The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-12-28
CHAPTER iIl-Continued.

"Any special poet?"
"Well, she seemed to like my stuff.
You never read my sonnet-sequence
On spring, did your"
"No. What other poets did she like
besides your
"Tennyson principally" said Eus-
face Hignett with a reminiscent
CULVER in his voice. THE hours we
have spent together reading the Idylls
of the King!"
"The which Of what?" inquired Sam,
taking a pencil from his pocket and
shooting out u cuff.
""The Idylls Of the King My good
man. / know you have n soul which
would be considered inadequate by
a common earthworm, but you have
surely heard of T%ennyson's Idylls of
the KingT'"
"Oh, those! Why, my dear old chap /;
Tennyson's '1dylls of the King!' Well,
j should say! Have | heard of Ten
nyson's 'Ldylls Of the King?' Well,
really! | suppose you haven't a copy
with you on board by any CHANGER"
There is a copy in my klt-bag.
The very n we used to read together.
Take Ii and keep it or throw II over
board. don't want to see ii again"
Sam prospected among the shirts,
collars and trousers In the bag and
presently anne upon q morocco-bound
volume. He laid il beside him on he
lounge.
Little by little, bit by bit" he said,
Il am beginning to form a sort of pic
tnre OF this girl, ~this-what was her
name again? Bennett-this Miss Ben
nett. You have a wonderful knnck of
description. You make her seem so
real and vivid. Tell me some more
about her. She wasn't keen on golf, by
any chance, | suppose?"
II believe she did play. The subject
came up once and she seemed rather
enthusiastic. Why?"
swell, I'd much sooner talk to a girl
about golf than poetry"
"You are hardly likely to be in a
position to talk 10 Wilhelmlna Bennett
about either, | should imagine"
mo. there's that, of course. was
thinking Of girls in general. Some girls
bar golf. and then it's rather difficult
60 know how TO start conversation
but, tell me, were there any topics
which got on Miss Benefits nerves, If
you know what | mean? 1t seems TO
me that at one time or another you
may have said something that offended
her. / mean, 1t seems curious that she
should have broken OFF the engagement
II you had never disagreed or quar-
geled about anything"
swell, Of course. there was always
the matter of that dog Of hers. She
had a dog, you know. a snappy brute
Of a Pekingese. If there was ever any
shadow of disagreement between us, 1t
had to do with that dog. | made rather
O point Of II that I would not have 1t
about the home after we were mar
ried."
IL see!" said Sam. He shot his cuff
once more and wrote on 1t: "Dog-con-
ciiiate.' "Yes. of course, that must
have wounded her."
"Eot half so much as he wounded
mel He pinned me by the ankle the
day before we-Wilhelmlna and l, I
mean-were to have been married. 1t
= soms ss:e.ica &C me in my
broken state to remember that I got
home on the little beast with consider
able juiciness and lifted him clean
over the Chesterfield"
Sam shook his head reprovingly.
~You shouldn't have done that!' he
aid. He extended his cuff and added
fhe words "Vitally important" to what
he had Just written. 1T was probably
chat which decided her"
swell, I hate dogs" said Eustaes
ayienetf ENORMOUSLY. II remember
WfiheImina once getting quite an
uoyed With me because refused g