"Fun, Katherine!"
"Oh, it is only a word, father. It means one thing to you and another to me."
"And you leave me—you absolutely leave me for this?"
"For no slight thing I leave you," said the girl.
"You are of age; I don't suppose I can legally prevent you."
"You cannot. But, all the same, I would ask your blessing before I go."
"You would leave me, really?"
"For no light thing do I leave you, daddy. Our men, the flower of our manhood, are going to encounter a tough time, and every woman who has a spark of womanly feeling in her ought to help them if she can. I am one of the women who can."
"You are not a nurse," he answered. "This is all tomfoolery—mere sentiment. I am surprised at you, Katherine."
"I am not a nurse; but I have got what every nurse does not possess—enormous health, enormous animal spirits, enormous courage—and I won't fail; I will succeed. And oh, daddy, daddy darling, I am going! Yes, I am going on Friday; and you can't—no, daddy, even if you cried to me—even if you went on your knees to me—you can't keep me back."