The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-23

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 enough, and felt like getting down on
 my knees right there and thanking the
 Lord for being good and saving from 1 the likes of her. l bought another bottle | of wlne and let her run on with her talk
 because l wanted to kill my calf love
 stone dead. Why, l tell you there was | not anything too sacred for that woman
 to dig up and make fuss over; but she l thought she was doing 1t all right, she didn't know how l felt. After while
 she got to fixing my necktie and picking ! the threads off my coat and fool things i like that; wanted to know where I'd 1 been and what I'd been doing When ] told her l was going back to Trinidad i to buy the old ranch, she squeezed out l 6 tear or two that she had to dry with i little parts of her handkerchief-you bet 1 she didn't dare to wipe the enameling l on that fpce-and said, My, you must i be awful rich, Tom; I wish I had mar rled you instead of John. He's mean
 to me as he can be and abuses me ter
 rible when he Is drunk. He slapped me i on the mouth the other day until it bled l because I lost my temper a little and ! tried to choke him.
 l That's him all over-you never can l tell what he's going to do next. He says ] it's all my fault, that Pm no lady and i never had the first instincts of one that i my NoilbSi JSdiouSy ana mean u1SpOSl- l ton has brought him down to this, and and lot of other things like that, that you know and l know ain't so. Why Tom, old man Lacey wouldn't have him ! here minute if 1t wasn't for me; in stead or being thankful for 1t, he's jeal- 1 ous and cuts up awful about it. Then she cried in real earnest, but didn't for get to pat with her handkerchief instead ! or rub. Finally she got to talking about oia times on the ranch down there, and the things l used to do for her and blamed if she didn't ask me to run off with her right there and then. Said we
 could go to Chicago and London and all sosts or places. But l said I guessed Was4a good enough for her, not to men,
 tion the fact that her husband might oh lect' But that didn't feaze her bit aha ! ohiy thought 1t was bashfulness and
 went right on making up a Jim Dandy
 ,,,o n.ol uilll the boy came in to tell her 1t
 was tune Tor her and the kid to go on
 Say, you ought to have seen that 1l,d. It was the daintiest. prettiest Iitre
 tnlhs that ever happened. It had
 y meeny tiited-up little nose, that kinder
 "ililAled when it laughed, and hair ex- actiy like wire gold on white quartz
 when Nellie brought that kid up to the
 poX To see me and 1t put it's arms around my neck and struck me for a nickel. I
 "ilted and stood pat to do anything that lncIuded it. l didn't care for Nellie any iiioIe, that was settled and over, but I couldn't hold out against the little one Say, II you ever worked underground for week like have many times, and got out some day when the sun was shining straight down, you know about how I Ielt. It seemed to me as if she was the hrst streak of sunshine that had come my way in five years and l couldn't let 1t get away from mel wanted to hold it. and keep 1t, and it seemed so easy after what Nellie said. I thought quick and hard. There were whole lot of things to consider. I held both bowers and the ace and l knew I could play the game anyway l wanted to, but I couldn't figure how l could turn the trick without play ing it low down on John Cameron, and didn't have any call to do that-John never having done me dirt. He won Nell lie square and fair on my deal and if he had stacked the cards on her since it wasn't any business of mine; but he
 wasn't giving the kid a fair deal-that
 was it-and right there 1 calculated was where I came in.
 ''I let that idea simmer in my head
 little while to be sure it was right, and
 then l ups and says, Nellie, was that straight talk you gave me about wanting
 
 from John? Do you mean itY Do 1 mean it?' she says-'Do I mean it? Why,
 Tom Graham if a well-brought-up Chin
 aman was to come in here and ask me to
 go with him I wouldn't wait to get my
 hat. That's how much I mean it.
 "'Your hand is good Nellie,' l says,
 but I am sorry you showed your cards
 Now, all I got to say Is this, and 1 want
 you to write it down in your little book
 T fo11 haf
 hand: I aint got as much money as you think I have, but I'm middling strong
 and healthy and I can take care of you
 all right You won't ever be Nellie Fran cis to me again-dont forget that-but if you really want to go and II you tiihk you can act straight, it will be giving the kid chance, so I guess l Will nave
 to call you Now you are talking, loih'
 I could almost love you for that. Il turn
 trick on John Cameron this time that will make his head swim, see II ooh l. I look like a Piute squaw, do l! "oi- der what he will look like when he finds o,t Tn, goneP Now you run out and get the tickets for wherever you want to go
 if don't make any difference to me. Just vou he at the stage door at O'CLOCK III inc morning, and I'll meet you there ar rieht enough And the kid,' says ne slre YOU bundle her up warm, TOT II an
 overly hot out tonight The kid?' she
 says looking kinder funny. oh' tllal all right: I'll attend to her
 "After she left I went out ana "aineu a, around town awhile, trying to square tue deal with my conscience, Whlch Was hurting some-John Cameron never nav ing done me any dirt; but at 5 O'CLOCK | damned the difference and was al .ie stage door waiting for Nellie. Lord, out things was hot inside there-muslc piay ing in about six keys at once, eVerypooy dancing and shouting. Oh, it was some thing tough, tell you She grabbed my arm and says My, but l am glad to see YOU. Tom Let's hurry. Johns awlui 1 drunk, and he's looking for me
 "eYou forgot something says: Where's the kid?' Never mind the Kid. | she says Do come on; don't you hear 1 him calling for me-? Yes, but l do mind I says; T have got to have that ! kid
 "sOh, bother the kid! It ain't mine. i What do we care? We don't want 1t. | ''Taint yours-what do you mean?
 Whose is it? I says, feeling mighty sick. l Well if you ain't the worst ever, she says. If you must know, it's Liz God 1 dard's; she was awful sick after it came
 and made me promise like fool that if l she died I would take care of 1t, and | then blamed if she didn't die-wasn't
 that luck for you? But come on; it goes | with JOhn and the rest of this. A bad