Mrs. Brown came over with her blueberry pie as Burt was summoned to luncheon. She surveyed the table, which Nan had laid in the kitchen, and then the Admiral, who was making his toilette in a thorough manner that suggested several courses, with outspoken approval.
"My, I wish Susan Winchester could pop in this minute. You found the prepared flour, and all--baked "em on the griddle! Wa"n"t that cute! I never did see an omelet like that except from Susan Winchester"s own hands, and she learned from a Frenchwoman she used to sew with. Some folks can pick up every useful trick they see."
Turning to Burt, she continued:
"With all the new fangle-dangles of these days, women voting and all, you"re a lucky boy to have found an old-fashioned girl!"
"I know it," said Burt, brazenly, but he did not meet Anne"s astonished eyes. "My girl has learned the best of the new accomplishments, without losing what was worth keeping of the old."
Anne"s judgment told her it was a good luncheon--no better than she served herself at home, though. She stared at her own slim, capable fingers. Was she domestic, after all?
"We"ve been looking at apartments in the city," Burt went on--"apartments in a hotel, you know.--Try the omelet, Mrs. Brown--Nan"s don"t fall flat as soon as other omelets do.--But we haven"t found what really appeals to us."
"I should think not," declared Mrs. Brown, vigorously. "I always say a person hasn"t a spark of originality that will go and live in a coop just like hundreds of others, all cut to the same pattern. Look at your Aunt Susan, now. This house belonged to old Joe Potter, he built it less"n ten years ago an Mis" Potter she had it the way she wanted it, and that was like the house she lived in when she was a girl, little, tucked-up rooms, air-tight stoves, a tidy on every chair, and she made portieres out of paper beads that tickled "em both silly--yes, and tickled everybody in the ear that went through "em, though that wan"t what I meant to say. When she died, Joe wouldn"t live here, said he wouldn"t be so homesick for Julia in another house, this one was full of her. So, your Aunt Susan bought it, and what did she do?
"She knocked out part.i.tions, took down fire-boards, threw out a good parlor set and lugged in tables and chairs from all over, put big panes of gla.s.s where there was little ones--in some places, she did, and only the good angels and Susan Winchester knows why she didn"t change "em all, they"re terrible mean to wash--made the front hall into a setting room and the parlor into a bedroom, got two bathrooms and no dining room--well, to make a long story short, this house is now Susan Winchester. Anybody that knows Susan would know it was her house if they see it in China.
"Did you learn to keep house with your mother?"
The transition was so abrupt that Anne started. "I--my aunt brought me up--and nine cousins," she answered. "My aunt is as unlike Burt"s as you can imagine, but just as dear and good. She had a big family, and there was never time enough to have her home as she wanted it--so she thought--and I thought so, too--but yet--Aunt Milly"s home was always full of happy children, and, perhaps, that"s what she really wanted, more than dainty furnishings or a spotless kitchen."
"Folks, mostly, get what they want, even if they don"t know it,"
confirmed Mrs. Brown. "Look at the Admiral, here. He don"t want to come over and live with me, same as Susan meant he should. He wants to stay right in his own home, and have his meals and petting same as usual, and here you come along today and give them to him. Trouble is, folks don"t always know what it is they want."
When Mrs. Brown went back to her own dinner, she left Anne with something to think about. Washing the dishes in Aunt Susan"s white sink, which was fitted to that very purpose, drying them upon a rack which held every dish apart from its neighbors, and, finally, polishing the quaintly shaped pieces upon Aunt Susan"s checked towel, which remained dry and spotless; opening every drawer and cupboard to see that all was left in the dainty order she had found there, Anne had a clear vision of the blue and silver furnishings at the Kensington. What had she told Burt: "It doesn"t look like either of us"?--while Aunt Susan"s home--
"Burt," she called, "come and answer this question. Did you come to Byrnton instead of Branton on purpose?"
"What"s this?" said Burt. "Cross-examination?"
"It"s an examination, surely, but I won"t be cross," replied Anne, with a rare dimple. "You must answer my question truly."
"Yes, Your Honor," said Burt. "I did, Your Honor."
"Did you know your Aunt Susan wouldn"t be home?"
"Our Aunt Susan," corrected Burt.--"No, Your Honor--that is, I thought--"
"You knew she was going to California?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
"This summer?"
"I didn"t know exactly when--honestly, Nan, I did want you to meet her."
"Why?""
"I knew you"d like the way she keeps house. I didn"t realize that the house could speak for itself, without her.--You do like it, Nan?"
"I don"t have to answer questions, because I"m the Judge," Nan told him.
"I"ll ask you one more. Do you want me to ask you to take this cottage, for us, in the fall, and stay in it until Aunt Susan comes back?"
"Not unless Your Honor pleases."
"Case dismissed, for lack of evidence," said Nan.--"Burt, could we live here?"
"We could. I"ll admit it"s what I"d like, if you do. The difference in rents would buy gasoline. Could you work here, and keep house, too?"
"I can if I"m smart," answered Nan, soberly. "I wonder if I"m smart."
"Dear," said Burt. "What have you done since you came to New York but work and keep house, too, in less convenient quarters than this, and with no one to help you--no good husband like me--?"
"That"s so!" she turned a radiant face upon him.
"If we like, we can begin another home, of our very own, when Aunt Susan wants hers back," Burt smiled quizzically. "No one else"s house would suit you for always, Nan. Ask me why."
"Why?"
"Because," said Burt in triumph, "personality, like the measles, will out!"
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