"It is not the people who think of war as yet!" said Glenowen. "But the arrogant soldiery, the blindly self-confident officials, the insolent English officers, who seem chosen not to conciliate but to enrage. So many of the officers sent out here do dishonour to the repute of English gentlemen. They seem to look on colonists as a subject race. I have seen them, in New York and in Boston, treat our ladies with an insufferable condescension, such as they would never have dared to show toward the same ladies in England. And I have seen them studiously insolent to colonial gentlemen of birth and breeding far above their own, as if the accident of being born in the mother country instead of in America made them another race. Such conduct, while unimportant in itself, rankles deeply, and sets the two branches of the race in antagonism. Personal affront is mightier than argument, and men cannot overlook a slight to their women."
"I should think not!" cried Robert, loftily. "I would shed the last drop of my blood for the king, but I should not let the king himself put slight upon one of our ladies! I wonder you could endure to see such things, Mr. Glenowen!"
"I did not!" confessed Glenowen. "I have had several differences of late!"
Barbara's eyes sparkled, and her lips parted eagerly over her white teeth.
"You fought them, Uncle Bob! You fought them!" she cried. "Real duels! How many did you fight? Oh, how lovely!"
"Two, sweetheart, I'm sorry to say!" replied Glenowen, modestly. "It was very inconvenient and annoying, because I have so many responsibilities and could not afford to be skewered."
"And how did you come off?" asked Doctor John, leaning far over the table in his eagerness.
"Nothing but a scratch or two, thanks to the righteousness of my cause!" said Glenowen.
"And the other chaps?" inquired Doctor Jim. "Doubtless they were low-bred scoundrels, whom London would have none of! I hope you pricked 'em!"
"I wish I could feel sure that their manners had mended as well as their wounds!" laughed Glenowen, gaily.