Show One Wonderful Week b l ly y C S Forester SERVICE Copyright by 17 Dobbs Bobb M Merril Co THE STORY Harold Norman Jote twenty twenty twenty ty four tour bank clerk lives lisle with bl his aunt great Matilda CHAPTER Continued I-Continued I Continued 2 He lie ne neier neer er In makin friends at S school hool Shyness Sh ness had some some- tiling some thIn to do with this partly It is due to the tact fact act that Harold was Ig Ignorant Ignorant Dorant of the preliminary moles moes mo mo ea es nece sury sary ry to friendship but largely it was nac wa due to the tuc fact that a completely frIendless childhood had hud left lert belt belf contained and lind sel self r sufficient so that necessity did not force him Into frIendship although e even esen en Harold was WIlS WIlSon wason wason on bitter be bewildered occasions con conscious of his loneliness and unhappiness ness Self contained and self Harold crept into an aD Inner life lire of hl his own III like e a tortoise into its shEll shE'll seeking protection both from the searching prods orlIss of or Mss Miss Epping and the chilling blasts of or the riotous world orld It was as an Inner life lIre In which e esery ery thing was Ras possible pos to Harold l e There little vague unac unac- unacknowledged ledged Inel ambitions came to entire fruition Cut But ul since the greater part parI of Harolds s reading had consisted or of school textbooks and since had found history the most school books bo k there ss wis lS ss tie ell historical flavor or about S Imaginings And with Ith a few fens centuries bet een himself and a censorious mod modern modern ern generation Harold could give girl hIm himself himself self free rein and uncomprehendingly compensate himself for the s with which he hc had been sat on all hIs small life lire In lime time Miss Epping grew distrust distrustful distrustful rul ful of these historical researches of hIs The 8 with stith he de de- devoured devoured volumes of history seemed to show almost necessarily that there as good reason for her to check hIm 1 et she did not not not- r although she never admitted to herself that she was puzzled puzzled puzzled or that she che was to put her hf-f hf power po er to the test she could not help realizing that h Harold arold was older With Mth Ith the war ar came the be beginning ot of the school Officers Training corps and ane for or Harold by reason of hIs scholarshIp membership was liS compulsory sory For or two t he served as a cadet In the Junior company compan and In una 1910 on reaching the tile age ae of four fourteen fourteen teen he rose roe to the real Officers TrainIng corps Some of or the results were surprising Firstly came the discovery that there was something he lie was as superlatively vely good rIfle at-rIfle at rifle shooting came to Harold naturally It t may mav have ha been because of this that Harold s unvoiced opinion of himself on the occasIons when circumstances forced him to see himself clearly rose from a mInus quantity to something almost over zero And secondly there was as the great question of camp Camp was not really compulsory It was only the next nest best till thus g to It and more so In some ways the ways the thIn thing which W was S done done The school in a wa wave vase e of mil patriotism decided that only an out outsider lder would stay away awa from camp Usually It was as when the school decided that way that Miss de decided tided the whIch other other which hardly made for tor Harold s popularity But ut on thIs occasIon miraculously Miss agreed She approved ed of the war In Inthe Inthe Inthe the same way ay as she approved of ot God and the Ole royal family and she decided that Harolds s 8 going to the corps camp would help England to win the war scar nr Thus It happened that for the first time since he was ns four Harold slept under a root roof which Great aunt Ma MatIlda tills tIlda Epping did not share And It was not really a roof root either but n a cam cansas us hut but Into which were crammed thirteen other thirteen year ye old cadets or a blissful rul fortnight was remos remo ed from his great aunt s anxious care let het et esen Cen C en here his cursed per efficiency and habitual retire retire- retirement retirement ment meat sundered him from his fellows ills buttons were always polished tend hIs neck was always clean and the foldIng of his blankets Into the form InsIsted upon by authority came as naturally to him as s swimming ImmIng to a duckling lIn Harold found hImself spurned by hIs fellows as one amen amenable amenable able to authority and aDd Ignored by au as authorIty through h his Ills habitual horror of attracting attention l e he enjoyed enjo camp amp tie ne enjoyed being away from his great aunt A liking for solitude may be an acquired taste but bUI Harold acquired It At camp when nhen parades were ere oser o Harold was os free tree for the first time In n his life He lie could lounge In his tent lent lentor or go JO for solitary walks and he could re reed 1 read rend read without II hout once being asked what he was rending In 1917 when hen Harold was Ju jut just t fit teen fate dealt a cruel blow ai al Great aunt Matilda latIlda