Instantly, Captain Ormsby was on his feet. He stood martially erect, fingering his little, black mustache nervously, his dark eyes gleaming. He was a handsome, slim, dark man of forty, with a slightly Jewish cast of countenance, crimped black hair, parted in the centre, a large, but well-shaped nose, a full, round chin, and a low, white forehead--a face that suggested the Spaniard or the modern Greek Jew.... There came a little outburst of applause from the fellow-guests, a recognition of his promptness in acceptance of the colonel's offer. Then, the others stood up together: Ocklebourne, Carnaby, Lorrimer, Bent--all except Dick Swinton, the rector's son. The group turned expectant eyes on him, awaiting his rising to complete the group. Yet, he sat there with his fellow-officers standing, Captain Ormsby on one side of him, Jack Lorrimer on the other, in the most prominent place in the room, leaning back in his chair, with eyes downcast, and playing with his knife nervously. He seemed ashamed to look up, and was overcome by the unexpected prominence into which he was thrown. He was deathly pale; but his mouth expressed dogged determination. "Not Swinton?" asked the colonel, reproachfully. Dick shook his head smilingly, and was terribly abashed. They waited a few moments longer--moments, during which a girl's face seemed to be looking at Dick with wistful, tender eyes--the same woman that Ormsby loved. And he saw, too, in a blurred mist, a vision of carnage and bloodshed that was horribly unnecessary and unjust. He could not explain all his reasons for evading this opportunity--that he was only just engaged, was in debt, and could not afford the money for his outfit. It needed some courage to sit there and say nothing. "Fill him up a glass of champagne, a stiff one--it will give him some Dutch courage," remarked Captain Ormsby _sotto voce_, but loud enough for the others to hear, and they laughed awkwardly at the implied taunt of cowardice. Burly Jack Lorrimer, who stood by Dick's side and had had quite enough to drink, seized a bottle jocularly; Ormsby took it from him, and, leaning forward, was about to fill Dick's glass, when the young man jumped to his feet. There was the beginning of a luke-warm cheer--arrested instantly, for Dick turned in a fury on Captain Ormsby, and struck him a blow in the face with the flat of his hand that resounded through the room. Then, he kicked his chair back, and strode to the door just behind him. The colonel angrily hushed the murmurs of excitement that ensued, and with considerable tact proceeded to make a short speech to the volunteers as though nothing had happened. The whole scene lasted only fifteen minutes. The ugly incident at the table was with one accord ignored, and the wine was attacked with vigor, everybody drinking everybody else's health. The captain was inwardly satisfied; for had he not succeeded in publicly branding his rival in love as a coward?