Ferguson any more than the thought of Mr. Cliff"s removal troubles me.
I"m perfectly willing to do what I can for the new cemetery, and n.o.body need think I"m such a nervous hysterical person that I"m in danger of popping over if the subject is mentioned to me. So when you all are ready to have another meeting, I hope you will let me know!"
When Mrs. Ferguson felt herself well enough to sit up and take a gla.s.s of water, with something stimulating in it, she was informed of the nature of the statements which had been finally made to Mrs. Cliff.
"You know, of course," added Miss Cushing, still pale from unappeased rage, "that that Susan Inchman began as she did, just to spite us!"
"It"s just like her!" said Mrs. Archibald. "But I never could have believed that such a dried codfish of a woman could have so much intellect!"
CHAPTER XI
THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW DINING-ROOM
The little meeting at the house of Miss Cushing resulted in something very different from the antic.i.p.ations of those ladies who had consulted together for the purpose of const.i.tuting themselves the heirs of Mrs.
Cliff.
That good lady being then very much in want of something to do was so pleased with the idea of a new cemetery that she entered into the scheme with great earnestness. She was particularly pleased with this opportunity of making good use of her money, because, having been asked by others to join them in this work, she was not obliged to pose as a self-appointed public benefactor.
Mrs. Cliff worked so well in behalf of the new cemetery and subscribed so much money towards it, through Mr. Perley, that it was not many months before it became the successor to the little crowded graveyard near the centre of the town; and the remains of Mr. Cliff were removed to a handsome lot and overshadowed by a suitable monument.
Mrs. Ferguson, however, in speaking with Mrs. Cliff upon the subject, was happy to have an opportunity of a.s.suring her that she thought it much better to devote her slender means to the education of her daughters than to the removal of her late husband to a more eligible resting-place.
"I"m sure he"s done very well as he is for all these years," she said, "and if he could have a voice in the matter, I"m quite sure that he would prefer his daughters" education to his own removal."
Mrs. Cliff did not wish to make any offer which might hurt Mrs.
Ferguson"s very sensitive feelings, but she said that she had no doubt that arrangements could be made by which Mr. Ferguson"s transfer could be effected without interfering with any plans which might have been made for the benefit of his daughters; but, although this remark did not satisfy Mrs. Ferguson, she was glad of even this slight opportunity of bringing the subject of her daughters" education before the consideration of her friend.
As to the other would-be heirs, they did not immediately turn upon Miss Inchman and rend her in revenge for the way in which she had tricked and frightened them, for there was no knowing what such a woman would do if she were exasperated, and not for the world would they have Mrs. Cliff find out the real subject of their discussion on that unlucky morning when she made herself decidedly one too many in Miss Cushing"s parlor.
Consequently, all attempts at concerted action were dropped, and each for herself determined that Mrs. Cliff should know that she was a true friend, and to trust to the good lady"s well-known grat.i.tude and friendly feeling when the time should come for her to apportion her worldly goods among the dear ones she would leave behind her.
There were certain articles in Mrs. Cliff"s house for which each of her friends had a decided admiration, and remarks were often made which it was believed would render it impossible for Mrs. Cliff to make a mistake when she should be planning her will, and asking herself to whom she should give this, and to whom that?
It was about a week after the events in Miss Cushing"s parlor, that something occurred which sent a thrill through the souls of a good many people in Plainton, affecting them more or less according to their degree of sensibility.
w.i.l.l.y Croup, who had been driven about the town attending to various matters of business and pleasure, was informed by Andrew Marks, as she alighted about four o"clock in the afternoon at the house of an acquaintance, that he hoped she would not stop very long because he had some business of his own to attend to that afternoon, and he wanted to get the horse cared for and the cow milked as early as possible, so that he might lock up the barn and go away. To this w.i.l.l.y answered that he need not wait for her, for she could easily walk home when she had finished her visit.
But when she left the house, after a protracted call, she did not walk very far, for it so happened that Mr. Burke, who had found leisure that afternoon to take a drive in his barouche, came up behind her, and very naturally stopped and offered to take her home. w.i.l.l.y, quite as naturally, accepted the polite proposition and seated herself in the barouche by the side of the fur-trimmed overcoat and the high silk hat.
