Roy Norton

“ Brownelle started toward him eagerly; but the Colonel held up his hand.
“Hadn’t you better speak to Miss Sutherland?” he said softly. “She has waited for this—waited to greet you through all this time—has come with me to find you. Do you understand?”
It is proof that all men are not without perception that four of us, soldiers all,—Colonel Richardson, Lieutenant Martin, Captain Lepard, and I,—walked gravely out of the room, closing the door behind us, and, in my outer chamber, without speaking a word, drank a silent toast to the happiness of those we had left behind. ”

“ AMERICANS generally try to smother their emotions, and many of them are ashamed of displaying sentiment: but I, Dunois, sometime Colonel in the army of France, have known many of your countrymen, and best of all Captain Frederic Brownelle. Once I told you how I first met him, a tanned young fellow in a private’s uniform, and how, after we had invaded the German lines and robbed them of their last dirigible, he was given his commission with us, to become a member, in time, of my own regiment. ”

“ I never tried to pry into his confidence after that first night when I learned that he once had been a Captain in your American army and had left it for a woman’s sake. A man may not speak a woman’s name, even to his comrade, when it involves an affair of the heart ”

“ Gertrude Sutherland, and the other a man who laughed with candid eyes and waited with us for the arrival of the American wanderer. Accompanied by Lepard, Brownelle at last came and, when he saw who was within, halted, rigid and white, in the doorway. He looked first at Richardson, who had been his old commanding officer, and then across at the girl, who had risen to her feet and was standing with her hands clutched before her, her eyes fixed on his in entreaty. Young Martin stood and watched as if waiting for the Colonel to speak, and Lepard—good old Louis!—appeared prepared for anything. ”

“ I think his mind had been made up before he sent for the Lieutenant and—call it quixotic if you will, but I like him for his decision. It savored of the old days of chivalry when men made sacrifice for friends, and women, and honor. ”

“ The picture is that of a young fellow appointed from the ranks of the civilians at the time of the Spanish-American War, to become later a First Lieutenant of regulars: a debonair sort of fellow with many accomplishments, which the man who has chosen soldiering as a profession has scant time to learn: a man who could sing and play, who was a good raconteur, and knew the ways to the affections of women. ”

“ I suppose both Lepard and I exhibited marked hostility; for I am sure we both believed that our American comrade was to be hauled back to his native land for trial. Knowing the story as I did from the inside, I was indignant.
“Colonel,” I said, “the man is my friend. He wears the Cross of the Legion, and has honored me by his friendship as well as his confidence. He is a gentleman and a soldier, and to take him from us would be a serious mistake. You have the authority, perhaps, to arrest him ”