“I am going to ask you in writing something that I haven’t dared to ask you in person. I am going to ask you if you will marry me. It goes without saying that I am in love with you or I wouldn’t ask you. We have been going together for about six months, and you don’t seem to have got tired of me, so I am plucking up courage to ask you. You know I have a good position at the Barriscale works, and I guess you understand I’m a pretty decent fellow. The only thing in the way is that if this country gets into war I will likely have to go over there with Company E and fight. But I don’t mind that if you don’t. You know I’m a corporal now, but there’s a good chance of my being promoted to be a sergeant, because there’s going to be a vacancy soon, and I’m as likely to get the appointment as anybody.
“Dear Rachael, I hope you love me and that you will answer this very soon and tell me you will marry me.
“Yours with much love,
Alfred.
“P. S.—I never loved any other girl as much as I love you.
“A.”
Well, it was a love-letter; a real, genuine love-letter. Chick had never seen one before. He had only heard of them and wondered about them. And, being a love-letter, it was, of course, a thousand times more important that he should keep secret the contents, than though it had been a mere business letter. But who was Rachael to whom the letter had been written? and, more especially, who was Alfred, who had written it? He was a corporal in Company E. That fact, of course, went a long way toward his identification, but it was not sufficient to make the identification complete. There were five corporals in Company E, and if any one of them bore the name of Alfred, Chick did not know it.
It had become very plain to him, however, that he must find the person who had written this letter, and deliver it up to him. That would be simply a gentleman’s duty. In the meantime the missive would be secreted in an inner pocket of his waistcoat where no human eye would have an opportunity to gaze on it.
Before he turned out his light and got into bed Chick formulated his plan of action.