ake off your
bonnet and make yourself at home till Henry comes for you.'

"And, bless your life, Henry wasn't long comin', either. Before they
got the supper dishes washed up, here he come as fast as his horse
could bring him. Old man Amos went out to meet him and took him around
to the side o' the house and says he, 'Son, I want you to tell me what
all this to-do is, anyhow. I can't git head nor tail of it from
Emmeline.' And Henry says, 'Well, Father Amos, it's this way.
Emmeline's been goin' through my trunk, and she found a little
somethin' or other that belonged to another woman that I used to know
long before I knew her, and that's what upset her.' And the old man
shook his head and says he, 'You ought to 'a' destroyed all such
things before you married; and that was a mighty keerless trick,
leavin' your trunk unlocked, though two to one Emmeline would 'a' got
into it anyway. It's my belief,' says he, 'that women carry skeleton
keys to keep the run o' their husband's private affairs.' And Henry
says, 'I've done all I could to pacify her; I've told her I never
loved that woman like I love her and never was married to the woman
and never wanted to marry her, and what more can a man say?' And the
old man says, 'Well, that ought to satisfy any reasonable woman, but
in matters like this women don't seem to be able to use their reason.'
Says he, 'It looks like they expect a man to be jest like Adam before
Eve was made for him,' and says he, 'You'll have to hoe your own row
with Emmeline in this affair, and her mother and me'll help you all we
can.'

"Well, all three of 'em argued with Emmeline, tryin' to persuade her
to go back home, but nothin' they could say had any effect on her. And
finally Henry says, 'Well, Emmeline, if you will leave me, I reckon
I'll have to put up with it, but I've got jest one favor to ask of
you.' Says he, 'You know how my mother and father have set their
hearts on havin' you for a daughter-in-law and how anxious they are to
see you. Now, all I ask of you is to let me take you to see my folks,
and you make 'em a visit. If I was to write to my mother,' says he,
'that my wife had left me, I believe it would be the death of her.
She's subject to spells anyway, and the doctor says any little
shock'll carry her off. So you let me take you up to mother's, and you
make her and father a little visit, and then I'll bring you home and
try to break it to mother the best I can.'

"Emmeline thought a