"They are a very wild set of boys," she said.
"I never knew boys who weren"t," I retorted.
"I--I--think perhaps you would like the girls best," said Mrs. Allan hesitatingly. If it had not been for one thing--which I would never in this world have admitted to Mrs. Allan--I might have liked the girls"
cla.s.s best myself. But the truth was, Anne Shirley was in that cla.s.s; and Anne Shirley was the one living human being that I was afraid of.
Not that I disliked her. But she had such a habit of asking weird, unexpected questions, which a Philadelphia lawyer couldn"t answer.
Miss Rogerson had that cla.s.s once and Anne routed her, horse, foot and artillery. _I_ wasn"t going to undertake a cla.s.s with a walking interrogation point in it like that. Besides, I thought Mrs. Allan required a slight snub. Ministers" wives are rather apt to think they can run everything and everybody, if they are not wholesomely corrected now and again.
"It is not what _I_ like best that must be considered, Mrs. Allan," I said rebukingly. "It is what is best for those boys. I feel that _I_ shall be best for THEM."
"Oh, I"ve no doubt of that, Miss MacPherson," said Mrs. Allan amiably.
It was a fib for her, minister"s wife though she was. She HAD doubt. She thought I would be a dismal failure as teacher of a boys" cla.s.s.
But I was not. I am not often a dismal failure when I make up my mind to do a thing. I am noted for that.
"It is wonderful what a reformation you have worked in that cla.s.s, Miss MacPherson--wonderful," said the Rev. Mr. Allan some weeks later. He didn"t mean to show how amazing a thing he thought it that an old maid noted for being a man hater should have managed it, but his face betrayed him.
"Where does Jimmy Spencer live?" I asked him crisply. "He came one Sunday three weeks ago and hasn"t been back since. I mean to find out why."
Mr. Allan coughed.
"I believe he is hired as handy boy with Alexander Abraham Bennett, out on the White Sands road," he said.
"Then I am going out to Alexander Abraham Bennett"s on the White Sands road to see why Jimmy Spencer doesn"t come to Sunday school," I said firmly.
Mr. Allan"s eyes twinkled ever so slightly. I have always insisted that if that man were not a minister he would have a sense of humour.
"Possibly Mr. Bennett will not appreciate your kind interest! He has--ah--a singular aversion to your s.e.x, I understand. No woman has ever been known to get inside of Mr. Bennett"s house since his sister died twenty years ago."
"Oh, he is the one, is he?" I said, remembering. "He is the woman hater who threatens that if a woman comes into his yard he"ll chase her out with a pitch-fork. Well, he will not chase ME out!"
Mr. Allan gave a chuckle--a ministerial chuckle, but still a chuckle.
It irritated me slightly, because it seemed to imply that he thought Alexander Abraham Bennett would be one too many for me. But I did not show Mr. Allan that he annoyed me. It is always a great mistake to let a man see that he can vex you.
The next afternoon I harnessed my sorrel pony to the buggy and drove down to Alexander Abraham Bennett"s. As usual, I took William Adolphus with me for company. William Adolphus is my favourite among my six cats.
He is black, with a white d.i.c.ky and beautiful white paws. He sat up on the seat beside me and looked far more like a gentleman than many a man I"ve seen in a similar position.
Alexander Abraham"s place was about three miles along the White Sands road. I knew the house as soon as I came to it by its neglected appearance. It needed paint badly; the blinds were crooked and torn; weeds grew up to the very door. Plainly, there was no woman about THAT place. Still, it was a nice house, and the barns were splendid. My father always said that when a man"s barns were bigger than his house it was a sign that his income exceeded his expenditure. So it was all right that they should be bigger; but it was all wrong that they should be trimmer and better painted. Still, thought I, what else could you expect of a woman hater?
"But Alexander Abraham evidently knows how to run a farm, even it he is a woman hater," I remarked to William Adolphus as I got out and tied the pony to the railing.
I had driven up to the house from the back way and now I was opposite a side door opening on the veranda. I thought I might as well go to it, so I tucked William Adolphus under my arm and marched up the path. Just as I was half-way up, a dog swooped around the front corner and made straight for me. He was the ugliest dog I had ever seen; and he didn"t even bark--just came silently and speedily on, with a business-like eye.
I never stop to argue matters with a dog that doesn"t bark. I know when discretion is the better part of valour. Firmly clasping William Adolphus, I ran--not to the door, because the dog was between me and it, but to a big, low-branching cherry tree at the back corner of the house.
