“That's bully; I'm with you,” said Larry.
In a few minutes they were dressed in their bathing suits, and, wrapped up in their mackintosh coats, they strolled toward the little lake.
“Let's sit a few moments and take in this wonderful night,” said Nora. “Larry, I want to talk to you about what we heard to-night from those two men. They made me feel that war was not only possible but near.”
“It did not impress me in the very least,” said Larry. “They talked as military men always talk. They've got the war bug. These men have both held commissions in their respective armies. Romayne, of course, has seen war, and they look at everything from the military point of view.”
As he was speaking there came across the end of the lake the sound of voices. Over the water the still air carried the words distinctly to their ears.
“Explain what?” It was Switzer's voice they heard, loud and truculent.
“Just what you meant by the words 'slanderous falsehood' which you used to-night,” replied a voice which they recognised to be Jack Romayne's.
“I meant just what I said.”
“Did you mean to impugn my veracity, because—”
“Because what?”