"I am sure you ladies are."
"Oh, I am not talking of the whole human race," said Miss Lane: "it is cadets that are so odd, so unlike other people."
"That is good," said Magnus. "One would not wish to be like everybody else."
"How you chop one up. I mean other students. Do you try to be unlike all other cadets?"
Magnus shook his head.
"I get the credit sometimes, without trying."
"And I can see you deserve it, too," said the girl. "You would have tugged Aunt Newcomb all the way up here, if you hadn't thought Mr. Clinker meant you should."
Magnus laughed.
"Do you call that being odd?" he said. "It is just even."
"And then, instead of standing off like a shirk, you did the polite thing and ran away. Do you always run from difficulties, Mr. Kindred?"