CHAPTER XVII
JUDITH PACEWALK'S TEABERRY GOWN
"Judith Pacewalk," said Miss Panney, "was Matthias Butterwood's cousin.Before Matthias got rich and built this house, he lived with his AuntPacewalk on her farm. That was over at Pascalville, about thirty milesfrom here. He superintended the farm, and Judith and he were very goodfriends, although he never showed any signs of caring anything for herexcept in the way of a cousin; but she cared for him. There was no doubtabout that. I lived in Pascalville, then, and used to be a great deal attheir house, and it was as plain as daylight to me that Judith was inlove with her cousin, although she was such a quiet girl that few peoplesuspected it, and I know he did not.
"The Pacewalks were poor, and always had been; and it could not beexpected that a man like Matthias Butterwood could stay long on thatlittle farm. He had a sharp business head, and was a money-maker, and assoon as he was able he bought a farm of his own, and this is the farm;but there was no house on it then, except the little one that Mike nowlives in. But Matthias had grand ideas about an estate, and in the courseof five years he built this house and the great barn, and made a fineestate of it.
"When this was going on, he still lived with his Aunt Pacewalk. He didnot want to go to his own house until everything was finished and ready.Of course, everybody supposed he would take a wife there, but he neversaid anything about that, and gave a sniff when the subject wasmentioned. During the summer in which Cobhurst was finished--he named theplace himself--he told his aunt that in the fall he was going there tolive, and that he wanted her and Judith to come there and make him avisit of a month. He said he intended to have his relations visit him byturns, and that was the sort of family he would have. Now it struck methat if Judith went there and played her cards properly, she could staythere as mistress. Although she was a girl very much given to keeping herown counsel, I knew very well that she had something of the same idea.
"As I said before, the Pacewalks were poor, and although they lived wellenough, money was scarce with them, and it was seldom that they were ableto spend any of it for clothes. But about this time Judith came to me--Iwas visiting them at the time--and talked a little about herself, whichwas uncommon. She said that if she went to Matthias' fine new house, andsat at the head of his table,--and of course that would be her placethere, as it was at her mother's table,--she thought that she ought todress better than she did. 'I do not mean,' she said, 'that I want anyfine clothes for company; but I ought to have something neat and properfor everyday wear, and I want you to help me to think of some way to buyit.' So we talked the matter over, and came to the conclusion that thebest way to do was to try to gather teaberries enough to pay for thematerial for a chintz gown.
"In those days--I don't know how it is now--Pascalville was the greatestplace for teaberries. They used them as a flavor for candy, ice-cream,puddings, cakes, and I don't know what else. They made summer drinks ofit, and it was used as a perfume for home-made hair-washes andtooth-powder. So Judith and I and a girl named Dorcas Stone, who was afriend of ours, went to work gathering teaberries in the woods. We workedearly and late, and got enough to trade off at the store for the tenyards of chintz with which that gown is made.
"As for the making of it, Judith and I did all that ourselves. DorcasStone might be willing enough to go with us to pick berries, but whenshe found what was to be bought with them, she drew out of the business.She was not a girl who was particularly sharp about seeing thingsherself, or keeping people from seeing through her; but she wanted tomarry Matthias Butterwood, and when she found Judith was to have a newgown she would have nothing to do with it, which was a pity, for she wasa very fine sewer, especially as to gathers.
"We cut the gown from some patterns we got from a magazine; I fitted it,and we both sewed. When it was done, and Judith tried it on, it was verypretty and becoming, and she looked better in it than in the gown shewore when she went to a party. When we had seen that everything was allright, Judith took off the dress, folded it up, and put it away in adrawer. 'Now,' said she, 'I shall not wear that until I go to Cobhurst.'
"Well, as everybody knows, houses are never finished at the time they areexpected to be, and that was the way with this house, and as Matthiaswould not go into it until everything was quite ready, the moving was putoff and put off until it began to be cold weather, and then he said hewould not go into it until spring, for it would be uncomfortable to livein the new house in the winter.
