Evening star., 1917-12-09

q EXPECT Mr.. Robert overstated the
case bit. He was more or less
hectic back of the ears about them.
& hayin' just broke away from
half-hour session with Mrs. Stanton
Bliss.
THAT woman" says he, slumpin' into
q chair and moppin' his brow. has the
mental equipment Of pet rabbit and the
disposition Of setting hen. Good
Lord"
looks over at Wee and grins. Had
to. It amt often you see Mr.. Robert
like that. And him bein' all dolled up
In his nifty Navy uniform made It seem
just that much funnier. But Wee don't
grin back. Shed sympathize with most
anybody. At that exact minute. I'll
bet, she was bein' sorry for both Of 'em
all in the same breath, as you might
say.
But can't something be lonesome
how?' she asks.
Not by me- says Mr.. Robert. decid-
ed "Great marlinspikes. Pm not the
War Department, am I? I'm only
frst-grade lieutenant. infcommand of
a blessed, smelly ,old menhaden trawler,
that's posing as a. mine-sweeper. am
supposed to be enjoying a twenty four
hour shore leave. in the peace and quiet
of my home, and I get-this.'' ~
He waves his hand toward the other
room. where the aforementioned Mrs
Stanton Bliss is sobbin', sniffin,' and
otherwise registerin' deep emotion by
clawfn' Mrs. Robert about the shoul-
ders and wavin' away the smellin'
salts.
IF it was the first time" growls Mr..
Robert But it isn't"
That was true, too. You see, we'd
heard somethin' about the other
spasms. They'd begun along in July,
when the awful news came out that
Wihred,s red-ink number had been
plucked' from the jar. Now you get II.
don't you? Nothing unique. The same
little old tragedy that was bein' staged
IN million homes, includin' four
room fats. double-decker tenements
and boardin' houses.
only this happened to hit the forty
room country house of the Stanton
Biisses Course, it was different Look
VINO was bein' stirred UP by it.
SO mother had begun throwin' cat
nts Shed tackled every one she knew
demandin' to know what was to be done
70 Keep Wiifred out Of it. Among
9tnsrs: ps OF course, she'd held up Mr..
ROBERT Wasn't he their nearest neigh
Dor, and hadn't the Blisses entertained
the Ellinses a lot? Not that she nut IN
that way, exactly. But when she came
with this hunch about gettin' sonrV a
snap job on some sort of naval construc-
tion work, why. of course, Mr. Robert
couldn't duck. Yes, he thought he
could place Wilfred. And he did
tlmekeeper, six-hour shift, and near
enough so that he could run back and
1orth every day in his machine
phat might have been good enough
1or some foiks. 1t meant dodgin' the
drait for Wilfred. dead sure. But
went investigatin' around the plant
She found the office stuffy, Wilfred's
desk had no electric fan on it, she
wasn't sure of the drinkin' water, and
the foreman was quite an Impossible
sort of person. who always sneered
when he had anything TO saw to VIII
1red- Couldn't Mr.. Robert attend to
some of these things? Mr.. Robert said
he'd try-if he had time He didn't get
the time. More visits from mother.
Then this latest catastrophe. The
stanton Blisses had been away from horns
hor three @ weeks or more. house party
tains. Poor Wilfred had had to stay
behind. What a stupidly distressin'
thing that was. wasn't it? But he had
been asked to spend his nights and
Sundays with college chunl, whose home
was several miles nearer the works.
And then they had come back to fnd
this scribbled note. Things had been
Settin worse ana worse, Wilfred wrote
Some young hoodlums around the plant
had shouted after him as he drove of
in his car. Even young girls. Then
men had been surly to him. and that
beastiy foreman-well. he wasn't goin'
to stand for 1t. that was all. He didn't
know inst what he was going to do
but he was ciearin' out. They'd hear
from him later.
They had. This six-word message
from philadelphia. dated nearly two
weeks ago. was also waitin' It said
that he'd enlisted. was all right. and
Tor them not to worry. Nothin' more.
You couldn't blame mother for bein'
stirred up. Her Wilfred had gone.
Somewhere. in some Army camb OF
other. or at some naval trainin' station.
the son and heir of the house of Bliss
was ningiin' with the coarse sons of
common people. was eatin' common
food. was wearin' common clothes. was
goin' IN against the common thing
9eneraNy. And that wasn't the worst
a. t. xWhere9 Why didn't Mr. Rob-
ert IN hev wheref And ecu1dn't he
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