The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1923-09-28

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THE jallf" she exclaimed. why
why, what jailY'
"The Ostable iaiI. Of conrse There
amt no other in these diggin's ODE
and me we're in there at the same
time"
"when was thisY' she asked
"Bh? oh. l dunno -Four years ago,
maybe. How about comm acrost with
the butterYn
She nut the butter.plate beside him.
"You and-and NV husband were
In-in the tsu together four years
aRoT' she asked
"Sure. Mikel"
"What-whv wa. he thereY'
"Eh9 oh. same thing that gets EN-
all. Needed the coin. I guess, Didn't
he never tell youY'
She wanted To cry. Int instead she
tried TO laugh.
"Wss-was Won IN tbere for--for
stealIn'Y
"Ntep Not on your llfel Rum was
my ruin, same as it's been whole
lot Of others. Eh7 Haw. hawr"
"How long was-was Mr.. Ellis
there7"
az dunno. Year or SO, maybe. I
amt seen him since He got his dis.
charge q veek afore they lot me-
loose"
A familiar step sounded on the walk
by the side door. Lurelia started.
"You-you stay right here" she
commanded. Don't YOU go away.
And don't YOU speak or--or move,
NV husband Is comm. we--wen
surprise him."
She hurried into the dining room,
closing the kitchen door behind her.
The familiar step came nearer. The
side door. that from the walk 70 the
dining room onened Ohed came in
"ShIp ahoy. old lsdyr he hailed.
ioyisllv. Dfnner ready7 Amt late.
I hone. am II why. what's the mat.
ter?"
She faced him. white and trembling,
but firm.
"Obed." she said "sit down. Din.
nerll be ready in A minute. SIT down.
I want toto sneak To You about
somethin'."
He sat down. regarding her won
deringly.
ITO speak to mel" he repeated. For
the land sakes, what's happenedf Is
the COW dead7"
"No =. oh. don't laugh :. don't
feel funny Just now. Obed, do you
remember that time when you asked
me TO marry your"
"Eh? Well, sayl Do you think
I'd be liable to forget til Luckiest
day in my life that was. Why"
Hush Obed, I asked you then IL
If you had a past
"A which,"
"a past. Some secret In your life
you hadn't told me. You said no. Now
ask you again. Have your"
He stared at her Have your she
repeated.
WHAT Say No, Of course, I
amt"
"Obed-oh. don't lie to mel ]
couldn't ever forgive your lyin' TO me-"
"Lie--to your Who said I'd ever
lied TO your III break the swab's ever
lastin' neck -
Hush SIT right down again In that
chair. Obed, was you ever In the 0s-
table jailfn
He hesltated. Then he colored.
"Why-why, yes" he admitted. But
v III,
"Oh, hush Be still You we're
there and.-and you never told mel"
"Why-well. no, l didn't. You see.
l was kind of ashamed, and--it didn't
amount TO nothin' much. anyhow"
Didn't amount to anything7 Oh,
my soul, how can you talk BOT Did
you know man there named-what
was it-Duganf'
"Duganl Yes, certain. Tough look
In critter, regular tramp In there for
bein' drunk and smashin' windows and
raisn' hob generally. Yes, knew
him. He was the only one I had to
look after for one spell. We got TO be
kind of--well, chummy, as you might
say Twas lonesome helm janitor and
keeper and everything else in place
like that one-horse Ostable jail, and
Teller has to talk TO somebody The
sheriff, he only come around once in
while. So"
"Wait oh, wait You were-s keep
er Therein the jail7'
"Sure suppose likely I had ought
to have told you about It, Lurella;
but, you sec, was kind Of ashamed,
same as | said 'Twan't much Of
job, but | took II cause mother was
sick-'twas just afore she died-and
the boat shop where I'd been workin
had shut down and ! needed money.
Then. another thing made me ashamed
Of 1t was on account of bein' fired.
Politics twas. Jim Leghorn, he was
sheriff. and he give me my walkin' pa
pers to make room for another Demo
crat, same as him. Only job | ever
was discharged from, that jail Job
was. I'm sorry | never told you, Lu-
relia, hut -. Eli? How did you come
H. i Il...-