Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-03


been. time Of wandering abo-t in France, Ger
many, Italy; a time when he had seen much of
muse and governess and little of his mother. He
could remember her, radiant and shining, dressed
for the theater opera, stopping in to bend over
his bed for moment. Sometimes, rare
mornings, he had been allowed to go into her
room before he dressed Then school; an
English public school. He had taken his knocks
as a youngster; fought his way up through the
lower school,, till now he was in the Fifth and
reasonably of landing in the sacred pre-
cincts of the Sixth next term, with the prospect
of being a prefect, perhaps, before so very long.
And to the long wanderings on the conti-
nent when he had moved back and forth across
Europe. seeing Paris, Dresden Vienna. Munich.
Rome, Naples, Venice, there had succeeded the
ordered and settled life in England. School al
ways, in the foreground; the house
Swaythling, in the lovely Hampshire country,
which he really liked; the smart little town
house near Hyde Park. He happy enough,
he had everything boy could be supposed to
want Heaven knows!
But he had never quite stopped wanting to
60 home. 1t had been great day when he had
discovered that the docks of Southampton were
open to q boy who rode in on the tram from
Swaythling. He used to spend hours there, aft
that discovery, watching the great steamers
come and go. And it hurt him whenever he
saw a liner bound for home. He envied the
careless people who lined her rails SO much that
he hated them.
OF the history of the Halliday invasion Of
Europe Bill knew little nothing. He knew,
Of course that his father Halliday of the
great banking firm of Pierce Halliday and
Company, and, vaguely that he was at the head
Of the London house. But he guessed, and
guessed correctly enough, with that way that
children have of getting at buried truths, that it
was his mother who really responsible for
the permanence of this European sojourn. The
facts he could scarcely have understood Ye.
they were simple enough.
IJo11 of of
that prideful city's innermost circle John Hal
liday had crossed its boundaries when he
ried; his wife had not been allowed to forget
that. The trouble had lain in this she, too.
was Philadelphian, but one who dwelt on the
wrong side of Market street. She had expected
her marriage to ennoble her. Her disappoint-
ment had angered and embittered her. Original
ly there had been project, suggested first by
her husband, perhaps, of year or so abroad,
with the vague prospect Of triumphant return.
But Mrs. Halliday, q shrewd woman, had
not been long in making up her mind to change
that plan. In England her husbands wealth;
his importance in the financial world, had
opened all doors to her; her own beauty and
charm had helped her, too She found that
English people were simply amused by the idea
Of class lines among Americans; one American,
to them, was much like another, so far as such
things went. If they had money, If they were
amusing, they were welcome.
Her eyes were set upon certain precedents
Americans like her husband had stayed in Eng
land before; had become. in effect, Englishmen
She could contemplate future in which she
should be Lady Halliday Her real hopes and
ambitions she never confded to her husband
But she saw, with quiet satisfaction, the way
the sane English life appealed to him; the way
he sank, insensibly, into its comfort. She could
manage John when the time came; she was
Of that.
OF all this Bill had inkling. But after
that night when his father surprised him Bill
was afraid, as he had not been before. Always
until then he had regarded his exile as tempo
rary; he had been sure that, sooner or later
they would go home. Now, for the first time.
he had to face the possibility Of staying away
always-or, at least, until he should be old
enough to shape his course for himself. And
he was at an age when a few years loom up like
as many decades.
During the autumn term he had small time
for worry He was in the Sixth with Ted Little
and Jim Murray Bounds were relaxed; the
three Of them could go into Bedford, now, when
they were free from schoolroom or from COM
pulsory games. There foot ball, too, to
keep them busy. Ted Littles play was reve-
lation to Bill-to the whole school indeed. With
and already, at home college scouts had had
their eyes Ted against the day when he
should matriculate-the old Rugby game was
holiday for him. He ran with ferceness
known to the school backs. sliding off tacklers
one after another, and he followed the ball like
q hawk
: Bin really proclaimed himself An American