CHAPTER VIII
MRS. TOLBRIDGE'S REPORT IS NOT ACCEPTED
A few days after Miss Bannister's call at Cobhurst, it was returned byRalph and Miriam, who drove to Thorbury with the brown mare and the gig.To their disappointment, they found that the young lady was not at home,and the communicative maid informed them that she had gone to the city tohelp Mrs. Tolbridge to get a new cook.
They went home by the way of the Witton house, and there they foundMiss Panney at home. The old lady was very much interested in Miriam,whom she had not before seen out of bed. She scrutinized the girl fromhat to boots.
"What do you want me to call you, my dear?" she asked. "Don't youhonestly think you are too young to be called Miss Haverley?"
"I think it would be very well if you were to call me Miriam," said theother, who was of the opinion that Miss Panney was old enough to call anywoman by her Christian name.
The conversation was maintained almost entirely by the old lady andRalph, for Miriam was silent and very solemn. Once she broke in with aquestion:--
"What kind of a person is Miss Bannister?" she asked. Miss Panney gave ashort laugh.
"Oh, she is a charming person," she answered, "pretty, good-humored,well educated, excellent taste in dress and almost everything, and verylively and pleasant to talk to. I am very fond of her."
"I am afraid," said Miriam, "that she is too old and too fine for me,"and turning to a photograph album she began to study the familyportraits.
"Your sister's ideas are rather girlish as yet," said Miss Panney, "buthousekeeping at Cobhurst will change all that;" and then she went on withher remarks concerning the Haverley and Butterwood families, a subjectupon which Ralph was not nearly so well informed as she was.
When the brother and sister had driven away, Miss Panney reflected thatthe visit had given her two pieces of information. One was that theHaverley girl was a good deal younger than she had thought her, and theother was that Mrs. Tolbridge was really trying to get a new cook. Thefirst point she did not consider with satisfaction.
"It is a pity," she thought, "that Dora and his sister are not likely tobe friends. That would help wonderfully. This schoolgirl, probablyjealous of the superiority of grown-up young ladies, may be very much inthe way. I am sorry the case is not different."
In regard to the other point the old lady was very well satisfied, anddetermined to go soon to see what success Mrs. Tolbridge had had.
About the middle of the next forenoon, Miss Panney tied her horse infront of the Tolbridge house and entered unceremoniously, as she was inthe habit of doing. She found the doctor's wife standing by theback-parlor window looking out on the garden. When the old lady hadseated herself she immediately proceeded to business.
"Well, Kitty," said she, "what sort of a time did you have yesterday?"
"A very discouraging and disagreeable one," said Mrs. Tolbridge. "I mightjust as well have stayed at home."
"You don't mean to say," asked Miss Panney, "that nobody answered youradvertisement?"
"When I reached the rooms of the Non-Resident Club, where the applicantswere to call--"
"That's the first time," interrupted Miss Panney, "that I ever heard thatthat Club was of the slightest use."
"It wasn't of any use this time," said the other; "for although I foundseveral women there who came before the hour appointed, and at least adozen came in the course of the morning, not one of them would do atall. I was just now looking out at our asparagus bed, and wondering ifany of those beautiful heads would ever be cooked properly. The woman inour kitchen knows that she is to depart, and she is in a terribly badtemper, and this she puts into her cooking. The doctor is almost out oftemper himself. He says that he has pretty good teeth, but that hecannot bite spite."
Miss Panney now appeared to be getting out of temper.
"I must say, Kitty," she said, in a tone of irritation, "that I do notunderstand how it was that out of the score or more of applicants, youcould not find a better cook than the good-for-nothing creature you havenow. What was the matter with them?"
"Everything, it seemed to me," answered Mrs. Tolbridge. "Now hereis Dora. She was with me yesterday, and you can ask her about thewomen we saw."
Miss Panney attached no value whatever to the opinions, in regard todomestic service, of the young lady who had just entered the room, andshe asked her no questions. Miss Bannister, however, did not seem in theleast slighted, and sat down to join the chat.
"I suppose," said Miss Panney, sarcastically, "that you tried to findthat woman that the doctor used to say he wanted: a woman who hadcommitted some great crime, who could find no relief from her thoughtsbut in constant work, work, work."
Mrs. Tolbridge smiled.
"No, I did not look for her; nor did I try to find the person who was ofa chilly disposition and very susceptible to draughts. We used to wantone of that sort, but she should be a waitress. But, seriously, therewere objections to every one of them. Religion was a great obstacle. Thechurches of Thorbury are not designed for the consciences of cityservants. There was no Lutheran Church for the Swedes; and the fact thatthe Catholic Church was a mile from our house, with no street-cars,settled the question for most of them. The truth is, none of them wantedto come into the country, unless they could get near Newport or someother suitable summer resort."
