CHAPTER XV
ANOTHER BOARDER
Lyddy heard her sister and Harris Colesworth in the hall, and then in thedining-room. The girls had not made a fire in any other room in the house.It took too much wood, and the dining-room was large enough to be used asa sitting-room "for company," too.
And with the fresh maple branches and arbutus decorating the space overthe mantel, and the great dish of violets on the table, and the odorousplum branches everywhere, that dining-room was certainly an attractiveapartment.
The old-fashioned blue-and-white china and the few pieces of heavysilverware "dressed" the table very nicely. The linen was yellow withage, but every glass and spoon shone.
The sun streamed warmly in at the windows, the view from which was lovely.Lyddy heard the appreciative remarks of the young man as 'Phemie usheredhim in.
But she ran out to greet the old gentleman. The elder Colesworth was sixtyor more--a frail, scholarly-looking man, with a winning smile. He, likeMr. Bray, leaned on a cane; but Mr. Bray was at least fifteen years Mr.Colesworth's junior.
"So _you_ are 'L. Bray'; are you?" asked the old gentleman, shaking handswith her. "You are the elder daughter and head of the household, yourfather tells me."
"I am older than 'Phemie--yes," admitted Lyddy, blushing. "But we haveno 'head' here. I do my part of the work, and she does hers."
"And, please God," said Mr. Bray, earnestly, "I shall soon be able to domine."
"Work is the word, then!" cried the old gentleman. "I tell Harris that'sall that is the matter with me. I knocked off work too early. 'Retired,'they call it. But it doesn't pay--it doesn't pay."
"There will be plenty for you to do up here, Mr. Colesworth," suggestedLyddy, laughing. "We'll let you chop your own wood, if you like. Butperhaps picking flowers for the table will be more to your taste--atfirst."
"I don't know--I don't know," returned the old gentleman. "I was broughtup on a farm. I used to know how to swing an axe. And I can remember yethow I hated a buck-saw."
They went into the house; but Lyddy slipped back to the kitchen andallowed her father to follow Harris Colesworth and 'Phemie, with the oldgentleman, into the dining-room.
'Phemie soon came out to help, leaving their father to entertain thevisitors while dinner was being served. Lyddy had prepared a simple meal,of which the staple was the New England standby--baked beans.
She had been up before light, had built a huge fire in the brick oven,had heated it to a high temperature, and had then baked her pies, a hugepan of gingerbread, her white bread, and potatoes for dinner. She hadsteamed her "brown loaf" in a kettle hanging from the crane, and thesealed beanpot had been all night in the ashes on the hearth, the right"finish" being given in the brick oven as it gradually cooled off.
The girl had had wonderfully good luck with her baking. The bread wasneither "all crust" nor was it dough in the middle. The pies were flakyas to crust and the apples which filled them were tender.
When Lyddy brought in the beanpot, wrapped in a blue and white towel toretain the heat, she met Harris Colesworth for the first time. To hersurprise he did not attempt to appear amazed to see her.
"Miss Bray!" he cried, coming forward to shake hands with her. "I havebeen telling your father that we are already acquainted. But I never _did_expect to see you again when you sold out and went away from TrimbleAvenue that morning."
"Shows how small the world is," said Mr. Bray, smiling. "We livedright beside the building in which Mr. Colesworth works, and he sawour advertisement in the paper----"
"Oh, I was sure it was Miss Bray," interrupted young Colesworth, openlyacknowledging his uncalled-for interest (so Lyddy expressed it to herself)in their affairs.
"You see," said this very frank young man, "I knew your name was Bray.And I knew you were going into the country for Mr. Bray's health. I--Ieven asked at the hospital about you several times," he added, flushinga little.
"How very kind!" murmured Lyddy, but without looking at him, as 'Phemiebrought in some of the other dishes.
"Not at all; I was interested," said the young man, laughing. "You alwayswere afraid of getting acquainted with me when I used to watch you workingabout your kitchen. But now, Miss Bray, if father decides to come outhere to board with you, you'll just _have_ to be acquainted with me."
Mr. Bray laughed at this, and 'Phemie giggled. Lyddy's face was a study.It did seem impossible to keep this very presuming young man at a properdistance.
But they gathered around the table then, and Lyddy had another reason forblushing. The visitors praised her cooking highly, and when they learnedof the old-fashioned means by which the cooking was done, their wondergrew.
And Lyddy deserved some praise, that was sure. The potatoes came out oftheir crisp skins as light as feathers. The thickened pork gravy thatwent with them was something Mr. Colesworth the elder declared he hadnot tasted since he was a boy.
