"I have tried not to show you that I knew anything—in a personal way—about the army."
Her breath was coming quickly; her face was strained. But after a moment she exclaimed: "Why—to be sure—you were in the Spanish War!"
"No," said he with a hard laugh, "I am nothing so glorious as a veteran."
He felt the hand in his grow cold. She drew it away and rose; turned away and was picking the leaves from a plant.
But she found another thing to reach out to. "Well I suppose"—this she ventured tremulously, imploringly—"you went to West Point—and were— didn't finish?"
"No, Katie," he said, "I never went to West Point."
"Well then what did you do?" she demanded sharply.
He laughed harshly. "Oh I was just one of those fools roped in by a recruiting officer in a gallant-looking white suit!"
"You were—?" she faltered.
"In the ranks. One of the men." The fact that she should be looking like that drove him to add bitterly: "Like Watts, you know."