"Oh!—Oh!—Oh!—" says Martha.
"But, Martha," says I, "I ain't that mean. I ain't going to do that."
That dern girl ackshellay give me a disappointed look! If anything, she was jest a bit TOO romanceful, Martha was.
"No," says I, cheering up a little, "I am going to do something they ain't many fellers would do, Martha. I'm going to forgive you. Free and fair and open. And give you back my half of that ring, and—"
Dern it! I had forgot I had lost that half of that there ring! I remembered so quick it stopped me.
"You always kept it, Danny?" she asts me, very soft-spoken, so as not to give pain to one so faithful and so noble as what I was. "Let me see it, Danny."
I made like I was feeling through all my pockets fur it. But that couldn't last forever. I run out of pockets purty soon. And her face begun to show she was smelling a rat. Finally I says:
"These ain't my other clothes—it must be in them."
"Danny," she says, "I believe you LOST it."
"Martha," I says, taking a chancet, "you know you lost YOUR half!"