"I was very sorry for this, for I thought that the sooner Judith got herethe better her chance would be for staying here the rest of her life.Judith did not say much, but I am sure she was sorry too, and Matthiasseemed a little out of spirits, as if he were getting a little tired ofliving with the Pacewalks, and wanted to be in his own house. I think hebegan to feel more like seeing people, and I know he visited the Stones agood deal.
"One day when I was at the Pacewalks' and we were sitting alone, helooked at me and my clothes, and then he said, 'I wish Judith cared morefor clothes than she does. I do not mean getting herself up for high daysand holidays, but her everyday clothes. I like a woman to wear neat andbecoming things all the time.' 'I am sure,' I said, 'Judith's clothes arealways very neat!'
"'If you mean clean,' he said, 'I will agree to that, but when the coloris all washed out of a thing, or it is faded in streaks like that bluegown she wears, the wearing of it day after day is bound to make a personthink that a young woman does not care how she looks to her own family,and I do not like young women not to care how they look to theirfamilies, especially when calico is only twelve cents a yard, and needlesand thread cost almost nothing.' 'Matthias,' said I, 'I expect you havebeen to see Dorcas Stone, and are comparing her clothes with Judith's.Now, Dorcas' father is a well-to-do man, and Judith hasn't any father,and she does the best she can with the clothes she has.' 'It is not moneyI am talking about,' he said, 'it is disposition. If a young woman wantsto look well in her own family, she will find some way to do it. At anyrate, she could let it be seen that she is not satisfied to look like adowdy.' And then he went away.
"This was the first time that Matthias had ever spoken to me aboutJudith, and I knew just as well as if he had told me that it was DorcasStone's clothes that had got him into that way of thinking.
"More than that, I knew he would never have taken the trouble to say thatmuch about Judith if he had not been taking more interest in her than heever had before. He was a practical, businesslike man, and I believedthen, and I believe now, that he was looking for some one to be mistressof Cobhurst, and if Judith had suited his ideas of what such a womanought to be, he would have preferred her to any one else. I think thatwas about as far as he was likely to go in such matters at that time,though of course if he had gotten a loving wife, he might have become aloving husband, for Matthias was a good fellow at bottom, though ratherhard on top.
"When he had gone, I went straight upstairs to Judith, and said to her,if she knew what was good for her, she would get out that teaberry gownand put it on for supper, and wear it regularly at meals and at all timeswhen it would be suitable as a house gown. 'I shall do nothing of thesort,' she said; 'I got it to wear when I go to Cobhurst, and I shallkeep it until then. If I put it on now, it will be a poor-looking thingby spring.' I told her that was all nonsense, and she could wear that andget another in the spring, but she shook her head and was not to bemoved. Now, I would have been glad enough to give her the stuff to make anew gown, but I had hinted at that sort of thing before, and did notintend to do it again, for she was a good deal prouder than she was poor.Nor could I think of telling her what Matthias had said, for not onlywas she very sensitive, and would have been hurt that he should havetalked to me in that way about her, but she would not have consented todress herself on purpose to please a man's fancy.
"I could not do anything more then, but I have always been a matchmaker,and I did not give up this match. I did everything I could to make Judithlook well in the eyes of Matthias, and I said everything I could to
makehis eyes look favorably on her, but it was all of no use. Judith went toa Christmas party, and she wore a purple silk gown that had belonged toher mother. It was rather large for her, and a good deal heavier thananything she had been accustomed to wear, and she got very warm in thecrowded room, and coming home in a sleigh, she caught cold, and died inless than a month.
