al nice feller, Mr.
Dickman. Well, we kind of co'ted along down, one place an anotheh, an'
he wanted to git married. I told how hit was, that I wasn't 'vorced, an'
so on, but if he meant business, we'd drap into Mendova, which we done.
He wanted to pay for the divorce, but I'm independent thataway. I think
a lady ought to pay for her own 'vorces, so I done hit, an' I was
divorced at 3 o'clock, married right next door into the Justice's, an'
we drapped out an' down the riveh onto our honeymoon. Mr. Dickman was a
real gentleman, but, somehow, he couldn't stand the riveh. It sort of
give him the malary, an' he got to thinking about salmon fishin' so he
went to the Columbia. We parted real good friends, but the Mississippi's
good 'nough for me, yes, indeed. I kind of feel zif I knowed hit, an'
hit's real homelike."

"It is lovely down here," Nelia remarked. "Everything is so kind
of--kind of free and easy. But wasn't it dreadful--I mean the first
time--the first divorce, Mamie?"

"Course, yes, course," Mrs. Caope admitted, slowly, with a frown, "I
neveh will forget mine. I'd shifted my man, an' I was right down to
cornmeal an' bacon. Then a real nice feller come along, Mr. Darlet. I
had to take my choice between a divorce an' a new weddin' dress, an' I
tell you hit were real solemocholy fer me decidin' between an' betwixt.
You know how young gals are, settin' a lot by dresses an' how they look,
an' so on. Young gals ain' got much but looks, anyhow. Time a lady gits
experience, she don't set so much store by looks, an' she don't have to,
nohow. Well, theh I was, with a nice man, an' if I didn't divorce that
first scoundrel where'd I be? So I let the dress go, an' mebby you'll
b'lieve hit, an' mebby yo' won't, but I had $18.97, an' I paid my $17.50
real reg'lar, an' I had jest what was left, $1.47, an' me ready to bust
out crying, feelin' so mean about marryin' into an old walking skirt.

"I was all alone, an' I had a good notion to run down the back way, an'
trip off down the riveh without no man, I felt so 'shamed. An' theh,
right on the sidewalk, was a wad of bills, $99 to a penny. My lan'! I
wropped my hand around hit, an' yo' should of seen Mr. Darlet when he
seen me come walking down, new hat, new dress, new shoes, new silk
stockings--the whole business new. I wa'n't such a bad-lookin' gal,
afteh all. That taught me a lesson. I've always be'n real savin' sinct
then, an' I ain't be'n ketched sinct with the choice to ma