The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-10-27
WITCH AND i.

Witch and had a,quarrel. Who
is it that says that it takes two to
make a duarrels Whoever it is
makes q mistake. It took only one
to make our quarrel, and that was
my precious Aunty Betsy Jane:
Witch! has a temper; SO haveL She
wasn't christened Witch. God fa-
theirs and mothers have much to an
swer for; still Inever heard of their
giving Witch as a baptisma1 name to
Christian child. No, her name is
Julia Felicia, which is simply alb
surd. Fancy a little, dark eyed, be-
witching five feet nothing having
name like that!y {,
My name is John, and John I'm
always called Had I been chris
tened Robert or Thomas l should
have been called by either of those
plain, sensible names. There is
nothing for theimagination to catch
hold OF in my face or figure I'm
not s feet in my stockings I'm
only 5afeet 1c. I haven't @"crisp
golden hair and 'tawny beard. !"
No, my eyes, hair and beard are
brown, and for the rest I, have NON
descript features and good teeth.
Moreover, as ] said before, I have a
temper, a vile one, and in allthings,3
apart from my profession, am a.
born fool. ~ 8, ;,,;:j5s ];
Il was over q game of tennis that
Aunt Betsy Jane made US quarrel.
Witch didn't play up, and l Slated"
her. T'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 it. For the mat
ter of that, she wouldn t have both
cred her head about it if it hadn't
been for my beloved aunt. Witch
, states me ferociously sometimes,
but it never makes any difference.
Well, it was at one of Mrs. Dou-
gals 'a!t homes that the row be-
gan. Witch, Miss White, sDougal
and were playing tennis. Dougal.
and Miss White were against us.
AS a rule, Witch lioks the other girl
into fits, but on this occasion, for
some reason orthe other, she missed.
nearly every ball. I was annoyed,
and ] expressed myself perhaps a
little more strongly than I ought to
have done, but ] IN sure I said moth
ing one whit stronger than I've said
scores of times without any offense
being taken. Be that as it may.
Witch refused to play any more and
sat down by Aunt Betsy jane
lam q doctor, and soon after that
some one called me away. It was
bad case, and I didn't get home,
till midnight. In the dining.room
some cold meat and beer were wait
ing for me; SO was "a note from
Witch. / atea mouthful and drank.
glass of beer. Thenl opened the
note. For a moment felt as if !
hadJa knife in my heart. It was
such cruel stab. Witch my little
Witch-would have nothing more
to do with me. Ny conduct atMrs.
Douglas had proved to her that she
no longer possessed my respect, and
without respect love was not likely
to last long, ETC., She ended by say
ing 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 off tomor-
row l smiled a grim smile at the
last sentence Ihad no intention Of
allowing that ring to be cut off.
The lovely effusion puzzled me
altogether. 1t wasn't in Witch's
usual style Naturally a note of
that kind coming from her would
have run in this way: John, l hate
and detest you and hope you'll keep.
out Of my sight forever" Or some
thing like it. Well, went to bed.
Twas such an ass that never slept
wink all night But I made up
my mind what I would do. / got up
early and made a good breakfast.
Then went into the surgery, saw
my assistant, talked over the cases
and told him should be away all
day. After that Invent to town,
straight to Witch's fathers Office.
He, hadn't arrived, but his people
knew me and showed me into his
private room. He and I are great
friends-always have been. So it
was quite natural for me to so to
him for advice, or rather to talk
over things. When he came in, he
seemed rather surprised at seeing
me, but after we had shaken hands
he looked over his letters, gave
some directions to his clerk, and
then, turning to me, said, "Now,
John!"
Can you spare me half an hour,
eir?'
LAS far as know. Go ahead. "