horizontal alignment of divs, one being variable width

I have a fixed width page that has a division with a brief centered
line of text that is defined as font-family: sans-serif. It is the
widest element on the page.

There is a second division that holds a small element that I would like
to align below the beginning of the brief line of text in the first
division:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...
...
xxx

While I can position the second so that it is aligned on my browser,
the end user's browser and settings are likely to affect the length of
the brief line of text and so throw off the alignment.

--

Haines Brown
KB1GRM