"Oh, begging your pardon, no, sir," said Smithfield. "It is really not Miss Falkener"s hat. Surely, Lily, you explained it?"
"I don"t care to speak to them at all," answered Lily.
"Oh, that"s no way to speak to your employers, my girl," said Smithfield. "The explanation is this, sir: I understand those great French houses send out many hats alike, sir, and this one was given to Lily by a friend, by Mrs. Crosslett-Billington, to be exact, sir, she thinking it a trifle youthful for herself after she had bought it, and I can"t but say she was right, sir, she being a lady now nearing sixty, though hardly looking forty-five. The first evening the ladies came, sir, when Lily had done unpacking their things, she mentioned in the kitchen that Miss Falkener had a hat similar to her own, and we all advised her, sir, under the circ.u.mstances, not to wear it during the ladies" stay, as being more suitable and respectful; and she agreed not to, but young women when they have pretty things, dear me, sir, they do like to wear them, and that I presume is why she put on the hat, in spite of our warnings, and I"m sure she regrets it heartily, sir."
"I don"t," said Lily. "I"m right glad I did."
"Tut, tut," said Smithfield, "no way to answer, no way to answer."
"Cora," Crane said, "would you go up and see if your hat is in your room?" Cora agreed and left the room at once.
Complete silence reigned until she returned. She was carrying in her hand a hat, the exact duplicate of that which the housemaid wore. They looked from one to another. Lily"s triumph was complete.
"Lily," said Crane, "an apology seems to be due to you, which I have great pleasure in offering you, but I must say that if you had been just a trifle more civil, the whole mistake might have been cleared up sooner and more agreeably."
"I think it outrageous," observed Mrs. Falkener, rising. "I think it perfectly outrageous that any servant should own a hat which anywhere but at a special sale must have cost sixty or seventy dollars."
"And now I"ll tell you what I think outrageous," said Lily, her soft Southern drawl taking on a certain vigor, "and that is that women like you, calling themselves ladies, should be free to browbeat and insult servants as much as they please--"
"Shut up, Lily," said Smithfield, but she paid no attention.
"No," she said, "no one knows what I"ve put up with from this insolent old harridan, and now I am going to say what I think."
"Oh, no, Lily," said Crane, taking her by the arm, "you really are not.
We"re all sorry for the incident, but really, you know you can"t be allowed to talk like that."
"But, Mr. Crane," drawled Lily, "you don"t appreciate what a dreadful woman she is--no one could who did not have to hook her up every evening."
Between Smithfield and Crane, she was hustled out of the room.
Alone in the hall, Crane and his butler held a consultation.
"She"s got to go, Smithfield. Why in the world wouldn"t she hold her tongue? Poor girl, I felt every sympathy with her."
"Oh, sir," exclaimed Smithfield, "what shall we do? Jane-Ellen and I really can"t run the house entirely alone, sir."
"Of course not, of course not," Burton answered. "You must get some more servants. Get as many as you please--black, white, or red--but for heaven"s sake get the kind that won"t be impertinent to Mrs. Falkener."
Smithfield shook his head.
"That"s a kind will be hard to find, sir, begging your pardon," he observed.
Crane thought it best to ignore this remark.
"I tell you what to do," he said. "Call up Mr. Eliot and say we should all be glad to accept his invitation to lunch to-day if he can still have us. That will give you a little time to look about you. By to-morrow you ought to be able to find some one."
He waited to get Eliot"s answer before he returned to the sitting-room, where he saw that Tucker and Mrs. Falkener had had a long, comfortable talk about their grievances and their own general righteousness. He hated to break into the calm that had succeeded by announcing that they were all going out to lunch.
"Burton," said Mrs. Falkener, directing a stern glance at her daughter, "I explained to you yesterday that was an invitation I did not care to accept."
"I know," said Crane, "but my household is now so short-handed that it seemed a question of lunching out or getting no lunch at all. If you really object to going to Eliot"s, I dare say they could give you something cold at home, if you did not mind that. You will come, won"t you, Cora?"
"With pleasure," answered Cora.
Crane"s manner was unusually decisive, and Mrs. Falkener saw that it was time to make things smooth.
"Oh, no," she said. "No, if you are all going, I shall go, too. Only, home is so delightful, I hate the thought of leaving it."
"It hasn"t seemed very delightful to me for the past few minutes,"
answered Burton, "but I"m glad if you"ve enjoyed it."
"Ah, Burton, my dear, you take these things too seriously," replied Mrs.
Falkener. "A little trouble with the servants--an everyday occurrence in a woman"s life. You of the stronger s.e.x must not let it worry you so much. When you"ve kept house as many years as I have, you"ll learn that the great thing is to be firm from the beginning. That"s the only criticism I could make of you, Burt, a little weak, a little weak."
Tucker here rose, pressing his hand over his eyes.
"I think, if you don"t mind, I won"t go," he said. "I"ve a slight headache. Oh, nothing much, but I"ll lunch quietly here, if you"ll let me--a slice of cold meat and a gla.s.s of sherry is all I shall require."
If Crane were weak, he did not look so at this moment.
"I am sorry, Solon," he answered, "but it would be very much more convenient, if you went with us." He had no intention of leaving Tucker alone in the house with Jane-Ellen, while Smithfield was scouring the countryside for fresh servants.
"I"m not thinking so much of myself," said Tucker, "but of you. I fear I should not be much of an addition to the party."
"But I think of you, Tuck," answered his host.
"What in the world would there be for you to do at home, except talk to the cook?"
Tucker said, rather ungraciously, that of course he would go if Crane wished him to, but that--
Crane, however, did not allow him to finish his sentence.
"Thank you," he said briskly. "That will be delightful. We shall be starting at half-past twelve."
IX
ELIOT"S large library, to which Crane and his party were led on their arrival, looked as only a room can look which has been occupied for several hours by a number of idle men. All the sofa cushions were on the floor, all the newspapers were on the sofas, cigarette ashes were everywhere, and the air was heavy with a combination of wood and tobacco smoke, everybody"s hair was ruffled, as if they had all been sitting on the back of their heads, and Eliot, himself, now standing commandingly on the hearth-rug, was saying:
"Yes, and he did not have a sound leg when he bought him, and that must have been in 1909, for I remember it was the last year I went to Melton--" He broke off reluctantly to greet his guests.
Lefferts, who looked peculiarly neat and fresh among his companions, approached Burton, who was beside Mrs. Falkener.
"They have been talking for three hours," he observed, "about a splint on the nigh foreleg of a gray horse that doesn"t belong to any of them.
Sit down, Mrs. Falkener, and let us have a little rational conversation.
Doesn"t that idea attract you?"