The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-02-02

that this was as nothing. A more VI
tai sacrifice was demanded.
He found Norma distract and secret
ly troubled one evening when he called
upon her. More than once he noted
the quick tears come to her eyes, but
she smiled and laughed them away
with assumed lightness of spirit when
he solicitously sought to fathom the
cause Of her perturbation.
at is only a touch of the blues" she
declared. ave all have them at times,
you know"
The next morning, however, Earle
received a brief note from Norma, so
unusual an event when he had seen
her so recently that something intui-
lively told him that 1t was directly or
indirectly connected with her mood of
the previous evening.
II would like to see you, and alone,
before noon," the misslve ran. at
Is important"
Norma received him in a small room
off the parlors. Her eyes could never
express anything but gentleness, but
there was this morning a gravity to
her face that perplexed Earle.
Il have sent for you, first to return
you this" she said, and she slipped
from her finger and placed in his palm
the engagement ring he had given her
months agone.
"Oh, you cannot mean it, Norma"
he gasped, staring blankly at the pretty
trife.
"Yes, Earl, it must be So" replied
Norma firmly, although her sweet lips
quivered. There is a duty you and l
owe Jointly, as separately, to our coun-
try. 1 have thought everything over.
l have resolved to devote myself to
hospital work with the army abroad.
One of us must 60"
He regarded her In profound con-
s%ternation. He traced the delicate i'm
plication of his own unworthiness as q
patriot.
Il think I understand you," he said,
almost coldly. you place a reproach
upon me. There is nothing more to be
said. Good-by." A sense of false dig
nifty had come to his rescue. Sadly,
but silently, she let him depart. He
went home, to shut himself in his
room, to think, to bare his soul to the
most critical analysis. Was he a crav-
en-? Was 1t not just that the gentle
being he loved should show him the
path of duty?
Morning came, after a sleepless
night. He paced the room, ever and
anon giving utterance to the monot-
o words: zone of us must go |"
The sudden strident cries IF news
boys afoot at full excitement speed
with an extra attracted his atten-
ton. He threw open the window and
hailed one of the nimble messengers
OF the press. He sat down and glanced
at the newspaper. 1t told of a great
battle, and of the vandalism of the
enemy, of the wanton destruction of
town after town, holding the most pre-
cious works of art and science, the
labor of years ravaged in a vengeful
onslaught, and there on the next page
was a vivid Illustration of the results
of a heartless, useless devastation of a
'OhhA pASNAOdos AClolc DIS II Is u
day."
Slowly the face of Earle Dawson be-
came a rigid mask. At sight of the
heartless Dissertation portrayed, it
seemed as If, in the place of timidity,
of a representative shrinking from re-
sponsibility, there came to him a sense
Of justice that firmed up every element
in his nature. The beautiful cathedral
at Leslie was a meaningless mass! The
grand museum which held the historic
treasures of four centuries had been
burned to the ground! The pretty, an
tiquated chalets were disfgured and
defaced! Even the graveyard had
Deen plowed up by bomb and ball, and
tie shaft that memorized the last rest
ing place of his father lay prone, riv-
en- in twain.
Earle Dawson took the picture to
The room where the cork replica of
Leslie was. 'Leisle as it is today"
he quoted, the stern insistency of ret
ribution forcing itself upon his plant
mind. Leslie as 1t was! All, there
shall be no hesitancy now. The path
of duty showed clearly before him. If
1T ended at some lonely hill, on some
battle-beleaguered plain, better so, that
the world might be free!
Earle Dawson went straight to the
recruiting office. There was a new
majesty now in face and mien.
Il have come to say good-by," he
spoke, as he presented himself before
Norma at her home. 'You said truly,
one of us owed service to our country.
l am the chosen one"
And to her glorified vision he was
not only the man she loved, would ever
love, but her hero, as Welt