The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-02-13
CHAPTER xx-Ccontinued.,

"a truce to your braggadoclo, my
good friend" laughed Prue; your
tragic tones, and frowning looks al
most persuade me that l need .protec-
worse case han /; 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 II over"
WAS there ever q lover that listened
to such counsel? Not IL he loved as l
do, lear one. So far from waiting a
year. I swear tina a week is toe long,
and that If you do not marry me to-
morrow" IS d. -. #
He hesitated and Prue took him up
sharply. What IL I do not marry you
tomorrow? Pray finish your threat,
30 that I may know what fate awaits
me, since / shall certainly not marry
tomorrow, neither next week, nor per-
chance, next year"
And does your ladyship imagine
that /, Geoffrey Beaudesert, will swell
the ranks Of those whom h beauti-
full Viscountess Brooke a left Ia
menting at the church door?" demand
ed the sutton, giving way at last TO
his long suppressed fury. mo, no, you
cannot play with me as you did with
| Beachcombe, O'Keefe, Sutherland and
a dozen others. Today / o you to
distraction you may bend me to your
highest caprice with a kind word. But
scorn m and tomorrow you will have
an enemy with the win, as well as
the power, to cover you with shame.
Aye, shame, Lady Prudence Brooke,
as she 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-
tial 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-
day that you have threatened me; Sir
the last, for II warn you
that If you drive me to do SO.
| may tell the story myself; and my yer-
| sion of 1t win not leave you entirely
unseathed. How could l have done this
| thing-this shameful, scandalous thing,
| as you truly all tiff you had not
helped; nay, pushed me into 1t? Who
| bought the ring and license. and hired
| the parson? He was an ordained
| Church of England clergyman, was he
l not? II ] 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 Cliffe's widow? II the scandal
| mongers Of London Town feast at my
| expense, they will certainly banquet
at yoursi And IL you talk Of enemies
but no, we are not silly children to
/ wrangle over trifles, and scratch and
slap each others face because we can
| not have our own way all the time.
Let us forget this folly n talk of
| ~pleasanter things" .
mo subject Is pheasant to me but
L one-yourself," said Sir Geoffrey, with
an effort to resume his ordinary man
ner. Believe me, however impatient
/ I may appear as a lover, as a husband
/ You will. find me q pattern OF indul-
gence. But do not, i entreat you, Try
| my patience much longer" -.
mo doubt Sir Geofrey, l ought to
be hattered by your persistence" re-
piled Prue petulantly, but II you have
SO little delicacy as to press one nus
band upon me before the other is IN
his grave, you surely are not anxious
to infict upon me the possible fate OF
i a. bigamist? If, p~erchance, one o.
these 20 highwaymen escaped, M tina,
one proved to be the one you helpeo
me to marry, you hasty wooing mign'
cause poor Prudence Brooke TO bios
som on Tyburn Tree or, worse stu
to end her days on a cotton plantation
IT'S strange hoy1 much more anxious
you ara TO wed me since 1 became 9
4 wife, than you were when ! was really
a. widow! Then I heard nothing aboui
1 post-chaises and elopements-
because then, lei Prue, ! had no
= known the torture of Tantalus, the an