"I don't know what he wants," said Phyllis, not very encouragingly. "But you must be a little man and meet him like one."
May's face was sad as she said,—
"I shall never be a man and I wish I had never tried to be a boy."
"As long as you are a boy you ought to try to be a manly one," said Phyllis, who played the mentor excellently. "You don't want your brothers and sisters to be ashamed of you."
This was the right chord to touch.
"I won't be a coward if I can help it. My brother always said I had as much pluck as he had, but it has all leaked out somewhere since I've seen Uncle Harold," May said, dolefully.
"The General isn't very terrible—you must just face him right down," replied Phyllis.
This was like telling a mouse to go right up to an elephant and scare him, but it buoyed up May's spirits considerably. She stopped, however, as often as possible in going to the house to make the way seem longer, and at the hall door she made a long pause.
"It isn't that I'm really a coward," the poor child thought. "But I'm not used to being treated as if I had done something awful. And when he shouts at me I forget all about acting like a boy I'm so frightened. But there's no use in putting it off; I've got to go in and take it."