"An" to think I run her up ag"in" this! Ain"t men deceivin"? Now I"d "a" risked Mr. Stubbins myself fer the askin". It"s true he was a widower, an" ma uster allays say, "Don"t fool with widowers, gra.s.s nor sod." But Mr. Stubbins was so slick-tongued! He told me yesterday he had to take liquor sometime fer his war enjury."
"But, Mrs. Wiggs, what must we do?" asked Lovey Mary, too absorbed in the present to be interested in the past.
"Do? Why, we got to git Miss Hazy out of this here hole. It ain"t no use consultin" her; I allays have said talkin" to Miss Hazy was like pullin" out bastin"-threads: you jes take out what you put in. Me an"
you has got to think out a plan right here an" now, then go to work an" carry it out."
"Couldn"t we get the agency to take him back?" suggested Mary.
"No, indeed; they couldn"t afford to do that. Lemme see, lemme see--"
For five minutes Mrs. Wiggs rocked meditatively, soothing Tommy to sleep as she rocked. When she again spoke it was with inspiration:
"I"ve got it! It looks sometime, Lovey Mary, "s if I"d sorter caught some of Mr. Wiggs"s brains in thinkin" things out. They ain"t but one thing to do with Miss Hazy"s husband, an" we"ll do it this very night."
"What, Mrs. Wiggs? What is it?" asked Lovey Mary, eagerly.
"Why, to lose him, of course! We"ll wait till Mr. Stubbins is dead asleep; you know men allays have to sleep off a jag like this. I"ve seen Mr. Wiggs--I mean I"ve heared "em say so many a time. Well, when Mr. Stubbins is sound asleep, you an" me an" Billy will drag him out to the railroad."
Mrs. Wiggs"s voice had sunk to a hoa.r.s.e whisper, and her eyes looked fierce in the twilight.
Lovey Mary shuddered.
"You ain"t going to let the train run over him, are you?" she asked.
"Lor", child, I ain"t a "sa.s.sinator! No; we"ll wait till the midnight freight comes along, an" when it stops fer water, we"ll h"ist Mr.
Stubbins into one of them empty cars. The train goes "way out West somewheres, an" by the time Mr. Stubbins wakes up, he"ll be so far away from home he won"t have no money to git back."
"What"ll Miss Hazy say?" asked Mary, giggling in nervous excitement.
"Miss Hazy ain"t got a thing to do with it," replied Mrs. Wiggs conclusively.
At midnight, by the dark of the moon, the unconscious groom was borne out of the Hazy cottage. Mrs. Wiggs carried his head, while Billy Wiggs and Mary and Asia and Chris officiated at his arms and legs. The bride surveyed the scene from the c.h.i.n.ks of the upstairs shutters.
Silently the little group waited until the lumbering freight train slowed up to take water, then with a concerted effort they lifted the heavy burden into an empty car. As they shrank back into the shadow, Billy whispered to Lovey Mary:
"Say, what was that you put "longside of him?"
Mary looked shamefaced.
"It was just a little lunch-dinner," she said apologetically; "it seemed sorter mean to send him off without anything to eat."
"Gee!" said Billy. "You"re a cur"us girl!"
The engine whistled, and the train moved thunderously away, bearing an unconscious pa.s.senger, who, as far as the Cabbage Patch was concerned, was henceforth submerged in the darkness of oblivion.
CHAPTER VII
NEIGHBORLY ADVICE
"It"s a poor business looking at the sun with a cloudy face."
The long, hot summer days that followed were full of trials for Lovey Mary. Day after day the great unwinking sun glared savagely down upon the Cabbage Patch, upon the stagnant pond, upon the gleaming rails, upon the puffing trains that pounded by hour after hour. Each morning found Lovey Mary trudging away to the factory, where she stood all day counting and sorting and packing tiles. At night she climbed wearily to her little room under the roof, and tried to sleep with a wet cloth over her face to keep her from smelling the stifling car smoke.
