"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Mrs. Branders, sinking back in her chair and covering her face with her hands. "What have I ever done that I should be disgraced by having a son of mine going to—enlist in the Army!"
CHAPTER IV
MRS. BRANDERS GETS A NEW VIEW
THE chums waited to hear no more. It was none of their affair, so they slipped into one of the adjacent dining rooms.
Hal's eyes were flashing with indignation over Mrs. Brander's remark.
Noll, on the other hand, was smiling quietly.
"That must be a severe blow to Mrs. Branders," murmured Noll aloud, as the boys slipped into their chairs at table. "To think of gentle Tip going off into anything as rough and brutal as the Army! And poor little Tip raised so tenderly as a pet!"
As it afterwards turned out, however, Mrs. Branders, after offering her son a present of a hundred dollars to stay out of the Army, had at last tearfully given her consent to his becoming a soldier.