Show t p i rw A i r 1 AR ARBr ARa R a k a N It I By Br Byi i EMMA Il LEE WALTON i i A rf A A AA A It AA A A Ail t 51 A Copyright The Frank A. A Munsey Co Mary sat by the front window windo crouched down watching watching- Her eyes eye were red with recent tears but she spoke bravely and without a tremor to someone in the other room There are some boys out here playIng playing play play- Ing g tag she said with a poor Imitation imitation tion ion t of a laugh One of them just fell into a puddle He looks so funny When Billy BUly went to West Point he said there wouldn't be anybody to fight the littlest brother submitted shakily Less it was Indians Now they send him to war Mary drew a quick breath Their r mother mother- was sewing In the library while Lionel read aloud to her and she must not hear She must not think they weren't being brave too Come here Bobbie Bobble Mary said softly From here you can see way up the street The littlest brother came gladly because because because be be- cause he was lonely and forlorn On the wide window seat it was brighter I and one could see a telegraph boy a block away if iY one came Then too Mary would talk and mother was so silent it frightened a body Ever since the newspaper had said yesterday that an officer a lieutenant of the second Forty-second had been killed away off there mother had not slept and she was so white white- It seemed there were not many lieutenants in C company of the second Forty-second and somebody named Censor had held back the name Will the president telegraph Mary he asked in a whisper Do you think its it's Billy DUly do you Mary was gazing wild wild eyed eyed at a boy boyn In n blue who came whistling down the street What should she do if it he came to their steps Could she ge get t te there before he rang How could sh she e tell mother how could she If It it is Billy will they put flowers on his grave Mary the littlest brother asked Mary is that boy coming here is he No Mary said with a little gasp Hes gone to Mrs Winthrops Winthrop's I suppose suppose sup sup- pose their aunt is coming to visit Go open the door for the postman theres there's theresa a good boy The postman is coming mother she called Bobbie is getting get I get get- ting tang the mail maU Thus would mother be saved the fear that a message had come Lionel closed the book and she could hear him speaking with a brave jocularity Well wed we'd have heard by this time anyhow I I said all along there wasn't anything to tov v worry orry about It Isn't as if he were all alone Hes He's got a lot of friends in the regiment you know and wire They'd have plenty of time because they never do much the day after a fight Bobbie brought in the mail mall all cast aside for the picture from Billy which they admired while mother read his fat letter in silence It was the custom to read Billys Billy's letters aloud but no one wanted the task now Each could read by himself except the littlest littlest lit lit- brother and Mary read it to himIn him himIn In a whisper on the window Deep down dawn in their hearts they knew they might have worse than this to bear with Billys Billy's che cheery ry letters coming every little while even though Billy BUly himself were lying silent in another land under the flag of the alien the enemy How could they bear it then The telephone rang ins insistently harshly and Lionel who ho was not worried worried wor wor- ried rued sprang with one leap to answer It his one awful thought being that they did telephone the telegrams some some- times The color came back to his face as he listened Its father he said at once he says Lionel added after a moment he says that headquarters has had no news and he thinks that Is ing lug They would have heard he thinks He is coming home early Father could not do any business then What mattered it whether there was any business done any more what mattered anything Mary on I the window seat at her arm over Bobbles Bobble's Dobbles Bob Dob bles ble's shoulder could see hundreds of ot miles mlles away the little group of men fighting desperately against the advancing advancing ad ad- hordes and one by one falling where they had stood guarding the stores A lieutenant was very young just out of the Point debonair gay affectIonate affectionate af at- loving home-loving boy that he was So the time dragged along and father Inthe father fa In- ther the came home He talked about business and the men who had been in to see him about a runaway horse that had upset a banana cart and about a story in a magazine but he said no word of Billy He and mother sat side by side as he talked and Dond when mother laid her hand handon on the arm of his c chair air he put his hand over hers and held It The papers tossed on the library table no mo one had touched The wild excitement t ot I the war the thrill at news of battles the patriotic anxiety to do som something thing to help had left them under the cloud of a possible personal loss Billy DUly Why it was only last winter he had been with them acting like a small boy with more charming pranks In in a hour half-hour t than an little Bobbie Bobble think up in a day He was so thoughtful mother whispered speaking at last tp the strong man beside her Do you remember remember re- re j member how he brought home mint candies candles because he knew I was fond of them And how haw he got up Inthe in inthe inthe the middle of the night to oil his squeaky door for fear the winds wind's blowIng blowing blow blow- l ing ag It might keep me awake Doesn't it seem as though anything under all A rt the heavens would be easier to bear than suspense like Uke this Bobble Bobbie thinking only of the fact that mother must not be allowed to worry looked about for aid at this mo mo- I ment went Mary had gone back to the window-seat window and Lionel had bad disappeared disappeared disappeared so as father did nothing but stroke his wife's hand his face drawn y yand and queer Bobbie Bobble stepped bravely sf into the breach Mother he said shakily you remember remember remember re re- re- re member I a brass bell belloff N Noff off of my reins Well now mother its it's beginning to hurt something awful right round here Bobbies Bobbie's hand roved Indefinitely uncertainly uncertainly un un- un- un c certainly over the region he supposed t to o cover his little stomach but his heroic announcement did not have the desired effect Instead of rising horror hor hor- to save him his mother most unexpectedly seized him and gathered him up like a very tiny boy into her lap where he was still l sitting disgracefully babl babied d when Lionel excitedly excitedly ex ex- excitedly burst InI inI in I went over to the drug store Lionel cried with a thrill i In his voice which they all felt It Isn't Billy It Isn't Billy It was a man named Smith and he lives in St. St Louis and I found out by telephoning the Tribune And It isn't Billy IlY it isn't Billy Dilly I was afraid to telephone from here because it might have been I knew there wasn't anything to worry about Oh mother it isn't Billy BUly Mothers are very queer things very queer Here was their mother who had been silent for thirty hours cr or so just sewing on Bobbles Bobbies new waist all S the time me they didn't know whether it 1 17 was Billy or or not and then when they knew it was a fellow named Smith f she just put her head d down wn on fathers father's shoulder and cried pitifully And all allfather f father ather did was to pat her on the back sand s 's and say There dear there while two great tears rolled down his own cheeks unheeded Y Lionel knelt beside her and put his arms around her as best he could with Bobbie Bobble in the way and Mary crouched down on the other side as near as she could her face turned away from him 1 1 1 j q J r 4 5 F j Mary D Drew rew a Quick Quick Breath Mary was crying too Perhaps they didn't quite understand I said it was not Billy he repeat repeat- ed There Isn't any mistake either I made em give me the managing editor editor edi edl tor and he read the cablegram to me He was awful nice He said his brothers brother's brothers brother's brothers brother's broth broth- ers er's down there too I thought you'd say Thank God or something Mother put her hand band on Lionel's shoulder and patted it gently I dosay dosay do dosay say Thank God dear she said through her tears But we must not forget in our own great gladness that it was somebody's boy Lionel sat flat on the floor his long length across the rug and gazed straight ahead Shorn of its fife and drum its trumpet and shining banner J stripped of its might and power Its J charm and triumph and nd glory he tasted war war- |