"People never die when they wish to," she answered sadly.
Circus Jack came to the stage-door to bid her "Good-by."
"What can I do for you to thank you?" she asked earnestly.
Jack hesitated.
"Ef you wouldn't mind, ma'am," he said, "I'd like—to—kiss your hand. I've got a dear old mother home—ef you wouldn't mind!"
Without a blush or a change of countenance she put her arm around his neck and kissed his lips.
"Good-by, dear old fellow," she said.
Then Scotty cracked his whip, the crowd on the piazza raised their hats—even the poor, chagrined Doctor—a subdued cheer was given, and the lumbering stage disappeared in a cloud of dust, the nodding mariposas on the hillside looking curiously at it as it went by.
Clara G. Dolliver.