the
merchant-service--so brave by nature, ready for any daring deed. I have
heard ever so much more about his doings on board the Victory. Captain
Hardy took special notice that when he--'

'I don't want to know anything more about it,' said Anne impatiently; 'of
course sailors fight; there's nothing else to do in a ship, since you
can't run away! You may as well fight and be killed as be killed not
fighting.'

'Still it is his character to be careless of himself where the honour of
his country is concerned,' John pleaded. 'If you had only known him as a
boy you would own it. He would always risk his own life to save anybody
else's. Once when a cottage was afire up the lane he rushed in for a
baby, although he was only a boy himself, and he had the narrowest
escape. We have got his hat now with the hole burnt in it. Shall I get
it and show it to you?'

'No--I don't wish it. It has nothing to do with me.' But as he
persisted in his course towards the door, she added, 'Ah! you are leaving
because I am in your way. You want to be alone