.

But the recollection of a celebrated sentence was fixing itself in his mind as an obsession--"France still remained!" Many had thought as he did in his youth, but they had not, therefore, evaded military service.

They had stood by their country in a last and desperate resistance.
Useless was his excuse-making reasoning.

Nobler thoughts showed him the fallacy of this beating around the bush.

Explanations and demonstrations are unnecessary to the understanding of patriotic and religious ideals; true patriotism does not need them.