The Tin Soldier | Page 9

it, Doctor?"
"No." He glanced at the headlines and his face grew hard. "More
frightfulness," he said, stormily. "If I had my way, it should be an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. For every man they have tortured, there
should be one of their men--tortured. For every child mutilated, one of
theirs--mutilated. For every woman--."
He stopped. Jean had caught hold of his arm. "Don't, Daddy," she said
thickly, "it makes me afraid of you." She covered her face with her
hands.
He drew her to him and smoothed her hair in silence. Over her head he
glanced at Hilda. She was smiling inscrutably into the fire.
CHAPTER III
DRUSILLA
The thing that Derry Drake had on his mind the next morning was a
tea-cup. There were other things on his mind--things so heavy that he
turned with relief to the contemplation of cups.

Stuck all over the great house were cabinets of china--his father had
collected and his mother had prized. Derry, himself, had not cared for
any of it until this morning, but when Bronson, the old man who served
him and had served his father for years, came in with his breakfast,
Derry showed him a broken bit which he had brought home with him
two nights before. "Have we a cup like this anywhere in the house,
Bronson?"
"There's a lot of them, sir, in the blue room, in the wall cupboard."
"I thought so, let me have one of them. If Dad ever asks for it, send him
to me. He broke the other, so it's a fair exchange."
He had it carefully wrapped and carried it downtown with him. The
morning was clear, and the sun sparkled on the snow. As he passed
through Dupont Circle he found that a few children and their nurses
had braved the cold. One small boy in a red coat ran to Derry.
"Where are you going, Cousin Derry?"
"Down town."
"To-day is Margaret-Mary's birf-day. I am going to give her a
wabbit--."
"Rabbit, Buster. You'd better say it quick. Nurse is on the way."
"Rab-yit. What are you going to give her?"
"Oh, must I give her something?"
"Of course. Mother said you'd forget it. I wanted to telephone, and she
wouldn't let me."
"Would a doll do?"
"I shouldn't like a doll. But she is littler. And you mustn't spend much
money. Mother said I spent too much for my rab-yit. That I ought to
save it for Our Men. And you mustn't eat what you yike--we've got a

card in the window, and there wasn't any bacon for bref-fus."
"Breakfast."
"Yes. An' we had puffed rice and prunes--"
Nurse, coming up, was immediately on the job. "You are getting mud
on Mr. Derry's spats, Teddy. Stand up like a little gentleman."
"He is always that, Nurse, isn't he? And I should not have on spats at
this hour in the morning."
Derry smiled to himself as he left them. He knew that Nurse did not
approve of him. He had a way as it were of aiding and abetting Teddy.
But as he went on the smile faded. There were many soldiers on the
street, many uniforms, flags of many nations draping doorways where
were housed the men from across the sea who were working shoulder
to shoulder with America for the winning of the war--. Washington had
taken on a new aspect. It had a waked-up look, as if its lazy days were
over, and there were real things to do.
The big church at the triangle showed a Red Cross banner. Within
women were making bandages, knitting sweaters and socks, sewing up
the long seams of shirts and pajamas. A few years ago they had
worshipped a Christ among the lilies. They saw him now on the
battlefield, crucified again in the cause of humanity.
It seemed to Derry that even the civilians walked with something of a
martial stride. Men, who for years had felt their strength sapped by the
monotony of Government service, were revived by the winds of
patriotism which swept from the four corners of the earth. Women who
had lost youth and looks in the treadmill of Departmental life held up
their heads as if their eyes beheld a new vision.
Street cars were crowded, things were at sixes and sevens; red tape was
loose where it should have been tight and tight where it should have
been loose. Little men with the rank of officer sat in swivel chairs and

tried to direct big things; big men, without rank, were tied to the trivial.
Many, many things were wrong, and many, many things were right, as
it is always when war comes upon a people unprepared.
And in the midst of all this clash and crash