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Maxwelton's braes are um, um, um, um, yes, yes." "Have you seen Rita?" asked Dic, who could not believe that she would tell even Billy of the scene on the log. "Of course I have not seen her. How could I? It all happened last night after the social, and it is now only seven A.M." "Billy Little, I believe you are a mind reader," said Dic, musingly. "No, I'm not," replied Billy, with asperity.
"I believe you are in love with her yourself." The shaft unintentionally struck centre and Billy's scalp blushed as he haltingly remarked, "Well, I suppose you're right." Then after a long pause "Maxwelton's braes, um, um, um."
"Why, Billy Little, I meant nothing of the sort." "Now, not another word," interrupted Billy. "Give these ribbons to her when you ride home, and tell her the knot sends them to the sweetbrier." Then turning his face to the shelves on the wall, and arranging a few pieces of goods, he hummed under his breath his favorite stanza, "Maxwelton's braes," and paid no further attention to his guest.
Billy silently helped her to mount her horse. She smiled, "Good-by," and he walked slowly back to the store muttering to himself: "Billy Little, Billy Little, your breastworks are weak, and you are a Maxwelton's braes um um um um. Ah, good evening, Mrs. Carson. Something I can do for you this evening? Sugar? Ah, yes, plenty. Best in town.
The situation certainly was confusing, and Billy, in a revery, resorted to Maxwelton's braes as a brain clarifier. Soon wild thoughts came to his mind, and wilder hopes arose in his bachelor heart. This girl, whom he had loved for, lo, these many years, was now free of heart and hand. Could it be possible there was hope for him? Pat with this strange thought spoke Rita:
What do you think of the administration? Jackson is a hickory blockhead, eh? Congress a stupendous aggregation of asses. Yes, everybody is an ass, of course; but there is one who is monumental. Monumental, I say. Monu ah, well Maxwelton's braes are bonny um um um um damn!" And Billy sat down disgusted, turning his face from Dic.
Billy Little was roused from his dreams black nightmares they had been by a knocking on his store door, and when he sat up in bed to listen, he heard Rita's voice calling: "Billy Little, let me in." Billy ran to unlock the front door, crying: "Come in, come in, God bless my soul, come in. Maxwelton's braes are bonny, bonny, bonny. Tell me, are you alone?"
"Mighty Moses!" cried Billy, springing to his feet. "She offered to go with you?" "Yes," replied Dic; "she said when last I saw her, 'You should have taken me long ago." "And and you" Billy paused for breath and danced excitedly about the room "and you did not you you, oh Maxwelton's braes and you Ah, well, there is nothing to be gained by talking to you upon that subject.
"Of course I am. Every man with any good in him is religious. One doesn't have to be a Methodist, a Baptist, or a Roman Catholic to be religious. But bless my soul, Dic, I don't want to preach." He leaned forward looking into the fire, took his pipe from his mouth and, as usual, hummed Maxwelton's braes. "If Rita were a different girl, my task would be easier," observed Dic.
Silence then ensued, which was broken after a few minutes by Billy Little humming under his breath, "Maxwelton's braes are bonny." Dic soon joined in the sweet refrain, and, each encouraging the other, they swelled their voices and allowed the tender melody to pour forth.
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