Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/40

 more than anything in life. You are mean to me when you refuse to make me happy."

He leaned back in his chair and closed his sightless eyes. His mind seemed doubly acute now that his eyes had failed. He was passing through the gravest crisis of his life. Willfully he was giving up the girl he loved. The War had separated them as completely as though he had been dung to a distant planet. He lived in a Sad Country. In such a country there was no place for Dallis. Of course it was hard for her. It had been hard when her brother Rad had been killed. Still eventually she would get over it. Some other fellow would come along and Scobee would be forgotten. Not pleasant to contemplate but inevitable.

At last he said, "For awhile at least let's forget everything and pretend we are children once more without a single care or trouble in the world."

"All right," she agreed. It was better to adopt his mood. "But if we are children, you have rather broken my doll, you know."

A month later Scobee and Hung Long Tom