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Show 1 " JOES AHILY. Until she ciirtla.i Anlly had been poaeeeaed Ot coaalderable aelt-wlll aud soma than tea. of tongue, but now, after tbrea yeara nf joe Strong's ax-cluilve ax-cluilve aoelety, .he had become n aub-dued aub-dued creature, her face seemed to have aestlKied 0 Nbtniaalve eipreeelon of habitual dderence Why tho bad choeen Joe froin among many admirers no ono conk) Imagine for he bad not even the adfiauge of go H looks, the sluggishness of his mental capacity was portrayed in cter lino of h's hard, clesn-thtven fare lie aa ft man from vkom women were ont to shrink, with an Instinctive conscious-neaa conscious-neaa that at looked down upon them Men thought Mm bnnr.i and. by ronton ron-ton of his peralril strength, generally deemed It alee to be civil to him, though few really liked him. No one bad seen Amlly Inside a church sines her wedding day, nor did she ever tail her (rlends of her own meek suggestion, on the first Sunday of her married life that the and her husband fhonld go to n place of worship wor-ship totelber "Oh. It fa) wunhlp be Itr Joe hnd said, with his broad southern dral. "l.ook: hers, to i can wurshlp at hornet That be what I married ye fur to wurth-up lad do my chorea." Amlly that her lip. to open them no more on that subject In bis hearlne; This statement Included Joe'a entire creed on Ike subject of womankind, lie did not ID treat hla wife, and In so much as I sever spoke to her without swsarlng, ike grew accustomed to thlt. and at Iwt did not even notice It Neither wsi he a drunkard, he considered con-sidered tint a man has a perfect right to get drunk every night of hit life It ta cbootcs, but he to hated having: a headache la the morning tbst, for his part, he referred to keep sober. The woman began to think that she was turnltg into a machine for scrubbing, scrub-bing, cooking and sewing It seemed to her. after three yeara thai no world eilstcd oatelde her four walla, from which she only escaped when she went marketing with Joe on Haturday nights. Of course she might have gone oftensr bad never atld sbe wasn't to; but the Inclination to do no aewtned to have died, along with her self-will, and her Joy of life and her religion. She did aot realise how unhappy she was. Roe thought atie was only III, and pcrbips more lonely ou that account. ac-count. How had tt all come abotilT It alwsyn was. as she had thought. so much more lonely when the sound of Ms cart wheels died away In the distance, dis-tance, especially now that he came so often and stnld so lone. Hut waa It poaalbld he had ssld thlt i to her that she had let him say lit Could It be that she n woman In whom ptetlon had seemed long ago to die a premature death could It bo that she had made It possible for John Ilovradon to speak as 3o had spoken? eBbe eAiod.ae.boJiadJtt.hcr.wbtn.h,, wentout, wUhhfaceWtbereTand' I'AI.i: AND IinnATIII.RSS. her bauds tightly clsapcd behind her. j The wind roared down the chimney, I the rsln beat upon tha pane, Just s on that evening; a mouth ago. Strange, bappy, eventful month! and It bad ended llko this. "I will take you away." he bad sal J; "no one win know wbre you go. 1 will make you bappy. Amlly" She had not realised llll that moment mo-ment how happy he had already made her how changed her poor empty lite had been by hla dally visits. Hhe bid not known, till be spoke, that she was hungry for love and klnrtn.ee, but sho bad known It theu whin il had coal ber an effort to refuse him, she knew It now, when she thought ot hla words and bis look brought .i atrangs tremor with It, and made her hide her face in ber hanili with a little cry uf pain. tJbe laid tho aupper, listening for Joe's footsteps, and expectlnK every Instant In-stant lo hear It abot e tbs noise of v Ind and rain. He was late. Bbe went to the door and tried to peer through the -.loom, forgetting all tho oiclteiuent and strangeness of tho afternoon In her anxiety lest III had befallen him. At laat, as the clock struck 11, she bad made up her mind to bravo tho horrors hor-rors of the lonely road and to go out and seek hlra. Btis bad already put on her bat and cloak, whan tho dour was ibroan open j.d Joe entered. "Ah, Joe, I was Just coming " Her sentence was never flnlsbed.for sbe staggered back In borror, palo and I breathless, Joe had availed himself of the prlvll- eft possessed by the lords of creation; be bad bravtd the prospect of a headache, head-ache, and, for the first time since Ms murine, be was hopelessly Intoxicated. Intoxicat-ed. Amlly stood by the wall; for some minutes iba waa too appalled to move, i and the said not a word. Tbtn the color came slowly back to her lips and diseks, and ber dark eyes took a look thtt was dtngvrons Oathtrlng her ikirtt about ber as though she feared pollution, she walked past him. out ot the door, and up the cranking stars to the little bed chamber. "We shall soon be In London," said John llovenden. "I've only one place to'etop aron the way. Are you warm enough T" "Yea, oh yea. thank yon TV) drive quickly some one will see us." she answered, an-swered, drawing back timidly behind the awning. At laat llovenden drew up at th gate ot n great home that lay back In Its garden "I shall lie with yoti again dliectly " he Mid, na be aprang to the ground and hurried tip Ibe gravel walk The sudden amines niter the noisy motion of the cart seemed to recall Amlly to herself. The haunting bit terneee that had been with ber all through thatmlserabledsy.the strange wild desire to be anywhere but In the lonely little cottage outside the village, teemed suddenly to give place to a different dif-ferent state ot mind. The touch of the man's band was gone tram hers: It wsa n relief Hhe had not wnnted It, she never would want It, nor him, nor his love. What the wanted was that Joe should be kind to her. that Joe should love her a little, nnd be contented con-tented with her. If she left him thlt wmild never be If sho left him hi might even love some one duel Terrible Ter-rible thought, that sent the color flying fly-ing over the face of Joe's Amlly! 8ha hid loted Joe when she married Mm. he might not be all that she had thought, ho might be he likely was a hard kind ot man Hut be was Joe, and she Into! him Amlly sprang tram the cart, and love, the old lave ot her life, seemed to lend her wings as she fled down tha dark roads towards her home. Hhi never looted liehlnd, never looked tack at what alio might have been, at the sin sbe had been so near committing commit-ting She looked neither to right nor to left; Ibe darknras had no horrori for her that night Joe would be al home, be would be angry with her, he would swear at her; ht might possibly, pos-sibly, for ihe Drat lime In hit life, bt rough with her Ilut the dessrvsd It all, and he was Joel The carrier had taken her a long way, II waa nearly 11 o'clock bsfore sbe waa In algLt of her home. There waa it light In the kitchen window, and as she came closer she saw on the blind the efeadow of her hutband oa he paced to and fro l"or a moment only she hesitated, and then lifted the latch and went In Joe turned, and the huiband and wife stood face to face In silence Then she spoke, raising her fsee to hit with slmott child-like pleading. "Joe. I'm sorry. I mesnt lo go nwiy for always; but I I bad to come bark." Joe looked at her without speaking it first Then ho drew the bsck ot bis hand slowly ncrots bis eyes. "Take off them wet does, old girl." aaldrayyoullihaMrchlnlcoliJaaAnif, pul Ihe stob onVuonnd'lJl's have a mouthful I be starvln' " Hxchange. |