She flung aside the little patch of night. “No, Marvin, I don’t trust God to do a single thing for my children, but I’ll cheer you on in anything you try to do for them. That’s what mother did when Horatio started out to save the world by nitrogen. She could not bear to make it hard for him in time of battle, and when my boys go to war, I’ll say they are doing right.” “Aren’t these rather bitter words?” “No! I’ll believe in you. I’ll nurse you. I’ll go without comforts. I’ll love you to death, but when it comes to saving my children from war, you’ve got to do the thinking.” “Jean, are these the reasons why you kept me waiting for three years?” “Yes, three years was little enough.” “Shall I release you?” “No, I’ll marry you as soon as you like.” He sat very still, looking out through the resonant trees to that white river of foam and passion. He was silent for ages, and she thought him weighing her fate. At last he spoke. “Darling, it has just occurred to me that there must be another isotope of osmium.” “I’ll bet,” she smiled, “that there is.” He was silent again for another age. “Darling, why should one uranium live six million years while another lives only two?” She looked at him with roguish eyes. “I don’t know. Let’s go and ask father.” End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of White Lightning, by Edwin Herbert Lewis