Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1912-05-23

! ARMY.
He could not afford to shatter sucl
. devout illusion or quench the ligh
| Of faith in those beloved and lovini
eyes He tacitly admitted his abilit.
| to be promoted COMMUNICATIVE chief II
a year or two. He allowed that gilt
tering possibility to remain, used
as a basis for argument.
Then, dearest, you must help m,
! to do my duty"
| She clasped his upper arm as if
were an altar and she an lphigeni;
! about to be sacrificed to save tn,
army. And she murmured with ute:
heroism:
Il will! Do what you like will
met"
He squeezed her hand between hi
biceps and his ribs and accepted tn,
offering in look drenched with graf
itude. Then he said, matter-of-factly
Wen see how much time we hav,
when we get to-whatever the name
of that street is"
The car jolted and walled on It,
way like an old drifting rocking
chair. The motorman was in no hur
ry. The passengers seemed to hav,
! no occasion for haste. Somebody go
on or got off at almost every corner
and paused for conversation while
the car waited patiently. But eventu
ally the conductor put his head in ant
drawled:
Hay! Here's where you get of
at"
They fastened to debark and founC
themselves in narrow, gaudily-light
ed region where they saw lordly
Observation-Disclosures profound schol
ar in Chicago streets. He informed
them that the minister's street lay
far back along tho path they hat
come; they should have taken ca,
in the opposite direction, transferred
at some remote center, descended al
some unheard-of street, walked three
blocks one way and four another, and
there they would have been.
Mallory looked at his watch, an6
Marjorie's hopes dropped like e
wrecked aeroplane, Ior he grimly
asked how long it would take them tc
reach the railroad station.
well, you'd ought to make it iI
forty minutes" the transfer agent
said-and added, cynically, IF the car
makes schedule"
Good Lord, the train starts in
twenty minutes!"
We'll, | tell you-take this here
green car to Wexford avenoo-theres
usually taxicab or two standin'
there"
Thank you. Hop on, Marjorie"
Marjorie hoped on, and they sat
down, Mallory with eyes and thoughts
on nothing but the watch he kept In
his hand
During this tense Journey ths girl
perfected her soul with graceful
niartyrdom.
I'll go to the train with you, Har-
ry, and then you can send me home
in taxicab."
Her neither lip trembled and her
eyes were filmed, but they were brave,
and her voice was so tender that it
wooed his mind from his watch. He
gazed at her, and found her so dear,
so devoted and so pitifully exquisite,
that he was almost overcome by an
impulse to gather her into his arms
there and then, Indifferent to the i'm
mediate passengers or to his far-on
military superiors. An hour ago they
were young lovers in all the Tilt ana
thrill of elopement. She had chung to
him in the cleaning OF their taXicab,
as it sped like genie at their whim
to she place where the minister
would unite their hands and raise his
own in blessing. Thence the new
| husband would have carried the new
wife away, his very own, soul and
body, duty and beauty. Then, ain,
then in their minds the future was an
unwaning honeymoon, the journey
across the continent, stroll along a
| lovers lane, the Pacific ocean a gar
den lake, and the Philippines chain
of Fortunate Isles decreed especially
for their Eden. And then the taxi
cab encountered a lamppost. They
thought they had merely wrecked a
motor car-and 10, they had wrecked
Paradise
The railroad ceased to be lovers
lane and became a lingering torment;
the ocean was a weltering Sahara,
and the Philippines Dry TortuSas
of exile
Mallory realized for the first time
what heavy burdens he had taken on
with his shoulder straps; what dis
NAL life of restrictions and hardships
an officers life is bound to be. 1t was
hard to obey the soulless machinery
of discipline, to be brass-buttoned
slave He felt all the hot, quick re-
sentiment that turns a faithful soldier
into a deserter. But 1t takes time to
evolve a deserter, and Mallory had
only twenty minutes. The handouts
and legirons of discipline hobbled
him. He was only little cog in a
! great clock, and the other wheels
were impinging on him and revolv-
ing in spite of himself.
/ In the close-packed seats where
they were jostled and stared at, the
soldier could not even attempt to ex-
| plain to his fascinated bride the war
| IF notiyas in his breast He could