"Have you known him to lie?"
"Well, you know what these French-Canadians are like."
"You understand what I mean. Have you ever known him to lie when put on his honor?"
"Er—no."
"When he told you that he had to see this girl, did you find out if he was speaking the truth?"
"No, sir, I——"
"Did you look for him at this girl's place when you were coming away?"
"I sent a picket through the village."
The blue in Campbell's eyes became unpleasantly light. "I had Des Rosiers in my company at Ypres when the Hun sent over his first gas—you were addressing meetings in Canada at the time—and I know him for a brave chap, as faithful as a dog. It's men like you with a sense of vision no better than a mud-puddle that are making the French-Canadian question another Irish one. They are like children, easily swayed and true as steel to those they trust; but as long as you and your kind make a political cat's-paw out of them, alternately yelling 'Kamerad' and 'Traitor,' according to the political exigencies of the moment, so long will Canada be without the sympathy and the enriching of a wonderfully virile race."
The junior officer's face flushed. "I acted according to the evidence," he persisted hotly.