Charlevoix county herald., 1920-02-20


My disappointment at its contents was
the one thing needed to complete the
utter misery Of wretched day.
Only that morning my roommates,
Birge and Roller, fortunate fellows.
had been Informed that their applica-
tons for the ambulance service had
been accepted. Our year of happy
companionship had come to an abrupt
end.
"Cheer up, old man." cried the OPP
timistic Birge, "'your luck will change
some time"
Fright" said Roller, as he stopped
to give final tug to the straps of his
new kit bag, "a chap as crazy about
Adventure as you are is bound to meet
her SOON"
"Stop it," cried in desperation. ut
is you two who are to have the great
opportunity. Soon youm be seeing
shrapnel burst, airplanes battling, reg
iments charging, heroes dying, and I
I'll be sitting here alone in hall
room, eating my heart ont with lone
someness and envy, spending my days
at an uncongenial desk, and my nights,
God knows how. after you fellows have
gone"
you never can tell" chirped old
Birge, "all kinds of strange things hap
pen right here i'm New York. You may
be the one that has had bellyful of
adventure before we return-if we do"
His last three words gave us all
SOLDERING thought. There was a chance,
more than chance. that never again
on this earth would we three he to-
gether again. Eight of our college
mates had preceded Birge and Roller
to the great battlefield. Already three
of them lay in hero graves somewhere
under the lilies Of France.
The silence of sad parting fell on
u.s. The taXicab came and we drove
together to the pier with hardly n word
spoken.
AS we shook hands at the gang.
plank old Roller spoke again, a glis-
ten of tears in his eye. something al
most prophetic in his voice.
"Nelson," he said, 81 feel 1t in my
bones that something is going to hap
pen to you soon. something thrilling"
'T wish to God something would :"
] answered bitterly.
Disconsolately l waved them q last
adieu from the dock In black mood
I rallied against the fate that had left
me behind. polgnantly lamenting the
lack of the eight hundred dollars that
would have set me free To accompany
them.
Two letters, thrust under the door
in lodging-house fashion, awaited my
Homecoming. One of them | recOg
niZed at once as my mothers weekly
billet of good advice. and tossed aside
to be read when | was in a better
frame of mind. The other was In a
cramped. unfamiliar handwriting. AS
/ studied the envelope curiously sus-
picion as to, the writer's identity
flashed into my mind and eagerly I
tore it open. My great-uncle Rufus
CASTOR, was an old, old man. It must
be from him. What could he be writ
ing to me about? Rufus CASTOR was
ricn-worth many millions.
with him and his wife. Dlsgustedly I
flung 1t aside. 1t capped the climax of
my dissatisfaction with everything.
Here were my two chums starting off
to the war, and here was I, Spalding
Nelson, twenty-six. strong in physique,
save for q football knee" that had
barred me from military service, thirst
ing for excitement. left behind in the
prosaic business world and now bid
den to an uninteresting meal with two
decrepit old relatives. ! made up my
r,ind not TO answer the note. My great
uncle Rufus could go hang, for all of
his millions. would not go near
him.
The sight of my mothers letter lying
unopened on my desk served TO recall
to me that il was she who had prevent
ed MY going. Poor mother! She and
/ had been at cross-purposes ever since
my fathers death while was young.
ster. II seemed to me that always she
had opposed everything / wanted to do
After left college she had found a
place for me in the office OF one of my
fathers friends in the little western
city where our home was. I had been
two years getting away to join Birge
. and Roller i'm New York. Most of all
2 she had set herself against my going
to France. She did not believe in war
I was the only man left in the family
She was far from well. If anything
should happen to her, my young sis
tiers had only me to look to- When
these pleas had failed to move me
she had not hesitated TO remind me
that ] was in her debt
Unfortunately this was true. My
years at college had cost me more than
my small patrimony. | had borrowed
|, freely from her, expecting soon to be
able to repay her. Like all young grad
yates I had vastly overestimated my
earning capacity. Three years had
elapsed and still owed her eight hun
bred dollars.
81 do not see." she had written
me, "how you can honorably feel fres