Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-03-19

c stood on the sidewalk.
- "Mr. Hold says we are to come u
to his house and spend our first nigh
together" Jack said huskily.
At the top Of Maple Street Hill
before Sans house, she paused. Fo
t Il moment she clasped his arm, he
r face against his shoulder
ooh, jack she said softly, Z"
I guess-I guess-I'm yours now
= yours to love, work with, play with
suffer with, sorrow with-yours t.
abuse, neglect, forsake. Ny life i.
yours now, Jack. have given it t.
: you. Where you live l will live
What you suffer, l will suffer- You
, joys shall be my joys; your successes
my successes. | don't mind what tn.
future brings only this: Be good to
me Jack,-take me and do what you
will with me. But be as kind as you
can, Jack, that someday l may be
able to show mother she was wrong"
And man and wife, they passed in
to Sam Holds house for heir fiji st
supper together.
At the moment that Jacl Purse
and Mary Wood entered Saw: Hod's;
house together, another girl came out
of the Henderson house ana strollcd
/ leisurely down Main Street.
Near the corner of Union street
she heard the rattle of buggy wheels
behind her and the hoarse bark of an
excited dog. She turned. Slug Tru-
, man driving Monday Washing with
Cardinal Wolsey on the scat beside
him, stopped at the curb beside her.
"Mibb, :. come here" he cal
led thickly.
| She switched her jacket to her
other arm and strolled across the
strip of sod to the buggy side.
"Well!" she demanded. "What
als you, Slug. You look like case
of scven-weeks sickness"
"Anything on this evenin', Mibb?"
"Nothin' special"
"Get in and take ride with me,
Mibb.'
"Where you goin?'
"Get in and take ride with me,
and III tell you. It's awful impor-
tant, Mibb."
She cast an uneasy look at his
heavy features, but she calculated she
could take care O. herself with any
man that she ever see wearin' pants
and SO she got in beside the boy and
they rumbled away in the SUMNER
evening.
"Mibb-Mary Wood has just mar
red Jack Purse"
"She's WHAT"
married Jack Purse, tonight!
tonight! in the Methodist Parson-
age. They're up to supper together
at Holds right now. They're man
and wife,"
e-little-foolw Mibb ejacul-
ated. "But what the ding-ding are
you takin' on about it, Slug?"
81 guess Neutrality-suspicious., Mibb."
jealous of who-Purse"
"Of just bein' married and have
somebody to care about me-"
"Gosh but yo'rc an awful fathead!"
"Don't talk to me like that, Mibb.
1t hurtsw He sloughed down into
the seat. "Hell," he told her miser-
ably, "you don't know what a happy
home we got up there on Main street,
dad sick, Esmeralda stage struck
and always bossin' Ma, and Ma with
no more spine than than a II
than fish! I'm sick of it, Mibb-
plumb sick. I wish it was different,
Mibb, so different"
She looked at him out of the corner
of her world-wise young eyes.
Gust how sick is your dad, any
how"
"Pretty bad, Mibb. He may go off
and day now. He's hit pretty hard.
"Slug," she said quietly, Diets run
away and get married too"
"Let's WHATw he cried.
"Let's run away and get married.
Mary Wood and Jack Purse aren't
the only ones who can play the
game"
"You'd-marry-me- great
big lummox that's always putin his
hoof in everything?"
eyes," she declared determinedly,
as though she had arrived at her de-
cision long beforehand, "Ill marry
you, Herb Truman"
"W-h-e-n?" he demanded blankly.
"Any old time you want mel"
The big fat rosy young man turned
pale. Then the blood surged into
his face again and made it beefy red.
"You mean it, Mibb?"
"You don't imagine I'm talkin' in
my sleep do you, on question OF SO
much Importance"
"Oh-Mibb!"
"There's no need for you to get
maudlin about it as l see," she re-
minded him.
"But you called Mary a "a. e.
little fool"
"Sure she's little fool. Because
Jack Purse isn't situated like you're
situated"
Herb should have taken warning
from that significant declaration, but
he did not The lad was heartsick,
lonesome and miserable. 1t wasn't
the girl he was in love with, it was
love and comradeship and consolation