uppose we walk on, if you don't
mind. My question needn't embarrass you."

Nevertheless, as they slowly went on together, Ramsey was embarrassed.
He felt "queer." They had known each other so long; in a way had shared
so much, sitting daily for years near each other and undergoing the same
outward experiences; they had almost "grown up together," yet this was
the first time they had ever talked together or walked together.

"Well--" he said. "If you want to ask anything it's all right for me to
tell you--well, I just as soon, I guess."

"It has nothing to do with the secret proceedings of your 'frat'," said
Dora, primly. "What I want to ask about has been talked of all over the
place to-day. Everyone has been saying it was _your_ 'frat' that sent
the first telegram to members of the Government offering support in case
of war with Germany. They say you didn't even wait until to-day, but
sent off a message last night. What I wanted to ask you was whether this
story is true or not?"

"Why, yes," said Ramsey, mildly. "That's what we did."

She uttered an exclamation, a sound of grief and of suspicion confirmed.
"Ah! I was afraid so!"

"'Afraid so'? What's the matter?" he asked, and because she seemed
excited and troubled, he found himself not quite so embarrassed as he
had been at first; for some reason her agitation made him feel easier.
"What was wrong about that?"

"Oh, it's all so shocking and wicked and mistaken!" she cried. "Even the
faculty has been doing it, and half the other 'frats' and sororities!
And it was yours that started it."

"Yes, we did," he said, throughly puzzled. "We're the oldest 'frat'
here, and of course"--he chuckled modestly--"of course we think we're
the best. Do you mean you believe we ought to've sat back and let
somebody else start it?"

"Oh, _no_!" she answered, vehemently. "Nobody ought to have started it!
That's the trouble; don't you see? If nobody had started it none of it
might have happened. The rest mightn't have caught it. It mightn't have
got into their heads. A war thought is the most contagious thought in
the world; but if it can be kept from starting, it can be kept from
being contagious. It's just when people have got into an emotional
state, or a state of smouldering rage, that everybody ought to be so
terribly careful not to think war thoughts or make war speeches--or send
war telegrams! I thought--oh, I was so sure I'd convinced Mr. Colburn of
all this, the last ti