The Press., 1911-08-09


 ones took. and about that time we younkers organized a baseball team, and I didn't go fishin' so much as had been doin'; consequently didn't see so much of Mary Owen.
 "Fact of it was that wanted to see how much Mary would banker after me when she didn't see me. And there's where first learned about her cussedness. Do you know, stranger, she didn't miss me 8 bitY"
 "No. don't know" replied.
 ''What do you meanw
 "How can l know anything about 1t? Go on with your story"
 "When she met me on the road she said good mornin' and went by with out another word. If she had missed me she'd "a said. Why don't you go fishin' any moreY or somep'n like that. Instead she tux up with a mis- able galoot of boy that went to the same school as her. He was knock kneed, slabsided, freckled, and his teeth was black as coals. It made me mad to see him a-carryin' her books for her, she a-Iookin' sideways at him. And the meanest part of it was her takin' particular pains to look pleas ant at him just when 1 met 'em, to show me she didn't care nothin' about me and hadn't all along. If that wasn't cOnsarnedness don't know what consarnedness is."
 "There wasn't anything conSarned about you, was there?" suggested.
 Mot a bit. l was as innocent as a dove; got roped in just to be made a guy of. was a stupid lunkhead then. Now 1 know better'n to trust one of the vipers. tell you, l know all about 'em now; can't any on lem fool me-"
 Didn't you fall into any other trapsY
 "Yes, onct," he replied haltingly.
 "Tell me about that one"
 "It was the same gal, Mary Owen. She went away to boardin' school, and when she came back she was kind a cityfied. But she was purity. l tell you she was purity as a new painted mowin' machine. When she met me she talked about when we was boy and gal and our fishin' together, and all that, not sayin' anything about that slabsided boy she was leadin' on as she did me. She asked me to go with her to see the place where she got the fishhook into her finger. Like a fool, fell into the trap again. went with her to the bank of the creek, and we stood lookin' down on the water. There had been a durable lot of rain, and the creek was high. Mary was laugh in and gigglin' as though she was mighty pleased about somep'n. She walked right up to the edge of the bank. The current had washed it away underneath, the piece she was standin' on broke off, and down she went with a splash into the water.
 "Of course I jumped in, too; got her arm around my neck. swan with her to a place below where the bank sloped and put her, drippin', on the grass. What did she do but just what she'd done when she rammed the fish hook into her hand so she could make me cut 1t out. She pertended to faint"
 "What did you do?"
 "Oh, I made a fool of myself just as I done before. kissed her."
 He looked very much ashamed at having been obliged to confess that this imp of darkness had entrapped him a second time.
 "What happened then?" asked
 What happened then? Why, l talk ed no end of soft stuff to her, and she shed some crockodile tears and all that. and when we parted we was engaged to be married. But when got home and got to thinkin' how many times I'd been fooled and was gittin' deeper and deeper into the pit she was diggin' for me I jist sot down and swore. Then I went to see her again and told her that what I'd been talkin' to her was all rot.
 ''She jist looked at me kind a cur'us for awhile, and then she up and con- fessed she'd been foolin' me all along"
 The farmer paused. evidently having finished his story, the conclusion of which he seemed to consider bore him out in all his assumptions as to the wickedness of Mary Owen.
 How long ago did this last parting take place?" I asked.
 "Oh, that was only three months ago."
 Mary hasn't married" said, land, what's more, she won't marry unless she marries you. Please excuse me for telling you the truth; but, though I've seen many big fools, never before saw so big one as you"
 "Why. stranger, what do you mean"
 "I mean that from the first the girl fancied you. and since you wouldn't show any interest in her she practiced a feminine plan to make you do so. Then you dropped her, expecting her to show how she took the slight as you thought she should show it. She wouldn't have been a real girl if she had. Since then she has been giving you chances to stop making fool of yourself. which you have been too stu pid to take advantage of. It's quite possible that you've made such a blun- der of the whole thing that you'll never be able to straighten it out with her. You have probably committed the un- pardonable"-
 By this time he was looking at me wildly out of his eyes, his color all gone from his face, apparently con- stricken at what he had done At the mention of the unpardonable sin he collapsed.
 "Go right off and humble yourself before her for the jackanapes you are. and, ten to one. she will forgive you."
 Do you really mean it?"
 "Yes. do."
 He left me alone in the house and went away to learn his fate. I went to bed and to sleep. At midnight he woke me up with whoop and shout ed into my ear:
 "It's all right. I've fixed it up with her. We're goin' to be married right off,
 "I'll give you a tin colander for a wedding present." I replied. That's