“Well,� Mr. Osborne said, “I wanted to go, too, but if I had and we had lost our bridge and perhaps a trainload of soldiers or supplies—— Ah, David, we stay-at-homes can look our soldier boys in the face and say, ‘We, too, did our part.’ Those brave fellows over there would have been helpless if we here hadn’t been brave enough to do our duty.�
Anne had been walking quietly along beside Mr. Osborne. Now she said in an undertone, “Cousin Mayo, I——� Then she stopped.
“Well, Anne?�
“Cousin Mayo, I—I——� Then she blurted out, “I was to blame about their thinking—about your arrest.�
“You to blame? Of course not!�
“The stranger I saw at Larkland that morning—I thought—I said it was Kuno Kleist. And Jake Andrews heard me.�
“It was Mr. Milner. As I did not present you to him, you ought not to have mentioned him or guessed his name. The lips of an honorable guest are sealed to the secrets of a house.� Mr. Osborne spoke gravely; The Village had its standard of good breeding not to be lowered for its young people; they must rise to it.
“Yes, Cousin Mayo,� said Anne. “I’m awful sorry. I was so excited, thinking it was Kuno Kleist.�
“I thought so, too,� said Patsy.
“You will never see Kuno, my dears,� Mr. Osborne said sadly. “He is dead.