The Argosy, Vol. 90 No. 1 — page 109: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE OTHER TRENT. yeu, but you surely couldn’t go and en- list with a lot of—oh! men of all sorts of classes, you know!”’ Hartley raised his eyebrows. and looked at her with an air of cool superiority. ‘“War is a great leveler,” he remarked; ‘the classes and the masses mix quite in- discriminately, you know, in such a crisis. But the men who are qualified for the higher places aren’t likely to enlist in the ranks. I am thinking of taking a commis- sion.” ‘A commission?” she exclaimed wonder- ingly. “I am now considering the colonelcy of the Thirty-first Infantry,” he announced, and looked out the window, striving not to appear self-conscious. Miss Buckingham gulped as_ though about to choke and then laughed shrilly with excessive mirth. “War is a deucedly humorous thing, isn’t it?” Hartley said coldly. “In some of its aspects,” she replied. ‘Pardon me, old boy—but it’s almost as killing, you know, to picture you a colonel as it is to think of Brad as a modern Don CHAPTER XIII. THE ONE THING HE COULD Do. PRIVATE Hal Trent was strolling near the armory toward evening of the sec- ond day of his sentry duty, when he met Edith Ives. She was on her way home to dinner and she stopped abruptly and looked at his trim uniform with a bright smile of admiration. “It is very becoming to you, Mr. Trent,” she said.. “It’s good of you to say that,” he re- sponded. “A fellow feels rather awkward and self-conscious in these togs at first.” “Tt is a noble livery for a man‘to wear,” she said gravely. ‘ You deserve even more credit than some of the men, because you enlisted when war with Germany was a practical certainty.” He shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly. ‘‘ Jack is desperately worried about the war,” she went on, “ but I try to pretend 108 that I am not. It would almost kill me to see him go, but I wouldn’t have him stay at home.” ‘He is worried?” Trent queried. “Oh! not about himself!” she hastened to assure him. “ At heart he is wild to go; his patriotism is at white heat; but he worries constantly about me. He thinks that I work too hard, that I will break down presently; and he wonders how I can live if he goes to war—particularly if he— if he—shouldn’t come back.” The words ended in what was almost a muffied sob, and Trent was silent, not knowing what to say. ‘‘T am not at all worried about myself,” she explained, recovering her composure. ‘“T am strong enough to work and take care of myself; but it will be terrible for him to go—as he must go—thinking that he is deserting me and causing me to suffer. It makes my—my other problem all the harder, Mr. Trent. Much as Jack dislikes Mr. Buckingham, I can see that he is be- ginning to wish that I would marry him. He ‘wouldn’t like me to be mercenary, of course, but-he has such a dread of poverty for a woman, that—” “I understand,” Trent said solemnly. ‘“ His anxiety is quite natural, but he hasn’t stopped to think that a woman may expe- rience worse things than poverty. Poverty is responsible for a lot of misery, but there are societies that care for the helpless women. For the miseries that go with un- happy marriages, however, there is not much help provided. The divorce courts furnish a certain relief, but they are not able to cure the bitterness that remains.” “Pm afraid that your opinion of Mr. Buckingham is a little worse than Jack’s, if that is possible. But please don’t think I would marry him, Mr. Trent! I hope I have too much character to allow me to marry a man whom I couldn’t respect. ‘“ After all, there’s a brighter side to this worry about the war; poor Jack will have to resign his position when the regiment is called, and then I shall no longer fear Mr. Buckingham, you see. I hope you can imagine how mean and ignoble I feel, pre- tending to be friendly to that man in order to safeguard Jack’s position.” oO comicbool< CO