the war in Europe.

They talked of the war rather drowsily for a while; it was an
interesting but not an exciting topic: the thing they spoke of was so
far away. It was in foreign countries where they had never been and
had no acquaintances; and both the cause and the issue seemed to be in
confusion, though evidently Germany had "started" the trouble. Only
one thing emerged as absolutely clear and proved: there could be no
disagreement about Germany's "dirty work," as Fred defined it, in
violating Belgium. And this stirred Ramsey to declare with justice that
"dirty work" had likewise been done upon himself by the official
person, whoever he or she was, who had given him the German side of
the evening's debate. After this moment of fervour, the conversation
languished, and Brother Colburn rose to go.

"Well, I'm glad you gave that Linski a fine little punch, Brother
Milholland," he said, at the door. "It won't do you any harm in the
'frat,' or with the Lumen either. And don't be discouraged about your
debating. You'll learn. Anybody might have got rattled by having to
argue against as clever and good-looking a girl as that!"

The roommates gave each other a look of serious puzzlement as the door
closed. "Well, Brother Colburn is a mighty nice fellow," Fred said.
"He's kind of funny, though."

Ramsey assented, and then, as the two prepared for bed, they entered
into a further discussion of their senior friend. They liked him "all
right," they said, but he certainly must be kind of queer, and they
couldn't just see how he had "ever managed to get where he was" in the
"frat" and the Lumen and the university.