But it was not the heat and discomfort alone that made her cheeks thin and her eyes sad and listless: it was the burden on her conscience, which seemed to be growing heavier all the time. One morning Mrs.
Wiggs took her to task for her gloomy countenance. They met at the pump, and, while the former"s bucket was being filled, Lovey Mary leaned against a lamp-post and waited in a dejected att.i.tude.
"What"s the matter with you?" asked Mrs. Wiggs. "What you lookin" so wilted about?"
Lovey Mary dug her shoe into the ground and said nothing. Many a time had she been tempted to pour forth her story to this friendly mentor, but the fear of discovery and her hatred of Kate deterred her.
Mrs. Wiggs eyed her keenly. "Pesterin" about somethin"?" she asked.
"Yes, "m," said Lovey Mary, in a low tone.
"Somethin" that"s already did?"
"Yes, "m"--still lower.
"Did you think you was actin" fer the best?"
The girl lifted a pair of honest gray eyes. "Yes, ma"am, I did."
"I bet you did!" said Mrs. Wiggs, heartily. "You ain"t got a deceivin"
bone in yer body. Now what you want to do is to brace up yer sperrits.
The decidin"-time was the time fer worryin". You"ve did what you thought was best; now you want to stop thinkin" "bout it. You don"t want to go round turnin" folks" thoughts sour jes to look at you. Most girls that had white teeth like you would be smilin" to show "em, if fer nothin" else."
"I wisht I was like you," said Lovey Mary.
"Don"t take it out in wishin". If you want to be cheerful, jes set yer mind on it an" do it. Can"t none of us help what traits we start out in life with, but we kin help what we end up with. When things first got to goin" wrong with me, I says: "O Lord, whatever comes, keep me from gittin" sour!" It wasn"t fer my own sake I ast it,--some people "pears to enjoy bein" low-sperrited,--it was fer the childern an" Mr.
Wiggs. Since then I"ve made it a practice to put all my worries down in the bottom of my heart, then set on the lid an" smile."
"But you think ever"body"s nice and good," complained Lovey Mary. "You never see all the meanness I do."
"Don"t I? I been watchin" old man Rothchild fer goin" on eleven year", tryin" to see some good in him, an" I never found it till the other day when I seen him puttin" a splint on Cusmoodle"s broken leg. He"s the savagest man I know, yit he keered fer that duck as tender as a woman. But it ain"t jes seein" the good in folks an" sayin" nice things when you"re feelin" good. The way to git cheerful is to smile when you feel bad, to think about somebody else"s headache when yer own is "most bustin", to keep on believin" the sun is a-shinin" when the clouds is thick enough to cut. Nothin" helps you to it like thinkin" more "bout other folks than about yerself."
"I think "bout Tommy first," said Lovey Mary.
"Yes, you certainly do yer part by him. If my childern wore stockin"s an" got as many holes in "em as he does, I"d work b.u.t.tonholes in "em at the start fer the toes to come through. But even Tommy wants somethin" besides darns. Why don"t you let him go barefoot on Sundays, too, an" take the time you been mendin" fer him to play with him? I want to see them pretty smiles come back in yer face ag"in."
In a subsequent conversation with Miss Hazy, Mrs. Wiggs took a more serious view of Lovey Mary"s depression.
"She jes makes me wanter cry, she"s so subdued-like. I never see anybody change so in my life. It "u"d jes be a relief to hear her sa.s.s some of us like she uster. She told me she never had n.o.body make over her like we all did, an" it sorter made her "shamed. Lawsee! if kindness is goin" to kill her, I think we"d better fuss at her some."
""Pears to me like she"s got nervous sensations," said Miss Hazy; "she jumps up in her sleep, an" talks "bout folks an" things I never heared tell of."
"That"s exactly what ails her," agreed Mrs. Wiggs: "it"s nerves, Miss Hazy. To my way of thinkin", nerves is worser than tumors an" cancers.