The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1916-06-19
LORD OLLIE
BY IzoLA FORESTER.

We have been accustomed to heal
Ollie speak of the Countess in, well
not exactly friendly or comradely OIL
familiar terms, but as If he knew hei
pretty well For instance, he would
say when the mail was brought in:
Another letter from the Countess
Now I'll get it for not writing" Quite
as If it mattered to the Countess
whether he wrote or not.
He had come to the old-fashioned
boarding house on West Fifty-nfth
street in the summertime. From his
tone and words we gathered that he
was a man of peace and would not
60 to war, that the Countess disap-
proved OF his sentiments, and that his
elder brother was lighting 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 we're too hungry and weary to com
bat 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.
Ollie was all for social evolution,
and the two of them would sit ana let
their dinners grow cold while 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
Grovesnor, but we called him Ollie.
A boarding home is curious com
monweaItn. To save your life you
can't help knowing every other body's
business. We used to run across this
two of them sitting out on the little
green wooded bench in the bit of 3
front yard talking after dinner
Then came another letter from the
Countess, the first one since Jessica
had come to stay. Oliver found It I'M
der his napkin as usual, glanced at II
whimsically. said it was another let
ter from the Countess. and that he'd
get 1t for not writing.
And Jessica. being woman, prompt
iy asked who the Countess was.
Whereupon Ollie answered simply;
MY mother
She eyed him frQm a different as
pect from that moment. At first, with
suspicion as If he might be poking
fun at her. You see, Jessica came
from small town in South Dakota.
and she was tweHty-one. She won
dered, just as we all had, If Ollie were
telling the truth.
Jessica waited until she had him to
herself on the green garden bench.
She approached the subject of Ollie's
connection with the English nobility
without fear or compromise.
rs the Countess really your moth
err
so l have always been tOld,' re
piled Ollie.
Countess what?r
Countess OF walsingham. Her
name. though, is Margaret. Margaret
olivia
Il blame you more than ever" she
said briefly and tensely. Since you
do happen to be born in this particu-
lar age and in a certain class. you owe
it to your times, to the spirit OF your
times. to stand for the morale OF that
class
Rot" said Ollie. and he opened the
last letter from the Countess. She was
silent as he read it. Presently he
spoke in a curious voice. sort OF baf-
fed voice, as IL fate had handed him
a foul.
by Jovel" be said. Poor old
Bert"
For a minute Jessica didn't get the
portent OF his words. he had spoken
so quietly. but she turned her head
aud saw his face. suddenly sharp and .