"All this time," pursued Lieutenant Hal, "I'm wondering whether Noll had found a letter waiting for him at his home, and whether his news was as fine as mine."
"You up there, Hal?" called a voice from below – Noll's.
"Charge!" yelled back the young lieutenant.
Up the stairs very sedately came Noll Terry. His appearance proclaimed the story. He was wearing the tennis flannel undress, red sash and all.
CHAPTER II
BUNNY HEPBURN UP TO OLD TRICKS
"CONGRATULATIONS, old chum!" cried Hal Overton, striding across the room and holding out his hand.
The two friends joined hands in a fervent clasp.
"Yes; I got my letter, and the news was satisfactory," said Noll, in a queer, half-choking voice.
"A letter from Mr. Ad Interim?" asked Mrs. Overton, making a little face.
"Why, that's the only sort of an appointment that a fellow can get in summer, when there's no Senate in session, Mrs. Overton," Noll replied. "But it's all right. The Senate never heard of either of us, and so the Senators won't have anything against us. We'll get our commissions, all right, soon after the next Congress convenes. Our commissions are safe enough."
"Quite," agreed Hal. "That's what I've been trying to tell Mother."
"A new second lieutenant is only a shave-tail, at best," smiled Noll.
"What does that mean?" demanded Mrs. Overton quickly.
"I don't know," Noll replied. "It's just an Army term of derision for a very new young officer, I guess."
"And a second lieutenant soon becomes a 'goat,'" Hal added.
"That isn't a nice word," retorted Mrs. Overton. "It's slang!"
"It's worse than slang in the Army," laughed Hal. "The army 'goat' is the very new officer who has a lot of extra duties thrust upon him that the older officers don't want. Those duties of the 'goat' are generally both very trifling and very annoying."
"Then it isn't right," declared Hal's mother, with an air of conviction. "No one ought to annoy a young man who has been smart enough to make an officer of himself. What are a second lieutenant's duties?"
"Well," replied Noll quizzically, "for one thing he must see that every one of his colonel's eight pairs of boots are kept polished."
"Oliver Terry!" remonstrated Mrs. Overton.
"And see to it that the grass is kept mowed on the colonel's lawn," added Hal.
"A new second lieutenant is expected to relieve the colonel's wife's nurse-girl in taking care of headquarters' kids on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons – " continued Noll.
"Also groom the colonel's horses," added Hal.
"I don't believe a word of that," declared Mrs. Overton, whereat both very new young officers laughed heartily.
"And you're starting in badly, too," continued Hal's mother accusingly. "I happen to know this much – that an officer must have too much honor to stoop to telling lies. And that he's court-martialed and driven out of the service if he does. So be careful."
Hal soon excused himself, going to his own room, leaving Noll to entertain his mother. When Lieutenant Overton came back he was in his flannel undress, red sash and all.
"That doesn't look so very bad, after all," declared Mrs. Overton, viewing her erect, stalwart young son with an approval which she made no effort to hide.
Then they talked on until at last Lieutenant Noll glanced at his watch.
"I must be going," he said, rising. "I've overstayed my leave. Mother allowed me to leave her only long enough to run over and tell Hal the news. I've violated my parole already."
"What time is it?" inquired Mrs. Overton.
"A quarter to six!"
"And, good gracious!" cried the little woman, jumping up from her chair. "Hal, in a few minutes more your father will be home, and not a blessed move has been made toward supper. There's no time to get anything ready now. Hal, I shall have to send you around the corner to the delicatessen shop, although I hate such ready-made meals."
"Mother," demanded Hal, with a pretense at mild astonishment, "would you think of sending a commissioned officer in the United States Army around on errands, with packages to bring home?"
"I – I guess that wouldn't be just right, would it?" agreed Mrs. Overton. "Never mind, my boy. I'll run right around myself. It will take me some time to get used to all the dignity that goes with your new position."
"You needn't bother to go, Mother," laughed Hal. "An officer who would let his mother run errands to save his own dignity would be sure to come to a bad end in the Army. I was only joking, of course. This is a day to celebrate, so I propose to ask you and father to dine out this evening. There are several good places in town."
"Which one do you prefer?" broke in Lieutenant Noll quickly.
"Ralston's," Hal replied. "There's music there, and the food and service are fine."
"Then I'll hurry home now and bring my folks up there, too, if I can," proposed Noll.
"Good!" agreed Hal.
"What hour, Mrs. Overton?" asked Noll, turning to that good woman.
"Ask Hal."
"In the Army it is customary to ask the ladies, Mother," Hal explained.
"Seven o'clock, then," said Mrs. Overton.
"Seven it shall be," nodded Noll. "That is, if I don't fail in coaxing Father and Mother out to dine."
"You won't fail," Mrs. Overton assured him. "They'll be proud enough to go out with you to-night."
Hal's father came home soon after. For years a clerk in one of the local stores, Mr. Overton had lately been promoted to be manager of the store. He was a quiet, thoughtful, studious man, and would probably have gone much higher in the world had not years of ill health interfered with his ambitions.
"I don't need to tell you how glad I am, young man," said the elder Overton quietly, when he had heard the afternoon's news. "Nor am I going to offer you any parental advice. Your record in the Army, so far, makes me feel sure that you will go on in the way you have begun, and that your record, at any point, will have been an honorable one. And now I must leave you and go upstairs to put on my best clothes in honor of the distinction that has come upon my son."
Just before seven the Overtons were seated at a table in Ralston's locally famous restaurant. Noll and his parents arrived at about the same moment. But the news had flown ahead of the young men. Just as the party was seating itself the orchestra crashed out into the strains of "See, the conquering hero comes!"
"I suppose that's meant for a joke on us," grinned Lieutenant Noll, in an undertone.
"Then try to look unconscious," returned Hal, in an equally low voice, and immediately engaged Noll's father and mother in conversation.
There was some whispering between waiters and patrons of the place, and presently a light sound of applause rippled out. It soon became a steady salvo.
Still the two young lieutenants went on with their chatting. But the leader of the orchestra had a further surprise. Giving his men only a moment for rest, he once more waved his violin bow, and the musicians started in with "The Star-Spangled Banner."
No soldier may ignore that splendid air; no citizen has a right to.
As the strain died out the young soldiers and their party re-seated themselves, going on with their chat again.
A waiter dropped two menu cards on the table, then stood waiting for the order.
"Won't the ladies select the dinner?" asked Hal.
"We'd prefer that our sons do that," smiled Mrs. Terry.
"You do it, then, Hal," directed Noll Terry. "I left my spectacles at home."
"What