Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/127

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THE CLOWNS
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voice. "Mil," he said, "I ain't— The first time I seen you—"

"All right, En," she laughed. "I 'll take yer word fer it."

"Aw, don't make fun o' me, Mil," he pleaded.

For answer she leaned forward and put his arm behind her and snuggled up to him. "Who 's makin' fun o' you, you big goose?" she whispered. Her face was upturned, invitingly. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before he kissed her—a fumbling clumsy kiss that made her laugh again with a half-amused and wholly contented chuckle. "All right, 'En," she said. "I 'm 'appy. Now w'at 're you goin' to do with Pop?"


IV

The following day, as Sutley had remarked, was Sunday; and in the morning Milly tried to escape from her father's surveillance by insisting that she must go to church. "W'at for?"

"Because I want to. It ain't agayn the law to go to church, I 'ope."

He grumbled that she was always taking up with some crazy notion or other, but he could not in reason keep her home, and he contented himself with accompanying her as far as the church door.

She wore her new spring hat, with a white veil, and she was as excited as a bridesmaid. He did not notice it. They passed Sutley at a street corner, and Yost nodded curtly, unaware of the significant look with