“Not at all! It is Lucy’s duty to keep her Colin from running into danger.”
“I hope there are not many Lucies who would think so.”
“I agree with you. Most would rather have Colin killed than disgraced.”
“To be sure!” then, perceiving a knowing twinkle, as if he thought she had made an admission, she added, “but what is disgrace?”
“Some say it is misfortune,” said Mr. Ogilvie.
“Is it not failure in duty?” said Ethel.
“Well!”
“Colin’s first duty is to his king and country. If he fail in that, he is disgraced, in his own eyes, before Heaven and men. If he does it, there is a reward, which seems to me a better, more powerful motive for Lucy to set before him than ‘My dear, I hope you will distinguish yourself,’ when the fact is,
“‘England has forty thousand men,
We trust, as good as he.’
“‘Victory or Westminster Abbey!’ is a tolerable war-cry,” said Mr. Ogilvie.