Thus it was that the people of the town who were in the main street that afternoon, or who happened to be at doors or windows; that the very birds of the air, hopping about on trees or house-tops; that the horses, dogs, and cats; that even the insects, whose const.i.tutions were strong enough to enable them to buzz about in the autumn sunlight, beheld the startling sight of w.i.l.l.y Croup and the fine gentleman at the hotel riding together, side by side, in broad daylight, through the most public street of the town.
Once before these two had been seen together out of doors, but then they had been walking, and almost any two people who knew each other and who might be walking in the same direction, could, without impropriety walk side by side and converse as they went; but now the incident was very different.
It created a great impression, not all to the advantage of Mr. Burke, for, after the matter had been very thoroughly discussed, it was generally conceded that he must be no better than a fortune-hunter.
Otherwise, why should he be paying attention to w.i.l.l.y Croup, who, as everybody knew, was not a day under forty-five years old, and therefore at least ten years older than the gentleman at the hotel.
In regard to the fortune which he was hunting, there was no difference of opinion; whatever Mrs. Cliff"s fortune might be, this Mr. Burke wanted it. Of course, he would not endeavor to gain his object by marrying the widow, for she was entirely too old for him; but if he married w.i.l.l.y, her only relative, that would not be quite so bad as to age, and there could be no doubt that these two would ultimately come into Mrs. Cliff"s fortune, which was probably more than had been generally supposed. She had always been very close-mouthed about her affairs, and there were some who said that even in her early days of widowhood she might have been more stingy than she was poor. She must have considerable property, or Mr. Burke would not be so anxious to get it.
Thus it happened that the eventful drive in the barouche had a very different effect upon the reputations of the three persons concerned.
Mr. Burke was lowered from his position as a man of means enjoying his fortune, for even his building operations were probably undertaken for the purpose of settling himself in Mrs. Cliff"s neighborhood, and so being able to marry w.i.l.l.y as soon as possible.
w.i.l.l.y Croup, although everybody spoke of her conduct as absolutely ridiculous and even shameful, rose in public estimation simply from the belief that she was about to marry a man who, whatever else he might be, was of imposing appearance and was likely to be rich.
As to Mrs. Cliff, there could be no doubt that the general respect for her was on the increase. If she were rich enough to attract Mr. Burke to the town, she was probably rich enough to do a good many other things, and after all it might be that that new house at the corner was being built with her money.
Miss Shott was very industrious and energetic in expressing her opinion of Mr. Burke. "There"s a chambermaid at the hotel," she said, "who"s told me a lot of things about him, and it"s very plain to my mind that he isn"t the gentleman that he makes himself out to be! His handkerchiefs and his hair-brush aren"t the kind that go with fur overcoats and high hats, and she has often seen him stop in the hall downstairs and black his own boots! Everybody knows he was a sailor, but as to his ever having commanded a vessel, I don"t believe a word of it!
But w.i.l.l.y Croup and that man needn"t count on their schemes coming out all right, for Sarah Cliff isn"t any older than I am, and she"s just as likely to outlive them as she is to die before them!"
The fact that n.o.body had ever said that Burke had commanded a vessel, and that Miss Shott had started the belief that Mrs. Cliff was in a rapid decline, entirely escaped the attention of her hearers, so interested were they in the subject of the unworthiness of the fine gentleman at the hotel.
Winter had not yet really set in when George Burke, who had perceived no reason to imagine that he had made a drop in public estimation, felt himself stirred by emotions of triumphant joy. The new building on the corner lot was on the point of completion!
Workmen and master-workmen, mechanics and laborers, had swarmed in, over, and about the new edifice in such numbers that sometimes they impeded each other. Close upon the heels of the masons came the carpenters, and following them the plumbers and the plasterers; while the painters impatiently restrained themselves in order to give their predecessors time to get out of their way.
The walls and ceilings were covered with the plaster which would dry the quickest, and the paper-hangers entered the rooms almost before the plasterers could take away their trowels and their lime-begrimed hats and coats. Cleaners with their brooms and pails jostled the mechanics, as the latter left the various rooms, and everywhere strode Mr. Burke.
He had made up his mind that the building must be ready to move into the instant it arrived at its final destination.
It was a very different building from what Mrs. Cliff had proposed to herself when she decided to add a dining-room to her old house. It was so different indeed, that after having gone two or three times to look upon the piles of lumber and stone and the crowds of men, digging, and hammering, and sawing on the corner lot, she had decided to leave the whole matter in the hands of Mr. Burke, the architect, and the contractor. And when w.i.l.l.y Croup endeavored to explain to her what was going on, she always stopped her, saying that she would wait until it was done and then she would understand it.
