Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1920-02-05

OF anything, except that Isabel would
help him if she could. The Major was
occupied with the first really impOr-
tant matter that had taken his atten-
ton since he came home invalided, af-
ter the Gettysburg campaign, and
went into business, and he realized
that everything which had worried
him or delighted him during this life
time between then and today-all his
buying and building and trading and
banking-that it all was trifling and
waste beside what concerned him now.
Meanwhile, the life of the little be-
reft group still forlornly centering up
on him began to pick up again, as life
will, and to- emerge from its own peri
cd of dazedness. It was not Isabel's
father but her son who was really
dazed.
A month after her death he walked
abruptly into Fanny's room, one night,
and found her at her desk, eagerly
adding columns Of figures with which
she had covered several sheets Of pa
per.
George! You startled me-"
II beg your pardon for not knock
ing" he said huskily. 81 didn't think"
She turned in her chair and looked
at him solicitously. "Sit down, George,
won't you?"
"No. l just wanted"
81 could hear you walking up and
down in your room," said Fanny. "You
were doing it ever since dinner, and
1t seems to me you're at it almost
every evening. don't believe it's good
for you--and l know it would worry
your mother terribly If She" Fan
ny hesitated.
See here" George said, breathing
fast, Il want to tell you once more that
what I did was right. How could 1
have done anything else but what
did do?"
"Oh, don't pretend to judge, Fan
ny said soothingly, for his voice and
gesture both partook Of wildness. II
know you think you did, George"
"Think I didv" he echoed violent
~. MY God in heavenw And he
began to walk up and down the floor.
"What else was there to do? What
choice did I have? Was there any
other way of stopping the talk?" He
stopped, close in front of her, gestic-
ulating, his voice harsh and loud
"Was there any other way on earth
of protecting her from the talk?"
Miss Fanny looked away. at died
down before long, I think" she said
oervously.
"That shows was right doesn't it?"
he cried. IF hadn't acted as 1 did,
that slanderOus old Johnson woman
would have kept on with her ISLANDERS
shed still be"
NO" Fanny interrupted "She's
dead. She dropped dead with 'apOplexy
one day about six weeks after you
left. l didn't mention it in my let
tiers because didn't want-I
"Well, the other people would have
kept on, then. They'd have"
uOn hllOW, Sdlu duufs SlllI
averting her troubled eyes. "Things
are so changed here, George. The 9TH
er people you speak of-One hardly
knows what's become of them. OF
course not a great many were doing
the talking, and they-well some of
them are dead, and some might as
well be-you never see them any more
and the rest, whoever they were, are
probably so mixed in with the crowds
of new people that seem never even to
have heard Of us-and I'm sure we
certainly never heard Of 'them-and
people seem to forget things so soon
they seem to forget anything. You
can't imagine how things have changed
here!'
George gulped painfully before he
could speak. "You-you mean to sit
there and tell me that if I'd just let
things go on Ohp' He swung away,
the floor again. 81 tell you