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chapped-looking features and his prominent chin. “He came home December the 19th,” said Mr. Kneese in his weary sleepy voice. The others were talking also. “He left here on the 28th of January,” he said, “and he got to San Diego in 39 hours.” He spoke in a matter of fact way, seeming to concentrate on the dates, the factual information. I was nearest to him and though he looked away at the floor I assumed he was talking to me, if anyone. ‘Did you know that Tony Mier was in the same bunch with Calvin?” said Bertha to Sid. “This is Tony over here.” Mrs. Kneese was showing a letter which they had received concerning Calvin. It was a very laudatory, extravagant letter. “He sent us a post card mailed on the 8th of February, and that was the last time we heard from him,” continued Mr. Kneese. “Were you betting on the Army or the Navy, Sid?” said Bertha when the picture and the letter had been put away again. “I guess I was supposed to take the Navy,” said Sid. “Did you hear Texas University play the Oklahoma University? My that was an exciting game.” “Oh, I want to hear SMU play Baylor this afternoon,” said Mrs. Kneese. “It’s going to be such an awful day for it,” said Bertha. “They said this morning that they put canvas all over the field.” “Is it snowing in Dallas?” Sid asked. “No, this morning it was sleeting some but they didn’t think it * a .. r . ,. 4 4 , .41*! 41-Yw 04:’:4:’:’:1:’:4′.11′:.:.:4:*:1:-*:::* . # * r! * * *** * ,ri ,m *4 * ‘ 0* . ‘ * . .! . * * .* . 4. , . . … , ., a ,* **,w * ,: * $. * * t * 4 . .4….A.Val.,4,1*,*.e,..*.*,1*o* s4 ,*.0. e* ._ of st g* m ‘Sk A * 7.****1404**44* ****%4.**4*00********44..6.7. 4,*.%*.4.0,0******_..4.4.4.a.4.4_.%*7*._. 4_4 ot****4077**** 4*******..40’,.*******..**%4***424 44% 4 a w at* * ** * 4, ISO* * 4. . , ,4_.* a a ,Ta. a a ., . . . . ….W. …… .*********.**.***,*4* **** * 4 * * SS 1.1,4,1.t.44*M…….. a a 4 .. **. 4 * a %wk. 4 4 * 4* *ale., It It 4 . . itot * I, . , * * 4 4 # ‘……_ ‘ * 4 4 400. * Is *OS* * *** 40 a -a a 4 a e S , ^ I ,..4 . tel,mM V.44 * 4 4 4 Mat . a 4 . + 0 4 0 4. a .t t * .; . r r a * r a s6 * a w , , , , ‘ a a s , s . . 4 ir 4 oka0 * .; , * * * ,. . a 4 * ” :. 44/1441.144.4, *airy** 4 4 e . . * *4 * 111s. ** 4 * 4 Mm *Ox041.1* 04 * _4 II . * fa A At 0 . *fa *oat** art . it * * 4 * s 41 .-4*…,4 it 4 4 MIS rg ‘ . * . P. . . le 1 4 It *a*o m * A 0 0 40 4 m . .1….4.4 . e s 0, A 40. . ._…. _ . . w,w.wew w . 4 , w ,w 4*ww 4s 0 * *. . 4 saa Itay’w.t%-,. *s* r ****, 4 * ar* a a s 4 . . s0 . .o .a . . . . . . . .4… .m.a.a…p.46 4 4p .. a* * * 4 * a s a . 4 . 4 . !*** .. ..1 . ,. ,_0.6 agio 0 * tea**. * 4 Oat *** **a 44.4*.%*”,’%.,e****”*-..”*.t.4.** … ‘ . r a..* It 4 * * 4 + a a * 4 * * ava O l a I $ . t .s4.1.1.1..,.. 40 .44* a 4* a . r t i * * a. * a ***** ‘s .* ” ‘ * a 4 * a r qa 6 a a a * 4 4 ‘ 4 44 4 if * Ar i , 11 A le V * et a a 4 :PI P 4 4 I, it i i 4, b, 4,0-1, * salt 0 “Kneese’s is the only phone around here,” said Milton at breakfast. “Brown’s have one but I don’t know whether you can get up Coffee Hill or not.” I wanted to get back into town for New Year’s Eve, snow and ice or not, and so once again I brought up the topic of roads, knowing that Milton and Doug would say that maybe I could make it perfectly all right, with chains, but that it would be pretty risky, slick as it was. I felt trapped. I had brought Sid, who was in from Tulane for the holidays, out from town the night before, and it had begun to snow on the way. During the night the snow had frozen over. There was nothing to do but call Georgia and tell her I couldn’t make it. Sid went with me to the Kneese place. The lane was smoothly obliterated and I had to guess where it lay by the ditches at the side. Sid knew the way by heart and kept indicating the direction to take. The car lumbered easily through the soft snow, now and then dropping sharply into some unseen hole. At the Kneese’s pasture Sid got out to open the gate. The motor died. Sid walked swiftly to the gate, his breath frosting the the air. He wore that black hat that he always brings out when he comes to the ranch. It was given to him by a well-meaning neighbor, and in spite of the fact that such hats are generally worn, unblocked, by old gentle. men who have ceased to do more than sit on the front porch and chew tobacco, I believe he shall, rather than offend the relative, wear it until it comes apart. It is a very sturdy headpiece, and will last for a number of years. Sid has an astounding apperceptive mass, but shows no trace of this when he is among the ranch people with whom he has lived but for the time he’s spent in college. However, his speech, which is a terse. British kind of speech, distinguishes himthis, and his utter shyness. He is accepted without reservation by the White Bluff community, and he himself chooses to spend his summers and other vacations on the ranch, in total isolation from anyone of his temperament and training. He seldom writes letters. He reads a great deal, writes somewhat florid pieces about sensitive horses and the landscape, and is a highly technical photographer. Many years ago he . found a violin among the possessions of a relative and he began to master it through some manuals he ordered. He has decided to attend medical school now \(he was formerly an ensign, trained in great secrecy eye to psychiatric study later. His formal training thus far has been in mathematics and the physical sciences. It was quiet with the motor dead. Now and then a bit of ice dropped brittly from the frozen agarita bushes. Away on the hillsides the snow lay in ragged patches among the green cedars. “How do you do. Are you kin to the Brocki’s around Mason?” “Yes. My father is Ed Brocki.” “Ohh yess,” she said in a singing way, “Ed Brocki’s son.” We went into the dark cluttered living room with its fireplace of unsmoothed rock, once white. There were some antlers over the mantle, and an oval picture of a man and woman who wore their Sunday clothes. It was a very old picture. “R o b e r t isn’t feeling well,” she told us, as if in apology. Winston Bode Mr. Kneese rose from a bed against the wall to greet us. He had on all his clothes with the exception of his shoes, and he had been lying beneath an old-style feather bed made of uncovered mattress ticking. It looked two feet thick though very malleable. Mr. Kneese was a small man with a red face. His thin ‘hair was tousled. His blue eyes were streaming with water and he seemed to have difficulty in seeing us. He spoke in a weak. nauseated voice. “Hello, Sid,” he said, “have a chair.” He rubbed his face and blinked as he swung his stockinged feet around and looked into the fireplace. “No,” he said, “I got awful sick this morning out at the lot and I chust had to come in and lie down. I don’t know what’s the matter with me.”