Isn't he ?" "Yes, and clever too." "Of course; but my father always says a man needn't be clever to be a good soldier.

He says the clever soldiers are the least valuable." "Was your father a soldier ?" "Was?
He is.

He's in Afghanistan now." "In the middle of all the fighting ?" "Yes," said Raby, with a shade across her bright face.

"It's terrible, isn't it?
I half dread every time I see a letter or a newspaper.

Mr Jeffreys!" added the girl, stopping short in her walk, "my father is the best and bravest man that ever lived." "I know he is," said Jeffreys, beginning to wonder whether some of the father's good qualities were not hereditary.
Raby looked up curiously and then laughed.
"You judge of him by seeing how heroic I am braving my aunt's wrath! Oh dear, I do hope she meets us.