The Placer herald., 1873-10-25

one from the hkes OF you when l can get
them from your betters?"
"My betters! And who do you call my
betters ?"
"Sure, and isn't it the master himself
that kisses me every blessed mornin of his
life; and does he speak much of ingions
Not mnch."
"The master!-now it's jokin' you are J.,
Sarah Ann; do you suppose I'm fool enough
to believe that"
''Believe it or not, it's the blessed truth
I'm telln' you. Snre If anything should
fappen to the missus, it's not long I'd be
The servant here.
and it's kisses you, you say he does; ;
well its quare craytures you wimmin are,
anyway. Now, men think it disgrace to
kiss and tell, and here you boast of it.
We waited to hear no more, but Tom s
face was 10 blaze, and he took his hat and
left without word or look.
The next morning Teddy and | managed
to be in the same place on the stairs where
| had heard Tom kiss Sarah Ann, and as
he opened the door, Teddy kissed me loud
enough to be heard all over the house, and
then hurried away, while l went to the
dinng-room. Tom came in presently with
an awful frown, which l pretended not to
see, and | held up my face to be kissed, but
he pushed me rudely away.
"Why, Tom, amt you going to kiss
me?"
"Do you think I'm blind, Mrs Wilkins
| saw you kiss Teddy just now, and it's not
the first time, either. DO you think III
stand such doinss? No! I'll break every
bone in the rascal's body, if hang for it,
and you shall 20 home to your mother till
you learn to behave yourself"
"Now, my dear Tom, where is the harm
in that? l believe in imbibing sweetness
whenever and wherever find it; so dom,
make a mountain of a molehill."
You should have seen his face when he
heard me repeating his own words.
"Look here, JESSIE" he said at length
"you've got the best of me, though it was
a hard way of giving me lesson.
"Not more severe than the case required
Tom, | only made you put yourself in my
place"
"Well, Jessie, if it filled you with such
intense disgust to see me kiss Sarah Ann,
as it did me to see you kiss that confounded
Teddy, don't wonder you were angry"
Well, we talked the matter over at length,
and agreed to dismiss both Teddy and Sarah
Ann, giving them months wages instead
of warning
heard Sarah Ann mutter to Teddy,
'shure and behave the mssus suspects the
master is swate on me-"
"Niver you fool yourself in that way
said Teddy. "It's himself as is send;n us
away"
Well, at length they were off, and the
next day Eben came back and had new
girl, but in all this time Tom had not kissed
me, and treated me almost with aversion,
as though my sins were too great for for
giveness.
While we were at dinner, brother John
arrived. was little curious to see if
Tom would know him. He looked at him
with a puzzled expression, but said moth
ing; but presently he became immoderately
gay, and, indeed, almost brilliant. Later,
when we were alone, he took me in his
arms and kissed me, and whispered "Oh,
if you knew the relief it gave me to see
you had not degraded yourself
"Oh, you foolish Tom! do you think !
could have dared to have descended to
that, even to give you much needed les
son? But see how inconsistent you men
are; you have no forgiveness for the least
false step woman makes, even when
she is only following your example to the
letter."