"Then back for two years more?"
"Back for two years, sir."
"Magnus, what sort of an inner life have you lived at West Point? They have made a soldier of you outwardly; we can all see so much; but it is possible for a man to be that, and yet have no soldier's heart within."
Magnus coloured deeply.
"Yes, sir," he said. "I know it. And that has been true of me a few times, Mr. Erskine. Never but once in any great thing."
"There are no little things in right and wrong, boy."
"No, sir. I should have said, in what people call great."
Mr. Erskine was silent with sudden pain; he had not looked for such an answer. Then Magnus turned round, and sat facing him, looking full up.
"I have told Cherry the whole thing, straight through," he said; "and now I will tell you, sir, if you wish."
Mr. Erskine drew a breath of relief. If he had told Cherry, it could be nothing very bad; and that he had told her half cleared it away.