didn't understand; but he looked at the shirt and he
looked at her face, and then he burst out laughin', and says he,
'Well, that does look pretty bad, sure enough; but I know you've got
too much confidence in me to let a little thing like that worry you';
and he tried to take hold of her hand, but she jerked it away, and by
that time she was so mad at him for laughin' at her that she didn't
find any trouble about talkin', and the madder she got and the more
she talked, the harder Henry laughed, and says he: 'Oh! come now,
Emmeline. You mustn't be so hard on a man. I never loved that woman
like I love you. I never was married to her, and I never wanted to
marry her. Ain't that enough to satisfy you?'

"Emmeline said she didn't know she could feel so wicked; but when
Henry said that, she felt as if she wanted to kill somebody--she
didn't know whether it was Henry or the other woman--and she jumped up
and run out o' the room, slammin' the door behind her as hard as she
could, and locked herself in the spare bedroom. She said Henry went
down-stairs, and she could hear him goin' around in the kitchen and
pantry lookin' for cold meat and bread, and she looked out o' the
window and watched till she saw him go back to the field. And the
minute he was out o' sight, she packed her trunk and went to the
stable and saddled the mare her father had made her a present of when
she married, and then she dressed herself and wrote a note sayin'
she'd gone back to her father's house and she'd send over for her
trunk the next day. She pinned the note to Henry's piller, and then
she got on her horse and started for home.

"Old man Middleton was sittin' on the front porch smokin' his pipe
when Emmeline rode up, and he hollered out to his wife that here was
Emmeline, and they both come runnin' out to meet her. You know how it
is with the old folks, when a gyirl comes home to make 'em a visit
after gittin' married. They're proud of her for marryin' well, but
they've been missin' her and they're mighty glad to have her back in
her old place. But as soon as they'd hugged her and kissed her they
both said, 'Where's Henry?' and, 'Why didn't he come with you?'
Emmeline said for a minute she wished she was back at home, for she
knew how bad they'd feel when she told 'em what she had to tell. But
she thought she might as well have it over and be done with it, and
says she, 'Henry's at home, and I'm at home, too. I've left him, and
I'm never goin'