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The Water-War carried along by the breathless rush of preparations for the invasion, and the world they were now in had rapidly increased in reality, while their own world, in which till today they had always lived, had been losing reality at exactly the same rate as that by which the new world gained it. So it was that when the Princess said:

"You needn't go out and attack the enemy unless you like," they all answered, in some astonishment:

"But we want to."

"That's all right," said the Princess. "I only wanted to see if they were in working order."

"If what were?"

"Your coats. They're coats of valor, of course."

"I think I could be brave without a coat," said Bernard, and began to undo his pearl buttons.

"Of course you could," said the Princess. "In fact, you must be brave to begin with, or the coat couldn't work. It would be no good to a coward. It just keeps your natural valor warm and your wits cool."

"It makes you braver," said Kathleen suddenly. "At least I hope it's me—but I expect it's the coat. Anyhow, I'm glad it does. Because I do want to be brave. Oh, Princess!"

"Well?" said the Princess, gravely, but not unkindly, "what is it?"

Kathleen stood a moment, her hands twisting in each other and her eyes downcast. Then in an instant she had unbuttoned and pulled off her coat of pearly mail and thrown it at the Princess's feet. "I'll do it without the coat," she said, and drew a long breath.

The others looked on in silence, longing to help her, but knowing that no one could help her now but herself.

"It was me," said Kathleen suddenly, and let go a deep breath 107