the throbbing of the mighty screw and the hiss of the
cleft waves broke the hush.

Out of the hush, Ethel spoke abruptly.

"Do you know, Mr. Weldon, you have never told me what brings you out
here."

He had been sitting, chin on his fists, staring out across the gray,
foam-flecked water. Now he looked up at her in surprise.

"I thought you knew. The war, of course."

"Yes; but where are you going?"

"To somewhere on the firing line. Beyond that I've not the least
idea."

"Where is your regiment now?"

"I haven't any."

She frowned in perplexity.

"I think I don't quite understand."

"I mean I haven't enlisted yet."

"But your commission?" she urged.

"I have no commission, Miss Dent."

"Not--any commission!" she said blankly.

In site of himself, he laughed at her tone.

"Certainly not. I am going as a soldier."

She sat staring at him in thoughtful silence.

"But you are a gentleman," she said slowly at length.

Weldon's mouth twitched at the corners.

"I hope so," he assented.

"Then how can you go as soldier, for I suppose you mean private?"

Dictated by generations-old tradition, the question was eloquent.
Weldon's one purpose, however, was to combat that tradition; and he
answered calmly,--

"Why not?"

"Because--because it isn't neat," she responded unexpectedly.

This time, Weldon laughed outright. Trained in the wider, more
open-air school of Canadian life, he found her insular point of view
distinctly comic.

"I have a portable tub somewhere among my luggage," he reassured
her.

She shook her head.

"No; that's not what I mean. But you won't be thrown with men of
your own class. The private is a distinct race; you'll find him
unbearable, when you are really in close quarters with him."

Deliberately Weldon rose and stood looking down at her. His lips
were smiling; his eyes were direct and grave. His mother could have
told the girl, just then, that some one had touched him on the raw.

"Miss Dent," he asked slowly; "is this the way you cheer on the
men?"

She flushed under his rebuke and, for a moment, her blue eyes showed
an angry light.

"I beg your pardon. I was referring to the men whom I am likely to
know."

"And omitting myself?" he inquired.

"You are the exception which proves the rule," she answered a little
shortly. "Of course, I wish you all good; but I don't see how it is
to be gained, if you bury yourself in the ranks."

"It may depend a little upon