"
"Gee, I never used to think," said Tommy Tracy, "that I might have a
chance to do a stunt like that."
"Like what?" Derry asked.
Tommy found it a thing rather hard to express. "Well, when you've been
just a common sort of chap, to die--for the other fellow--"
So men's bodies grew and their muscles hardened. But their souls grew,
too, expanding to the breadth and height of the things which were
waiting for them to do across the sea.
And one morning Derry was granted a furlough, and started home. He
sent no word ahead of him. He wanted to come upon them unawares. To
catch the light that would be on Jean's face when she looked up and saw
him.
There was rain and more rain when at last he arrived in Washington.
The trees as his taxi traversed the wide avenues showed clear green,
melting into vistas of amethyst and gray. The parks as he passed were
starred with the bright yellow and pinks of flowering shrubs.
Washington, in spite of the rain, was as lovely as a woman whose color
blooms behind a veil.
He came into the great house unannounced, having his key with him. The
General was out for a ride, the children with him, Margaret and Emily
and Jean away, the servants in the back of the house.
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