>                                 The Test.
>         Six minutes to six, said the clock over the information booth in
> New York's Grand Central Station.  The tall young Army officer lifted his
> sunburned face and narrowed his eyes to note the exact time.  His heart
> was pounding with a beat that choked him.  In six minutes he would see
> the woman who had filled such a special place in his life for the past 18
> months, the woman he had never seen yet whose words had sustained him
> unfailingly.
>         Lt. Blandford remembered one day in particular, the worst of the
> fighting, when his plane had been caught in the midst of a pack of enemy
> planes.
>         In one of those letters, he had confessed to her that often he
> felt fear, and only a few days before this battle, he had received her
> answer:"Of course you fear...all brave men do."  Next time you doubt
> yourself, I want you tho hear my voice reciting to you: 'Yea, though I
> walk through the valley of Death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with
> me.'....He had remembered that and it renewed his strength.
>         He was going to hear her voice now. Four minutes to six.
>         A girl passed closer to him, and Lt. Blandford started. she was
> wearing a flower, but it was not the little red rose they had agreed
> upon. Besides, this girl was only about eighteen, and Hollis Maynel had
> told him she was 30. "What of it?" he had answered, "I'm 32." He was 29.
>         His mind went back to that book he had read in the training camp.
> "Of Human Bondage" it was; and throughout the book were notes in a woman's
> handwriting.  He had never believed that a woman could see into a man's
> heart so tenderly, so understandingly.  Her name was on the bookplate:
> Hollis Maynell. He got a hold of a New York City telephone book and found
> her address.  He had written , she had answered.  Next day he had been
> shipped out, but they had gone on writing. For thirteen months she had
> faithfully replied.  When his letters did not arrive, she wrote anyway,
> and now he believed he loved her, and she loved him.
>         But she had refused all his pleas to send him her photograph.
> She had explained:  "If your feeling for me had no reality, what I look
> like won't matter. Suppose I am beautiful.  I'd always be haunted that
> you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would
> disgust me.  Suppose that I'm plain, (and you must admit that this is
> more likely), then I'd always fear that you were only going on writing
> because you were lonely and had no one else.  No, don't ask for my
> picture.  When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall
> make your own decision."
>         One minute to six...he flipped the pages of the book he held. Then
> Lt. Blandford's heart lept.
>         A young woman was coming toward him.  Her figure was long and
> slim; her blond hair lay back in curls from delicate ears.  Her eyes were
> blue as flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness.  In her
> pale-green suit, she was like springtime come alive.
>         He started toward her, forgetting to notice that she was wearing
> no rose, and as he moved, a small, provacative smile curved her lips.
>         "Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
>         He made one step closer to her.  Then he saw Hollis Maynell.
>         She was standing almost directly behind the girl, a woman well
> past 40, her graying hair tucked under a worn hat.  She was more than
> plump.  Her thick-ankled feet were thrust into  low-heeled shoes.  But
> she wore a red rose on her rumpled coat.  The girl in the green suit was
> walking quickly away.
>         Blandford felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was
> his desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the
> woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own, and there
> she stood.  He could see her pale face was gentle and sensible; her gray
> eyes had a warm twinkle.
>         Lt. Blandford did not hesitate.  His fingers gripped the worn copy
> of "Of Human Bondage" which was to identify him to her.  This would not
> be love, but it would be something special, a friendship for which he had
> been and must be ever grateful...
>         He squared his shoulders, saluted, and held the book out toward
> the woman, although even while he spoke he felt the bitterness fo his
> disappointment.
>         "I'm Lt. Blandford, and you're Miss Maynell. I'm so glad you
> could meet me.  May--may I take you to dinner?"
>         The woman's face broadened in a tolerant smile.  "I don't know
> what this is all about, son," she answered. "That young lady in the green
> suit, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if
> you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you she's waiting for you
> in that restaurant across the street.  She said it was some kind of test."
>                                         -S.I.Kishor