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Show with the enemy, but now and then coming unexpectedly on the deadly machine ma-chine gun nests of the rear guard ; how Captain Cushman, commanding Tommy's Tom-my's own platoon because of a shortage short-age of lieutenants, had stormed one of these enemy positions and had been shot leading his men across an open field, "lie died bravely, Miss Anna-belle," Anna-belle," said Tommy, In conclusion. "1 wish he could have lived to come back." And then, after a little, the new Tummy asserted himself enough to venture "to you." Annabelle looked straight at Tommy. "As a soldier," she asked, "do you think It was necessary for Captain Cushman to lose his life at that time and place? Do you think those Huns could have been driven out without a frontal attack? Was It good leadership leader-ship to do what he did?" "Why, Miss Annabelle," exclaimed Tommy, taken wholly by surprise by this questioning, "what what makes you doubt It?" "Because," replied the girl, "1 know all about It. You are not the only person per-son I have seen who was there. Serjeant Ser-jeant Fanton of your squad Is my cousin. lie told me about It. It was a mad. blundering, headstrong piece of thoughtless bravado, and It cost many lives besides bis. Tommy Ellis, I know something else. I know you didn't like Floyd Cushman. I know he always al-ways treated you contemptuously. Then why did you, when he was struck down, leave the cover Fanton had ordered or-dered you to take, and go out there into that rain of bullets In a dear, wonderful, foolish, crazy attempt to save him and bring him back to the rocks? I know all afjout it, I tell you! But why did you do It what made you ?" "Why why why, Annabelle. There wasn't anything else to do when thought of you, waiting for him to come back." "But, Tommy! I wasn't waiting for Floyd to come back. Toj dear, self-effacing, self-effacing, modest, morbid oM Tommy I was waiting for you. Am I've always been waiting for you all my mortal life. Tommy Ellis, are you going to live the rest of your existence in the old way, letting everything go for want of enough cruelty or wickedness or gumption or whatever it is to reach out and grab? Or are you going to grab me?" Annabelle was laughing and crying at once. But she cried altogether, al-together, and shuddered as she sobbed : "And you almost threw your life away !" The war helped some. Annabelle helped a great deal more. Tommy got a better run next day. Last month he beat out three candidates for assistant assist-ant division superintendent. If you push Tommy now you'll get pushed back. The Trouble With Tommy By WILL T.AMES (Copyright. 1919, by the McGlure Newspaper News-paper Syndicate.) The trouble with Tommy Ellis .showed itself from the first day he went to school. It was a little school, anil there were just fifty hooks on the walls of the boys' "entry," with fifty-one fifty-one boys to hang their hats on them. Half a dozen of the new boys were younger and smaller than Tommy, who bad reached the ripe age of seven ; lull Tommy it was who had to lay his cap on the floor in the corner because he let the other fellows grab while he held back. Tommy didn't like having to put his cap on the floor any better than the other boys. But somebody's I'.ad to go there, and so It was Tommy's. Tom-my's. It wasn't because lie w:as slow or si lipid that Tommy, from that time on, look the dust of his schoolmates and later on the choice of whatever was being given out In the way of favors or Jobs or opportunities. On the contrary, Tommy was brighter and quicker and naturally more skillful and clever than the majority of boys. But he was utterly ut-terly lacking in self-assertiveness. The only occasion on which Tommy's hand went up in time to be recognized by the teacher, when she was showing off her pupils to visiting parents or committeemen, was when he was the only child in the room who knew the answer to the question. If one' or two or a dozen of the others were prepared willi the desired Information they were nil sure to heat Tommy to it. pi J( There was a little girl whom Tommy worshiped In his secret sold. One day her hat blew off. She was the ,j school beauty, so live boys put chase after the hat. Tommy, as usual, got j, started last, having been bumped out of his stride by another boy. It was a fienk wind and of a sudden the bat shifled its course and came straight at Tommy and a mud puddle. Tommy headed it off and, all blushes, took a single step toward his inamorata. Then another hoy grabbed the hat away from Tommy and himself bestowed it upon ' its owner, with the air of one having r rescued it from the puddle instead of purloining it from the abashed Tommy's Tom-my's worshipful hand. The little girl, .' whose name was Annabelle Hester, smiled benignantly upon the other boy, whose name was Fioyd Cushman, and never even gave Tommy a glance. And so it was. At twenty Tommy was holding down the worst possible job in the gift of the superintendent of the one-horse interurban trolley company, com-pany, a job which no one else would take, and which necessitated his get-ling get-ling up at tin unconscionable hour in (he morning, and walking a mile after taking the last car into the barn at night, with all his leisure time in the middle of the day and what use can a young fellow make of the hours from But tliuJhrec? lug "The use that .! .-v. .made of them si'was to think, hopelessly nuu with a sinking heart, about that same Annabelle Anna-belle Hester whose hat he saved from being muddied when he was a little boy. Annabelle was a stenographer in town now, hut she still lived in the suburban su-burban village, and very often rode -out on the car on which Tommy collected col-lected the fares. She was always friendly and nice to Tommy, and now and then he ventured ven-tured to talk to her a little, but only now find then, because Tommy fancied fan-cied Annabelle seemed a little nervous and ill at ease at such times, perhaps as though she didn't just care about getting too intimate wilh a conductor. Another reason was that Floyd Cushman, Cush-man, who was In college now, and going go-ing to be a lawyer, rode out with An- , nabelle whenever he came back to the village, which was pretty often, and quite took possession of her. Yes. Tommy Tom-my felt altogether "out of it" with Annabelle. An-nabelle. Then the war came. Tommy went as a buck private and came back as one. He wasn't, it appeared, of non-com material, ma-terial, though an Intelligent, studious and conscientious soldier. Floyd Cushman, Cush-man, jamming his way In the atten- tion of his superiors at Plattsburg and later in France, attained to a captaincy before he met his finish above Verdun. When Tommy was demobilized they gave him back his old run, and It was the third evening that he saw Annabelle Anna-belle Hester. The girl had climbed to the platform of the car and was on the point of entering when she glanced up and saw Tommy. She went white, then rosy. "Why. Tommy Tommy Ellis:" she exclaimed. "When on earth did you get back? I didn't I never heard " Annabelle was becoming inarticulate. in-articulate. Tommy Ellis had been through what no man can go through and still be quite as he was before. Much of his old self-consciousness was gone. "Annabelle," he said in a manly, direct di-rect way. "I'm dreadfully sorry about Floyd. I'm the only one you know who was there when It happened. All the way back I was thinking you'd want to know, and that the first thing I'd do would be to tell you. If you'll let me know when. I'll get off and come over to your house and tell you." "Do. Tommy; come tomorrow in your off-time. I'm, going to be home. And I do want to hear everything." Tommy didn't notice the odd. st inlying look the girl gave him. But he promised to go; and next day he went. Tommy told Annabelle about the speed and rush of the great movement move-ment when the Americans cleaned out the Verdun salient; bow most of the doughboys were racing to get In touch |