The Glenwood post., 1919-12-13

Said AwseWardly.
shoulders were still shaken with sObs.
He leaned upon his mother; she gently
comforted him; and presently he re-
covered his composure and became
self-conscious enough to wonder if he
had not been making an unmanly dis
play of himself. I'm all right again,
mother" he said awkwardly. "Don'r
worry about me: you'd better go lie
down, or something; you look pretty
pale"
Isabel did look pretty pale, but not
ghastly pale, as Fanny did. Fanny's
grief was overwhelming she stayed in
her room, and George did not see her
until the next day, few minutes be-
fore the funeral, when her haggard
face appalled, him. "C
The annoyance gave way before q
recollection Of the sweet mournfulness
Of his mothers face, as she had said
good-by to him at the station, and Of
how lovely she looked In her mourning.
He thought Of Lucy, whom he had seen
only twice. and he could not help feel
ing that in these quiet interviews he
had appeared to her as tinged with
heroism-she had shown. rather than
said. how brave she thought him.
When he went back to college. what
came most wildly to Georges mind
during retrospections. was the despair.
ing face Of his Aunt Fanny. Again and
again he thought of It; he could not
avoid its haunting. Her grief had been
30 SILENT yet 1t had 30 amazed him.
George felt more and more compas
sion for this. ancient antagonist Of his
and he wrote to his mother about her:
I'm afraid poor Aunt Fanny might
think now fether's gone We won't want
her to live with us any longer and b.
cause always teased her 20 much shs
might think I'd be for turning her out
don't know where ON earth she'd 60
or what she could live on II We did Do
something like this. and Of course We
never would do such q thing. but I'm
pretty sure she had something Of the
kind on her mind. She didn't say any.
thing. but the way she looked 10 what
makes me think so. Honestly. to me
she looked Just scared sick. You tell
her there isn't any danger in the world
Of my treating her like that. Tell her
everything Is to go on Just as It al
ways has. Tell her to cheer upi"
Isabel did more fer Fanny than tell
ing her to cheer up. Everything that
Fanny inherited from her father, old
Aleck Mlnafer, had been invested In
Wilbur's business; and Wilbur's bust
ness, after q period Of illness CORE
spending In dates to the illness Of VIII
bur's body. had died Just before VIII
bur did. George Anderson and Fanny
were both wiped out to q miracle Of
precision" as Anderson said. They
"owned not a penny and owed not q
penny" he continued, explaining hia
phrase. "It's like the moment Just be-
fore drowning: you're not under water
and you're not out Of 1t. All you know
Is that you're not dead yet"
He spoke philosophically, having his
prospects" from his father to fall
back upon; but Fanny had neither
prospects" nor philosophy. However
q legal survey of Wilbur's estate re-
vealed the fact that his life insurance
was left clear Of the wreck; and Isa
bel, with the cheerful consent Of hel
son, promptly turned this salvage over
to her sister-ln-law. Invested, It would
yield something better than nine hun
dred dollars year. and thus she was
assured Of becoming neither a paupei
nor dependent. but proved to be. as
ANDERSON said, adding his efforts to
the cheering up Of Fanny. I'm heiresa
after all. in spite Of rolling mills and
the devil"
The colleeian did not return to his