turn of mind that was amusing. And I gained my point. She turned her
head so as almost to hide her face from me, and I heard a gentle laugh.

"All's fair in love and war," I said, "and were Josiah twice as old, I
should be justified in using those means to this end."

Then I rocked. There is something so sociable about rocking. And I
smoked. There is something so sociable about smoking. For a moment
the girl sat quietly, screening her face from me. Then she began
rocking too, and I caught a sidelong glance of her eye, and the color
mounted to her cheeks, and we laughed together.

So it came that she suddenly stopped her rocking, and dropping the
little basket at my feet, exclaimed: "I love soldiers--just love them!"

Then I told her that I must keep Perry Thomas's oration going to the
end, and she leaned toward me, her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on
mine and asked: "But will you?"

"I can make no promises," I answered. "They say our bodies change
entirely every seven years. Mark Hope, age fifty, will be a different
man from Mark Hope, age twenty-three. He may have nothing to boast
about himself, and his distorted mind may magnify the deeds of the
younger man. Now the younger man refuses to commit himself. He will
not be in any way responsible for his successors."

"How wise you are!" she cried.

"Wise?" I exclaimed, searching her face for a sign of mockery. But
there was none.