way," said JEFFRY.

"Yes you do care too," she replied. S'posen it should get to the ears of
that rich widow you're engaged to. 'Twould be all up with you _there_,
sure, JEFF. She ain't burdened with principle, the Lord knows, but she's
got jealousy enough to break the match short off, and kill you besides,
if she hears of it.

"And she'll hear of it anyhow, if they keep up their infernal clack,"
said he fiercely. "I'd like to choke the whole confounded pack."

"The talk would all die out," said ANN slowly, "if I should go away."

"Any fool can see that," replied he. "What do you mean?"

"I've been thinking of going," she continued, "for six months. I'm a
poor relation, and Mrs. LADLE hates me. And as for BELINDA, she has so
many good clothes, I can't take any comfort seeing her round."

"Where to?" inquired JEFFRY incredulously.

"Oh, anywhere," she replied. "I can dance a jig, you know. I'll go to
New York, and let myself as the 'Eminent and Graceful Queen of
Terpsichore, imported from Paris at a cost of Forty Thousand Dollars in
Gold.' And then I'll make a tour of the New England States. Or I'll
learn to play the banjo and get off slang phrases, and then I'll appear
as 'The Beautiful and Gifted Artist, ANNETTA BRUMMETTA, who has, by her
guileless vivacity, charmed our most Fashionable Circles.' Or I'll go as
Assistant Teacher in a Select Boarding School for Young Ladies. I ain't
proud, you know."

JEFFRY grinned. "Let me advise you," said he, "to go right off
to-morrow. I'll help you pack your trunk inside of an hour, if you say
so."

"That ain't the point," she retorted sharply. "I ain't got rid of so
easily as _that_, I tell you."

"What do you mean by that?" he inquired, with a scowl.

"I mean just this," she returned. "I won't go at all if you don't do
what's right by me. If you'll agree to my terms I'll go, and not
without."

"Your _terms_!" said he, with a sneer. "Well, that _is_ a go. What may
your 'terms' be?" he continued, derisively.

"Marriage," replied she; "private if you say so, and a remittance of
fifty dollars a month for six months."

He laughed in her face. "Marry _you_? Well, I guess not," said he. "Do
you take me for an idiot?"

"You ain't obliged to stick by it," she continued. "We're in Indiana,
ain't we? We'll take a minister and a lawyer along with us. While the
minister is marrying us, the lawyer can be at work on the divorce
papers. When you are JEFFRY MAULBOY again, a sin