The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-02
TT1F
  MELT ING MOLLY
By MARIA THOMPSON
 DAVIESS
copyright, 1912, by the Bohes-MerVG1l
 Company

1 of heart of gold that r feel dumb i with worship to think of. She's Gods own good woman, and he made her in l one of his holy hours. wish I could l have borne her, so she me, and the | tenderness of her arms was a sacra- ] ment. We two women just stood aside | with hfe's artffces and concealments and let our own hearts do the talking. She said she had come because she | felt that if she talked with me might be better able to understand Alfred 1 when he came and that she had seen | that the judge was very determined, and she thoroughly recognized his i force of character. We stopped there | while I gave her the document to read. I suppose 1t was dishonorable, but I l needed her protection from 1t. I'm | glad she had the strength of. mind to walk with a head high in the air to Judy's range and, burn it up. Any i thing might have happened if she hadn't. And even now feel that anly my marriage vows will close up the | case for the judge, even yet he may But when Ruth had got done with AL fred she had wiped Judge Wade's ap- preciatton of him completely off my mind and destroyed it in tender words that burned us both worse than Judy's l fire burned the letter. She did me an awfully good service.
 t-And so you see, you lovely woman 1 you, do you not, that God has made l you for him as tribute to his great ness and it is given to you to fulfill | destiny2n She was so beautiful as | she said it that I had to turn my eyes 1 away, but I felt as did when those awful '1et not man put asunder''-from l MT. Carter-words were spoken over me by Mir Raines. thel Methodist min i ister. It made me wild, and before I knew it I had poured out the whole | truth to her in & perfect cataract of l words. The truth always acts on wom- | en as some hitherto untried drug, and l you can never tell what the reaction | es going to be. In this case I was stricken dumb and found it hard to i see,
 "Oh, dear heart,' she exclaimed as she reached out and drew me into her lovely, gracious arms, then the prfv1- lege is all the more wonderful for you, as you make some sacrifice to complete his life. Having suffered this, you will be all the greater woman to under stand him. accept my own sorrow at his hands willingly, as it gives me the larger sympathy for his work, though he will no longer need my per sona1 encoura cement as he has for i years Tn the light of his love this lesser feeling for Dr. Moore will soon pass away, and the accord between you will be complete" This was more than I could stand, and, feeling less 1 than a worm, turned my face into her breast and walled. Now, who | that girl 00I1l6 dance as she did?
 By this time I was in such a solu- lion of grief that would soon have 1 had to be sopped up with a sponge if Pet hadn't run in bubbling over like a lovely white linen clad glass of Rhine wine and selt1er. Happiness has a habit of not even acknowledging the presence of grief, and Pet didn't seem to see our red nosesr crushed draperies and generally damp atmosphere.
 Molly she said with a deliciously
 young giggle, ''Tom says for you to
 send him $1O to spend getting the
 brass band half drunk before 6 o'clock
 train, on which your MT. Bennett
 comes. He has spent $5 paying the
 negroes to polish up their instruments
 and clean up the uniforms, and it cost
 him twenty-five to sbail the corneHst
 out of jail for roost robbing, and it
 takes a whole gallon of whisky to get
 any spirit into the drummer. He says
 tell you that as this is your shind1g you ought at least to pay the piper. Hurry
 up, he's waiting for me, and here's the
 kiss he told me to put on our left ear!''
 s'I suppose you delivered that kiss
 straight from where he gave it to you
 Petite, dearT' had the spirit to say as
 I went over to the desk for my pocket
 book.
 s'Why, Molly, you know me better
 than thatr' she exclaimed from behind
 a perfect rose cloud of bushes
 ''I know Tom better than do you,
 I answered as she fled with the ten fl
 her hand looked at Ruth Chester
 and we both laughed. It is true that z
 broader sympathy is one of the by
 products of sorrow, and week ago
 might have resented Pet to a marked
 degree instead of giving her the $1C
 and a blessing.
 'Pm going quick, Molly, with tha
 laugh between us," Ruth said as sh' rose and took me into her arms agail , for just half a second, and before could stop her she was gone
 She met Billy toiling up the iron !. step with long piece of rusty irol
 gaspipe, which took off an inch of pain
 as it bumped against the edge of tn
 porch. She bent down and kissed tn l back of his neck, which theft was al most more than could stand and ap parently more than Billy was prepares
 to accept.
 '+Go away, girl,'' he said in his rudes
 manner. Don't you see I'm busy? P I met him in the front hall just il time to prevent a hopeless scar on m hardwood floor. He was hot, perspi1 ing and panting, but full of triumph. 7 z found it, Molly, found it!' h exclaimed as he let the heavy pip drop almost on the bare pink toes ''You can git a hammer and pound tn end sharp and. bend it so no whale W ketch can get away for nothing. To and Doc kin put it in your trunk 'caus