Show The Telegram The Morale of Lord Ollie By IZOLA FORRESTER Copyright 1916 1816 by the McClure Newspaper Newspaper Newspaper News- News paper Syndicate We Ve have been accustomed to hear Ollie speak of the count countess ss in In well not exactly friendly or comradely or ox fa- fa familiar fa familiar familiar terms but as if it he knew her pretty prett well For Instance he would say when the mall was brought in ini Another letter from the countess Now Ill I'll get It for not writing Quite as it if it mattered to the countess whether er he wrote or not I think we all aU vaguely resented his tone for her sake even even ven while we knew absolutely nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing abo about t her He had come to the old fashioned boarding house on West Vest Fifty fifth street in the summer time From his tone and words we gathered that he was a man of peace and would not go goto goto goto to war war that the countess disapproved of his sentiments and that his elder brother was was fighting somewhere in France He was a slim dark nice sort of chap with big speculative humorous blue eyes behind eyeglasses Until Jessica came to stay with us ho had matters his own way in an argument down in the dining room The rest of ofus ofus ofus us were too hungry and weary to combat combat combat com com- bat world peace or anything else But Jessica was different Fresh from the he west she was and thoroughly prepared for war at any moment She was in the nurses' nurses training school waiting for her chance to go abroad in Red Hed Cross work Not that she approved approved approved ap ap- proved of war but she did believe IK it th the nations who were big enough to see the vision of the future combining and forcing disarmament on the barbarian barbarian barbarian bar bar- barian ones nes as she sho called them Ollie was all aU for social evolution and the two of ot them would sit and let their dinners dinners' grow cold while they I thrashed the wars of the nations over and over again His name by the way was Oliver Grovesnor Sometimes his mail mall came ame to Mr 11 Oliver Grovesnor and sometimes to Lord Oliver Francis Grovesnor but we called him Ollie A boarding home is a curious common com com- mon To save your life you cant can't help knowing every other body's business We used to run across the two of them sitting out on the little littlegreen littlegreen littlegreen green wooden bench in the bit of ot a front yard talking after atter dinner finishing finishing finishing finish finish- ing up their up-their their argument And sometimes in order to cool off they would have to stroll up to Columbus circle and over into the park where spring was dancing dancing ing with fauns and dryads We Ve could see plainly the way they were wending wending wending wend wend- ing just into the same old path of romance all youth treads some time Then came another letter from the countess the first one since Jessica had come to stay Oliver found it under under under un un- un- un der his napkin as usual glanced at it whimsically said it was another letter from the countess and that hed he'd get it I for fol not writing And Jessica being a woman I promptly asked who the countess was Whereupon Ollie answer simply I My mother The eyed him from a different aspect I from that moment At first with suspicion suspicion sus sus- as if h he might be poking fun at her You see Jessica came came from fron froma a a. small town in South Dakota and she phe was 21 She had lad always had to work for fo her living even since she could re remember re- re member There were five fire youngsters entered in the family Bible after her own name and the last st ohe had been beert the end of her mother After that It had always been work for her Now with mos most of them half halt grown she had hadI I slipped away to follow her own star I r even to the battlefields and try to realize some of or lifes life's tumult and mystery mys mys- tery tery- Oddly enough the countess seemed part of what she was seeking But she wondered Just as we all an had If Ollie were telling the truth We Va had been content to let the matter rest where It was afraid Ollies Ollie's pleasant myth might vanish if the searchlight of truth ever lit it up Jessica waited until she had him to to herself on the green garden bench There w was s a moon looking very pale and wan Illusive enough to please all fond lovers Only Jessica was not Ina in ina ina a loving mood She was as usual combative and pernickety as it were and she sho approached the subject of Ollies Ollie's with the English no nobility nobility nobility no- no without fear or compromise Is the countess really your mother moth moth- er So I have always been told re replied replied replied re- re plied Ollie gazing from the Inadequate moon to the glamour of the electric signs visible in the direction of ot Broad Broad- way Countess what Countess of Walsingham Her name though Is Margaret Margaret Olivia Jessica looked him over thoughtfully from this new angle ell eH was slender and rather stooped shouldered when ho he sat down in hours of ease She tried to find fault with his chin If It only It had receded ever so little she might have excused him but as It was nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing external gave him away He really looked as if he might be the son of Margaret Olivia countess of ham hamI I blame you ou more than ever she said briefly and tensely Since you do happen to be born In this particular age and In a certain class you owe it to your times the spirit of your times to stand for the morale of that class Rot Rot said Ollie and he opened the thelast thelast thelast last letter from the countess She was silent as he read it It was rather quiet even on the street Just the hour between dining and pleasuring forth when New York rests and catches its breath Presently he spoke in a curious curious curious curi curi- ous voice a sort of baffled voice as if fate had handed him a fouL By Jove he ho said Poor old Bert For a minute Jessica didn't get the portent of his words he had spoken so quietly but she turned her heX head and saw his face suddenly sharp and a bit white in the half light Who is he Ollie stood up Im going back She wants me to My brothers brother's dead And this is the strange part As he stood there looking down In her face suddenly all the little foolish conven- conven of ot everyday life lite dropped from them There was no thought of anything they argued argued ar or fought r o over ethics and social theories theoriEs all all were were- gone leaving only the man and woman with the man facing possible death Youre going over there to fight she asked Of course Bert Bertt died somewhere In France Prance It Isn't so much the war you understand His Ills hands clenched at athis athis athis done to his sides Its It's what they've him I want to go and Just give It to them for his sake and my mother expects expects expects ex ex- ex- ex me to Im sailing salling on the Jessica spoke eagerly I r I didn't want to tell you because you had a way of taking all aU the spirit out of It for tor me and I wanted to go the other way way believing ing in it I mean Well Wen sail together he told her You said once that I had no morale Maybe I I dont don't li like e the mess over there and I dont don't believe In war but when the wolf climbs over the sheep shelter one one grabs a gun I guess And then he lo looked ted down at her and said In that simple square nice way of his we all liked as if it settled the whole thing between them The countess countess countess count count- ess will think youre you're an awfully plucky girl girlAnd And the next morning they sailed married sure and fast Somehow they seemed to take a little of the spring springtime springtime time with them perhaps Into the life of the countess |