A few days later Mary Lee received a letter from Tom Marshall. He had replied at once to her letter. He told her that he had instructed Mr. Saunders to arrange with her to buy his share of Liberty Bonds. Things were going along well and the mine was a great success. He also told her that he had forwarded his name for registration so that he could be conscripted when the time came.
"What do you hear of Jim Lee?" he inquired.
Lee had written only once to her, as the girl suddenly realized. It was over ten days since she had heard from him.
But the afternoon brought a short note in which he announced that he had been transferred to the Artillery Division. He was going to see more active service, he wrote.
When Mr. Saunders came home both Letty and Mary Lee were waiting for him.
"How many bonds did Mr. Marshall tell you to buy, dad?" asked Letty.
"Why should he tell me to buy any bonds?" her father replied.
"Why, he wrote Mary Lee that he had communicated with you; and we must get four thousand dollars' worth sold," she added.
"Must?" Mr. Saunders repeated.
"Otherwise—so we have pledged—we cannot go on the Decoration Day party with Mrs. Anderson," Mary Lee added.