"I was thinkin"--" interposed Cyrus, mildly; but his wife swept past him, and took the road.
"I dunno"s there"s any use in gittin" a real dinner, jest you an" me, an" you not workin" either. Folks say there"s more danger of eatin" too much"n too little. Gilman Lane, though, he kep" eatin" less an" less, an" his stomach dried all up, till "twa"n"t no bigger"n a bladder. Look here, you! I shouldn"t wonder a mite if you"d got some o" them stomach troubles along with your cold. You "ain"t acted as if you"d relished a meal o" victuals for nigh onto ten days. Soon as I git my hands out o"
the flour, I"ll look in the doctor"s book, an" find out. My! how het up I be!" She wiped her hands on the roller towel, and unpinned the little plaid shawl drawn tightly across her shoulders, Its removal disclosed a green sontag, and under that manifold layers of jacket and waist. She was amply protected from the cold. "I dunno"s I ought to ha" stirred up rye"n" Injun," she went on, returning to her vigorous tossing and mixing at the table. "Some might say the steam was bad for your lungs.
Anyhow, the doctor"s book holds to"t you"ve got to pick out a dry climate, if you don"t want to go into a decline. Le" me see! when your Aunt Mattie was took, how long was it afore she really gi"n up? Arter she begun to cough, I mean?"
Cyrus moved uneasily.
"I dunno," he said, hastily. "I never kep" the run o" such things."
But Mirandy, pouring her batter into the pan, heeded him no more than was her wont.
"I s"pose that was real gallopin" consumption," she said, with relish."
I must ask Sister Sarah how long "twas, next time I see her. She set it down with the births an" deaths."
Cyrus was moved to some remonstrance. He often felt the necessity of a.s.serting himself, lest he should presently hear his own pa.s.sing-bell and epitaph.
"I guess you needn"t stop steamin" bread for me! I ain"t half so stuffed up as I was yisterday!"
Mrs. Pendleton clapped the loaf into the pot, wrinkling her face over the cloud of steam that came puffing into it.
"There!" she exclaimed. "Now perhaps I can git a minute to se" down. I ain"t bound a shoe to-day. My! who"s that out this weather?"
The side door was pushed open, and then shut with a bang. A vigorous stamping of snow followed, and the inner door swung in to admit a woman, very short, very stout, with a round, apple-cheeked face, and twinkling eyes looking out from the enveloping folds of a gray cloud.
"Well!" she said, in a cheery voice, beginning at once to unwind the cloud, "here I be! Didn"t think I"d rain down, did ye? I thought myself, one spell, I should freeze afore I fell!"
Mrs. Pendleton hurried forward, wiping her hands on her ap.r.o.n as she went.
"For the land"s sake, Marthy Wadleigh!" she cried, laying hold of the new-comer by the shoulders, and giving her an ineffectual but wholly delighted shake. "Well, I never! Who brought you over? Though I dunno which way you come. I "ain"t looked out--"
"I walked from the corner," said Mrs. Wadleigh, who never felt any compunction about interrupting her old neighbor. She was unpinning her shawl composedly, as one sure of a welcome. "How do, Cyrus? Jim Thomas took me up jest beyond the depot, an" give me a lift on his sled; but I was all of a shiver, an" at the corner, I told him he better let me step down an" walk. So I come the rest o" the way afoot an" alone. You ain"t goin" to use the oven, be ye? I"ll jest stick my feet in a minute. No, Cyrus, don"t you move! I"ll take t"other side. I guess we sha"n"t come to "blows over it."
She seemed to have brought into the kitchen, with that freshness of outdoor air which the new-comer bears, like a balsam, in his garments, a breath of fuller life, and even of jollity. As she sat there in her good brown dress, with her worked collar, fastened by a large cameo, her gold beads just showing, and her plump hands folded on a capacious lap, she looked the picture of jovial content, quite able to take care of herself, and perhaps apply a st.u.r.dy shoulder to the lagging machinery of the world.
"Didn"t you git word I was comin" this week?" she asked. "I sent you a line."
"No, we "ain"t been so fur"s the post-office," answered Mirandy, absently. She was debating over her most feasible bill of fare, now that a "pick-up dinner" seemed no longer possible. Moreover, she had something on her mind, and she could not help thinking how unfortunate it was that Cyrus shared her secret. Who could tell at what moment he might broach it? She doubted his discretion. "The roads wa"n"t broke out till day before yisterday."
"I shouldn"t think they were!" said Mrs. Wadleigh, scornfully, testing the heat with a hand on her skirt, and then lifting the breadths back over her quilted petticoat. "I thought that would be the way on"t, but I"d made up my mind to come, an" come I would. Cyrus, what"s the matter o" you? Nothin" more"n a cold, is it?"
Cyrus had withdrawn from the stove, and was feeling his chin, uncertainly.
