Clara held the buggy whip in her hand and raised it to hit the horse. A
desperate determination that nothing should interfere with her marriage
with Hugh had taken possession of her. "If necessary I'll ride the man
down," she thought. Jim came to stand beside the buggy. He looked past
Clara at Hugh. "I thought maybe it was that Buckley," he said. He put a
hand on the buggy dash and laid the other on Clara's arm. "You're a woman
now, Clara, and I guess you know what you're doing. I guess you know I'm
your friend," he said slowly. "You been in trouble, I know. I couldn't help
hearing what your father said to you about Buckley, he talked so loud.
Clara, I don't want to see you get into trouble."
The farm hand stepped away from the buggy and then came back and again put
his hand on Clara's arm. The silence that lay over the barnyard lasted
until the woman felt she could speak without a break in her voice.
"I'm not going very far, Jim," she said, laughing nervously. "This is Mr.
Hugh McVey and we're going over to the county seat to get married. We'll be
back home before midnight. You put a candle in the window for us."
Hitting the horse a sharp blow, Clara drove quickly past the house and into
the road. She turned south into the hill country through which lay the road
to the county seat. As the horse trotted quickly along, the voice of Jim
Priest called to her out of the darkness of the barnyard, but she did not
stop.
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