"I think they are often very bad."

"That's delightfully frank," I said, sitting back in my chair a little
stiffly. "I think they are very good--at any rate they are mine."

"Perhaps that is the reason they are so good?"

"Now, pardon me if I, too, am a trifle plain. Do you consider yourself
as competent to form an opinion concerning politics as gray-headed
students of affairs?"

"Oh, certainly not; but do I understand that you accept,
unquestioningly, the politics of the paper you read?"

"Far from it: rather that the politics of this paper commend
themselves to my judgment."

"And you think 'judgment' an article not among a young woman's
possessions?"

"Miss Warren, you may think what you please of the politics of this
paper. But how comes it that you think about them at all? I'm sure
that they interest but comparatively few young ladies."

Her face suddenly became very grave and sad, and a moment later she
turned away her eyes that were full of tears. "I wish you hadn't asked
that question; but I will explain my seeming weakness," she said, in a
low, faltering voice. "I lost my only brother in the war--I was
scarcely more than a child; but I can see him now--my very ideal of
brave, loyal manhood. Should I not love the country for which he