Those Thoe In authority 0 oser lf her to Harold even esen now miss It was as In Inconceivable concel that there should be any authorIty over her made the lag Ing discovery that she was as sixty and still Regulations tom com compelled retirement at nt sixty the five It 8 trap In vain that she pointed nut our scorn scornfully orn fully to officialdom that lint she was tar for more f fitted for teaching than any of the scatter brained women n and medical rejects who composed her start staff Miss Epping must retire and Miss retired worsted sorted for the first time lime In an active e life lite And for the first time In her life I she called Harold Into consultation Mss Epping s retiring pension was on ona ona ona a scale devised In ISO which took toot It for granted that maiden ladles IndIes could Ih use e on fifty five pounds a year and whIch entirely left lert out of account the possibility of fifteen vear eor old great rent nephews Most of her small mall sas lags were sunk In an annuity of fifteen pounds per year Harold must begin to think about earning hIs 11 using living log got ot ImmedIately but quite soon It was the first time Harold had ever er thought his future up till then he hid taken talen It for tor granted grunted that It would be arranged for him as ase e else had been rind ind It would have base ha e been too had Miss Epping to te Besides the war seemed such a now that Harold hid Ind assumed that at tile the age of eighteen he would be provided pro pith Ith nil all the employment he could cope with by a 3 m in hungry government gO consulted hIs Ills chool prin principal principal cipal Jobs Oh yes these thee werE Jobs In tn hundreds to be had for tor or the aln asking by hy anyone who rho ho could rend read and tw rite firms firths ss hose bu businesses w were ere ex the height of ot the lr time boom and whose hose staffs starrs were drained away by hy conscription ss were ere only too lous an to gh ghe gise e employment ment But But- But would It not be lIe better if A were to wait walt a little In a n years year's time he would 1 Ie le e tilting so m and ss that th certificate In ID his pocket the future would be te a 3 great rent deal dell more as assured assured The war would not Dot last for for- forever forever ever e you vou know Inow l I I or Harold tu to leave school chool now noss would be to stunt his to fu future future cure ture all nil tie Lie est et of his life lire lust Just one more year ye at school one school one little year and Harold would hose have the world at athIs athis athis hIs feet was c the key to all nil the professions lons and to nearly e esery ery business Miss II listened and was mo mosed moed ed achievement was US something of n a fetish to her She Slie promised Har liar Harold Harold old s I 1 that Harold should hive another thirteen months at school Miss Epping made this promise In Inthe inthe Inthe the full and certain knowledge that the prices of th the nearly necessities of life lire were soaring snaring un that she had hod two people to house houe and clothe and feed that she had fourteen pounds In the hank and would In future be from aU all sources a u total Income of less than sl six pounds a month Miss knew this but she slie let It pass pasq marked As has already been said she belon belonged ed to an older and stronger generation So luring during Harold s last year at school lIs Miss was at home roar our or Use five times a n week she walked HII a alon along along lon long long way street ars were ex expensive expensive C pensive to do her shopping In dis dIs- dIstrIcts districts where prices were ere low v and a keen mind could sa save Base e pennies some some- sometimes sometimes sometimes times she he waited for hours In queues for minute amounts of offal or for a rabbit or for tw Imported e eggs s There was much mending to do as well for lIss would ne never neer er tolerate a 8 ahole ahole hole In her ne never neer er displayed under underclothing underclothing clothing the underclothing was as wear wearIng lag fa fast t too ton for all nil through that last worst wort winter Inter of or the war Miss wore double In layers ers beca because use she ne Cr lI lighted a 8 fire until Harold HaroM came home from school or rather rattier until just be be- before before fore rore Harold time came home from scho scholl l for slip ne neer er let him knew that It had been all day And Ancl In Inthe inthe Inthe the same sime way stay she never ne told him she had had hud no lunch Harold lunch Harold lunched at s school and school and at she ills lla played little appetite for the wartime bread and of the lie minute supper h she sen served ec the lion lions linns s share went to ro unroll without his noticing anything strange I I et el no one mortal ever er dare to judge her moth motives mouses es Perhaps It was only her strict sense sence of or duty her life s experience had om Ine ed edher edher her that It Is Iq always s the hardest course that Is Iq the ilie right one perhaps In her lier old age ae the lie diamond herd depths of or her hId h id softened with love lo for the boy whose hoce upbringing she had made her strict duty TO DC CONTINUED l |