"Have you talked it over with your mother yet, Noble?"
"Not yet--exactly," he said, and was conscious of a distaste for China as something unpleasant and imminent. "I thought I'd wait till--till it was certain I would go."
"When will that be, Noble?" And in spite of herself, Julia spoke in the tone of one who controls herself to ask in calmness: "Is my name on the list for the guillotine?"
"Well," he said, "it'll be as soon as I've made up my mind to go. I probably won't go before then; not till I've made up my mind to."
"But you might do that any day, mightn't you?"
Noble began to feel relieved; he seemed to have hit upon a way out. "Yes; and then I'd be gone," he said firmly. "But probably I wouldn't go at all unless I decided to." This seemed to save him from China, and he added recklessly: "I guess I wouldn't be missed much around this old town if I did go."
"Yes, you would," Julia said quickly. "Your family'd miss you--and so would everybody."
"Julia, you wouldn't----"
She laughed lightly. "Of course I should, and so would papa."
Noble released the gatepost and appeared to slant backward. "What?"
"Papa was talking about you this very morning at breakfast," she said; and she spoke the truth. "He said he dreamed about you last night."
"He did?"
Julia nodded sunnily. "He dreamed that you and he were the very greatest friends!" This also was true, so far as it went; she only omitted to state that Mr. Atwater had gone on to classify his dream as a nightmare. "There!" she cried. "Why, of course he'd miss you--he'd miss you as much as he'd miss any friend of mine that comes here."
Noble felt a sudden rush of tenderness toward Mr. Atwater; it is always possible to misjudge a man for a few hasty words. And Julia went on quickly: "I never saw anybody like you, Noble Dill!" she exclaimed. "I don't suppose there's anybody in the United States except you that would be capable of doing things like going off to be an officer in the Chinese army--all just any minute like this. I've always declared you were about the most reckless man I know!"
Noble shook his head. "No," he said judicially. "I'm not reckless; it's just that I don't care what happens."