I reached it in time and no more. First thrusting William Adolphus on to a limb above my head, I scrambled up into that blessed tree without stopping to think how it might look to Alexander Abraham if he happened to be watching.
My time for reflection came when I found myself perched half way up the tree with William Adolphus beside me. William Adolphus was quite calm and unruffled. I can hardly say with truthfulness what I was. On the contrary, I admit that I felt considerably upset.
The dog was sitting on his haunches on the ground below, watching us, and it was quite plain to be seen, from his leisurely manner, that it was not his busy day. He bared his teeth and growled when he caught my eye.
"You LOOK like a woman hater"s dog," I told him. I meant it for an insult; but the beast took it for a compliment.
Then I set myself to solving the question, "How am I to get out of this predicament?"
It did not seem easy to solve it.
"Shall I scream, William Adolphus?" I demanded of that intelligent animal. William Adolphus shook his head. This is a fact. And I agreed with him.
"No, I shall not scream, William Adolphus," I said. "There is probably no one to hear me except Alexander Abraham, and I have my painful doubts about his tender mercies. Now, it is impossible to go down. Is it, then, William Adolphus, possible to go up?"
I looked up. Just above my head was an open window with a tolerably stout branch extending right across it.
"Shall we try that way, William Adolphus?" I asked.
William Adolphus, wasting no words, began to climb the tree. I followed his example. The dog ran in circles about the tree and looked things not lawful to be uttered. It probably would have been a relief to him to bark if it hadn"t been so against his principles.
I got in by the window easily enough, and found myself in a bedroom the like of which for disorder and dust and general awfulness I had never seen in all my life. But I did not pause to take in details. With William Adolphus under my arm I marched downstairs, fervently hoping I should meet no one on the way.
I did not. The hall below was empty and dusty. I opened the first door I came to and walked boldly in. A man was sitting by the window, looking moodily out. I should have known him for Alexander Abraham anywhere. He had just the same uncared-for, ragged appearance that the house had; and yet, like the house, it seemed that he would not be bad looking if he were trimmed up a little. His hair looked as if it had never been combed, and his whiskers were wild in the extreme.
He looked at me with blank amazement in his countenance.
"Where is Jimmy Spencer?" I demanded. "I have come to see him."
"How did he ever let you in?" asked the man, staring at me.
"He didn"t let me in," I retorted. "He chased me all over the lawn, and I only saved myself from being torn piecemeal by scrambling up a tree.
You ought to be prosecuted for keeping such a dog! Where is Jimmy?"
Instead of answering Alexander Abraham began to laugh in a most unpleasant fashion.
"Trust a woman for getting into a man"s house if she has made up her mind to," he said disagreeably.
Seeing that it was his intention to vex me I remained cool and collected.
"Oh, I wasn"t particular about getting into your house, Mr. Bennett," I said calmly. "I had but little choice in the matter. It was get in lest a worse fate befall me. It was not you or your house I wanted to see--although I admit that it is worth seeing if a person is anxious to find out how dirty a place CAN be. It was Jimmy. For the third and last time--where is Jimmy?"
"Jimmy is not here," said Mr. Bennett gruffly--but not quite so a.s.suredly. "He left last week and hired with a man over at Newbridge."
"In that case," I said, picking up William Adolphus, who had been exploring the room with a disdainful air, "I won"t disturb you any longer. I shall go."
"Yes, I think it would be the wisest thing," said Alexander Abraham--not disagreeably this time, but reflectively, as if there was some doubt about the matter. "I"ll let you out by the back door. Then the--ahem!--the dog will not interfere with you. Please go away quietly and quickly."
I wondered if Alexander Abraham thought I would go away with a whoop.
But I said nothing, thinking this the most dignified course of conduct, and I followed him out to the kitchen as quickly and quietly as he could have wished. Such a kitchen!
Alexander Abraham opened the door--which was locked--just as a buggy containing two men drove into the yard.
"Too late!" he exclaimed in a tragic tone. I understood that something dreadful must have happened, but I did not care, since, as I fondly supposed, it did not concern me. I pushed out past Alexander Abraham--who was looking as guilty as if he had been caught burglarizing--and came face to face with the man who had sprung from the buggy. It was old Dr. Blair, from Carmody, and he was looking at me as if he had found me shoplifting.