The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-02-13
CHAPTER xx-tcontinued.)

"a truce TO your braggadocio. my
good friend" laughed Prue; your
tragic tones and frowning looks al
most persuade me that I need protec-
ton. Believe me-. you are in a far
worse case than /; you stand greatly
In need of a disinterested adviser; who
would counsel you to leave me before
too late, or at least take time-a year
or two. we will say-to think it over
"Was there ever a lover that listened
to such counsel? Not if he loved as ]
do, dear one So far from waiting a
year, / swear that a week Is too long,
and that IL you do not marry me to-
morrow"
He hesitated and Prue took him UP
sharply. What IL / do not marry you
tomorrow? Pray finish your threat,
so that 1 may know what fate awaits
me, zinc I shall certainly not marry
tomorrow, neither next week. nor, per-
chance, next year"
And does your ladyship imagine
that /, Godfrey Beaudesert. will swell
the ranks OF those whom the beauti-
full Viscountess Brooke has left la
menting at the church door?" demand
ed the sutton, giving way at last to
his long suppressed fury. mo, no, you
B~eachcombe. O,Keefe, Sutherland and
a dozen others. Today / love you to
Distraction; you may bend me to your
Hghtest caprice with a kind word. But
scorn me and tomorrow you will have
an enerny with the Will, as well as
h power, to cover you with shame.
Aye, shame, Lady Prudence Brooke
as h sprang to her feet with blaz-
ing eyes. Where will you hide your
head when all the world knows how
and why you became the wife of an
outlaw and a felon-the thief who
stole the queens necklace, for a nup-
tia gift to his bride. Ha, ha! that
will be a feast indeed for the scandal
mongers Of London town."
And, Sir Godfrey Beaudesert-how
will he appear in the AFFAIR."" she re-
torted. ..This is not the first time to-
Godfrey, but ! advise you to let it be
that If you drive me to do SO. /
may tell the story myself. and my YER
sion of 1t will not leave you entirely
u~nscathed. How could l ave done this
thing-this shameful. ~scandalous thing.
as you truly call tiff you had hot
helped; nay, pushed me into 1t? Who
bought h ring and license, and hired
the parson2 He was an ordained
nOt2 IL l am not mistaken, 1t was you
who ordered him to make the marriage
service brief and binding, and bade
him keep his own counsel until his evil
dence was needed to prove me Captain
de C1iffe's widow? If the scandal
VI 4 4Od0L CT lily
expense. they will certainly banquet
at yours! And il you talk OF enemies
but no, we are not silly children to
wrangle oyer ~trifles, arid scratch and
slap C others face because WI can
not have our own way all the time.
Let us forget this folly and talk Of
pleasanter things"
"No subject is pleasant to me but
one-yourself.n said Sir Geoffrey, with
an effort to resume his ordinary a
ner. .Belieye me, however impatient
I may appear as a lover,5as q husband
yen will find me q pattern of indul-
gence. ; do not, I entreat you, try
my patience much longer"
mo doubt, Sir Geoffrey, / ought to
be fiattered by your PERSISTENCE re-
piled Prue petulantly, but II you have
SO little delfcacy al to press n hus-
band upon me before b other is In
his grave, you surely are not anxious
to inf1ict upon me the possible fate OF
d bigamist7 If. perchance. n OF
these 20 highwayMen escaped. and that
one proved to be the mi you helped
me u to marry, your hasty wooing might
cause poor Prudence Brooke to blos-
om#on Tyburn Tree or, worse still,
to end her days on cotton plantation.
IT'S strange how much more anxious
you are to wed me since / became a
wife, than you were when was really
q widow! Then Il heard nothing about
~post-chaises and elopements-
Because then, dear Prue, / had not
known the torture of Tantalus. the an