The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1918-04-25
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~ THE SOLDIER GIRL
va BY MELVIN STEVENS. m
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copyright 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate)

! q
one of those fortunate young men who
| could afford to take a rest whenever
he wanted one; and having made his
! decision, he packed all necessary cloth
| ing in a steamer trunk and took the
train for Old Point Comfort, He
couldn't tell why he decided on that
! place in preference to several others
he might have selected; but he blessed
| his lucky star for guiding him In his
| selection.
For, after having washed and I'M
! packed, he made his way leisurely into
| the broad sun parlor and discovered
Edythe Norton. She was reading a
book, and the first thing he noticed
was that her long black eyelashes lay
carelessly upon the pink of her cheeks.
She gave not the slightest indication
! of noting his presence. Instead she
looked over and through him, and
turned again to her book.
Dick felt suddenly that Old Point
| Comfort wasn't all that it was cracked
up to be. He started to back out of
the palm room, hut as he did so q
young man in uniform brushed past
him and approached the girl of the
black eyes. She sensad his coming
and looked up with a smile of greet
ing, and there was something in the
way she smiled which made Dick
Huber wish for the first time in his
life that he had gone to West Point
instead of to Harvard.
He wandered aimlessly about the
hotel for a time, his thoughts on the
girl he had seen. Still bordering, he
found himself back at the desk of the
hotel. A clean-cut young fellow was
in charge, and for want of something
to DO, Dick engaged him in conversa-
ton. He found, after a time, that the
clerk was a Harvard man also that
he had been forced to leave college
for a year because of lack of funds,
and that he knew everybody in the
hotel. So Dick questioned him guard
eddy about the girl he had seen, and
found that her name was Edythe Nor
ton: that she intended to stay at the
Point until the first of March, and that
every good-looking soldier at the Coast
Artillery Training school was crazy
about her.
"Other fellows come from up North
to see her" the clerk announced. "But
no one without a uniform has
chance"
Dick wandered into the dining room
after time, wishing more than ever
that he had gone to West Point.
But the next morning, through one
of those rare pieces of luck which,
come to rs all now and then, he found
a mutual acquaintance who introduced
him. That was the beginning Of the
happlest month of his life. February
wore away and the time came for him
to 90 back North. he made a desperate
resolution to ask Edythe to marry him.
"Edythe," he began, IL want to
say something to YOU"
She nodded. without raising her
eyes. and waited; but Dick became
suddenly fearful. He had never pro-
posed TO q girl before and he did not
know that she already knew what he
was going to say, and was trying to
make it easy for him. SO instead Of
laundering along he simply cleared his
throat again and relapsed into silence;
and the girl simply because she was
a girl. looked across the room after
time. and discovered a figure approach
ing them.
"Here comes Tom Atkinson in his
new uniform" she announced. I'm
Just crazy about soldier suits, Dick"
And because he didn't know any
thing at all about women, Dick Huber
decided that his case was hopeless and
left for the North without saying a
word about the love that was Juggling
his heart out.
He tried hard to forget Edythe after
that; and because business was not
strong enough to ease the ache which
possessed him, he announced himself
candidate for the Second Officers
Reserve Training camp early in Au-
gust, and September found him at
Fort Myer training for u commission
A few weeks later he was transferred
TO the Coast artillery and was ordered
70 renort Mt the training school at
Fortress Monroe, which is only across
the street from the big hotel at Old
Point Comfort.
Dick smiled rather grimly one after
noon late in November as he made his
way into the palm room Of the hotel
looking for another cadet who had
promised to meet him there. 1t re-
minded him wildly of Edythe, and in
voluntarily he glanced over to the
corner where he had first seen her.
And then his heart stopped beating
! for there she was sitting in the wicker
rocking chair.
For a long two minutes Dick stood
! looking across the room ut her, ana
| then she raised her eyes She gasped
bit MS she recognized him, but when
| he strobe over to her, she rose and
held out both her hands.
"Dick I" she said. "What In the
world are you doing hereT
I'm at the training school at the
fort" he told her, smilingly.
"And your uniforml It's just splen'
did"
There was something In the way she
said IL which made Dick suddenly
brave. 81 think that the blue room Is
deserted" he said, softly, "and If your
come with me there want to ask you
something"
It may have been the uniform, or II
j rnnu hnnn hnnn Dlnk himsnlf but ~