Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-06-27
~wel, thon-for eight--do you hears--for

"Well, then-for eight-do you heari-for
eight-thousand-doll
"rhat's not SO very bad, = said Boughton,
reassuringly ave can pull him through"
'.Wean sand the girl, haughtily, on the de-
fensive at once. "Who do you mean by
'we4'n
All at once he got his arms about her. She
felt his hot breath in her hair, on her
throat.
ssWho should mean but you and I-you
and I--you and Iln he went on repeating, IN
a sort OF lntoxication. "Judith-kiss mew
kiss your" she said, kiss your
She was absolutely rigid with fury. Was
ever man so blind as Boughtons-so deaf,
one might say. He leaned forward and
kissed the pretty blue bow, and the spaceof
white flesh encircled by the blue beads. He
looked up and would have kissed her lips,
but was stopped by the furious light in her
eyes. He started back and freed her in a
moment.
'sThis is the second time,n she said with
shut teeth, as he remembered her once be-
fore to have spoken-''the second time you
have behaved like beast to me.n
'.Judithn' he said
'sYes-a beast" she said, biting down on
the word, as it were, with her sharp little
teeth
judith, he said again, "take cafe-take
carer'
"Take carep' she repeated. "Take care
of whats OF the womanhood that you don't
respect There! Your lips have touched
them. they are viler'
She jcrliod at the blue necklace with a
sharp nnt which broke il. and the
rysen Mt rolling THO .wnv and
that over the fur rug and the polished floor.
The kitten in the Toby-collar pursued ona
into distant corner, and thought the epi-
sode gotten up for her especial benefit One
or two rolled down into Judith's bodice,
and felt very cold and disagreeable, but she
was too much wrought up just then to think
of physical discomfort.
She stood opening and shutting her hands
in sort of helpless gesture of rage.
"How dare you treat me So" she said,
breathlessly. "How dare yous-dare youi
dare yous'
He was on his feet, of course, by this
time, and stood facing her with his head
well up and his hands well down in his
pockets, an extremely angry man. The
lover was quite taken up with Indignation.
''How dare yo, treat me soyn he returned.
with rather ominous quietness. do you
think it is yery-er -ladylike to call people
beastsnn
"'Ladyliker" painted poor Judith, who
for the time being could not resist echoing
him. "I4adylikeln she cried again.
"Iadylike-the DEvMp she sand for the
third time, bringing down her teeth with a
vicious little snap over the terrible word.
Boughton was actually livid.
- Pardon me- he said bowling and turn
ing on his heel. Good evening" But as
he reached the door he wheeled around and
came back to her. judith he said, in a
voice that she did not at all find familiar,
81 meant to ask you just now to be my
wife. OF course leave at once. Twill con-
coct some story to tell your father and Dick.
Goodbye
He went without so much as touching her
hand, and closed the door, opening it again,
however, to thrust little mat out of the
way. He did not again look over in her
direction. Then he went finally.
And she stood staring at the closed door,
thinking in a vague way that 1t was Christ
mas Eve, and that she had better ring for
her maid to gather together the scattered
beads-and that Boughton had gone, and that
she had lost her temper and forgotten her.
self utterly,
There waSa rigorous wind a-romp IN the
narrow Railways and the locust trees with
out, and in the distant corner the kitten
was still scrabbling about with one of the
fallen beads. 1t was quite still save for
these noises, and the sound of the wood
fire, which was busily threading snow"
She stood there until the room seemed
receding in goldeR haze, and then she
turned stiffly, and, STOPPING down, began to
pick up the blue beads from the floor. The
kitten, seeing her kneelng, scampered up,
expecting a frolic. She lifted the pretty
little brute to her white breast and held it
thus while she went on in her laborious
search.