illins thar, what
did he do? Got mad about his biscuits--it's the funny way the fool
spell allers hits him, he never gits mad about anything but his
biscuits. Why I cud feed Bud on dynamite an' he'd take it all right
if he cu'd eat it along with his biscuits. Onct I put concentrated
lye in his coffee by mistake. I'd never knowed it if the pup hadn't
got some of it by mistake an' rolled over an' died in agony. I rushed
to the mill thinkin' Bud ud' be dead, sho'--but he wa'nt. He never
noticed it. I noticed his whiskers an' eyebrows was singed off an'
questioned 'im 'bout it and he 'lowed he felt sorter quare arter he
drunk his coffee, an' full like, an' he belched an' it sot his
whiskers an' eyebrows a-fiah, which ther same kinder puzzled him fur
a while; but it must be biscuits to make him raise cain. It happened
at the breakfas' table. Mind you, Mister Kingsley, Bud didn't say it
to my face--no, he never says anything to my face--but he gits up an'
picks up the cat an' tells ther cat what he thinks of me--his own
spliced an' wedded wife--sland'in' me to the cat."

She shook her finger in his face--"You know you did, Bud Billins--an'
what you reckin he told ther cat, Mister Kingsley--told her I was
a--a--"

She gasped--she clinched her fist. Bud dodged an' tried to break
away.

"Told him I was a--a--heifer!"

Bud looked sheepishly around--he tried even to run, but Jud Carpenter
held him fast. She shook her finger in his face. "I heard you say it,
Bud Billins, you know I did an' I busted a plate over yo' head."

"But, my dear Madam," said Kingsley, "that was no reason to treat him
so badly."

"Oh, it wa'nt?" she shrieked--"to tattle-tale to the house-cat about
yo' own spliced an' wedded wife? In her own home an' yard--her that
you've sworn to love an' cherish agin bed an' board--ter call her a
heifer?"

She slipped her hand under her apron and produced a deadly looking
blue plate of thick cheap ware. Her eyes blazed, her voice became
husky with anger.

"An' you don't think that was nothin'?" she shrieked.

"You don't understand me, my dear Madam," said Kingsley quickly. "I
meant that it was no reason why you should continue to treat him so
after he has suffered and is sorry. Of course you have got to control
Bud."

She softened and went on.

"Wal it was mighty nigh a year befo' Bud paid any mo' 'tention to the
cat. The full moon quit 'fectin' him--he even quit eatin' biscuits.
Then the spell commenced to