"Archie," she said suddenly, "do you realize that there's a war going on over there in Europe! Do you realize that there is need in France for every able-bodied man that's got a life to spare?—Have you thought of that?"
She was startled by the change in his face. The veins stood out on his forehead, and his hands clenched. "Have I thought of it? God, girl, what else do you suppose I've been thinking about the past year? I'd give the soul out of my body to slip away from this—this grab-bag, and get into a good clean fight—Those damned baby-killers! Gosh!—fight? Just give me a chance at that dachshund of a Kaiser with my two bare hands! But"—he made the little gesture that she realized was becoming characteristic of him—a gesture of renunciation—"I've got to stay here now. There isn't any money in soldiering."
Her flush deepened. "Money! I never want to hear the word again. Haven't you had enough to do with just 'money,' Archie?"
"Not on your life," he said doggedly. "I've got to make a heap of it before I'm through. Fifteen thousand dollars!—That reminds me," he went on in another tone. "You say they need able-bodied men over there—don't they need women, too? D'you suppose your friend Nikolai could find something for you to do in that unit of his?"
He caught the sudden gleam in her eye.
"That would please you, wouldn't it?" he said quietly. "Of course it would mean hard work, dangerous work, too, perhaps—but it's a great chance for you, for anybody! To sort of help make history.... Mr. Nikolai was talkin' to us once about those two kinds of happiness, Hüttengluck and Heldengluck—remember? Well, I don't believe you're the sort to be satisfied with any Hüttengluck—nor I wouldn't want you to be. Take your chance, Joan—and don't lose it." His voice shook a little. "I'd like mighty well to have somebody of my name mixed up in this war somehow!"
She put her hand on his—almost her first demonstration of tenderness since the shock came; but the gleam had already died out of her eyes.
"That's dear of you, Archie—fine and generous. But if your place is here, mine is, too. I am not going to desert you. How can you think such a thing? I mean to be a better wife to you than I have been. We've got to start again, and start right. I want to help you...."
And then inexplicably, unbelievably, the worm turned. His nerves had strained too far. He shook off her hand as if it burned him.
"Help!" he said roughly. "Help? A hell of a lot of help you are! Going around like a martyr, with a don't touch-me, how-dare-you look on your face, as if I'd done the thing just to spite you! My God! A woman with any guts to her—"