Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-02
CHAPTER XVII.
A Clash and a Kiss.

The clash that came that evening
had been threatening for some time.
Take an immovable body, represented
by Mr. HARRISON and his square jaw,
and an irresistible force, Jimmy and
his weight, and there is bound to be
trouble.
The real fault was Jim's. He had
gone entirely mad again over Bella,
and thrown prudence to the winds. He
mooned at her across the dinner table,
and waylaid her on the stairs or in the
back halls, just to hear her voice when
she ordered him out of the way. He
telephoned for flowers and candy for
her quite shamelessly, and he got out a
book of photographs that they had
taken on their wedding journey, and
kept it on the library table. The sole
concession he made to our presumptive
relationship was to bring me the res
possibility for everything that went
wrong, and his shirts for buttons.
The first heard of the trouble was
from Dal. He waylaid me in the hall
after dinner that night. and his face
was serious.
I'm afraid we can't keep it up very
long, Kit" he said. With Jim trailing
Bella all over the house, and the old
lady keener every day. it's bound to
come out somehow. And that isn't all
Jim and HARRISON had set-to today
about YOU"
About mei" l repeated. "Oh,
dare say l have been falling short
again. What was Jim doing? Abus-
ing me?"
Dal looked cautiously over his shoul-
der. but no one was near.
1T seems that the gentle Bella has
been unusually beastly today to Jim,
and-I believe she's jealous of you. Kit,
Jim followed her up to the roof before
dinner with a box of flowers. and she
tossed them over the parapet. She said
| believe that she didn't want his
flowers; he could buy them for you
and be damned to him, or some lady
like equivalent
Jim is a jellyfish." I said contempt
uously. What did he say?"
He said he only cared for one wO-
man, and that was Bella: that he never
had really cared for you and never
would. and that divorce courts were
not unmitigated evils if they showed
people the way to real happiness
Which wouldn't amount to anything il
ho N a =
ing to sleep"
Dal did not know all the particulars
hut il seems that relations between
Jim and Mr.. HARRISON were rather
strained. Bella had left the roof and
Jim and the HARRISON man came face
to face i'm the door Of the tent. Ac-
cording to Dal. little had been said
but Jim, bound by his promise to me
could not explain. and could only
stammer something about being an ole
friend of Miss Knowles. And Tom nae
replied shortly that it was none of his
business. hut that there were some
things friendship hardly justified, anC
tried To pass Jim. jim was instantly
enraged; he blocked the door to the
roof and demanded to know what tn,
other man meant. There were two ol
three versions of the answer he got
The general purport was that Mr.
HARRISON had no desire To explain FUR
ther. and that the situation was forced
on him. But if he insisted-when {
man Systematically ignored and neg
lected his wife for some one else. there
were communities where he would b'
tarred and feathered.
Meaning me-" Jim demanded
apolectic.
The remark was a general one
Mr.. HARRISON retorted, but if YOU wish
To make a concrete applicati"n-!"
DaI had gone up just then. ant
found them glarng at each other, jim
with his hands clenched at his sides
and Mr.. HARRISON with his arms fold
ed and very erect. Dial took jim hy th'
elbow and led him downstairs, NUT
tering. and the situation was saved t"I
the time. But Dial was not optimistic.
You can do hit yourself. Kit. III
finished. Look more cheerful, iiirt
little. You can do that without trying
Take Max on for a day or So: it w"ult
no charity anyhow. But don't let Ton