The Bienville Democrat., 1922-05-18
CHAPTER x.

A zS0T'
CHAPTER X.
-
Ramsey kept very few things from
Fred Mitchell, and usually his conf
dences were immediate upon the occa-
s,on Of them; but allowed several
weeks to elapse before sketching for
bis roommate the outlines Of this ad-
venture.
"Oue thing that was kind O funny
about it. Fred" he said, 81 didn't
know what to call her."
MFR, Mitchell, stretched upon the
window seat in their Study" and look
,np ont over the town street below
and the campus beyond the street had
already thought it tactful to ambush
his profound amusement by turning
upon his side, so that his face was
toward the window and away from his
companion. what did you want to
call herr he inquired in a serious
voice. "Names?"
mo. You know what l mean. /
mean had to keep calling her you;
and that gets kind of freaky when
you're talkin' to anybody a good while
like that. When she'd be lookin' away
from me, for instance, or down at the
river, or somewhere, and I'd want to
start sayin something to her, you
know, why, wouldn't know how to
get started exactly, without callin' her
something. A person doesn't want to
be always startin' off with See here
or things like that"
II don't see why you let 1t trouble
YOU" said Fred. "From how you've
always talked about her, you had
perfectly handy way to start off with
anything you wanted to say to her."
"What with?"
"Why didn't you just say, oh, you
Teachers Petp That would"
AGet out! What l mean is, she
called me Ramsey without any both.
er; 1t seems funny got stumped every
time | started to say Dora Some way
/ couldn't land it, and it certainly
would a. sounded crazy to call her
Miss Yocum' after sittin' In the same
room with her every day from the
baby class clear on up through the end
Of high school. That would a made
me out an idiot"
"What did you call herr" Fred
asked.
"JuSt nothin' at all. / started to call
her something or other q hundred
tines, / guess, and then I'd balk. I'd
get all ready, and kind Of make a sort
Of a sound, and then I'd have to quit"
"She may have thought you had a
cold" said Fred, still keeping his back
turned. :,
u expect maybe she did-though I
don't know; most the time she didn't
seem to notice me much, kind Of"
"She didn't?
"No. She was too upset, l guess, by
what she was thinkin' about"
'But II 1t hadn't been for that"
Fred suggested, "you mean she'd have
certainly paid more attention to who
was sitting on the bench with herr"
Get out! You know how 1t was.
Everybody those few days thought we
were goln' to have war, and she was
just sure of it, and 1t upset her. OF
course most people were a lot more
upset by what those Dutchmen did to
the Lusitania than by the idea Of war;
and she seemed to feel as broken up as
anybody could be about the Lusitania,
but what got her the worst was the
notion Of her country wantin' to fight,
she said. She really was upset, too,
Fred; there wasn't no putin on
about It. l guess that ole girl Ger.
tainly must have good deal Of feel
lng, because, doggoned, after we'd
been sittin' there a while If she didn't
have to get out her handkerchief! She
Kept her face turned away from me
Hust the same as you're doln' now to
Keep from laughin'-but honestly, she
cried like somebody at a funeral. I
felt like the darndest fool"
I'm not laughing" said Fred, but
be did not prove 1t by turning so that
his face could be seen. "What did she
sayw
"0h, she didn't say such an awful
lot. She said one kind O. funny thing
though: she said she was sorry she
couldn't quite control herself, but If
anybody had to see her cry she minded
II less because 1t was an old school.
mate. What struck me so kind o
funny about that is-why, 1t looks as
II she never knew the way l always
hated her So"
"Yes,' said Fred. 1T wasn't fiat.
teringW
"Well, sir, 1t isn't, kind Of" Ram.
sey agreed, musingly. 1T certainly
Isn't when you look at 1t that way"
"What did you say when she said
that?" Fred asked.
"Nothin'. | started to, but I sort Of
baked again. Well, we kept on sitting
there, and afterwhAe she began to
talk again and got kind 1 excited
about how no war could do anything