"Like it!" he said. "Like guard duty! Why, Daisy, when a fellow has left his shoe-string untied, or something or other like that, they put him on extra guard duty to punish him."
"Did you ever do so, Preston?"
"Did I ever do so?" he repeated savagely. "Do you think I have been raised like a Yankee, to take care of my shoes? That Blunt is just fit to stand behind a counter and measure inches!"
I was very near laughing, but Preston was not in a mood to bear laughing at.
"I don't think it is beneath a gentleman to keep his shoe-strings tied," I said.
"A gentleman can't always think of everything!" he replied.
"Then you are glad you have only one year more at the Academy?"
"Of course I am glad! I'll never be under Yankee rule again; not if I know it."
"Suppose they elect a Yankee President?" I said; but Preston's look was so eager and so sharp at me that I was glad to cover my rash suggestion under another subject as soon as possible.