And when the beans were ladled from the pot--brown, moist, every beanfirm in its individual jacket, but seasoned through and through--theColesworths fairly reveled in them. The fresh bread and good butter,and the flaky wedges of apple pie, each flanked by its pilot of cheese,were likewise enjoyed.
"If you can put us up only half comfortably," declared the elderColesworth, bowing to Lyddy, "I can tell you right now, young lady, thatwe will stay. Let us see your rooms, we will come to terms, and thenI'll take a nap, if you will allow me. I need it after this heavy dinner.Why, Harris! I haven't eaten so heartily for months."
"Never saw you sail into the menu with any more enjoyment, Dad," declaredhis son, in delight.
But Lyddy made her sister show them over the house. They were some time inmaking up their minds regarding the choice of apartments; but finallythey decided upon one of the large rooms the girls proposed making overinto bed-chambers on the ground floor. This room was nearest the eastwing, had long windows opening upon the side porch, and with the two smallbeds removed from the half-furnished rooms on the second floor of theeast wing, and brought downstairs, together with one or two other piecesof furniture, the Colesworths declared themselves satisfied with theaccommodations.
Young Colesworth would come out on Saturdays and return Monday mornings.He would arrange with Lucas to drive him back and forth. And the oldgentleman would come out, bag and baggage, on the coming Monday to takepossession of the room.
To bind the bargain Harris handed Lyddy fifteen dollars, and asked for areceipt. Fifteen dollars a week! Lyddy had scarcely dared ask for it--haddone so with fear and trembling, in fact. But the Colesworths seemed toconsider it quite within reason.
"Oh, 'Phemie!" gasped Lyddy, hugging her sister tight out in the kitchen."Just think of _fifteen dollars_ coming in every week. Why! we can all_live_ on that!"
"M--m; yes," said 'Phemie, ruminatively. "But hasn't he a handsome nose?"
"Who--what---- 'Phemie Bray! haven't you anything else in your head butyoung men's noses?" cried her sister, in sudden wrath.
But it was a beginning. They had really "got into business," as theirfather said that night at the supper table.
"I only fear that the work will be too much for us," he observed.
"For 'Phemie and me, you mean, Father," said Lyddy, firmly. "You arenot to work. You're to get well. _That_ is your business--and your onlybusiness."
"You girls will baby me to death!" cried Mr. Bray, wiping his eyes. "Irefuse to be laid on the shelf. I hope I am not useless----"
"My goodness me! Far from it," cried 'Phemie. "But you'll be lots morehelp to us when you are perfectly well and strong again."
"There'll be plenty you can do without taxing your strength--and withoutkeeping you indoors," Lyddy added. "Just think if we get the chickenbusiness started. You can do all of that--after the biddies are hatched."
"I feel so much better already, girls," declared their father, gravely,"that I am sure I shall have a giant's strength before fall."
Aunt Jane had written them, however, certain advice which the doctor atthe ho
spital had given to her regarding Mr. Bray. He was to be discouragedfrom performing any heavy tasks of whatsoever nature, and his diet wasto consist mainly of milk and eggs--tissue-building fuel for the system.
He had worked so long in the hat shop that his lungs were in a weakenedstate, if not actually affected. For months they would have to watch himcarefully. And to return to his work in the city would be suicidal.
Therefore were Lyddy and 'Phemie more than ever anxious to make theboarders' project pay. And with the Colesworths' fifteen dollars a weekit seemed as though a famous start had been made in that direction.
By serving simple food, plainly cooked, Lyddy was confident that she couldkeep the table for all five from the board paid by Mr. Colesworth andhis son. If they got other boarders, a goodly share of _their_ weeklystipends could be added on the profit side of the ledger.
Lucas helped them for a couple of hours Monday morning, and the girlsmanaged to put the room the newcomers had chosen into readiness for theold gentleman. Lucas drove to town to meet Mr. Colesworth. Lucas wasbeginning to make something out of the Bray girls' project, too, and hegrinned broadly as he said to 'Phemie:
"I'm goin' to be able to put up for a brand new buggy nex' fall, Miss'Phemie--a better one than Joe Badger's got. What 'twixt this cartin'boarders over the roads, and makin' Miss Lyddy's garden, I'm going to bewell fixed."
"On the road to be a millionaire; are you, Lucas?" suggested 'Phemie,laughing.
"Nope. Jest got one object in view," grinned Lucas.
