If he doesn't move,
we'll just add this to the item: 'Mrs. J. Rodney Potts, wife of Colonel
J. Rodney Potts, will arrive again the following week. The ladies
anticipate an interesting time in meeting their mutual husband.' How's
that?"
Billy's eyes glistened--he was yearning for just that situation.
"But if Potts does move," added Solon, "not a word about the second
lady. We won't take a mean advantage, even of Potts."
At six o'clock that evening, the following facts became known: that
Colonel Potts had obtained a quart of whiskey from Barney Skeyhan; that
he had borrowed twenty dollars from the same trustful tradesman; that,
his cane in one hand and his oilcloth valise in the other, he had walked
down Main Street late in the afternoon and boarded the five twenty-eight
freight going West, ostensibly on a business trip into the next county.
Not until the next morning was it known that Potts had left us forever.
This came from "Big Joe" Kestril. The two had met at the depot and drunk
fraternally from the bottle of Potts, discussing the thing frankly,
meanwhile.
"They've hounded me out of town," said the Colonel.
"How?" said Big Joe.
"They sent for Mrs.
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