To blast the fatal beauty that had captivated her wedded husband
was the Widder Bixby's idea, and the broom descended.
A shower of seeds and pulp, a copious spattering of pumpkin juice,
and the lady in green fell resistlessly into her assailant's arms;
her straw body, her wooden arms and pumpkin head, decorating the earth
at her feet! Mrs. Todd stared helplessly at the wreck she had made,
not altogether comprehending the ruse that had led to her discomfiture,
but fully conscious that her empire was shaken to its foundations.
She glanced in every direction, and then hurling the hateful
green-and-white livery into the stage, she gathered up all traces
of the shameful fray, and sweeping them into her gingham apron ran
into the house in a storm of tears and baffled rage.
Jerry stayed behind the tree for some minutes, and when the coast
was clear he mounted the seat and drove to the store and the stable.
When he had put up his horses he went into the shed, took
off his boots as usual, but, despite all his philosophy, broke into
a cold sweat of terror as he crossed the kitchen threshold.
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