The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-04-26
The Euening Story
The Morale of Lord ollie.

Now, I'll get it for not writing" Quite |
as if it mattered to the Countess |
whether he wrote or not. think we |
all vaguely resented his tone for her |
sake, even while we knew absolutely |
nothing about her.
He had come to the old-fashioned |
| boarding house on West F'ifty-Fifth |
street in the summer time. From his |
| tone and words we gathered that he |
was a man of peace and would not go |
to war, that the Countess disapproved |
| of his sentiments, and that his elder |
brother was fighting somewhere in |
| France.
| He was a slim, dark. nice sort of |
chap. with big, speculative, humorous |
| blue eyes behind eyeglasses. Until |
| JeSSica came to stay with us, he had |
matters his own way in an argument |
down in the dining-room. The rest of |
us were too hungry and weary to |
combat world peace or anything else.
| But Jessica was different. Fresh |
from the West she was, and thorough
| ly prepared for war at any moment |
She was in the nurses training school, |
waiting for her chance to go abroad in |
/ Red Cross work. Not that she APP
proved of war, but she did believe in
the nations who were big enough to
see the vision of the future combining
and forcing disarmament on the bar
barian ones, as she called them
| Ollie was all for social evolution, |
and the two of them would sit and let
] lLcii u1nHeTS grow cold Whll6 they
| thrashed the wars of the nations over
and over again. His name, by the way
was Oliver Grovesnor. Sometimes his
mail came to Mr. Oliver Grovesnor
and sometimes to Lord Oliver Francis
Groyesnor, but we called him Ollie
| A boarding home is a curious COM
monWealth. To save your life you can't
help knowing every other body's busi-
ness We used to run across the two
or them sitting out on the little green
~, l..
yard talking after dinner, finishing
up their argument. And sometimes
in order to cool off, they would have
to stroll up to Columbus circle. and
over into the park, where spring was
Il dancing with fauns and dryads We
!, could see plainly the way they were
vending, just into the same old path
time.
ii Then came another letter from the
Z countess, the first one since Jessica.
mad come to stay. oliver found it
+ unoer MS napkin as usual, glanced at
{ 1t whlmsicaily, said it was another let
Ter from the countess and that he'd
; get 1t for not writing.
II And Jessiea being woman
4 promptly asked who the countess was.
Whereupon Ollie answered simply:
My mother
. She eyed him from a different as
. pect from that moment At first.
: with suspicion as if he might be pok-
+ ing fun at her. You see, Jessica came
from small town in South Dakota
: and she was 81. She had always had
l to work for her living ever since she
could remember. There were five
= youngsters entered in the family BIZ
> Die after her own name and the last
one had been the end of her mother.
? After that, it had always been work
> for her. Now, with most of them
half grown, she had slipped away to
follow her own star even to the bat
tlefields and try to realize some of
life's tumult and mystery.
Oddly enough, the countess seemed
Il part of what she was seeking But
she wondered, just as we all had, if
Ollie were telling the truth. We had
been content to let the matter rest
where it was, afraid Ollie's pleasant
y myth might vanish if the searchlight
: of truth ever lit it up.
= Jessica waited until she had him to
u herself on the green garden bench.
There was moon looking very pale
and wan, Elusive enough to please all
= fond lovers. Only Jessica was not in
a loving mood. She was, as usual,
e combative and pernickety as it were,
s and she approached the subject of
Ollie's connection with the English
: nobility without fear or compromise.
r rs the countess really your moth
s er?''
d $50 L have always been told" re-
I piled Ollie, gazing from the inadequate
S moon to the glamour of the electric
g signs visible in the direction of Broad
g way.
: Countess what?''
Countess of Walsingham. Her
e name though is Margaret, Margaret
Olivia
r Jessica looked him over thoughtful
t Iy from this new angle. He was slend-
e err and rather stoop shouldered when
= he sat down in hours of ease. She tried
It to find fault with his chin. If only
La rfx
might have excused him, but, as il
i was nothing external gave him away.
e He really looked as if he might be
# the son of Margaret Olivia, countess
of Walsingham.
IS 81 blame YOU more than ever" she
= said briefly and tensely. Since you
q do happen to be born in this particu-
d lar age and in a certain class. you owe
> it to your times, to stand for the
: morale of that Glass;
Rot" said Ollie, and he opened the
last letter from the countess. She was
| silent as he read it. 1t was rather
quiet even on the street, just the hour
between dining and pleasuring forth
N when New York reats and catches its
breath Presently he spoke in a curious
, voice, sort of baffled voice, as if fate
If had handed him a foul.
u by Jove!" he said. Poor OLD
in Bert.'
IL For a minute, Jessica didn't get this
10 portent of his words. he had spoken Sc
| quietly, but she turned her head and
Dt saw his face, suddenly sharp and a BIT
| white in the half light.
y who is he
n Ollie stood up.
I'm going back. She wants me to
a. Nv brothers dead"
{. And this is the strange part. As hi
II II stood there looking down in her face
"a suddenly all the little foolish conven
10 tionalities of everyday life dropped
IS from them. There was no thought o,
anything they argued or fought over
at ethics and social theories-an were
u gone leaving only the man and woman
with the man facing possible death.
to You're eroinr over there to fight %