Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1906-12-06


his wife laughed with him as they
ehaffed Aunt Deborah, but the old lady
continued to stake her head and re-
ply:
wait till the AK or the melted lead
get to work and then We'll see whether
there is anything to laugh at Or not"
That night at midnight Sarah woke
up with her heart beating rapidly. She
was about to nudge Henry with her ell
bow, when a sudden thought came to
her. Aunt Deborah's grewsome predic-
lions came up, and she wondered If shaI
had been awakened by some move
her husbands part-some move to tall.
her by the throat She smiled at frs
but presently the smile faded awSV
Wives had been killed that the hill
band might profit by the insuranA
Aunt Deborah was always predictin1
but at the same time many of her pfV
dictions had come true. She knew that
Henry loved her with a great love, but
there was that $4,000 For an hour she
lay awake and thought, and the longer I
she thought the more miserable she
was.
Sarah had only fallen into troubled
sleep when the dog parked and Henry
awoke. He did not get up for fear Of
disturbing his wife, and after listening
to the dog for a few minutes the
thought of Aunt Deborah's predictions
and solemn face came to his mind.
He grinned at the idea of Sarah kill
ing him off for that $4,000, and yet he
began to recall cases where wives had
done that same thing. She could push
him into the well, push him down the
cellar stairs or dispose Of him in other
ways to enable her to escape detection,
and with that $4,000 she would be
rich widow, and windmill men, wire
fence men, piano agents and men with
patent farm gates would tumble over
each other to ask for her hand. Shed
might not even put $40 headstone at
his grave.
There was constraint between them
when the couple woke up next morning.
They tried to make out that There
wasn't, but realized that there was.
Sarah claimed to have headache, and
James said he had touch of rheuma-
tism.
AT noon when the husband came up
from the field he had been thinking
things over and almost wished he had
turned Aunt Deborah out Of the house.
She was meddlesome, gossipy old
thing, and he would let nothing she
had said annoy him in the least.
Sarah had also been thinking, and
about the same thoughts, and so there
was Il return of love and confidence.
1t did not last thirty-six hours, how
ever. Henry had to sharpen the ak,
and Sarah saw him at it and felt that
he was contemplating crime Sarah
asked if the handle of table knife
could not be made fast by a little
melted lead, and Henry said to him
self after answering her question:
"Ah, ha! Got melted lead on her
mind, has she? Well, I've got to lookG
out for my ears" &
For the next four weeks the p.S
were hypocrites toward each othJa.
They dissembled and deceived. They
thought black thoughts of each other.
James wanted to sleep In the barn o.
nights, and Sarah wanted to go home
and tell her mother all about 1t.
Things We're Fastening on toward q
separation when, as they sat on then
veranda one night after supper, say
ing little, but thinking great deal,
farmer Joe Collins came driving along
and halted to say:
Say, you folks heard the newsY
mo. What is it?"
It'll take your breath away"
"But let's have it."
wall, that life insurance company
you are insured in has busted higher'n
Gilroy's kite!"
ooh, james,"
ooh, Sarah!"
And as they went dancing around
the veranda in each others arms Mr..
Collins looked at them in astonish-
ment and said to himself:
by George, but they seem to be
burned glad of It'll" ~
And so they We're.
The Js Worth Deruas,,harlno @