"But there was that funny old body in a shawl," said Dora, "who made noobjections to churches, or anything else in fact, as soon as she foundout your husband wasn't in trade."
"True," replied Mrs. Tolbridge; "she didn't object, but she wasobjectionable."
Miss Panney was beginning to fasten her wrap about her. She had heardquite enough, but still she deigned to snap out:--
"What was the matter with her?"
"Oh, she was entirely out of the question," said the lady of the house."In the first place, she was the widow of a French chef, or somebody ofthat sort, and has a wonderful opinion of her abilities. She understandsall kinds of cooking,--plain or fancy."
"And even butter," said Dora; "she said she knew all about that."
"Yes; and she understood how butcher's meat should be cut, and thechoosing of poultry, and I know not what else besides."
"And only asked," cried Dora, laughing, "if your husband was in trade;and when she heard that he was a professional man, was perfectlywilling to come."
Miss Panney turned toward Mrs. Tolbridge, sat up very straight in herchair, and glared.
"Was not this the very woman you were looking for? Why didn't youtake her?"
"Take her!" repeated Mrs. Tolbridge, with some irritation. "What could Ido with a woman like that? She would want enormous wages. She would haveto have kitchen maids, and I know not whom, besides, to wait on her; andas for our plain style of living, she could not be expected to standthat. She would be entirely out of place in a house like this."
"Her looks were enough to settle her case," said Dora. "You never sawsuch an old witch; she would frighten the horses."
"Kitty Tolbridge," said Miss Panney, severely, "did you ask that woman ifshe wanted high wages, if she required kitchen maids, if she would besatisfied to cook for your family?"
"No, I didn't," said the other; "I knew it was of no use. It was plain tosee that she would not do at all."
"Did you get her address?"
"Yes," said Dora; "she gave me a card as we were going out, and insistedon my taking it. It is in my bag at home."
Miss Panney was silent for a moment, and was evidently endeavoring tocool her feelings so as to speak without indignation.
"Kitty Tolbridge," she said presently, "I think you have deliberatelyturned your back on one of the greatest opportunities ever offered to awoman with a valuable husband. There are husbands who have no value, andwho might as well be hurried to their graves by indigestion as in anyother way, but the doctor is not one of these. Now, whatever you know ofthat woman proves her to be the very person who should be in your kitchenat this moment; and whatever you have said against her
is all the resultof your imagination. If I were in your place, I would take the nexttrain for the city; and before I closed my eyes this night, I would knowwhether or not such a prize as that were in my reach. I say prize becauseI never heard of such a chance being offered to a doctor's wife in acountry town. Now what are you going to do about it, Kitty? If yourregard for your husband's physical condition is not sufficient to makeyou look on this matter as I do, think of his soul. If you don't believethat true religion and good cooking go hand in hand, wait a year and thensee what sort of a husband you will have."
Mrs. Tolbridge felt that she ought to resent this speech, that she oughtto be, at least, a little angry; but when she was a small girl, MissPanney was an old woman who sometimes used to scold her. She had notminded the scoldings very much then, and she could not bring herself tomind this scolding very much now. Occasionally she had scolded MissPanney, and the old lady had never been angry.
"I shall not go to the city," she said, with a smile; "but I will write,and ask all the questions. Then our consciences will be easier."
Miss Panney rose to her feet.
"Do it, I beg of you," she said, "and do it this morning. And now, Dora,if you walked here, I will drive you home in my phaeton, for you ought tosend that address to Mrs. Tolbridge without delay."
As the old roan jogged away from the doctor's house, Miss Panney remarkedto her companion, "I needn't have hurried you off so soon, Dora, for itis three hours before the next mail will leave; but I did want Mrs.Tolbridge to sit down at once and write that letter without beinginterrupted by anything which you might have come to tell her. Of course,the sooner you send her the address, the better."
"The boy shall take it to her as soon as I get home," said Dora.
She very much disliked scoldings, and had not now a word to say againstthe old body who would frighten the horses. Desirous of turning theconversation in another direction without seeming to force it, "It seemsto me," she said, "that Mr. and Miss Haverley ought to have somebodybetter to cook for them than old Phoebe. I have always looked upon her asa sort of a charwoman, working about from house to house, doing anythingthat people hired her to do."
"That's just what those Haverleys want," said Miss Panney. "At present,everything is charwork at their place, and as to their food, I don'tsuppose they think much about it, so that they get enough. At their agethey can eat anything."
"How old is Miss Haverley?" asked Dora.
"Miss Haverley!" repeated Miss Panney, "she's nothing but a girl, withher hair down her back and her skirts a foot from the ground. I callher a child."
