"Going away, Billie!" she cried in alarm. "Where to?"
"To Annapolis. I may stay, or I may come back. I don't know."
"And you are going away, and you don't know that you'll come back! Oh, Billie, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you got licked, too. Who did it? I hate him. Who licked you, Billie?"
"Never mind, Florrie. He'll tell the news, and you'll soon know who he is."
He walked on, but the child headed him and faced him. There were tears in the gray eyes.
"And you're going away, Billie!" she exclaimed again. "When are you going?"
"I don't know," he answered. "Whenever I am sent for. If I don't see you again, good-by, Florrie girl." He stooped to kiss her, but straightened up, remembering the condition of his face.
"But I will see you again," she declared. "I will, I will. I'll come to your house. And, Billie—I'm sorry I scolded you, really I am."
He smiled ruefully. "Never mind that, Florrie; you always scolded me, you know, and I'm used to it."
"But only when you did wrong, Billie," she answered, gravely, "and somehow I feel that this time you have not done wrong. But I won't scold the next time you really do wrong. I promise."