Pats shook his head, slowly and sadly. “That’s an awful utterance!”
“But it enables you to realize her vanity in aspiring to the wisdom of man.”
Father Burke laughed. “Fighting the Boer, Captain Boyd, is a different thing from skirmishing with the American girl.”
“Indeed it is! For on the battle-field there is always one chance of victory. But I have not been fighting the Boers. I was trying to help the Boers against the English.”
“Ah, good!” said the priest. “You were on the right side.”
But the lady shook her head. “I don’t know 26about that. I should have joined the English and fought against the Boers.”
“But, my dear child,” exclaimed Father Burke, “the cause of the Boers is so manifestly the cause of right and justice! They were fighting for their freedom,–the very existence of their country.”
“Possibly, but the English officers are very handsome, and so stylish! And the Boers are common creatures–mostly farmers.”
Pats regarded her in surprise. “That doesn’t affect the principle of the thing. Even a farmer has rights.”
“Principles are so tiresome!” and she looked away, as if the subject wearied her.