"Oh, no, I guess not," he said. "We"ve been kind o" peaked, for a week or two, all over the neighborhood; but I guess we shall come out on"t, now we"ve got into the spring. Mirandy, you git me a mite o" hot water, an" I"ll see if I can"t shave."
Mirandy was vigorously washing potatoes at the sink, but she turned, in ever-ready remonstrance.
"Shave!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, "Well, I guess you won"t shave, such a day as this, in that cold bedroom, with a stockin"-leg round your throat, an"
all! You want to git your death? Why, "twas only last night, Marthy, he had a hemlock sweat, an" all the ginger tea I could git down into him!
An" then I didn"t know--"
"Law! let him alone!" said Marthy, with a comfortable, throaty laugh.
"He"ll feel twice as well, git some o" them things off his neck. Here, Cyrus, you reach me down your mug--ain"t them your shavin" things up there?--an" I"ll fill it for you. You git him a piece o" flannel, Mirandy, to put on when he"s washed up an" took all that stuff off his throat. Why, he"s got enough wool round there, if "twas all in yarn, to knit Old Tobe a pair o" mittins! An" they say one o" his thumbs was bigger"n the hand o" Providence. You don"t want to try all the goodness out of him, do ye?"
Cyrus gave one swift glance at his wife. "There! you see!" it said plainly. "I am not without defenders." He took down his shaving-mug, with an air of some bravado. But Mirandy was no shrew; she was simply troubled about many things.
"Well," she said, compressing her lips, and wrinkling her forehead in resignation. "If folks want to kill themselves, I can"t hender "em! But when he"s down ag"in, I shall be the one to take care of him, that"s all. Here, Cyrus, don"t you go into that cold bedroom. You shave you here, if you"re determined to do it."
So Cyrus, after honing his razor, with the pleasure of a bored child provided at last with occupation, betook himself to the gla.s.s set in the lower part of the clock, and there, with much contortion of his thin visage, proceeded to shave. Mirandy put her potatoes on to boil, and set the fish on the stove to freshen; then She sat down by the window, with a great basket beside her, and began to bind shoes.
"Here," said Mrs. Wadleigh, coming to her feet and adjusting her skirt, "you give me a needle! I"ve got my thimble right here in my pocket.
It"s three months sence I"ve seen a shoe. I should admire to do a pair or two. I wish I could promise ye more, but somehow I"m bewitched to git over home right arter dinner!"
Mrs. Pendleton laid down her work, and leaned back in her chair. Cyrus turned, cleared his throat, and looked at her.
"Marthy," said the hostess, "you ain"t goin" over there to that lonesome house, this cold snap?"
"Ain"t I?" asked Mrs. Wadleigh, composedly, as she trimmed the top of her shoe preparatory to binding it. "Well, you see"f I ain"t!"
"In the fust place," went on Mrs. Pendleton, nervously, "the cross-road ain"t broke out, an" you can"t git there. I dunno"s a horse could plough through; an" s"posin" they could, Cyrus ain"t no more fit to go out an" carry you over"n a fly."
"Don"t you worry," said Mrs. Wadleigh, binding off one top. "While I"ve got my own legs, I don"t mean to be beholden to n.o.body. I"ve had a proper nice time all winter, fust with Lucy an" then with Ann,--an" I tell ye "tain"t everybody that"s got two darters married so well!--but for the last fortnight, I"ve been in a real tew to come home. They"ve kep" me till I wouldn"t stay no longer, an" now I"ve got so near as this, I guess I ain"t goin" to stop for n.o.body!"
Mrs. Pendleton looked despairingly at her husband; and he, absently wiping his razor on a bit of paper, looked at her.
"Marthy!" she burst forth. "No, Cyrus, don"t you say one word! You can"t go! There"s somebody there!"
Mrs. Wadleigh, in turn, put down her work.
"Somebody there!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Where?"
"In your house!"
"In my house? What for?"
"I dunno," said Mirandy, unhappily.
"Dunno? Well, what are they doin" there?"
"I dunno that. We only know there"s somebody there."
Here the brown-bread kettle boiled over, creating a diversion; and Mirandy gladly rose to set it further back. A slight heat had come into Mrs. Wadleigh"s manner.
"Cyrus," said she, with emphasis, "I should like to have you speak. I left that house in your care. I left the key with you, an" I should like to know who you"ve been an" got in there."
Cyrus opened his mouth, and then closed it again without saying a word.
He looked appealingly at his wife; and she took up the tale with some joy, now that the first plunge had been made.
"Well," she said, folding her hands in her ap.r.o.n, and beginning to rock back and forth, a little color coming into her cheeks, and her eyes snapping vigorously. "You see, this was the way "twas. Cyrus, do let me speak!" Cyrus had ineffectually opened his mouth again. "Wa"n"t it in November you went away? I thought so. Jest after that first sprinklin"
o" snow, that looked as if "twould lay all winter. Well, we took the key, an" hung it up inside the clock--an" there "tis now!--an" once a week, reg"lar as the day come round, Cyrus went over, an" opened the winders, an" aired out the house."