"I am prepared to take the consequences, sir, whatever they may be. I only ask for the liberty of explanation."
"Explanation indeed! That should have come before, not afterwards," and with another angry growl, Sir George settled himself in his chair again.
"My wife," said Harold—the Colonel winced—"is willing to endure any length of separation that is necessary. But I want to say about her that her father and mother are dead. She is provided for, however, and lives with her uncle and aunt. What's more, she's a beautiful woman and is just as brave as she is good."
"That's all very well, sir, but why did you bluster along at this infernal speed?"
"For two reasons, sir." Harold had prepared himself for the fight. "First, because I understood my stay in Canada would be a long one; and second, because you said I might have the command of a fort there, some day."
"Yet you tell me when too late to stop a silly move that will upset the whole business."
"It would have been too late, sir, if I had spoken. A soldier never disobeys orders."
"Humph! If I were to report this at headquarters, it would check at once your chances of promotion, and probably your march to Penetang as well."
"That is the very point, sir, I was going to ask. I wish you would report me, together with the request that my wife be allowed to accompany us to Canada. It need be no expense to the war department, as she is able personally to defray all the cost."
"This scheme is just as mad a one as getting married. Do you know what you ask, sir? We are going out there in the winter, when the frost is often 25 degrees below zero; and on landing start at once on a tramp of a thousand miles; not over the prairies and along the roads, but through the woods and swamps, and over lakes covered with ice and snow two feet thick or more. Then, on account of the war with the United States, our road will be straight through the northern country, away from all towns and settlements. It will be like a tramp through Siberia in winter. No lady could stand it, sir."