Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1912-04-18

hOuL LOSGlueIt ana you re SICK OF your
bargain! You're anxious to get rid OIL
me! You"
oh, honey, l want you more than
anything else on earth, but I'm a
soldier, dearie, a mere lieutenant in
the regular army, and I'm the slave
Of the government. I've gone through
West Point, and they won't let ne re-
sign respectfully and If | did, we'd
starye. They wouldn't accept nay
resignation, but they'd be willing TO
courtmartial me and dismiss me from
the service in disgrace, Then you
wouldn't want to marry me-and /.
shouldn't have any way of supporting
you If you did. l only know one
trade, and that's soldering"
Don't call it a trade, beloved, it's
the noblest profession IN all the
world, and you're the noblest soldier
that ever was, and IN a year or two
you'll be the biggest general in the
army"
He could not afford to shatter such
a devout illusion or quench the light
Of faith IN those beloved and loving
eyes He taCitly admitted his ability
to be promoted commander-in-chief in
a year or two, He allowed that gilt,
tering possibility to remain, used it
as a basis for argument.
Then, dearest, you must help me
TO do my duty"
She clasped his upper arm as II it
were an altar and she an lphigenia
about to be sacrificed to save the
army. And she murmured with utter
heroism;
Il will! Do what you like with
mel"
He squeezed her hand between his
biceps and his ribs and accepted the
Offering in a look drenched with graf
itude. Then he said, matter-of-factIy
Wen see how much time we have
when We get to-whatever the name
OF that street Is
The car jolted and walled on its
way like an old drifting rocking
chair, The motorman was In no hur-
~. The passengers seemed to have
no occasion for haste, Somebody got
on or got off at almost every corner,
and paused for conversation while
the car waited patiently. But eYentu-
ally the conductor put his head IN and
draWled:
"Hayl Here's where you get OFT
at.h
they fastened to debark and found
themselves in a narrow, gaudily-light-
ed region where they saw a loTdly
ranBfer-distributor, a profound schol.
ar in Chicago streets. He informed
them that the minister's street lay
far back along the path they had
come; they should have taken a car
in the opposite direction, transferred
at some remote center, descended at
some unheard.of street, walked three
blocks one way and four another, and
there they would have been.
Mallory looked at his watch, and
Marjorie's hopes dropped like a
wrecked aeroplane, Ior he grimly
asked how long it would take them to
reach the railroad station.
well, you'd ought to make 1t in
forty minutes" the transfer agent
said-and added, c~ynically, IF the car
makes schedule"
Good Lord, the train starts IN
twenty m~inutesl"
We'll, l tell you-take this here
green car to Wexford ayenoo-there'F
usually a taxicab Or two standin
there"
Thank you. Hop en-, Mar1orie,'
Marjorie hoped on, and they sa
down, Mallory with eyes and thoughts
or nethi0g but the watch he kept IL
his hand.
Daring this tense tourney the sir
perfected her soul with graoen
martyrdom.
III go to the train with you, Haa
ry, and then you can send me HON
l il a taxicab,"
b Her neither lip trembled and he
r eyes we're filmed, but they were bray'
and her voice was so tender that
wooed his mind from his watch. II
!, gazed at her, and found her so dea
0 50 devoted and so pitifully eXquisit
d that he was almost overcome by a
o impulse to gather Der into his arm
4 there and then, Indifferent to the II
, mediate passengers or to his faro
military superiora. An hour ago tn
4 we're young lovers in all the Tilt al
thrill Of elopement. She had chung
l him in the cleaning Of their taxica
g as it sped like a genie at their VIII
Il to the place where the minist
y would unite their hands and raise B
d. own in blessing. Thence the ne
IS husband would have carried the ne
wife away, his very own, soul a
4 body, duty and beauty. Then, q
then in their minds the future was
Re unwaning honeymoon, the journ
across the continent, a stroll along
TT lovers lane, the Pacific ocean a g.
den lake, and the Philippines a cha
n of Fortunate Isles decreed especia
lie for their Eden. And then the ia
q. cab encountered a lamppost. Th
thcrght they he'd merely wrecked