Though a man of steel
and iron, there was nothing of the celibate about Vincent Jopp. He was
one of those men who marry early and often. On three separate occasions
before I joined his service he had jumped off the dock, to scramble
back to shore again later by means of the Divorce Court lifebelt.
Scattered here and there about the country there were three ex-Mrs.
Jopps, drawing their monthly envelope, and now, it seemed, he
contemplated the addition of a fourth to the platoon.
I was not surprised, I say, at this resolve of his. What did seem a
little remarkable to me was the thorough way in which he had thought
the thing out. This iron-willed man recked nothing of possible
obstacles. Under the date of June 1st was the entry:
"_Marry Amelia_";
while in March of the following year he had arranged to have his
first-born christened Thomas Reginald. Later on, the short-coating of
Thomas Reginald was arranged for, and there was a note about sending
him to school. Many hard things have been said of Vincent Jopp, but
nobody has ever accused him of not being a man who looked ahead.
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