Some years ago, when the graduating class received their Bibles, and Dr. Wm. M. Taylor made the presentation address, he bade every man cull from his morning reading--no matter how brief it was--a sort of rose-in-the-buttonhole word for the day. Something like that our young cadet had learned to do. Nothing had hindered his daily reading since furlough, hard as it seemed to spare the minutes, some days, when work was unusually pressing. But perhaps that very pressure taught him to dive right into the meaning of what he read; catch up a message, and bear it away. Now a promise, now a precept, now a prayer; a breath of joyous hope, a gleam of unearthly glory. That real rose-in-the-buttonhole which dress coats and blouses may never wear, would have drooped in the drill, fainted in the section room, and been lost in the tan bark. But it seemed to Magnus as if his invisible blooms grew only fairer as the day went on. The fragrance was royal, as it came and went in such variety. "Hopeth all things, endureth all things."-- "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord."-- "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men."-- "Nevertheless, the Lord stood by me."-- Nobody knew all this; few people read the signs; though they did note the high marks, and could say that "Kindred" (in his own way) was the gayest man in barracks. But I fear they deemed him a crank, all the same. Rig would look up at the clatter caused by "Analytical Mechanics," as it struck the corner of the room; and then see Magnus with an odd smile on his face make a rush for the obnoxious volume, and plunge into it again with all his might. "Studying like mad," as his easy-going comrade phrased it; but Magnus only called it "heartily." Or in the section room, with his wits gone a wool gathering, and his ideas in May-day confusion; every thought he had, tangled up with those last letters from home; desperately tempted to "bugle it," and let some other man bear the brunt; then the sweet "royal law" he was wearing that day gave its counsel, and braced him at once to do the right thing. He would answer, ready or unready, when his turn came. No man stumbled or doubted the truth of religion, because of any section-room meanness or selfishness on the part of Charlemagne Kindred. And so an unwelcome order, from perhaps a disagreeable man, turned round in the wind and came first (for him) as the Lord's command. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." You will easily guess that Cadet Kindred remained high in discipline.