Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-11-20
CHAPTER ".

II Is impossible to express the reoeIllon
condensed into that one 'Oh! dearF' The
room seemed to reverberate with 1t.
BouRhton could think of absolutely moth
ing TO say just then, so he edged along to-
ward her over the deerskin rug, until he
could rest his arm on the arm of her chair.
feline" be urged. "Do, Judith. One
can never tell. Perhaps may be the very
one TO help you"
But she SAID mo" very CURLY, and
stared over his head into the fire.
Presently, however, she burst forth
again:
'Was there ever such wild place as the
University of Virginia, do you think!" she
cried.
At that, 'Ohr' said Phil to himself. Dick
had Of course been getting into trouble, and
had cast his burden upon his sisters plucky
little shoulders, after his usual brave
fashion.
81 don't know much about it, you Know"
he made answer 'What has Dick been
telling your
She looked at him sharply.
"Why do you think Dick has been telling
ne any thing!" she asked, in a rather care
full voice
"How else should you know!" Boughton
said, easily ''But of course don't tell me
unless you wish"
Suddenly she leaned forward, setting one
hand back down in the other as they rested
on her knees. HerneciIlace swung forward
from her bending throat, and the freight
cast dainty, circular shadows fromits beads
upon the snowy white of her neck.
ayes, will tell you," she said, suddenly.
"Dick is in debt-the old, old story to sis
ters-for how much do you suppose"
az don't know" said Boughton, stupIdly.
NJ in the 1naaf Of Dick
lust then He was wondering how many of
those little soft round shadows there were
ON her white breast, and whether he could
count them if he tried
"Well, then-for eight-do you heari-for
Neutrality-suspicious.
THAT'S not so very bad" said Boughton,
reassuringly. awe can pull him through"
"We!" SAID the girl, haughtily, on the de-
teusive at once. "Who do you mean by
'wep"
All at once he got his arms about her. She
felt his hot breath in her hair, on her
throat.
'Who should mean but you and I-you
and I-you and II'' he went on repeating, III
a sort of lntoxication. "Judith-kiss meP'
kiss youl" she said, "KIss youl"
She was absolutely rigid with fury. Was
ever man so blind as Boughtonl-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
ewes. He started back and freed her in a
moment
This is the second time,' 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-"
Judith ~ he said.
"Yes-a beastr she said, biting down on
the word, as it were, with her sharp little
teeth
Judith he said again, ''take care-take
careW a."
Take carcI" she repeated. take care
Of whatl OF the womanhood that you don't
respectl Therel Your lips have touched
them, they are V lor
She ri1Pl at he blue necklace with a
sharp movement WIZ broke il, and the
;.rrttv rCalS won; ruling this way and
that over The fur rug and the polished floor.
The kitten in the Toby-collar pursued one
into distant corner, and thought the cpl
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.
NS4O SA0ou OltulAS anu ouulbALS udllOS
IN sort of helpless gesture of rage.
SHOW dare you treat me sol' she said,
breathlessly. "How dare you?-darc YOU'D
dare youl"
He was on his feet, of course, by this
time, and stood facing her VITA his head
well up, and his hands well down in his
pockets, an extremely angry man. The
lover was quite taken up with Indignation.
SHOW dare po's treat me so?n he returned,
with rather omnous quetness. do you
think it is very-er ladylike TO call people
'beastsr"
"'Ladylikep" painted poor Judith, who
for the time being could not resist echoing
him. "Ladylil1e!" she cried again.
'Ladylike-the DEvnr' she SAID 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,
VI 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 a little mat out of tho
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 was a rigorous wind a-romn 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 a golden haze, and then she
turned stifay, and, STOPPING down, began to
pick up the blue beads from the floor The
kitten, seeing her kneeling, scampered up,
expecting frolic. She lifted the pretty
little brute to her white breast and held it
thus while she went on in her laborious
search.
Judith did not see Phil again until three
years afterward, when she was twenty-one,
and the civil war had broken out in all its
horror. He was Colonel on General IS
staff, and happened to be encamped near
Charlottesville, and Colonel Page asked
himself and the General to dinner. The
latter declined for some reason or other,
but much to Judith's amazement. Boughton
= came.
She watched him dlsmount from his
horse, looking through her closed window
blinds, and her heart emulated the action Of
poor Trumpeter's diaphragm on the memoir
able occasion three years ago. Sbe saw