"Yes," he agreed. "These are queer times. We don't know
exactly where we're at. A lot of our men have been called.
We tried to have some of them exempted, and did manage it in
a few cases."
"You did?" cried Mr. Nestor, as if in surprise. "You
stopped men from going to war!"
"Only so they could work on airship motors for the
Government," Tom quietly explained.
"Oh! Well, of course, that's part of the game," agreed
Mary's father. "A lot more of our boys are going off next
week. Doesn't it make you thrill, Tom, when you see them
marching off, even if they haven't their uniforms yet? Jove,
if I wasn't too old, I'd go in a minute!"
"Father!" cried Mary.
"Yes, I would!" he declared. "The German government has
got to be beaten, and we've got to do our bit; everybody
has--man, woman and child!"
"Yes," agreed Tom, in a low voice, "that's very true. But
every one, in a sense, has to judge for himself what the
'bit' is. We can't all do the same."
There was a little silence, and then Mary went over to the
piano and played. It was a rather welcome relief, under the
circumstances, from the conversation.
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