CHAPTER XVIII. MARY BRINGS EVIL TIDINGS
Mary Vance, whom Mrs. Elliott had sent up to the manse on an errand,came tripping down Rainbow Valley on her way to Ingleside where she wasto spend the afternoon with Nan and Di as a Saturday treat. Nan and Dihad been picking spruce gum with Faith and Una in the manse woods andthe four of them were now sitting on a fallen pine by the brook, all,it must be admitted, chewing rather vigorously. The Ingleside twins werenot allowed to chew spruce gum anywhere but in the seclusion of RainbowValley, but Faith and Una were unrestricted by such rules of etiquetteand cheerfully chewed it everywhere, at home and abroad, to the veryproper horror of the Glen. Faith had been chewing it in church one day;but Jerry had realized the enormity of THAT, and had given her such anolder-brotherly scolding that she never did it again.
"I was so hungry I just felt as if I had to chew something," sheprotested. "You know well enough what breakfast was like, JerryMeredith. I COULDN'T eat scorched porridge and my stomach just felt soqueer and empty. The gum helped a lot--and I didn't chew VERY hard. Ididn't make any noise and I never cracked the gum once."
"You mustn't chew gum in church, anyhow," insisted Jerry. "Don't let mecatch you at it again."
"You chewed yourself in prayer-meeting last week," cried Faith.
"THAT'S different," said Jerry loftily. "Prayer-meeting isn't on Sunday.Besides, I sat away at the back in a dark seat and nobody saw me. Youwere sitting right up front where every one saw you. And I took the gumout of my mouth for the last hymn and stuck it on the back of the pewright up in front where every one saw you. Then I came away and forgotit. I went back to get it next morning, but it was gone. I suppose RodWarren swiped it. And it was a dandychew."
Mary Vance walked down the Valley with her head held high. She had ona new blue velvet cap with a scarlet rosette in it, a coat of navy bluecloth and a little squirrel-fur muff. She was very conscious of her newclothes and very well pleased with herself. Her hair was elaboratelycrimped, her face was quite plump, her cheeks rosy, her white eyesshining. She did not look much like the forlorn and ragged waif theMerediths had found in the old Taylor barn. Una tried not to feelenvious. Here was Mary with a new velvet cap, but she and Faith had towear their shabby old gray tams again this winter. Nobody ever thoughtof getting them new ones and they were afraid to ask their father forthem for fear that he might be short of money and then he would feelbadly. Mary had told them once that ministers were always short ofmoney, and found it "awful hard" to make ends meet. Since then Faith andUna would have gone in rags rather than ask their father for anythingif they could help it. They did not worry a great deal over theirshabbiness; but it was rather trying to see Mary Vance coming out insuch style and putting on such airs about it, too. The new squirrel muffwas really the last straw. Neither Faith nor Una had ever had a muff,counting themselves lucky if they could compass mittens without holes inthem. Aunt Martha could not see to darn holes and though Una tried to,she made sad cobbling. Somehow, they could not make their greeting ofMary very cordial. But Mary did not mind or notice that; she was notoverly sensitive. She vaulted lightly to a seat on the pine tree, andlaid the offending muff on a bough. Una saw that it was lined withshirred red satin and had red tassels. She looked down at her own ratherpurple, chapped, little hands and wondered if she would ever, EVER beable to put them into a muff like that.
"Give us a chew," said Mary companionably. Nan, Di and Faith allproduced an amber-hued knot or two from their pockets and passed them toMary. Una sat very still. She had four lovely big knots in the pocket ofher tight, thread-bare little jacket, but she wasn't going to give oneof them to Mary Vance--not one Let Mary pick her own gum! People withsquirrel muffs needn't expect to get everything in the world.
"Great day, isn't it?" said Mary, swinging her legs, the better,perhaps, to display new boots with very smart cloth tops. Una tucked HERfeet under her. There was a hole in the toe of one of her boots and bothlaces were much knotted. But they were the best she had. Oh, this MaryVance! Why hadn't they left her in the old barn?
