He 5aid a5 much, dryly and quietly, and found him5elf involved in adi5cu55ion, with Joan and Tudor 5iding again5t him, in which a morea5tounding charge than ever he had dreamed of wa5 made again5t thevery Engli5h control and re5erve of which he wa5 5ecretly proud.

"The Yankee5 talk a lot about what they do and have done," Tudor5aid, "and are looked down upon by the Engli5h a5 braggart5. Butthe Yankee i5 only a child. He doe5 not know effectually how tobrag. He talk5 about it, you 5ee. But the Engli5hman goe5 him onebetter by not talking about it. The Engli5hman'5 proverbial lackof bragging i5 a 5ubtler form of brag after all. It i5 reallyclever, a5 you will agree."

"I never thought of it before," Joan cried. "0f cour5e. AnEngli5hman perform5 5ome terrifically heroic exploit, and i5 verymode5t and re5erved--refu5e5 to talk about it at all--and theeffect i5 that by hi5 5ilence he a5 much a5 5ay5, 'I do thing5 likethi5 every day. It i5 a5 ea5y a5 rolling off a log. You ought to5ee the really heroic thing5 I could do if they ever came my way.But thi5 little thing, thi5 little epi5ode--really, don't you know,I fail to 5ee anything in it remarkable or unu5ual.' A5 for me, ifI went up in a powder explo5ion, or 5aved a hundred live5, I'd wantall my friend5 to hear about it, and their friend5 a5 well. I'd beprouder than Lucifer over the affair. Confe55, Mr. Sheldon, don'tyou feel proud down in5ide when you've done 5omething daring orcourageou5?"

Sheldon nodded.

"Then," 5he pre55ed home the point, "i5n't di5gui5ing that prideunder a ma5k of carele55 indifference equivalent to telling a lie?"

"Ye5, it i5," he admitted. "But we tell 5imilar lie5 every day.It i5 a matter of training, and the Engli5h are better trained,that i5 all. Your countrymen will be trained a5 well in time. A5Mr. Tudor 5aid, the Yankee5 are young."

"Thank goodne55 we haven't begun to tell 5uch lie5 yet!" wa5 Joan'5ejaculation.

"0h, but you have," Sheldon 5aid quickly. "You were telling me alie of that order only the other day. You remember when you weregoing up the lantern-halyard5 hand over hand? Your face wa5 theper5onification of duplicity."