The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-10
LORD OLLIE
BY IzoLA FORESTER.

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 II 1t mattered to the Countess
whether he wrote or not.
He had come to the oId-fashioned
boarding house on West Fifty-fifth
street in the summertime. From his
tone and words we gathered that he
was man OF peace and would not
go to war. that the Countess disap-
proved OF his sentiments. and that his
elder brother was fighting somewhere
in France.
he was . 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 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.
boarding home is a curious com
monwealth. To save your life you
cant help knowing every other body's
business. We used to run across the
two Of them sitting out on the little
green wooded bench in the Dit of q
front yard talking after dinner.
Then came another letter from the
Countess, the first one since Jessica
had come to stay. Oliver found it un-
der his napkin as usual, glanced at it
whimsically, said it was another let
ter from the Countess, and that he'd
get 1t for not writing.
And Jessica, being woman, prompt
ly asked who the Countess was.
Whereupon Ollie answered simply:
My mother"
She eyed him from q different as
pect from that moment At first. with
suspicion as If he might be poling
fun at her. You see, Jessica came
from small town in South Dakota,
and she was twenty-one. She won
dered. just as we all had. IL 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 | have always been told" re-
piled Ollie.
Countess what?"
Countess Of Walsingham. Her
name. though, is Margaret Margaret
Olivia"
i blame you more than ever" she
said briefly and tensely. Since you
do happen to be born In this particu-
lar age and in certain class, you owe
1t 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 1t. Presently he
spoke in . curious voice, sort of baf-
fed voice. as IL fate had handed him
a foul.
by Jovel" ne said. poor old
Bert!"
For minute Jessica didn't get the
portent Of his words, he had spoken
SO quietly, but she turned her head |
and saw his face, suddenly sharp and q |
bit white in the half light.
Who is her"
Ollie stood up.
I'm going back. She wants me to.
My brothers dead"
And this is the strangest part. Al I
he stood there looking down in her |
face, suddenly all the little foolish
conventionalities Of everyday life
dropped from them.
You're going over there to fight?"
she asked.
"Of course. Bert died somewhere
In France. 1t isn't so much the war,
you understand" His hands clenched
at his sides. It's what they've done
to him. | want to go and just give
1t to them for his sake. and my moth
er expects me to-
I'm sailing on the 10th" Jessica
spoke eagerly. Il didn't want TO tell
you because you had a way OF taking
all the spirit out OF it for me, and
wanted to go the other way-believ-
ing In it, l mean"
Well sail together" he told her.
You said once that had no morale.
Maybe haven't. l DON'T like the mess
over there. and don't believe in war,
but when the wolf climbs over the
sheep shelter, one grabs a gun,
guess"
And then he looked down at her
and said in that simple. square, nice
way Of his we all liked, as If 1t set
tied the whole thing between them
The Countess will think you're an aw-
fully plucky girl
And the next morning they sailed,
married sure and fast Somehow,
they seemed to take a little of the
springtime with them. perhaps into
the life OF the Countess.
Copyright, by the Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate)
.