"
Once within, he hastily donned the green wrapper and tell-tale
headgear, and, when the Midnight Cry rattled down the stony hill
past the Todd house, Pel took good care to expose a large green
sleeve and the side of a white bonnet at the stage window.
It was easy enough to cram the things back into the basket,
jump out, and call a cordial thank you to the unsuspecting Jerry.
He was rewarded for his ingenuity and enterprise at night,
when he returned Mrs. Todd's axe, for just as he reached
the back door he distinctly heard her say that if she saw
that green woman on the stage again, she would knock her off
with a broomstick as sure as she was a Stover of Scarboro.
As a matter of fact she was equal to it. Her great-grandmother
had been born on a soil where the broomstick is a prominent
factor in settling connubial differences; and if it occurred
to her at this juncture, it is a satisfactory proof of the
theory of atavism.
Pel intended to see this domestic tragedy through to the end,
and accordingly took another brief trip in costume the very next week,
hoping to be the witness of a scene of blood and carnage.
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