"'Why cannot you leave me alone. I have done with these
things. I have ceased to be anything but a private man.'

"'Yes,' he answered. 'But have you thought?--this talk of
war, these reckless challenges, these wild aggressions--'

"I stood up.

"'No,' I cried. 'I won't hear you. I took count of all those
things, I weighed them--and I have come away.'

"He seemed to consider the possibility of persistence. He
looked from me to where the lady sat regarding us.

"'War,' he said, as if he were speaking to himself, and then
turned slowly from me and walked away.

"I stood, caught in the whirl of thoughts his appeal had set
going.

"I heard my lady's voice.

"'Dear,' she said; 'but if they had need of you--'

"She did not finish her sentence, she let it rest there. I
turned to her sweet face, and the balance of my mood swayed and
reeled.

"'They want me only to do the thing they dare not do