Una never felt badly because the Ingleside twins were better dressedthan she and Faith were. THEY wore their pretty clothes with carelessgrace and never seemed to think about them at all. Somehow, they did notmake other people feel shabby. But when Mary Vance was dressed up sheseemed fairly to exude clothes--to walk in an atmosphere of clothes--tomake everybody else feel and think clothes. Una, as she sat there in thehoney-tinted sunshine of the gracious December afternoon, was acutelyand miserably conscious of everything she had on--the faded tam, whichwas yet her best, the skimpy jacket she had worn for three winters, theholes in her skirt and her boots, the shivering insufficiency of herpoor little undergarments. Of course, Mary was going out for a visit andshe was not. But even if she had been she had nothing better to put onand in this lay the sting.
"Say, this is great gum. Listen to me cracking it. There ain't any gumspruces down at Four Winds," said Mary. "Sometimes I just hanker aftera chew. Mrs. Elliott won't let me chew gum if she sees me. She says itain't lady-like. This lady-business puzzles me. I can't get on to allits kinks. Say, Una, what's the matter with you? Cat got your tongue?"
"No," said Una, who could not drag her fascinated eyes from thatsquirrel muff. Mary leaned past her, picked it up and thrust it intoUna's hands.
"Stick your paws in that for a while," she ordered. "They look sorterpinched. Ain't that a dandy muff? Mrs. Elliott give it to me last weekfor a birthday present. I'm to get the collar at Christmas. I heard hertelling Mr. Elliott that."
"Mrs. Elliott is very good to you," said Faith.
"You bet she is. And I'M good to her, too," retorted Mary. "I work likea nigger to make it easy for her and have everything just as she likesit. We was made for each other. 'Tisn't every one could get along withher as well as I do. She's pizen neat, but so am I, and so we agreefine."
"I told you she would never whip you."
"So you did. She's never tried to lay a finger on me and I ain't nevertold a lie to her--not one, true's you live. She combs me down with hertongue sometimes though, but that just slips off ME like water off aduck's back. Say, Una, why didn't you hang on to the muff?"
Una had put it back on the bough.
"My hands aren't cold, thank you," she said stiffly.
"Well, if you're satisfied, _I_ am. Say, old Kitty Alec has come back tochurch as meek as Moses and nobody knows why. But everybody is sayingit was Faith brought Norman Douglas out. His housekeeper says you wentthere and gave him an awful tongue-lashing. Did you?"
"I went and asked him to come to church," said Faith uncomfortably.
"Fancy your spunk!" said Mary admiringly. "_I_ wouldn't have dareddo that and I'm not so slow. Mrs. Wilson says the two of you jawedsomething scandalous, but you come off best and then he just turnedround and like to eat you up. Say, is your father going to preach hereto-morrow?"
"No. He's going to exchange with Mr. Perry from Charlottetown. Fatherwent to town this morning and Mr. Perry is coming out to-night."
"I THOUGHT there was something in the wind, though old Martha wouldn'tgive me any satisfaction. But I felt sure she wouldn't have been killingthat rooster for nothing."
"What rooster? What do you mean?" cried Faith, turning pale.
"_I_ don't know what rooster. I didn't see it. When she took the butterMrs. Elliott sent up she said she'd been out to the barn killing arooster for dinner tomorrow."
Faith sprang down from the pine.
"It's Adam--we have no other rooster--she has killed Adam."
"Now, don't fly off the handle. Martha said the butcher at the Glen hadno meat this week and she had to have something and the hens were alllaying and too poor."
"If she has killed Adam--" Faith began to run up the hill.
Mary shrugged her shoulders.
"She'll go crazy now. She was so fond of that Adam. He ought to havebeen in the pot long ago--he'll be as tough as sole leather. But _I_wouldn't like to be in Martha's shoes. Faith's just white with r
age;Una, you'd better go after her and try to peacify her."
Mary had gone a few steps with the Blythe girls when Una suddenly turnedand ran after her.
"Here's some gum for you, Mary," she said, with a little repentant catchin her voice, thrusting all her four knots into Mary's hands, "and I'mglad you have such a pretty muff."
"Why, thanks," said Mary, rather taken by surprise. To the Blythe girls,after Una had gone, she said, "Ain't she a queer little mite? But I'vealways said she had a good heart."