A shadow came over the soul of Miss Bannister.
Would it be possible, she thought, to maintain, with a girl who did notyet put up her hair or wear long skirts, the intimacy she had hoped tomaintain with Mr. Haverley's sister?
Very much the same idea was in the mind of Miss Panney, but she thoughtit well to speak encouragingly. "I wish, for her brother's sake, the girlwere older," said she: "but housekeeping will help to mature her muchmore quickly than if she had remained at school. And as for school," sheadded, "it strikes me it would be a good thing for her to go backthere--after awhile."
Dora thought this a good opinion, but before she could say anything onthe subject, she lifted her eyes, and beheld Ralph Haverley walking downthe street toward them. He was striding along at a fine pace, and lookedas if he enjoyed it.
"I declare," ejaculated Miss Bannister, "here he is himself. We shallmeet him."
"He? who?" and Miss Panney looked from side to side of the road, and themoment she saw the young man, she smiled.
It pleased her that Dora should speak of him as "he," showing that thebrother was in her mind when they had been talking of the sister.
Miss Panney drew up to the sidewalk, and Ralph stopped.
He was greatly pleased with the cordial greeting he received fromthe two ladies. These Thorbury people were certainly very sociableand kind-hearted. The sunlight was on Dora's soul now, and itsparkled in her eyes.
"It was my other hand that I gave you when I met you before," she said,with a charming smile.
"Yes," said Ralph, also with a smile, "and I think I held it anuncommonly long time."
"Indeed you did," said Dora; and they both laughed.
Miss Panney listened in surprise.
"You two seem to know each other better than I supposed," she said. "Whendid you become acquainted?"
"We have met but once before," replied Dora, "but that was rather apeculiar meeting." And then she told the story of her call at Cobhurst,and of the mare's forelock, and the old lady was delighted with thenarration. She had never planned a match which had begun so auspiciously.These young people must be truly congenial, for already a spirit ofcomradeship seemed to have sprung up between them. But of course thatsort of thing could not be kept up to the desirable point without theassistance of the sister. In some way or other, that girl must bemanaged. Miss Panney determined to give her mind to it.
With Ralph standing close by the side of the phaeton, the reins lyingloose on the back of the drowsy roan, and Dora leaning forward from herseat, so as to speak better with the young man, the interview was one ofconsiderable length, and no one seemed to think it necessary that itshould be brought to a close. Ralph had come to attend to some businessin the town, and had preferred to walk rather than drive the brown mare.
"Did you ever catch that delightfully obstinate creature?" cried Dora."And did you give your sister a drive in the gig?"
"Oh, yes," said Ralph, "I easily caught her again, and I curried andpolished her up myself, and trimmed her mane and tail and fetlocks, andsince she has been having good meals of oats, you can hardly imaginewhat a sleek-looking beast she has become. We drove her into Thorburywhen Miriam returned your call. I am sorry you were not at home, so thatyou might have seen what a change had come over Mrs. Browning."
Dora looked inquiringly.
"That is the name that Miriam has given to the mare."
Dora laughed.
"If Mrs. Browning is one of your sister's favorite poets," she said,"that will be a bond between us, for I like her poems better than I doher husband's, at least I understand them better. I wonder if your sisterwill ever ask me to take a drive with her in the gig? I could show her somany pretty places."
"Indeed she will," said Ralph; "but you mustn't think we are going toconfine ourselves to that sedate conveyance and the old mare. The coltsare old enough to be broken, and when they are ready to drive we shallhave a spanking team."
"That will be splendid," exclaimed Dora. "I cannot imagine anything moreinspiriting than driving with a pair of freshly broken horses."
Miss Panney gave a little sniff.
"That sort of thing," she said, "sometimes exalts one's spirit so highthat it is never again burdened by the body; but all horses have to bebroken, and people continue to live."
She smiled as she thought that the pair of young colts which she hadtaken in hand seemed to give promise of driving together mostbeautifully. But it would not do to stop here all the morning, and asthere was no sign that Dora would tire of asking questions or Ralph ofanswering them, the old lady gathered up the reins.
"You mustn't be surprised, Mr. Haverley," she said, "if the ladies ofThorbury come a good deal to Cobhurst. We have more time than thegentlemen, and we all want to get well acquainted with your sister, andhelp her in every way that we can. Miss Bannister is going to drive oververy soon and stop for me on the way, so that we shall call on hertogether."
When the young man had bowed and departed, and the old roan wasjogging on, Dora leaned back in the phaeton and said to herself, that,without knowing it, Miss Panney was an angel. When they should gotogether to Cobhurst, the old lady would be sure to spend her timetalking to the girl.