e altered his course; and as he drew nearer her and the details
of her face grew into distinctness, he was indignant with himself
for feeling less and less indignation toward her in proportion to the
closeness of his approach. The pity that came over him was mingled with
an unruly admiration, causing him to wonder what unpatriotic stuff
he could be made of. She was marked, but not whipped; she still held
herself straight under all the hammering and cutting which, to his
knowledge, she had been getting.

She stopped him, "for only a moment," she said, adding with a wan
profoundness: "That is, if you're not one of those who feel that I
shouldn't be 'spoken to'?"

"No," said Fred, stiffly. "I may share their point of view, perhaps, but
I don't feel called upon to obtrude it on you in that manner."

"I see," she said, nodding. "I've wanted to speak with you about
Ramsey."

"All right."

She bit her lip, then asked, abruptly: "What made him do it?"

"Enlist as a private with the regulars?"

"No. What made him enlist at all?"

"Only because he's that sort," Fred returned briskly. "He may be
inexplicable to people who believe that his going out to fight for his
country is the same thing as going out to commit a mur--"

She lifted her hand. "Couldn't you--"

"I beg your pardon," Fred said at once. "I'm sorry, but I don't know
just how to explain him to you."

"Why?"

He laughed, apologetically. "Well, you see, as I understand it, you
don't think it's possible for a person to have something within him that
makes him care so much about his country that he--"

"Wait!" she cried. "Don't you think I'm willing to suffer a little
rather than to see my country in the wrong? Don't you think I'm doing
it?"

"Well, I don't want to be rude; but, of course, it seems to me that
you're suffering because you think you know more about what's right and
wrong than anybody else does."

"Oh, no. But I--"

"We wouldn't get anywhere, probably, by arguing it," Fred said. "You
asked me."

"I asked you to tell my why he enlisted."

"The trouble is, I don't think I _can_ tell that to anybody who needs
an answer. He just went, of course. There isn't any question about it. I
always thought he'd be the first to go."

"Oh, no!" she said.

"Yes, I always thought so."

"I think you were mistaken," she said, decidedly. "It was a special
reason--to make him act so cruelly."

"Cruelly!" Fred cried.

"It _was!_"

"Cruel to whom?"