The Desired Woman

ining some people from the village, sauntered down the road. Tom was in his shirt-sleeves, for the evening was warm, but Mrs. Drake wore her best black

left her to his care. They were out of sight when Dolly came out of the house, a p

had with your speech?" he

self into an imaginary position. I'd break down and cry-I feel exactly like it-if I hadn't been this way before and managed to pull through by the skin of my teeth. You see, standing up before a crowd makes you feel so desperate and hemmed-in-like that you have to fight, and somehow you manage to say something with more or less point to it. If I don't think of something bet

man passed. One of the women, a fat motherly creat

re you, Mrs

an't do a thing till she gits thar; besides, I want to git at the straight o' this business.

ace with a startled look and the

she began, falteringly. "Warren

' to teach my gals an' other folks' gals a lot o' stuff that was got up by bold-faced Yankee women with no more housework to do, or children to raise, than they have up thar these days. I want to know, I say, for if you are

back over his shoulder. "She's been jowerin' ever since she stepped out o' bed this mornin'. If she

the gloom. "This fool thing may cost me my job. Warre

r and be done with it?" Mos

I'd rather drop dead in my tracks here in this sand than to have those

tyn laughed, "and to save my life I can

f the way," the girl said. "We'll meet another spi

hing on me against my will, and I'm going to fight. Do you know when I'm bothered like this I can actually feel the roots of my hair wiggling as if it were trying to stand up, l

had its disagreeable side. How could he think of becoming the son-in-law of a man like Tom Drake? What would old Mitchell say? What would his fashionable sister and his entire social set think? Yes, Dolly was all that could be desired, but she was not alone in the world, and she was absolutely true to her family. Mostyn here felt a touch of shame, and shame was a thing he had scarcely been conscious of in his questionable career

now among the horses and various kinds of vehicles in front of the meeting-hous

a vacant seat or two near the platform. Say, if you laugh at me whil

sills of the open windows. Seeing Dolly entering, somebody started applause and hands were clapped, whistling and cat-calls rang through th

d, sat in chairs on the platform,

Mostyn. "He is grinning clear down the back of hi

order by rapping sharply on Dolly's desk with the brass top of an inkstand. He announced the subject which was to be debated with great gravity, adding with a smile that, of course, it was only through special favor to the only lady member of the club that such a topi

a half-smiling expression on her flushed face. "That is the way he always

n hastily penciling a few words on a scrap of paper in her hand. At the conclusion of Wilks's speech there was great applause, durin

s changeable as March winds. Look at Mrs. Timmons; she is actually shaking her fist at me. When I speak I always keep my