It was very sad. Her splendid boys both gone from her, one possibly never to return — neither of them married and with no hope of grandchildren to solace her declining years. “Stay where you are, David,” she wrote; “Doctor Hoyle tells us you are doing well. Don’t, oh, don’t enter the army! One son I have surrendered to my country’s service; let me feel that I still have one on whom I may depend to care for Laura and me in the years to come. We do not need you now, but some day we may.”

David’s quandary was how to give her as much of his confidence as filial duty required without betraying himself so far as to arouse the antagonistic comment of her immediate circle upon his course.

At last he found a way. Telling her he did not know how