CHAPTER VI
SERVANTS
"I did think," said Patty, in a disgusted tone, "that we could getsettled in the house in time to eat our Christmas dinner there, but itdoesn't look a bit like it. I was over there this afternoon, and such ahopeless-looking mess of papering and painting and plumbing I never sawin my life. I don't believe it will _ever_ be done!"
"I don't either," said Marian; "those men work as slow as mud-turtles."
The conversation was taking place at the Elliotts' dinner-table, andUncle Charley looked up from his carving to say:
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and the slower the mud-turtlesare, the longer we shall have our guests with us. For my part, I shall bevery sorry to see pretty Patty go out of this house."
Patty smiled gaily at her uncle, for they were great friends, and said:
"Then I shall expect you to visit me very often in my new home,--that is,if I ever get there."
"I can't see our way clear to a Christmas dinner in Boxley Hall," saidMr. Fairfield; "but I think I can promise you, chick, that you caninvite your revered uncle and his family to dine with you there on NewYear's day."
There were general exclamations of delight at this from all except Patty,who looked a little bewildered.
"What's the matter, Patsie?" said her uncle. "Don't you want to entertainyour admiring relatives?"
"Yes," said Patty, "of course I do; but it scares me to death to think ofit! How can I have a dinner party, when I don't know anything aboutanything?"
"Aunt Alice will tell you something about something," said her father;"and I'll tell you the rest about the rest."
"Oh, I know it will be all right," said Patty, quickly regainingconfidence, as she looked at her father. "If papa says the house will beready, I know it will be, and if he says we'll have a dinner party on NewYear's day, I know we will; and so I now invite you all, and I expect youall to accept; and I hope Aunt Alice will come early."
"I shall come the night before," said Marian, "so as to be sure to bethere in time."
"I'm not sure that any of us will be there the night before," said Mr.Fairfield, laughing. "I've guaranteed the house for the dinner, but Ididn't say we would be living there at the time."
"That's a good idea," said Aunt Alice; "let Patty entertain her firstcompany there, and then come back here for the reaction."
"Well, we'll see," said Patty; "but I'd like to go there the first day ofJanuary, and stay there."
By some unknown methods, Mr. Fairfield managed to stir up the mud-turtleworkmen to greater activity, and the work went rapidly on. Thewall-papers seemed to get themselves into place, and the floors took ona beautiful polish; bustling men came out from the city and put upwindow-shades, and curtains, and draperies; and, under Mr. Fairfield'ssupervision, laid rugs and hung pictures.
The ladies of the Elliott household organised themselves into a mostactive sewing-society.
Grandma, Aunt Alice, Marian, and Patty hemmed tablecloths and napkinswith great diligence, and even little Edith was allowed to help with thekitchen towels.
Everybody was so kind that Patty began to feel weighed down withgratitude. The girls of the Tea Club made the tea-cloth that they hadproposed, and they also brought offerings of pin-cushions, and doiliesand centre-pieces, until Patty's room began to look like a booth at afancy bazaar.
One Saturday morning, as the sewing-circle was hard at work, littleGilbert came in carrying a paper bag, which evidently containedsomething valuable.
"It's for you, Patty," he said. "I brought it for you, to help keephouse; and its name is Pudgy."
Depositing the bag in his cousin's lap, little Gilbert knelt beside her."You needn't open it," he cried; "it will open itself!"
And, sure enough, the mouth of the bag untwisted, and a little grey headcame poking out.
"A kitten!" exclaimed Patty; "a Maltese kitten. Why, that's just the verything I wanted! Where did you get it, Gilbert, dear?"
"From the milkman," said Gilbert proudly. "We always get kittiesfrom him, and I telled him to pick out a nice pretty one for you. Doyou like it?"
"I love it," said Patty, cuddling the little bunch of grey fur; "andPudgy is just the right name for it. It's the fattest little cat Iever saw."
"Yes," said Gilbert gravely; "don't let it get thin, will you?"
"No, indeed," said Patty; "I'll feed it on strawberries and cream all theyear round!"
That same afternoon Patty and Aunt Alice started out on a cook-huntingexpedition. A Cook's Tour, Frank called it; and the tourists took it veryseriously.
"Much of the success of your home, Patty," said Aunt Alice, as they weregoing to the Intelligence Office, "depends upon your cook; for she willbe not only a cook, but, in part, housekeeper, and overseer of the wholeplace. And while you must, of course, exercise your authority and demandrespect, yet at the same time you will find it necessary to defer to herjudgment and experience on many occasions."
"I know it, Aunt Alice," said Patty very earnestly; "and I do want to dowhat is right. I want to be the head of papa's home, and yet there are agreat many things that my servants will know more about than I do. Ishall have to be very careful about my proportion; but if you and papawill help me, I think I'll come out all right."
"I think you will," said Aunt Alice, but she smiled a little at theassured toss of her niece's head.
The Intelligence Office proved to be as much misnamed as thoseinstitutions usually are, and varying degrees of unintelligence wereshown in the candidates offered for the position of cook at Boxley Hall;though, if the applicants seemed unsatisfactory to Patty, in many casesshe was no less so to them.
One tall, rawboned Irishwoman seemed hopefully good-tempered and capable,but when she discovered that Patty was to be her mistress, instead ofMrs. Elliott, as she had supposed, she exclaimed:
"Go 'way wid yez! Wud I be workin' for the likes of a child like that?No, mum, I ain't no nurse; I'm a cook, and I want a mistress as has gotpast playing wid dolls."
