"Well, you had better mean it," he said; "good enough for me. If there were more girls like you in the world there'd be more better men. Why, half of the women you see almost put the stuff down your throat. Give it to you so sweetened and spiced and fussed up that you don't know what you're taking. And when it's once in your mouth, it's pretty hard not to swallow it."
"Very hard, I should think," said Cherry. "It looks easier to refuse it altogether."
"For you, I dare say; but things are not always exactly what they look, for other people. However, I am going to try it. So if you ever happen to read in the papers of a hopelessly insane cadet, you'll know who it is."
Again the girl's eyes filled, though a bit of a smile came too.
"Magnus," she said, "I think you are called to be a leader."
"Looks like it."
"But I mean, really. How many other fellows, do you think, may take heart to follow, if you will but show the way?"
"So you said before. How many? I don't know; perhaps some. Oh, there are men enough there now who never touch anything stronger than water. And I never did, till that unlucky night. But I've been in lately, somehow, with the other crowd."
"Crowds are unsafe places," Cherry said with a sigh.
"Well, don't waste any long breaths on me," Magnus said. "Why do you?"