The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-06-27
A RACE WITH A
BY RICHARD AsHE KING

Mllly, hotly. II couldn't have given
you any, because I'm engaged"
Engaged! What To that engineer
fellow9"
THAT is no concern Of yours. Ihave
given you neither right nor reason to
question me about it, or TOTO insult
me, as you've just done" she faltered,
only saved by her pride from breaking
down into tears-for the young cub,
who was intoxicated, had just kissed
her.
Her father, for his fathers sake, had
shown Bastable much kindness since
his coming to Worston, and Milly had
been as pleasant to him as she was to
every one. Her winning manne he
had taken for encouragement, and had
the Dutch audacity tonight, upon
meeting her in a lonely lane where she
expected her fiance, to snatch a kiss.
You're. an arrant little firt, and
have ruined my life" he cried, thickly,
with sudden savageness. Then Selling
her in his arms he kissed her brutally
many times before she found breath to
scream.
Hardly had she uttered the scream
before her assaiIant was gripped by
the coat collar, wrenched aside, and
thrashed with a stout stick so ~furiously
that the blows fell like rain on all parts
of the head, face and body. Theyoung
engineer laid his blows on with such
fierce force that Bastable's face
streamed with blood, while his body
was a mass of bruises before Milly could
hold her lovers arm. He then flung
the fellow to the ground, a little
ashamed of the violence of his assault
upon a man physically so much his in
ferior. He had walked many steps
away with Milly before Bastable raised
himself into a sitting posture-at the
moment that Milly was looking round
anxiously in the fear that he was seri-
ously injured.
you villains!' he yelled as he wiped
the blood from his mouth. You'll
pay for this-both of you-both- of
you" he reiterated, with such concen-
trated malignity in his face and voice
as made Milly shudder.
For days after she was haunted by
the remembrance of the Satanic hate
in his face, and with the horror Of the
revenge upon her lover it portended.
And this she did we'll to dread. Bast-
able, a vindictive brute, naturally, had
received such punishment under such
circumstances as might have fired the
meekest of men to revenge. He really
loved Milly Hartman with all the love
of which his gross soul was capable;
and to be thrashed by his successful
rival under her eyes while in the act of
a dastardly assault upon her was an
ignominy to be wiped out in blood.
He brooded upon his love, his hate, his
jealousy, and his revenge till you might
rather say that these possessions pos
sessed him than that he possessed
them.
Another passion, also, which fed all
these with the fire of hell-the passion
for drink-now mastered him so en-
tirely that he was hardly ever sober.
Well, therefore, might Milly dread
a demoniac so possessed; and this dread
made her consent to an immediate mar
riage with Arthur Munro.
Accordingly the wedding day was
not only FASTENED, but the wedding
itself was kept strictly private in def
erence to Milly's dread of Bastable's
vengeance upon her lover. And her
precautions would probably have pre-
cluded all she feared but for the merest
accident. The carriage with the bride
and bridegroom in it drove up to the
station at the moment that Bastable
was in the act of quitting it.
Seeing the luggage labelled Munro,
London, he asked the coachman, when
they had entered the station, GA wed
ding9'
"Summat O. t. sowrt," the man an
swered gruffiy.
Meanwhile Milly cried, clinging to
Arthur's arm convulsively, 'Oh,
Arthur! He-he has heard of it! He's
here! l saw him.
"Who, dear7"
"Mr. Bastable!"
"Milly, .darlingl You've got that
brute On the brain, What a he dc
here at mid day in a crowded station3'
Then turning to a porter he asked,
(which is the London train?"
she's there, in the siding, sir; she'll