Frostburg mining journal., 1880-09-04
ajE(isrellalln,
/ Lesson, and How Two Learned II.

Betty sighed. Now why she should
have sighed at this particular moment,
no one on earth could tell. And it was
all the more exasperating because John
had just generously put into her little,
shapely hand a brand-new ten-dollar
bill. And here began the trouble.
whats the matterP" he said, his
face falling at the faint sound, and his
mouth clapping together in what those
who knew him but little called an
"obstinate pucker r"-"now what is
itPn
Betty, who had just begun to change
the sigh into merry little laugh rip
ping all over the corners of the red
lips. stopped suddenly, tossed her head,
and with small jerk, no ways concili-
ating, sent out the words: You needn't
insinuate that I'm always troublesomeW
81 didn't insinuate-who's talking of
insinuatingP" cried John, thoroughly
incensed at the very idea, and, backing
away few steps, he glared down from
his tremendous height in extreme irri-
tation! cts you yourself that's for
ever insinuating, and all that, and then
to put it on to me-it's abominablew
The voice was harsh, and the eyes
that looked down into hers were not
pleasant to behold.
Sand if you think, John Peabody,
that I'll stand and have such things
said to me, you miss your guess-that's
ALL" cried Betty, with two big red
spots coming in her cheeks as she tried
to draw her little, erect figure UP to its
utmost dimensions. Forever insinu-
ating! I guess you wouldn't have said
that before I married you! Oh, now
you can, of course"
"Didn't you say it first, I'd like to
knowp" cried John in great excitement,
drawing nearer to the small creature he
called "wife," who was gazing at him
with blazing eyes Of Indignation; 81
can't endure everything
"And if you bear more than I do"
cried Betty, wholly beyond control
now, "why then I'll give up" and she
gave bitter little laugh and tossed her
head again.
And here they were in the midst of a
quarrel! These two but year before
had promised to love and protect and
help each other through life.
Now" said John, and he brought
his hard down with such bang on the
table before him that Betty nearly
skipped out of her little shoes, only she
controlled the start, for she would have
died before she had let John see it,
swell have no more of this nonsense ~
His face was very pale, and the lines
around the mouth so drawn that it
would have gone to any ones heart to
have seen their expression.
al don't know how you will change
1t or help it," said Betty, lightly. to
conceal her dismay at the turn affairs
had taken, "I'm sure" and she pushed
back, with saucy, indifferent gesture,
the light waving hair from her FORE
head.
That hair that John always smoothed
when he petted her when tired or dis
heartened, and called her "child."
Her gesture struck to his heart as he
glanced at her sunny hair and the cool,
indifferent face underneath, and before
he knew it he was saying: "There is no
help for it now, / suppose"
"Oh, yes, there is," said Betty, still
in the cool, calm way that ought not to
have deceived him. But men know so
little of women's hearts, although they
may live with them for years in closest
friendship. "You needn't try to endure
It, John Peabody, if you don't want to.
I'm sure don't care |"
"What do you mean !" Her husband
grasped her arms and compelled the
merry brown eyes to look up to him.
81 can 60 back to. mother's," said
Betty, provokingly. "She wants me
any day, and then you can live quietly
and live to suit yourself, and it will be
better all around"
Instead of bringing out violent pro.
testation of fond affection and remorse,
which she fully expected, John drew
himself up, looked at her fixedly for a
long, long minute, then dropped her
arm, and said, through white lips, very
slowly:
"Yes, it may be as you say better all
around. You know BEST" and was
gone from the room before she could
recover her astonishment enough to
utter sound.
With wild cry Betty rushed across
the room, first tossing the ten dollar bill
savagely as far as she could threw it,
and finging herself on the comfortable
old sofa, broke into a flood of bitter
tears-the first she had shed during her
married life.
How could he have done it--oh,
what have | said--oh John, John ~
The bird twittered in his little cage
over in the window among the plants.
Betty remembered like flash how John
and she filled the seed-cup that very
morning, how he laughed when she
tried to put 1t in between the bars, and
when she couldn't reach without get
ting upon chair, he took her in his
great arms, and held her up, just like q
child, that she might fix it to suit her
self. And the "bits" that he said in
bis tender way, why they had gone
down to the depths of her foolish little
heart, sending her about her work sing
ing Tor very gladness of spirit. And
now!