The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-12-02
ENDING THE
QUARREL
COPYRIGHT puck

He dared not say it, but he thought
It. or all the jealous, foolish, unreas-
enable girls in this girl-infested world
she was the Hmiti How he ever could
have imagined that he loved this bunch
of perversity was beyond comprehenr
sion.
He closed his teeth and began TO
plan and dignified and impressive exit
Then she kicked him on the SHIN
This Is not a Bowery romance. but
a story Of quite well-bred folk. If you
think it improbable that well-bred peo-
pie should kick each other on the
shins. advise you to read the evil
dence in the next society divorce case.
In these causes celebres, how it Is
generally the man who kicks the wom-
an, while in the present instance it
was Kate who kicked Johnnie. But
this is not a divorce case.
The reason she repeated this device
was that he had not noticed it the
first time; 1t was too well done, too
accidental Besides. his mind was oc-
cupied with the wrongs that she had
previously inflicted upon him. Thus
1t happened that he had failed to OBJ
serve when she casually crossed one
knee over the other and glanced down
to calculate the range Then she
leaned forward, her foot swung around
and the sharp edge of her narrow shoe
came in contact with the tender crest
of his ubia.
II beg your pardon"
Don't mention It," he grinted. and
went on summing up her cruelty and
injustice. Appearances were against
him, 1t was true, but she had no right
to doubt his word and to jeer at his
explanation. what If she had seen
him riding with another girl? This
one really was an out-of-town cousin
to whom he was showing the electric
signs. And Kate had scoffed at his
plain statement Of the facts and had
tainted him with lack Of invention.
She must think him fool; no man
would dream Of using such a worm
out story unless 1t was true. Well.
goodness knows there were plenty
other girls: he would go where he
could get fair treatment, at least. q
Kate saw that her first hint had not
penetrated mean had not pene-
trated his consciousness. The set
Jaw and narrowed eyes were as easy
to read as a poster, and she meant
to break up those rebellious notions
of his, even IL she had to break
Oh no, of course. she had no inten-
ton Of going that far--that is absurd;
but then, you understand, she was
Just bound to flag that train Of
thought. That was why she gave him
the second hint, just before. only the
least bit stronger.
Il beg your pardon" Her voice
was cold and impersonal. Now, two
kicks in rapid succession are enough
to attract the attention of any man.
Johnnie came to life; he realized
that she had forgiven him for having
COMPELLED her to speak those words.
But such a peace offering-to be kick
ed back into love again! That surely
was unusual. Johnnie laughed his APP
probation. No other girl could have
carried it through like that; Kate was
wen worth while. Who could help
loving her? He leaned back and
laughed; he stretched his legs and
laughed some more.
He watched the haughty-lady express
sion that Kate was trying SO hard to
cold Johnnie took the part of a melo-
drama villain Grasping her by the
shoulders he Kissed into her ear:
Young woman, I'll choke you for
that !" But she did not seem to mind
it much.
Herbert McConathy.