The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-27

you both and there was no point
in letting her be worried by find
ing out that the going was a hit
tough. She would probably have
wanted to share her settlement
with us-and that, of curse, was
not to be thought Of"
Gail stared at him through the
thickening dusk, and dropped her
eyes lest he read in them some of
her shock at his thought that
LISA would have shared so much
as a copper cent with anybody.
Gail had never come face to face
with the necessity of admitting to
herself her unhappy knowledge
that her mother was completely
self-centered, completely egoistic,
and that she would fight to the
last ditch before she would yield
one scrap of what she claimed as
her own Did Charles really know
her so little? Could he have been
married to her for four fears
without understanding her better?
Did he honestly believe that LISA
would have been willing to share
with him in his disaster?
Frantically she tried to defend
her mother in her own mind; after
all, LISA was completely beauti-
full, completely unequipped to earn
anything approaching a living.
The allowance that Charles SEEM
ed to feel was so ample seemed,
to LISA, little less than beggary.
Wildly she sought for something
to say and the first thing she
thought of was, Father, who is
Greg? Is he arelative?"
"He's the son OF an old friend
Of mine" answered Charles. His
father wanted him to study law,
and because he was a dutiful son,
he did. But war came before Greg
had finished his senior year. He
enlisted and went overseas and his
father died while he was gone.
When Greg was discharged from
the Army last summer he came
here to visit, and his love of the
land has kept him here ever
since. Greg was born to be a far
mer, I guess - so now he's my
partner!"
She sensed, rather than saw his
smile.
"But is he going to be content
just to throw away his legal train
ing? I mean-wcll, there doesn't
seem to be much future here
She broke off, lest she give Of
tense, but once more her fathers
smile reached ner through the
darkness.
"A future of contentment and
independence" he suggested. but
she broke in swiftly:
Independence? Here?"
ut seems poor to you, darling7
You can't see that a man is indie
pendent if he owns the land that
feeds and nourishes him and pro-
vides him with all that a mar
really needs to live?" he asked
gently.
ooh, well, I suppose-It's only
that" She stumbled and was ST.
lent lest she offend him, lest she
let him see how horrible life
seemed to her here.
Somehow, 1 think Greg finds
something here. something of Sc
curity and perhaps peace and
quiet that he learned to value
very highly while he was off at
war;" said Charles slowly. II
think I understand him, too. It's a
little like that with me. I admit
that at first the though of pow
erty, of hard manual labor, of
working like a dog from sunup till
shutdown and afterward, was ap-
palling to me. I freely admit I'd
have panicked completely in the
first few months if it hadn't been
for Kate. Her spirit was -magnifi-
cent. I couldn't belittle it by show
ing less courage and strength of
fmind than she did. And, chick,
I've mad more of real, genuine
happiness in the years since I've
been poor, financially, than I'd
ever known before in all my life.
Oh. I admit I'd like a bit of extra
money; I'd like to provide Kate
with some of the so-called modern
MISUNDERSTANDING and wa
ter works and all that. But the
addition of those things is some
thing to save for and to strive
for. and I've learned that the
greatest happiness in life is from
striving, aiming at a goal, per-
haps not even quite reaching it,
but having it always there before
1,e -