cabin. And would you believe it, Mrs. Merrity was doin' the same! I
couldn't see that either of 'em moved durin' the whole act, or took
their eyes off that scenery, and when the curtain goes down they just
naturally reaches out and grips each other by the hand. For quite some
time they didn't say a word. Then Reney breaks the spell.

"You noticed it, didn't you, Hank?" says she.

"Couldn't help it, Reney!" says he huskily.

"I expect the old place is looking awful nice, just about now," she
goes on.

Hank was swallowin' hard just then, so all he could do was nod, and a
big drop of brine leaks out of one of them buttermilk blue eyes. Reney
saw it.

"Hank," says she, still grippin' his hand and talkin' throaty--"let's
quit and go back!"

Say, maybe you never heard one of them flannel shirts call the cows
home from the next county. A lot of folks who'd paid good money to
listen to a weak imitation was treated to the genuine article.

"We-e-e-ough! Glory be!" yells Hank, jumpin' up and knockin' over a
chair.

[Illustration: "WE--E--E--OUGH! GLORY BE!" YELLS HANK, LETTIN' OUT AN
EARSPLITTER]

It was an ear splitter, that was. Inside of a minute there was a
special cop and four ushers makin' a rush for the back of our box.

"Here, here now!" says one. "You'll have to leave."

"Leave!" says Hank. "Why, gol durn you white faced tenderfeet, you
couldn't hold us here another minute with rawhide ropes! Come on,
Reney; maybe there's a night train!"

They didn't go quite so sudden as all that. Reney got him to wait
until noon next day, so she could fire a few maids and send a bale or
so of Paris gowns to the second hand shop; but they made me sit up till
'most mornin' with 'em, while they planned out the kind of a ranch de
luxe they was goin' to build when they got back to Bedelia. As near as
I could come to it, there was goin' to be four Chinese cooks always
standin' ready to fry griddle cakes for any neighbours that might drop
in, a dance hall with a floor of polished mahogany, and not a bath tub
on the place. What they wanted was to get back among their old
friends, put on their old clothes, and enjoy themselves in their own
way for the rest of their lives.

X

SHORTY AND THE STRAY

Say, I don't know whether I'll ever get to be a reg'lar week-ender or
not, but I've been makin' another stab at it. What's the use ownin'
property in the country house belt if you don't use it now and then?
S