The Penn's Grove record., 1896-10-23
WITCH AND /.

Witch and l had a QUARREL Who is
1t that says it takes W to make a
quarrel? Whoever 1t is makes q mis-
take. 1t took only one to make our
quarrel, and that WAS my precious
Aunt Betsy Jane. Witch has a temper
so have l.. She wasn't christened
Witch. God fathers and mothers have
much TO answer for, still eve heard
o. their giving Witch as a baptlsmal
name to 4 Christian child. No, her
came Is julia Felicia, which is simply
absurd. Fancy a little d~ark-eyed, be-
witchiIG five feet nothing having o
name like that.
My name is John, and John I'm al
ways called. Had | been chrlstened
Robert or Thomas ] should have been
called either Of those plain, sensible
Games There is nothing for the imag'
iuation to catch hold Of In my face Oh
figure. I'm not six feet Ia my stock
irgs; I'm only Eve feet ten. l hsyeo't
fcrisp, golden hair" and q "tawny
beard" No; my eyes, hair and beard
are brown, and for the rest / have non.
descript features and good teeth. More
over, as | said before, / have q temper
n vile one, and ii all things, apart from
pIy profession, am a born fool.
1t was over a game OF tennis that
Aunt Besty Jane made US quarrel
Witch didn't play up and l Slated
her. I've slated" Witch ever since
I've known her, and I've known her
since she was 10, so she ought to have
got used to 1t. For the matter Of that,
she wouldn't have bothered her head
about it If 1t hadn't been for my be-
loved aunt. Witch states me ferocious-
Iy sometimes, but IT never makes any
difference.
Well, 1t was at one Of Mrs. Douglas
"at homes" that the row began. Witch,
Miss White. Dougal and l were playing
tennis, Dougal and Miss White were
against US. AS a rule Witch licks the
other gicl into tits, but on this occasion,
for some reason or other, she missed
pearly every ball. | was annoyed, and
l expressed myself perhaps a little
more strongly than ! ought 10 have
done, but I'm sure l said nothing one
whit stronger than I've said scores Of
times without any oftense being taken.
He that as, It may, Witch refused to
play any more and went and sat dowp
by Aunt Betsy Jane.
l am q doctor, and soon after that
someone fetched ne away. 1t was Il
bad case, and l didn't get home till mid.
night, In the dining-room some cold
meat and beer were waiting for me; so
was a note from Witch. / ate a mouth
tUl and drank n glass Of beer. then l
opened the note. For a moment l felt
as il | had a knife In my heart. 1t was
such a cruel stab. Witch-my little
Witch-would have nothing more to do
with me, My conduct at Mrs. Douglas
had proved to her that she no longer
possessed my respect, and without re-
spect love was not likely to last long.
cite. She ended by saying that she
would have returned my ring, but could
not remove It from her finger, but that
she would get the jeweler to cut it of
tomorrow. l smiled a grim smile a,
the last sentence. I had no intention Of
allowing TINT ring to be cut of.
The lovely enuslon puzzled me alto
eether. 1t wasn't In Witch's usual
style. Naturally. a uote Of that kind
coming from her would have run in
this way: John, | hate and detest you
aid hope you'll keep out Of my sigh,
forever" or something Ike II. Well,
went to bed, | was such an ass thai
] never slept a wink an night, but !
made up my mind what l would do. !
got up early and made q good break.
fast then went Into the surgery, saw
ny assistant. talked over the cases aud
told bin should be away all day
After that l went 10 town, straight to
Nitch'6 fathers Office. He hadn't ar,
rived, bat his people knew me and
showed ne iGto lis private oo1a HI
Eld | ere great ts.eG3z-alWays have
been, So il was q-.ce a9tural for me
10 20 to him for sdTcs, o., rather, tc
talb oyeg tl.iugE. Wien be came in be
seemed rather surprised a. seeing me
out after he Lad shaken hands he
looked oT.r Lis letters. gave some di
lections aud then, looking calmly a.
NE, said:
"Now, John"
"Can ycn spare me half an hour, sir?'
80 far as | know, 60 ahead"
"WelL I'm making 5000 a year and
my practice Is increasing"
THAT'S good.'
"pon't you think Witch and / might
marry on that?"
"C~ertdiuly."