The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-13
EVENING STORY
R0b's Ring.N
BY BARBARA KERR.


fettered, as she had tried to explain
to him, for his own good. She had
not explained that she was going to be
motor corps. and that in the back of
her fun-loving brain she was almost
planning to have some really interest
ing little flirtations.
She was too highminded to de-
scend to the practice of some of the
girls who were not wearing their en-
gagement rings SO that the visiting
soldiers would not know that they had
fiances at the front. And her con-
tempt for the young matrons who had
entered canteen service, had taken off
their wedding rings and were posing
as unmarried and carrying on their
clandestine flirtations with the off
GERS was unbounded.
She was very decided about any
thing of that sort. 1t was not a mat
ter of Mrs. Grundy either; it was a
deep and settled principle with Vir-
ginia that once she had decided to
marry a man it was absolutely for
better, for worse and till death do us
part"
For did she not belong to a race of
women among whom there had never
been divorce, nor one who had taken
her marriage VOWS lightly? OF course
her fun would be most innocent and
decorous. as became her mothers
daughter,
Then the postman came. 1t was
little, uninteresting looking package
| that he delivered into her hands from
her great-aunt back in old Chester.
Mechanically she opened it: ring,
plain gold band, dropped out. She
examined 1t. Inside were two almost
obliterated inscriptions. One said.
| "R. to A., 1882; the other. of later
date, was easier to read; it said, 'R.
to ", 81" She slipped it on her fin
ger and began to read the letter:
This was Rob's ring. dear, his last
| gift to the girl he left behind him. 1
| was that girl. I'm sending you the
| ring because you are named for me,
Virginia Patterson Leigh. I've al
| ways liked the name. hope you do,
| but not too much to change it a little
| if there should be a Rob who has
asked you to-even tho, like my Rob
| to war as mine did. never to return.
| I wonder if you knew that your old
| great-aunt carried a war romance
| around with her
Then. in her sweet. old-fashioaed
way, in her wavering, old-fashioned,
iprim handwriting, she told the story
| of Rob's ring. 1t was his dead moth
/ er's wedding ring. The first inscrip-
ton was from Rob. his father. to
from Rob himself to Virginia, now
Aunt Virginia. He had placed it on
his sweethearts finger when he
| marched away in 81.
Aunt Virginia, knowing that her
years were few. did not want the ring
to be buried with her, she wanted it
to be worn till it would hold together
no longer, for was it not a symbol of
undying love and of undying patri-
otism also?
| She told some stories of the days of
81. of the hardships, the heartaches
and the work of herself and other
young girls. who, as Virginia and her
| friends were doing today, tried to up
hold the hands of the boys who were
| fighting for the cause of liberty.
| "Oh, OH" breathed the girl. I'm
afraid I'm not worthy. auntie dear, to
wear your precious ring. But what a
coincidence, I have a Rob, too" But
had she a Rob? What if he should
| not return!
| She ran sobbing with the letter and
the ring to her mother. While she
was confessing that she would not al
low her Rob to give her a ring be-
cause she did not want to be tied down
and deprived of all her good times,
| the bell rang and some one asked for
Miss Virginia.
| "Oh. you will have to go, mother
Look at me-Im a fright. 1 won't see
| any one!'
! But a deep voice in the hall pro-
claimed the identity of the caller, and
| Virginia, her eyes red, her hair tousled
| and herself clad in a bungalow apron.
| sped down the stairs and threw her.
self into his arms-a most extraordi-
nary thing, for the maiden had usual
ly held him at arms length.
But soldier is taught never to miss
| an opportunity to surround the enemy
and cut off retreat; also Bob forgot
nothing of his manual of arms.
Presently, by way of retaliation.
with careful finger he touched her
wet lashes, then the tip of his tongue,
and asked with much solicitation:
| Are you, sure those salty tears will
1 not spot my best uniform"
| Virginia laughed. She remembered
the new georgette crepe blouse that
mustn't be mussed at their last meet
ing. She held out to him Rob's ring
and the letter. While he was reading
1t she surreptitiously powdered her
nose and tucked up her hair.
| When he had finished a very small
and penitent voice said: 'I'n let you
| put Rob's ring on my finger-if-if
you want to-
Want to! What was that fuss
! about
| He didn't get chance to finish that
| sentence for some reason or other
something a bit like strangulation But
Nafter several attempts, in which he
was not allowed to bark back to any
past unpleasantness, he said:
That is pretty thin for a wedding
ring. My idea now in regard to such
| pieces or 5ewelry is that they should
be big and solid. something like the
tire ola cart wheel. for instance, for
I want you to wear it as long as that
other darling Virginia, our great-aunt.
wore her Rob's ring.
| $50 I'll get a new one and take Rob's
around to the jeweler and have this
| solitaire that I've been carrying
around with me set on it as a head
| light to warn the other fellows that
I have the right of way-and that this
Rob is coming back!"
| And Virginia, smiling happily as
| scented to it all. and IL there was
| little sigh at the giving up of her cher
| ished freedom it was a contented little
sigh after all, for she reasoned that
1 it was all for the cause of a larger
| liberty for which he soldier was going
| to fight.