The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1916-04-20
CHAPTER il-continued.

cit doesn't amount to an appoint
ment. Just job as assistant to Wal
ton, the engineer the contractors are
sending out. We're going to put up
a bridge somewhere In Africa"
That's it / knew It," said the cap
tain. "Going away. Want any money"
The question came like solid shot
out of q four-pounder. Alan started,
colored and smiled, all at the same
time.
"No, thanks. sir" he replied. 1--WE
got all l need"
The captain hitched his chair for
ward, placed his hands on his knees,
leaned forward and glared out on the
avenue. 1.-THE Lansings," he began,
like boy reciting piece, "are devils
for drink, the Waynes for women.
Don't you ever let 'em worry you
about drink Nowadays the doctors
call us nonalcoholic. In my time 1t
was just plain strong heads for wine.
say, don't worry about drink. There's
d safety valve in every Wayne's gull
let.
but women, Alan!" The captain
slued around his bullying eyes. "You
look out for them. AS your great
grandfather used to say, TO women.
only perishable goods-sweets, flowers
and kisses And you take it from me,
kisses aren't always the cheapest
They say God made verything-down
to little apples and Jersey lightning
But when he made women the devil
helped" The captains nervousness
dropped from his as he deliberately
drew out his watch and fob. Good
thing he did, too,'' he added, as a
pleasing afterthought. He leaned back
in his chair A complacent look came
over his face.
Alan got up to say good-by. The
captain arose, too, and clasped the hand
Alan held out. lone more thing" he
said. SDon't forget there's always q
Wayne to back a Wayne for good or
bad" There was q suspicion Of mois-
ture in his eye as he hurried his guest
off.
Back in his room Alan found letters
awaiting him. He read them and tore
them up-all but one. It was from
Glenn. She wrote:
Dear Alan: Nance says you are going
very far away. I am sorry. 1t has been
raining here very much. In the holloWs
all the bridges are under water. | have
invented new game. 1t Is called steam
boat" I play it on old Dubbs. We go
down into the valley and I make him go
through the water around the bridges.
He puffs just like steamboat and when
he gets out he smokes all over. He Is
too fat. hope you will come back very
soon. Glenn.
That evening Glenn was thrown into
a transport by receiving her first tele-
gram. 1t read, "You must not play
steamboat again, 1t is dangerous,
Alan" She tucked it In her bosom
and rushed over to the Firs to show 1t
to Gerry.
Gerry and Alix were spending the
summer at the Firs, where Mrs. Lam
sing, Gerry's widowed mother, was
still nominally the hostess. They had
been married two years, but people
still spoke Of Alix as Gerry's bride,
and in so doing stamped her with her
own seal. To strangers they carried
the air of a couple about to be mar
ried at the rational close of long en-
gagement. No children or thought of
children had come to turn the channel
of life for Alix. On Gerry marriage
sat as an added habit. 1t was begin
ming to look as though he and Alix
drifted together not because they were
carried by the same currents but be-
cause they were tied.
Where duller minds would have
dubbed Gerry the Ok, Alan had named
him the Rock, and Alan was right.
Gerry had dignity beyond mere bulk.
He had all the powers Of resistance.
none of articulation. Where PIN
prick would start an OK it took an up
heaval to move Gerry. An upheaval
was on the way, but Gerry did not
know it. 1t was yet afar of.
To the Lansings marriage had al
ways been one of the regular func-
tons Of regulated life-part Of the
general scheme of things. Gerry was
slowly realizing that his marriage with
Alix was far from a mere function. had
little to do with a regular life and was
foreign to what he had always consid-
cred the general scheme of things.
Alix had developed, quite naturally,
into a social butterfly. Gerry did not
picture her as chain lightning playing
on rock, as Alan would have done,
but he did, in vague way, feel that
bits of his impassive self were being
Clipped away.
Red Hill bored Alix and she showed :
1T. The first summer after the mar
riage they had spent abroad. Now
Alix' thoughts and talk turned con-
,stantiy toward Europe. She even sug-
aested . dying trip for the fall. but