ns--not even
a lip quiver.

"Must you?" says she, quiet.

"I can't take it out in wearin' a button or hirin' someone to hoe
potatoes in the back lot," says I.

"No," says she.

"Auntie would come, I suppose?" says I.

Vee nods.

"And with Leon here," I goes on, "and Mrs. Battou, you could----"

"Yes, I could get along," she breaks in. "But--but when?"

"Right away," says I. "As soon as they can use me."

"You'll start training for a commission, then?" she asks.

"Not me," says I. "I'd be poor enough as a private, but maybe I'd help
fill in one of the back rows. I don't know much about it. I'll look it
up to-morrow."

"To-morrow? Oh!" says Vee, with just the suspicion of a break in her
voice.

And that's all we had to say about it. Every word. You'd thought we'd
exhausted the subject, or got the tongue cramp. But I expect we each had
a lot of thoughts that didn't get registered. I know I did. And next
mornin' the breakaway came sort of hard.

"I--I know just how you feel about it," says Vee.

"I'm glad somebody does, then," says I.

Puttin' the proposition up to Old Hickory was different. He shoots a
quick glance at me from under them shaggy eyebrows, bites into his cigar
savage, and grunts discontented.

"You are exempt, you know," says he.

"I know," says I. "If tags came with marriage licenses I might wear one
on my watch-fob to show, I expect."

"Huh!" says he. "It seems to me that rapid-fire brain of yours might be
better utilized than by hiding it under a trench helmet."

"Speedy thinkers seem to be a drug on the market just now," says I.
"Anyway, I feel like it was up to me to deliver something--I can't say
just what. But campin' behind a roll-top here on the nineteenth floor
ain't going to help much, is it?"

"Oh, well, if you have the fever!" says he.

And half an hour later I've pushed in past the flag and am answerin'
questions while the sergeant fills out the blank.

Maybe you can guess I ain't in any frivolous mood. I don't believe I
thought I was about to push back the invader, or turn the tide for
civilization. Neither was I lookin' on this as a sportin' flier or a
larky excursion that I was goin' to indulge in at public expense. My
idea was that there'd been a general call for such as me, and that I was
comin' across. I was more or less sober about it.

They didn't seem much impressed at the recruitin' station. Course, you
couldn't expect the sergeant to get thrilled over ev