He folded it carefully and gave it to his wife to read, and sat smoothing down his face with his hand while she studied it, reading slowly, sometimes going back to get the full meaning out of a somewhat involved sentence.
"Johnny's a dear boy," she observed meditatively, after they had sat for a little while in silence.

"I hope he doesn't enlist in that terrible war; it's so dangerous!" Sudden turned in his chair and looked in through a window to where Mary V was sitting very quietly within three feet of the telephone, her album of "Desert Glimpses" in her lap.

Undoubtedly Mary V was listening, but she was also undoubtedly waiting for something.

He looked at his wife, and his wife also glanced into the room and caught the significance of Mary V's position and attitude.
The telephone rang, and Mary V dropped the album in her haste to answer the call.

She glanced out at them while she announced, "Yes, this is Mary V--it's _all right_--right on the porch, but it's all right--" Dad and mommie took the hint and withdrew.
THE END * * * * * B.M.