"So you see, my dears, Judith Pacewalk never wore her teaberry gown, inwhich, I believe, she would have been mistress of Cobhurst. When hermother died, not long afterward, everything they owned went to Matthiasand his brother Reuben. The Pacewalk farm was sold, and all the personalproperty of both brothers, including that disastrous box of bones, wasbrought here, where it is yet, I suppose; and so, my good young people, Iimagine you will not wonder that I was surprised to see that pink gownagain, having helped, as I did, with every seam, pleat, and gather of it.If you will look at it closely, you will see that there is good work onit, for Judith and I knew how to use our needles a good deal better thanmost ladies do nowadays."
Miriam now spoke with much promptness.
"I am ever so glad to hear that story, Miss Panney," she said, "and asthat teaberry gown should have been worn by the mistress of Cobhurst, Iintend to wear it myself, every day, as long as it lasts, and if it doesnot fit me, I can alter it."
Whether this remark, which was delivered with considerable spirit, wasoccasioned by the young girl's natural pride, or whether a littlejealousy had been aroused by the evident satisfaction with which theold lady gazed at Dora, arrayed in this significant garment, MissPanney could not know, but she took instant alarm. Nothing could bemore fatal to her plans than to see the sister opposed to them. Shehad been delighted at the intimacy that had evidently sprung upbetween her and Dora, but she knew very well that if this sedateschool-girl should resent any interference with her prerogatives, theintimacy would be in danger.
Miss Panney had no doubt that Dora and Ralph were on the right road, andwould do very well if left to themselves, but she scarcely believed thatthe young man was yet sufficiently in love to brave the opposition of hissister, which would be all the more wild and unreasonable because she wasyet a girl, and in a position of which she was very proud.
For Dora and Ralph to marry, Dora and Miriam should be the best offriends, so that both brother and sister should desire the alliance,and in furtherance of this happy result, Miss Panney determined totake Dora away with her. She had been at Cobhurst long enough toproduce a desirable impression upon Ralph, and if she stayed longer,there was no knowing what might happen between her and Miriam. Dora, aswell as the other, was high-spirited and young, and it was as likely asnot that as she showed an inclination to continue to wear the teaberrygown, there would be a storm in which matrimonial schemes would bewashed out of sight.
"Dora," said Miss Panney, "I am now going to drive to Thorbury, and itwill be a great deal better for you to go with me than to wait for yourbrother, for it may be very late in the day before he can come for you.And more than that, it is ten to one that by this time he has forgottenall about you, especially if his office is full of clients. So pleaseget yourself ready as soon as possible. And, Miriam, if you will comeover to see me some morning, and bring that teaberry gown with you, Iwill alter it to fit you, and arrange it so that you can do the sewingyourself. It is very appropriate that the little lady of the houseshould wear that gown."
Into the minds of Dora and Miss Panney there came, simultaneously, thisidea: that no matter how much or how often Miriam might wear that gown,she would not be the first one whom it had figuratively invested with theprerogatives of the mistress of Cobhurst.
Miss Bannister, who well knew her brother's habits, agreed to the oldlady's suggestion, and it was well she did so, for when she got home,Herbert declared that he had been puzzling his mind to devise a plan forsending for his sister and the broken buggy on the same afternoon. Asfor going himself, it was impossible.
When Dora came downstairs arrayed in her proper costume, Ralph thoughther a great deal prettier than when she wore the pink chintz. MissPanney thought so, too, and she managed to leave them together, whileshe went with Miriam to get pen and paper with which to write a note toMolly Tooney.
"Molly cannot read," said the old lady, "but if Mike will take that toher, she will come to you and stay as long as you like," and then shewent on to talk about the woman until she thought that Ralph and Dora hadhad about five minutes together, which she considered enough.
"You must both come and see me," cried Miss Bannister, as, leaning fromthe phaeton, she stretched out her hand to Miriam.
"Indeed we shall do so," said Ralph, and as his sister relinquished thehand of the visitor he took it himself.
Miss Panney was not one of those drivers who start off with a jerk. Hadshe been such a one, Miss Bannister might have been pulled against theside of the phaeton, for the grasp was cordial.