"That cleans me out, Judge," he said stolidly. "I wasn't such a bad

husband, at that. I got sore--but I'll bet you get sore yourself and

tell your wife what-for, now and then. I didn't get a square deal, but

that's all right. I'm giving a better deal than I got. Now you can keep

that money and pay it out to Marie as she needs it, for herself and the

kid. But for the Lord's sake, Judge, don't let that wildcat of a mother

of hers get her fingers into the pile! She framed this deal, thinking

she'd get a haul outa me this way. I'm asking you to block that little

game. I've held out ten dollars, to eat on till I strike something. I'm

clean; they've licked the platter and broke the dish. So don't never ask

me to dig up any more, because I won't--not for you nor no other darn

man. Get that."

This, you must know, was not in the courtroom, so Bud was not fined for

contempt. The judge was a married man himself, and he may have had a

sympathetic understanding of Bud's position. At any rate he listened

unofficially, and helped Bud out with the legal part of it, so that Bud

walked out of the judge's office financially free, even though he had

a suspicion that his freedom would not bear the test of prosperity,

and that Marie's mother would let him alone only so long as he and

prosperity were strangers.




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