Mr. Burke too had urged her, especially as the building drew near to completion, not to bother herself in the least about it, but to give him the pleasure of presenting it to her entirely finished and ready for occupancy. So even the painting and paper-hanging had been left to a professional decorator, and Mrs. Cliff a.s.sured Burke that she was perfectly willing to wait for the new dining-room until it was ready for her.
This dining-room, large and architecturally handsome, was planned, as has been said, so that one of its doors should fit exactly against the side hall door of the little house, but the other door of the dining-room opened into a wide and elegant hall, at one end of which was a portico and s.p.a.cious front steps. On the other side of this hall was a handsome drawing-room, and behind the drawing-room and opening into it, an alcove library with a broad piazza at one side of it. Back of the dining-room was a s.p.a.cious kitchen, with pantries, closets, scullery, and all necessary adjuncts.
In the second and third stories of the edifice were large and beautiful bedrooms, small and neat bedrooms, bath-rooms, servants" rooms, trunk-rooms, and every kind of room that modern civilization demands.
Now that the building was finished, Mr. Burke almost regretted that he had not constructed it upon the top of a hill in order that he might have laid his smooth and slippery timbers from the eminence to the side of Mrs. Cliff"s house, so that when all should be ready he could have knocked away the blocks which held the building, so that he could have launched it as if it had been a ship, and could have beheld it sliding gracefully and rapidly from its stocks into its appointed position. But as this would probably have resulted in razing Mrs. Cliff"s old house to the level of the ground, he did not long regret that he had not been able to afford himself the pleasure of this grand spectacle.
The night before the day on which the new building was to be moved, the lot next to Mrs. Cliff"s house was covered by masons, laborers, and wagons hauling stones, and by breakfast-time the next morning the new cellar was completed.
Almost immediately the great timbers, which, polished and greased, had been waiting for several days, were put in their places, and the great steam engines and windla.s.ses, which had been ready as long a time, were set in motion. And, as the house began to move upon its course, it almost missed a parting dab from the brush of a painter who was at work upon some final tr.i.m.m.i.n.g.
That afternoon, as Mrs. Cliff happened to be in her dining-room, she remarked to w.i.l.l.y that it was getting dark very early, but she would not pull up the blind of the side window, because she would then look out on the new cellar, and she had promised Mr. Burke not to look at anything until he had told her to do so. w.i.l.l.y, who had looked out of the side door at least fifty times that day, knew that the early darkness was caused by the shadows thrown by a large building slowly approaching from the west.
When Mrs. Cliff came downstairs the next morning she was met by w.i.l.l.y, very much excited, who told her that Mr. Burke wished to see her.
"Where is he?" said she. "At the dining-room door," answered w.i.l.l.y, and as Mrs. Cliff turned towards the little room in which she had been accustomed to take her meals, w.i.l.l.y seized her hand and led her into the side hall. There, in the open doorway, stood Mr. Burke, his high silk hat in one hand, and the other outstretched towards her.
"Welcome to your new dining-room, madam!" said he, as he took her hand and led her into the great room, which seemed to her, as she gazed in amazement about her, like a beautiful public hall.
We will not follow Mrs. Cliff, w.i.l.l.y, and the whole body of domestic servants, as they pa.s.sed through the halls and rooms of that grand addition to Mrs. Cliff"s little house.
"Carpets and furniture is all that you want, madam!" said Burke, "and then you"re at home!"
When Mrs. Cliff had been upstairs and downstairs, and into every chamber, and when she had looked out of the window and had beheld hundreds of men at work upon the grounds and putting up fences; and when Mr. Burke had explained to her that the people at the back of the lot were beginning to erect a stable and carriage house,--for no dining-room such as she had was complete, he a.s.sured her, without handsome quarters for horses and carriages,--she left him and went downstairs by herself.
As she stood by the great front door and looked up at the wide staircase, and into the lofty rooms upon each side, there came to her, rising above all sentiments of amazement, delight, and pride in her new possessions, a feeling of animated and inspiring encouragement. The mists of doubt and uncertainty, which had hung over her, began to clear away. This n.o.ble edifice must have cost grandly! And, for the first time, she began to feel that she might yet be equal to her fortune.