River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-09-11

the table.
81 didn't understand you were jok-
ing" he said quietly.
That maddened me. and | would
have done anything to make him think
1 was not the foolish thing he evident
,ly had classified me as being. | snatch
ed at my mind and shook out mix
ture of truth and lies that fooled even
myself and gave them to him. looking
straight in his face. | would have
cracked all the ten commandments to
save myself from his contempt
j I'm not joking | said jerkily 81
am lonesome And worse than being
lonesome, I'm scared ought to have
stayed just the quiet relict of Mr.. Car
ter and gone on to church meetings
with Aunt Adeline and let myself be
fat and respectable. but | haven't got
the character. You thought | went to
town TO buy monument, and didn't
l bought enough clothes for two brides.
4 and now I'm scared to wear 'eln. and
l don't know what you'll think when
you see my handbook. Everybody is
talking about me and that dinner par
ty Tuesday night and Aunt Adeline
says she can't live in house of mourn
ing so desecrated any longer. She's
! going back to the cottage. Aunt Bet
| tie Pollard says that if | want to get
married l ought to do it to Wilson
| Graves because Of the seven children.
and then everybody would be SO re-
/ lieved that they are taken care of that
| they would forget that Mr.. Carter
hasn't been dead quite one year yet.
Mrs. Johnson says / ought to be de
| clared a minor and put as a ward to
you. l can't help Judge Wade's send
| ing me flowers and Toms sitting on
my front steps night and day. I'm
not strong enough to carry him away
and murder him. ! am perfectly mis-
| cradle and I'm
"Now. that'I do, Molly; just hush for
| a half minute and let me talk to you"
| said DR.. John as he took my hand in
| his and drew me near him. mo won
| der your heart hurts if it has got all
| that load of trouble on it, and we'll
| just get little of that scare off. You
| put yourself in my hands. and you are
| to do just as I tell you. and say-for-
| get it! Come with me while l make
call. 1t is a long drive. and I'm-Pm
! lonesome sometimes myself"
l saw the worst was over, and
breathed freely again. but had talked
| so much truth in that fiction that felt
| just as | said did, which is slightly
unnatural feeling for woman There
was nothing for it but to go with him.
| and l wanted to most awfully.
To my dying day I'll never forget
that little house, way out on the Cane
Run pike. he took me to in his shabby
little car Just two tiny rooms. but
they were clean and quiet, and a girl
with the sweetest face | ever saw lay
in the bed with her eyes bright with
pride and tiny. tiny little bundle close
beside her. The young farmer was red
with embarrassment and anxiety.
"She's all right today. but she wor-
ries because she don't think l can tend
to the baby right" he said, and he did
look helpless. Her mother had to go
home for two days, but is coming to-
morrow | dasn't undress and wash
the youngster myself. 1t won't hurt
him to stay bundled up until granny
comes. will it, DocY
mot a bit" answered DR.. John in
his big comforting voice.
But I looked at the girl, and under
stood her. She wanted that baby clean
and fresh even if it was just five days
old, and felt all of sudden terribly
capable. picked up the bundle and
went into the other room with 1t,
where a kettle was boiling on the
stove and a large bucket by the door.
/ found things by just glance from
her, and the hour | spent with that
small baby was one Of the most de
licious of all my life. never was left
entirely to myself with one before, and
I did all | wanted to this one. guided
nv instinct and desire. He slept right
through and was the darlingest thing L
ever saw when laid him back on the
bed by her. never looked In Or.
Johns direction once, though felt
| him all the time.
But on the way home l gave myself
the surprise of my life! Suddenly /
turned my face against his sleeve and
cried as / never had before. l felt
safe, for it is cliff road and he had to
drive carefully. However, he manag-
ed to press that one arm against my
cheek in way that comforted me into
stopping when | saw we were near
town. l got out of the car at the gar
age and walked away through the gar
den home without looking In his d1rec-
ton at all. / never seem to be able to
look at him as / do at other people.
We hadn't spoken two words since we
had left the little house in the woods
with that happy faced girl in it. He has
more sense than just man.
It was almost dusk, and l stopped in
the garden a minute to pull the dirt
closer around some of the bachelors
buttons that had popped" the ground
some weeks ago. Thinking about them
made me regain my spirits, and went
on in the house to be scolded for what
ever Aunt Adeline had thought up
while was gone to do it to me about.
Judy told me with her broadcast grin
that she had gone down to her sister
in-law's for supper. and sat down on
the steps with a sigh Of relief.
Some days are like tin cocoanut graf
ers that everybody uses to crate you
against. and this was one for me- For
an hOur I sat and GRATED nv OwnSelf