"What's that?"
"I wanter drive you to church in my new buggy, and make Joe Badger an'that Nettie Meyers look like thirty cents. That's what _I_ want."
"Oh, Lucas! _That_ isn't a very high ambition," she cried.
"But it's goin' to give me an almighty lot of satisfaction," declared theyoung farmer. "You won't go back on me; will yer, Miss 'Phemie?"
"I'll ride with you--of course," replied 'Phemie. "But I'd just as liefgo in the buckboard."
"Now _that_," said the somewhat puzzled Lucas, "is another thing thatmakes you gals diff'rent from the gals around here."
Old Mr. Colesworth came and made himself at home very quickly. He playedcribbage with Mr. Bray in the evening while the girls did up the work andsewed; and during the early days of his stay with them he proved to be avery pleasant old gentleman, with few crotchets, and no special demandsupon the girls for attention.
He walked a good deal, proved to be something of a geologist, and potteredabout the rocky section of the farm with a little hammer and bag for hourstogether.
As Mr. Bray could walk only a little way, Mr. Colesworth did most of hisrambling about Hillcrest alone. And he grew fonder and fonder of theplace as the first week advanced.
As far as his entertainment went, he could have no complaint as to that,for he was getting all that Lyddy had promised him--a comfortable bed,a fire on his hearth when he wanted it, and the same plain food that thefamily ate.
The girls of Hillcrest Farm had received no further answer to theiradvertisement, but the news that they were keeping boarders had gonebroadcast over the ridge, of course. Silas Trent would have spread thisbit of news, if nobody else.
But on Saturday morning, soon after breakfast, Mr. Somers's old gray mareturned up their lane, and Lyddy put on a clean apron and rolled down hersleeves to go out and speak to the school teacher.
"That's a very good thing about that lane," 'Phemie remarked, aside. "Itis just long enough so that, if we see anybody turn in, we can primp alittle before they get to the house."
"Miss Bray," said the teacher, hopping out of his buggy and shaking hands,"you see me here, a veritable beggar."
"A beggar?" queried Lyddy, in surprise.
"Yes, I have come to beg a favor. And a very great one, too."
"Why--I----"
He laughed and went on to explain--yet his explanation at first puzzledher.
"Where do you suppose I slept last night, Miss Bray?" he asked.
"In your bed," she returned.
"Wrong!"
"Is it a joke--or a puzzle?"
"Why, I had to sleep in the barn. You see, thus far this term I haveboarded with Sam Larribee. But yesterday his boy came down with themeasles. He had been out of school for several days--had been visiting theother side of the ridge. They think he caught it there--at his cousin's.
"However," continued Mr. Somers, "that does not help me. When I came homefrom school and heard the doctor's report, I refused to enter the house.We don't want an epidemic of measles at Pounder's School.
"So I slept in the barn with Old Molly, here. And now I must find anotherboarding place. They--er--tell me, Miss Bray, that you intend to takeboarders?"
"Why--er--yes," admitted Lyddy, faintly.
"You have some already?"
"Mr. Colesworth and his son. They have just come."
"Couldn't you put me--and Molly--up for the rest of the term?" asked theschool teacher, laughing.
"Why, I don't know but I could," said Lyddy, her business sense coming toher aid. "I--why, yes! I am quite sure about _you_; but about the horse, Ido not know."
"You surely have a stall to spare?"
"Plenty; but no feed."
"Oh, I will bring my own grain; and I'll let her pasture in your orchard.She doesn't work hard and doesn't need much forage except what she canglean at this time of year for herself."
"Well, then, perhaps it can be arranged," said Lyddy. "Will you come inand see what our accommodations are?"
And so that is how another boarder came to Hillcrest Farm. Mr. Somerschose one of the smaller rooms upstairs, and agreed to pay for his ownentertainment and pasturage for his horse--six dollars and a half a week.It was a little more than he had been paying at Larribee's, he said--butthen, Mr. Somers wanted to come to Hillcrest.
He drove away to get his trunk out of the window of his bedroom at themeasles-stricken farmhouse down the hill; he would not risk entering bythe door for the sake of his other pupils.
A little later Lucas drove up from town with Harris Colesworth and his bag.
"Say!" whispered the lanky farmer, leaning from his seat to whisper to'Phemie. "I hear tell you've got school teacher for a boarder, too? Isthat so?"
"What of it?" demanded 'Phemie, somewhat vexed.
"Oh, nawthin'. Only ye oughter seen Sairy's face when maw told her!"