"I hope you'll find one," said Patty politely; "and I'm afraid wewouldn't suit each other."
Another Irish girl, with a merry rosy face and frizzled blonde hair, wasvery anxious to go to work for Patty.
"Sure, it will be fun!" she said. "I'd like to work for such a prettylittle lady; and, sure, we'd have the good times. Could I have all meafternoons out, miss?"
"Not if you lived with me," said Patty, laughing. "My house is large,and there's a great deal of work to be done by somebody. I think my cookcouldn't do her share if she went out every afternoon."
Many others were interviewed, but each seemed to have more or lessobjectionable traits. One would not come unless she were the onlyservant; another would not come unless Patty kept five. Most of themshowed such a decided lack of respect to so young a mistress that AuntAlice began to despair of finding the kind, capable woman she hadimagined. They went home feeling rather discouraged, but when Patty toldher troubles to her father, he only laughed.
"Bless your heart, child," he said; "you couldn't expect to engage awhole cook in one afternoon! It's a long and serious process."
"But, papa, you said we'd be all settled and ready by the first ofJanuary."
"Yes, I know, but I didn't say which January."
"Now, you're teasing," said Patty; but she ran away with a light heart,feeling sure that somehow a cook would be provided.
That evening, according to appointment, Pansy Potts appeared forinspection. The whole Elliott family was present, and observed with muchinterest the strange-looking girl.
But, though ignorant and awkward, Pansy was not embarrassed, and, seemingto realise that her fate lay in the hands of Mrs. Elliott, Mr. Fairfield,and Patty, she addressed herself to them.
Her manner, though untrained, showed respectful deference, and herexpressive black eyes showed quick perception and clever adaptability.
"She is all right at heart," thought Mr. Fairfield to himself, "but sheknows next to nothing. I wonder if it would be
a good plan to let the twogirls help each other out."
"Have you ever waited at table, Pansy?" he asked, so pleasantly thatPansy Potts felt encouragement rather than alarm.
"No, sir; but I could learn, and I would do exactly as I was told."
"That's the right spirit," said Mr. Fairfield "I think perhaps we'llhave to give you a trial."
"But don't you know anything of a housemaid's duties?" inquired AuntAlice, who was a little dubious in the face of such absolute ignorance."For instance, if the door-bell should ring, what would you do?"
"I would have asked Miss Patty beforehand, ma'am, and I would do whatevershe had told me to."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Mr. Fairfield. "I think you'll do, Pansy; at anyrate, you'll have nothing to unlearn, and that's a great deal."
So the waitress was engaged, and it was not long after this that a cook"dropped from the skies," as Patty expressed it.
One afternoon a large and amiable-looking coloured woman appeared at Mrs.Elliott's house, with a note from Mrs. Stevens recommending her as a cookfor Patty. As soon as Patty saw her she liked her, but, rememberingprevious experiences, she said:
"Do you understand that you are to work for me? I'm a very younghousekeeper, you know."
"Laws, missy, dat's all right. Til do de housekeepin' and you can do debossin'. I reckon we'll get along mos' beautiful."
"That sounds attractive, I'm sure," said Patty, laughing. "What isyour name?"
"Emancipation Proclamation Jackson," announced the owner of thename proudly.
"That's a big name," said Patty; "I couldn't call you all that at once."
"Co'se I shouldn't expect it. Mancy, mos' folks calls me, and dat's goodenough for me; but I likes my name, my whole name, and it does lookbeautiful, wrote."
"I should think it might," said Aunt Alice. "Can you cook, Mancy?"
"Oh, yas'm, I kin cook everything what there is to cook, and I can makethings besides. Oh, they won't be no trouble about my cookin'. I knowdat much!"
"Are you a good laundress?" asked Aunt Alice.
"Yas'm, I am! Ef I do say it dat shouldn't, you jes' ought to see declothes I sends up! Dey's jes' like druvven snow. Oh, dey won't be notrouble about de laundry work!"
"And can you sweep?" said Patty.
"Can I sweep? Law, chile, co'se I kin sweep! What yo' s'pose I want tohire out for, ef I can't do all dem things? Oh, dey won't be no troubleabout sweepin'!"
"Well, where _will_ the trouble be, Mancy?" said Patty.
"Dey moughtn't be any trouble, miss," said the black woman earnestly;"but if dey is, it'll be 'count o' my bein' spoke cross to. I jes'nachelly can't stand bein' spoke cross to. It riles me all up."
"I don't believe there will be any trouble on that score," said Patty,laughing. "My father and I are the best-natured people in the world."
"I believe yo', missy; an' dat's why I wants to come."
"There will be another servant, Mancy," said Aunt Alice; "a young girlwho will be a waitress. She is ignorant and inexperienced, but Verywilling to learn. Do you think you could get along with her?"
"Is she good-natured?" asked Mancy.
"I don't know her very well," said Patty; "but I think she is. I'm sureshe will be, if we are."
"Den dat's all right," said Mancy. "I kin look after you two chilluns, I'spect, and get my work done, too. When shall I come?"
"The house isn't quite ready yet," said Patty; "but I hope to go thereto live on New Year's day."
"I think we'd be glad of Mancy's help a few days before that," saidAunt Alice.
And so, subject to Mr. Fairfield's final sanction, Mancy was engaged. Andnow Patty's whole establishment, including Pudgy the cat, was made up.