Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-06-14

he COulQ not dUOTU u SudtteT 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
q year or two. He allowed that gilt.
tering possibility to remain, used it
as 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 Iphtgenia
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 look drenched with graf
itude. Then he said, matter-of-factly:
we'll 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 eventu.
ally the conductor put his head in and
drawled:
Ebay! Here's where you get on
at"
They fastened to debsrk and found
themselves in narrow, gaudily-light'
ed region where they saw lordly
Observation-Disclosures. 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 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
wrecked aeroplane, cor he grimly
asked how long it would take them to
"Well, you'd ought to make 1t in
forty minutes" the transfer agent
said-and added, cynically, III the car
makes schedule"
Good Lord, the train starts in
twenty minutes!"
well, tell you-take this here
green car to Wexford avenoo-there's
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 the girl
perfected her soul with graceful
marryrdom.
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 1t
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-off
military superiors. An hour ago they
were young lovers in all the Tilt and
thrill of elopement. She had chung to
him in the cleaning of their taxicab.
as 1t sped like genie at their whim
to the 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, ah.
then in their minds the future was an
unwaning honeymoon, the journey
across the continent, stroll along a
lovers lane. the Pacific ocean gar.
den lake, and the Philippines chain
of Fortunate Isles decreed especially
for their Eden. And then the taxi
cab encountered lamppost. They
thought they had merely wrecked a
motor car-and 10, they had wrecked
q Paradise.
The railroad ceased to be lovers
lane and became lingering torment:
the ocean was weltering Sahara,
and the Philippines Dry Tortugas
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 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 a 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
of motives in his breast He could
not voice the passionate rebellion her
beauty had whipped up in his soul.
Perhaps if Romeo and Juliet had been
forced to say farewell on a Chicago
street car instead OF Veronese bal
cony, their language would have
lacked SAVIOR, too.
Perhaps young Mr.. Montague and 4
young Miss Capulet, instead OF wall
i. OF thu loH.k Nrh0SQ