Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-03

81 do not wish to be an alarmist,
M.ss nod hesitant. Goodness knows
soa,,,a had enough calamity shouters
y ,nonr the Unionists at home. But
hau We You considered what you would
.ao- - nase of warp" The last word
.vas almost a whisper.
@Uar?n she echoed. why, you
don't mean all this talk In the papers
"Ia serious. yes" woodhouse am
swered quietly. Very serious"
"rWhy, Captain Woodnouse,I
thought you had war talk every SUM
mer over here just as our papers are
ssiied each spring with gossip about
how Tesreau is going to jump to the
FeGs. or the Yanks are going to be.
sold. IT'S your regular midsummer
outdoor sport over here, this stirring
up the animals"
ewes were filled with something not
mirth.
you say, too far this time" ne re-
sumed. ''The assassination of the
Archduke Ferd-
ives. 7 remember I did read ome
thing about that in the papers at
home. But archdukes and kings have
been killed before, and no war came
~ II. In Mexico they murder q presi-
dent before he has a chance to send
out AT home cards"
Europe is 10 different from Mex
leo" her companion continued, the
lines of his face deepening. Il am
afraid you over in the States do mo-
know the dangerous politics here; you
are so far away; you should thank
God for that. You are not IN a land
where one W Or three
NAV say. I'VE will now go to war;
and then you go, willy-nilly.."
The seriousness Of the captains
speech and the fear that he could not
keep from his eyes sobered the girl.
She looked out on the sun-drenched
nlains of Pas de Calais, where toy
villages, hedged fields, ana squat
farmhouses lay all in order, estab-
Iished. seeming for all time In the
comfortable doze offs security. The
plodding manikins in the fields, the
slumberous oxen drawing the narrows
over the straw hutches by the tracks
s,de-au this denied the possibility Of
wars corrosion.
Don't you think everybody is suf-
fering from a bad dream when they
say there's to be fghting?" she quer-
led. Surely it is impossible that folks
over here would all consent to destroy
this" She waved toward the peaceful
countryside.
"A bad dream, yes. But one that
will end in a nightmare" he an
swered. Tell me, Miss Gerson, when
will you be through with your work In
Paris, and on your way back to Amer
ica?"
mot for a month; that's sure. May
be I'll be longer if I like the place."
Woodhouse pondered.
"a month. This is the tenth Of
July. I am afraid say, Miss
Gerson, please do not set me down
for a meddler-this short acquain-
lance, and all that: but may I not
urge on you that you finish your work
in Paris and get back to- England at
least in two weeks" The captain had
turned, and was looking into the
girls eyes with an earnest intensity
that startled her. II cannot tell you
all I know, Of course. I may not even
know the truth, though I think I have
a bit Of it, right enough. But one Of
your sort-to be caught alone on this
side of the water by the madness that
is brewing! By George, I do not like
to think Of it,"
IT thank you, Captain Woodhouse,
for your warning" Jane answered
him, and impulsively she put out her
hand to his. But. you see, I'll have
to run the risk. I couldn't go scam
~pussy-cat just because somebody
starts a war over here. I'm-on trial.
This is my first trip as buyer for, Fill
debrand, and it's a cas- of make or
break with me. War or no war, I've
got to make good. MAnyway"-this
with a toss of her round little chin
I'm an American citizen, and mo-
me-"
Right you are!" woodhouse
beamed his admiration. Nov We'll
Everybody back from the States has
something to say about those famous
buildings, and I'm fairly burning for
f1rst-hand information from one who
knows them.'
Laughingly she acqulesced, and the
grim shadow of war was pushed away
from them, though hardly forgotten
by either. At the mans prompting,
Jane gave intimate pictures of life in
the New World metropolis, touching
with shrewd insight the fads and
shams of New York's denizens even as
she exalted the achievements Of their
restless energy.
Woodhouse found secret amusement
and delight in her racy nervous
speech, in the d%exterity Of her idiom
and patness of her characterizations.
Here was a new sort Of girl for him.
Not the langUid creature of studied
suppression n feeble enthusiasm he
had known, but q virile, vivid, spark
ling m of a new land, whose i'm
pulses were as unhindered as her
speech was h~eterodox.. She was a
woman who worked for her living;
that was a new type, too. Unafraid,
she threw herself into the competition
OF a mans world; insensibly she prid-
ed herself on her ability to make
Egood-expressive A~mericanism, that,
Under any handicap. She was q
woman with a Job: Captain Wood
mouse had never before met one such.
Again, here was a woman who tried
none Of the stale arts and tricks of
coquetry; no eyebrow strategy or
maidenly simpering about Jane Ser
son. Once sure Woodhouse was what
sne took Him to be, a gentleman, the
girl had established a frank basis of
comradeship that took no reckoning
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