'Ah,' said the stranger thoughtfully, 'do you know, little chap, you've begun at the wrong end? What do you think makes a brave man?'
'Killing lots of Frenchmen,' said Godfrey promptly.
'Not a bit of it. Now, little maid, what do you say?'
'I think, please sir, that brave men don't mind when Frenchmen kill them, and shoot their legs and their fingers off like Uncle Kiah's.'
'That's nearer the mark, but that's not all. The bravest men are the ones that do what they don't like because it's right, and leave what they do like because it's wrong.'
Godfrey's grave eyes looked up at the gentleman's face as they were used to looking at his Aunt Angel. After a minute he said, slowly,
'Should I have been more like the captain if I'd stayed and done the sum instead of going to be an Arctic discoverer?'
'You'd have been more like a hero, my lad, and you will be another time, I know. This is the way to Oakfield Cottage, isn't it? Do you live there too, little lass?'
'Oh no, sir,' said Nancy; 'we live at the Place, sir, and take care of it for the captain.'
'Do you, though! And is it hard work?'