The women were struck with consternation, but Aaron burst out laughing.
"Oh, you poor innocent!" he cried, "how can you be a soldier with one shoulder six inches higher than the other?"
"What, am I really so misshapen as that?" asked Manasseh, in surprise.
"To be sure, or at least you can make yourself so for the nonce. Don't you remember how our neighbour Methuselah's grandson went limping about with one leg longer than the other, when the recruiting officer was here?"
"Methuselah's grandson may do that kind of thing," answered Manasseh, "but not an Adorjan. I can't practise any deceit of that sort."
"Deceit!" cried Aaron; "we are deceiving no one—only the government."
"And is the government no one?" asked his brother.
"Well, it's all right to outwit the Austrians," muttered Aaron.
"I don't agree with you," was all Manasseh could say. "If I am ordered to march I shall obey. My poor lads are obliged to exchange the pick for the rifle, and shall I, their master, shirk my duty?"
"Manasseh is right," declared Anna. "What will do for a grandson of Methuselah will not do for an Adorjan. When an Adorjan's name is called he must answer to it like a man. Our brother will be the pride of his regiment, and will soon rise to be an officer; then he can obtain his discharge and come home."