“Only—only what, dear?” said Mrs Harland. “What is on my mind exactly at this moment,” said Madge, “is, that I—I would not have been strong enough to say that to him.”
“To say what to him, Madge?”
“What you said—to ask him to stay at home when he had his heart set on being a soldier, as his father and as his grandfathers were. Even now—but what’s the use of discussing a situation that cannot arise? Even if the war breaks out, he is only a Militia captain, so that he cannot be called on for duty in a campaign.”
“Of course, the war will be over in a month or two, and there is no chance of the Militia being called out; but it is just for the next month or so that I have my fears—my fears, I should say. I have none now that I know that you have promised to make him happy—to make me happy. I had my fears that at the first sound of the trumpet in his ears all the instincts of his house... Look at those uniforms in every picture round the hall.... Ah, I was afraid that he might ask me to release him from his promise.”
“And you knew that you would have released him without a word of demur,” said Madge. “You know that you would do so, for you belong to a fighting house, too. Bless me, I’m the only representative of civilianism among you all. Oh, it is high time that the fighting Severns and the fighting Harlands got a pacific element introduced among them.”
“That is what I feel,” said Mrs Harland. “Madge, you will not allow him ever to yield to that tradition of his house. I feel that so long as he is by your side he is safe. One campaign at least will take place without a descendant of the Harlands having anything to do with it.”
Before Madge had time to make a reply the gravel of the drive was sent flying against the lowest panes of the room by the feet of a horse reined in suddenly.
“Julian has returned with some important news,” said Madge, glancing outside.
In another instant a man’s step sounded in the porch, and Julian Harland entered the old oak hall with a newspaper in the same hand that held his hunting crop.
“It has come at last!” he cried. “War! war! war!”