The Monmouth inquirer., 1921-09-15


ing: II the spiritual yeast did not rise
10 old. BascoTn. as she hoped It would,
and crown her strategy with success,
she would have to fall back on bellig-
crent tactics. and see II it were not
possible to get his duty out Of him by
threatened force Of public opinion:
and she knew that, with his obstinacy.
It would be touch and go on which
eide Of the fence he would fall in =
situation Of that kind-dependent, IL
fact, upon the half turn OF screw,
more or less, for the result. Further
more, she concluded that beyond the
vaguest hint of her call on Bascoml
and the object of the meeting. she
could not show her hand to Maxwell;
for he would feel 1t his duty to step
in and prevent the possibility of any
such open breach as failure ON Hep
sey's part would probably make In tho
parish solidarity. For once she must
keep her own counsel-except for JON
athan, whose present infatuated con-
dition made him an even safer and
more satisfactory source of advice"
than he normally was. But the eve
ming before the meeting, as he sat on
Hepsey's porch. he began to exper-
ience qualms. perhaps In his capacity
Junior Warden. But Hepsey turn
upon him relentlessly:
ow see herei You know don't
trt somethin' unless l can see 1t
ough; and If It means scrap, so
ch the better. Next to good re-
al. a good hard scrap in stupid
parish has real spiritual value. It
stimulates the circulation. increases
the appetite, gives people somethin' to-
think about, and does lot Of good
where peaceful ways would fail The
trouble with us it that we've always
been a sight too peaceful. If pve got
tc do it, Pm goin' to make a row. a
real jolly row that'll make some peo-
pie wish they'd never been born. No
no-no! Don't you try to interfere.
We've come to crisis and I'm goin'
to meet it. Don't you worry until I
begin to holler for first aid to the In
jured. A woman can't vote for q yes
tryman, though women form the bulk
of the congregation. and do most all OF
the parish work; and the whole
churchd go to smithereens IL 1t were
not for the women. But there's one
thing a woman can always do: She
can talk. They say that talk is cheap,
bat sometimes it's mighty expen-
sive article. If it's the right kind; and
maybe the men will have to settle the
bills. I'm going to talk; perhaps you
think that's nothing new. But you
don't know how can talk when once
] get my dander up. Somebody's go
In to sit up and pay attention this
time. Bascom1l conclude to preside
at the meetin': whichever way he
means to act; and pve fixed 1t SO Max.
well viii be engaged in other duties
No; go way. don't want to see you
around here again until the whole
things over"
"All right Hepsey. all right. ! guess
IL It. goes through the way you want
youIl be that set up you'll be wantin
to marry old Bascom stead of me,
chuckled Jonathan. as the lady OF his
choice turned to enter the house.
She faced round upon him as che
reached the door, her features set
with grim determination:
'If ! get the whole caboodIe. bag
and baggage, from the meetin' and
from Bascom, there's no KNOWN but
what I'll send for the parson and be
married right there and then. There
isn't thing I could think of. in the
line OF real expensive sacrifice. that'i
measure up as compensation for win
min out-not even marryin' you. Jon
athan Jackson
| SO Hepsey laid down lines for con-
troll Of the meeting. ready with a diff.
ferent variety of expedients. from
point to point in its progress. as Syl-
vester Bascom's attitude at the time
might necessitate. For. she felt very
little anxiety as to her ability to car
ry the main body Of the audience alous
with her.
The night of the meeting the Sunday
School Room, adjacent to the church.
! was filled full to seat at least a
! quarter Of an hour before the time an
nounced for the meeting. Hepsey had
provided herself with a chair in the
center of the front row, directly fac
ing the low platform to he occupied BY
| the chairman. Her leather bag hung
| formidably on one arm. and q long mar
row blank book was laid on her lap
She took little notice of her surround
ings, and her anxiety was impercept
ible, as she thummed with pencil
upon the book, giancing now and then
| at the side door, watching for Bas
| CONS entrance. The meeting buzzet
light conversation. as a preliminary
| Had she miscalculated on the very
first move? Was he going to treat ths
whole affair with lofty disdain? A.
| the hour struck. dead silence reignet
| In the room. expectant: and Jonathan
Who sat next her. figeted nervously
/ 'sFive minutes grace. and that's all
Less fn~n I,r thar ifs7t hn m h