e spoke of you, my
dear Marmaduke, in the kindest way in the world. He has a tremendous
admiration for your pluck."

"That's very good of him, I'm sure," said Doggie.

Presently the Dean--good, tactful man--discovered that he must go out
and have a prescription made up at a chemist's. That arch-Hun enemy,
the gout, against which he must never be unprepared. He would be back
in time for dinner. The engaged couple were left alone.

"Well?" said Peggy.

"Well, dear?" said Doggie.

Her lips invited. He responded. She drew him to the saddle-bag sofa,
and they sat down side by side.

"I quite understand, dear old thing," she said. "I know the
resignation and the rest of it hurt you awfully. It hurt me. But it's
no use grousing over spilt milk. You've already mopped it all up. It's
no disgrace to be a private. It's an honour. There are thousands of
gentlemen in the ranks. Besides--you'll work your way up and they'll
offer you another commission in no time."

"You're very good and sweet, dear," said Doggie, "to have such faith
in me. But I've had a year----"

"A year!" cried Peggy. "Good lord! so it is." She counted on her
fingers. "Not quite. But eleven months. It's eleven months since I've
seen you. Do you realize that? The war has put a stop to time. It is
just one endless day."

"One awful, endless day," Doggie acquiesced with a smile. "But I was
saying--I've had a year, or an endless day of eleven months, in which
to learn myself. And what I don't know about myself isn't knowledge."

Peggy interrupted with a laugh. "You must be a wonder. Dad's always
preaching about self-knowledge. Tell me all about it."

Doggie shook his head, at the same time passing his hand over it in a
familiar gesture.

Then Peggy cried:

"I knew there was something wrong with you. Why didn't you tell me?
You've had your hair cut--cut quite differently."

It was McPhail, careful godfather, who had taken him as a recruit to
the regimental barber and prescribed a transformation from the sleek
long hair brushed back over the head to a conventional military crop
with a rudiment of a side parting. On the crown a few bristles stood
up as if uncertain which way to go.

"It's advisable," Doggie replied, "for a Tommy's hair to be cut as
short as possible. The Germans are sheared like convicts."

Peggy regarded him open-eyed and puzzle-browed. He enlightened her no
further, but pursued the main proposition.

"I wouldn't take a commission