GOODWIN'S WEEKLY 13 M
ing God, I reckoned her oath would
bind her fast enough. As fbr me, I
laughed out of sight, for I never be
lieved In nothing but myself not even
when I was a boy under twenty years
old. Next I bade her fall out with
John James. I put words In her
mouth to say to him. 'I know the
fashion of man he be short an' fiery
in his temper,' I told her. 'Be hot an'
quick with him. Tell him he's not
your sort, an' never will be quarrel
with his color, if you like. Tell him
he'm too pink an' white for 'e. Say
'tis enough that your own eyes be
blue, an' that you'd never wed a blue
eyed man. Make him angry you
ban't a woman if you don't know how
to do that. Then the rest be easy
enough. He'll flar.e an' flae like a tar
barrel on Guy Pawkes Night. But he'll
trouble you no more, for he'm so
proud as satin.'
"Nelly Baker took in all I said; an'
inside a week she'd dropped my broth
er. But 'twas what he done after that
startled folks, for without a woid to
any living soul, he vanished, like the
dew of the morning, four-an'- twenty
hours after she'd, flnged him over. I
was the last that seed him. We were
working together out 'pon the land;
an' he was sour an' crusty wi' his
trouble, an' hadn't a word to fling at
me. Dimpsy light fell, an' I went in
a tool-shed to don my jacket an' go
home. 'Twas autumn, an' us had been
spreading manure upon the meadow.
" 'Be you coming, John James?' I
said.
" 'You go to hell,' he answered. I'll
come when I've a mind to, an' maybe
I won't come at all!'
"So home I walked without another
word; an' he never corned; an' nobody
ever heard a whisper about him again
from that day to this. For a soldier
he went, 'twas thought; but the after
history of un never reached nobody
at Postbridge; an' whether he was
shot or whether he gathered glory in
foreign parts none 'pon Dartymoor can
tell you.
"A nine days' wonder it was, an'
it killed my mother; for John James
was the apple of her eye. Her never
cared a button for me, 'cause I was
the living likeness of her brother my
uncle, Silas Bond. They sent him to
, Botany Bay for burning down wheat
slacks. A bad lot ho was, no doubt;
an' a fool to boot, which Is worse.
For he got catched an' punished. An'
he deserved all he got ror letting 'em
catch him.
' "With John James out of the way,
T corned to be a bit more important
in the house, an' when my mother
died, father got to trust mo with his
money. I was old for my years, you
fee. As for Nelly, she kept so true
to me as the bird to her nest for
five years; an' then I'd got to be
twenty, an' had saved over three hun
Ored pound for her; an' she was
twenty-two. A good many chaps want
ed to marry her; but she kept our
secret close, an' said 'nay' to some
very snug men, an just waited for me
an' Aller Bottom Farm.
"Then, when I'd reckoned to name
the day an' take her so soon as I
corned of age, Oliver Honeywell turned
Mobilizing for the War I
iTorLuStoo'S'ands of artisans are busy with war. preparation.. " 1
EvmSSiibSn? set and wires strung, central office equipment increased,
new LSce to conIructedetween important points and telephone facilities increased.
The sreatTr and ore varied the Government's war activities become, the greater will bo
the SLtoIyrt for service. With the increased Government requirements,
there will be greater demands for commercial cervice. ,.,, H
ThVscarciV of material and labor have set definite limits to the amount of new construe-
Hnr, ?d the nYeds of the individual must be subordinated to those of the Nation.
U'lTi Staff S b hardeto Supply new telephones, extension telephones and to put up wire
toJw teffine stations because of the vast amount of telephone equipment devoted to the
rrfS oftheToveraS, and because the Bell organization has contributed heavily to the
S and manv of our technically trained men have voluntarily joined the colors. H
Whn u use telephone, we ask you to remember the patriotic service we are render-
tag te Goerent the extraordinary conditions we are f actag, and to help us maintain good
service by a conservative use of your telephone and equipment. M
Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company I
up from down country an' rented that
old tenement farm what he called
Merripit. So good land as any 'pon all
Dartymoor goes with it. An' he
corned wi' a flourish of trumpets an'
plenty of money. He was going to
lam us all how to farm, an how to
make money 'pon weekdays, an' how
to get to heaven Sundays.
"Rot the devil! I see him now a
smug, sleek, fat, handsome, prosper
ous man, with the insolence of a spoilt
cat! He'd preach in the open air of
a Sunday, for there was no parson nor
church here in them days. Strong as
a horse a very practical man al
ways right. Did plenty of good, as the
&aying goes, an' Avent about like a pro
cession, as if he expected angels from
Heaven to he waiting for him at every
street corner with a golden crown. His
right hand was generous, hut he took
very good care his left hand knowed
it. He didn't do his good in secret,
nor yet hide his light under a bushel.
"He was a black-haired man, wi
scholarship an' money behind him. He
know the better-most folk. They called
upon him, I believe, an' axed him to
their houses, it was said. He hunted
and paid money to help three different
packs o' hounds. An old mother kept
house for him. He tried to patronize
the whole of Postbridge an' play the
squire an' vicar rolled into one. Men
as owed him nought an' thanked him
for nought pulled their hair to him.
But there bo some fools who will al
ways touch their hats to a pair o
horses. There corned to be an idea
in people's minds that Honeywell was
a God-send, though if you axed them
why, they generally couldn't tell you.
"An' my Nelly failed in love with
him.
"At least she said so; though heav
en knows that the pompous fool, for
all his fine linen, weren't a patch on
what I was at twenty-one. Anyway,
he corned courting her, for 'twas not
known yet that me an' Nelly was
wore'n friends;, an' then when he
, heard how we hat een secretly tok
ened for no less than isx years, he
corned to see mo with a long-winded
lie in his mouth. An' the lie was
larded wi' texts from scripture. Nelly M
Baker had misunderstood her feelings jH
about me, he said; her had never JH
knowed what true love was till she S
met him; an' ho hoped I'd behave ad 1H
honestly as he had an' all the rest of H
It. In fact, she'd throwed me over for JH
him an' his money an' his high posi 1H
tion; an' he corned to let mo down IH
gently with bits from the Bible. As IH
for her, she always lusted after money H
and property. H
"Us fought hand to hand, for I flew IH
at him, man, like a dog, an' I'd have H
strangled him an' tored the liver out iH
of him, but some chaps heard him ,H
howling an' runned along, an' pulled H
me olf his throat in time. H
"He didn't have the law for me; but j H
Nelly Baker kept out of my way after- 1 1
wards, like as if I was the plague; an' I
then six months passed an' they was jj
axed out in marriage so grand as you 1 1
please at "Widecombo church. j 1
"I only seed her one more; but ai r II
lying in wait for her, weeks an' weeks, I
like a fox for a rabbit, it chanced at 1 1
last that I met her one evening going 1 1
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