IV.
The wedding was set for late October. Jennie had sounded out the attitude of authority toward an earlier consummation.
“Any time you say, youngster,” agreed the C. O. “But the service needs your bridegroom pretty badly this summer. Wouldn’t October do?”
“Daddy! Over three months!”
Old “Full-out” Brent, tall and lean, keen-eyed, straight-nosed, straight-browed, square-chinned, and square-souled, looked down at his daughter. A whimsical smile twitched his short mustache.
“I remember a similar occasion,” he reminisced slowly, “when a girl waited three years for me, because the service asked it.”
Jennie studied her father’s boots.
“I forgot,” she pleaded. “I belong to the service, too.”
Billy took it philosophically.
“Come to think of it,” he acquiesced, “there is a lot to do around here this summer. And it takes at least six weeks to be decently married. October’s a bully month, too.”