Black Mayo turned to Mr. Mallett. “Well, well, well! Your great-grandfather came here to fight for American liberty, and now your son is going to France to fight for freedom there. Wouldn’t that old Mallett of the mine be proud of Fayett? Ah, it’s fine to act so that our ancestors might be proud of us! God bless you, boy!�
He wrung Fayett’s hand, man to man, and then took his bridle rein.
“Thank you, Jack,� he said again. “Good night, folks. It’s ten minutes to eight. Polly is locking the back door this minute, and when I get there she’ll be settled with her knitting. Come to see us, all of you.�
He paused in the yard and said, “Mayo, a word with you.� Then he said in an undertone: “It’s best to keep quiet about what happened to-day. Tell Anne and Patsy so. That fellow Smith doesn’t understand how we feel about things. If his foolish speech gets abroad, it will injure him. Maybe I was a little too quick on the trigger.�
He swung into the saddle and the roan mare galloped away.
While the other guests were saying good night, Dick slipped to his bedroom, avoiding a private interview with his father.
“He won’t punish me to-morrow,� he said. “It’s Sunday, Easter Sunday.�
Easter Sunday! And America, that had striven so hard for peace, had been whirled into the red World War.
But it was not of the nation that Mrs. Osborne was thinking as she put Sweet William to bed.
“Poor Mrs. Mallett!� she said to herself. “What if it were my boy that is going?� And she kissed her little son so fiercely that he stirred and opened his eyes.