And where to get that some one?
"Aren"t they terrors!" said Mrs. Porter in reference to the nurse-maids that would not come to the ranch on any terms. "What do they expect anyway?"
"Oh, they get lonesome," Molly said in discouragement, "and of course it is lonely! But I should think some middle-aged woman or some widow with a child even--"
"Molly always returns to that possible widow!" said her husband. "I think we might try two!"
"I would never think of that!" said the mistress of the ranch firmly.
"Four servants always underfoot!"
"Did you ever think of trying a regular trained nurse, Molly?" Peter Porter asked.
"But then you have them at the table, Peter--and always in the drawing-room evenings. And no matter how nice they are--"
"That"s the worst of that!" agreed Peter.
Jerry Tressady threw the Mail on the floor and sat up.
"Who"s this coming up now, Molly?" he asked.
He had lowered his voice, because the white-clad young woman who was coming composedly up the path between the sunflowers and the overloaded rose-bushes was already within hearing distance. She was a heavy, well-developed young person upon closer view, with light-lashed eyes of a guileless, childlike blue, rosy cheeks, and a ma.s.s of bright, shining hair, protected now only by a parasol. Through the embroidery insertion of her fresh, stiff dress she showed glimpses of a snowy bosom, and under her crisp skirt a ruffle of white petticoat and white-shod feet were visible. She was panting from her walk and wiped her glowing face with her handkerchief before she spoke.
"Howdy-do, folks?" said the new-comer, easily, dropping upon the steps and fanning herself with the limp handkerchief. "I don"t wonder you keep a motor-car; it"s something fierce walking down here! I could of waited," she went on thoughtfully, "and had my brother brought me down in the machine, but I hadn"t no idea it was so far. I saw your ad in the paper," she went on, addressing Mrs. Tressady directly, with a sort of trusting simplicity that was rather pretty, "and I thought you might like me for your girl."
"Well,--" began Molly, entirely at a loss, for until this second no suspicion of the young woman"s errand had occurred to her. She dared not look at husband or guests; she fixed her eyes seriously upon the would-be nurse.
"Of course I wouldn"t work for everybody," said the new-comer hastily and proudly. "I never worked before and mamma thinks I"m crazy to work now, but I don"t think that taking care of a child is anything to be ashamed of!" The blue eyes flashed dramatically--she evidently enjoyed this speech. "And what"s more, I don"t expect any one of my friends to shun me or treat me any different because I"m a servant--that is, so long as I act like a lady," she finished in a lower tone. A sound from the hammock warned Mrs. Tressady; and suggesting in a somewhat unsteady voice that they talk the matter over indoors, she led the new maid out of sight.
For some twenty minutes the trio on the porch heard the steady rise and fall of voices indoors; then Molly appeared and asked her husband in a rather dissatisfied voice what he thought.
"Why, it"s what you think, dear. How"s she seem?"
"She"s competent enough--seems to know all about children, and I think she"d be strong and willing. She"s clean as a pink, too. And she"d come for thirty and would be perfectly contented, because she lives right near here--that house just before you come to Emville which says Chickens and Carpentering Done Here--don"t you know? She has a widowed sister who would come and stay with her at night when we"re away." Mrs.
Tressady summed it up slowly.
"Why not try her then, dear? By the way, what"s her name?"
"Darling--Belle Darling."
"Tell her I"m English," said Mr. Porter, rapturously, "and that over there we call servants--"
"No, but Jerry,"--Mrs. Tressady was serious,--"would you? She"s so utterly untrained. That"s the one thing against her. She hasn"t the faintest idea of the way a servant should act. She told me she just loved the way I wore my hair, and she said she wanted me to meet her friend. Then she asked me, "Who"d you name him Timothy for?""
"Oh, you"d tame her fast enough. Just begin by snubbing her every chance you get--"
"I see it!" laughed Mrs. Porter, for Mrs. Tressady was a woman full of theories about the sisterhood of woman, about equality, about a fair chance for every one--and had never been known to hurt any one"s feelings in the entire course of her life.
Just here Belle stepped through one of the drawing-room French windows, with dewy, delicious Timothy, in faded pale-blue sleeping-wear, in her arms.
"This darling little feller was crying," said Belle, "and I guess he wants some din-din--don"t you, lover? Shall I step out and tell one of those Chinese boys to get it? Listen! From now on I"ll have mamma save all the banty eggs for you, Timmy, and some day I"ll take you down there and show you the rabbits, darling. Would you like that?"
Molly glanced helplessly at her husband.
"How soon could you come, Belle?" asked Jerry, and that settled it. He had interpreted his wife"s look and a.s.sumed the responsibility. Molly found herself glad.
Belle came two days later, with every evidence of content. It soon became evident that she had adopted the family and considered herself adopted in turn. Her buoyant voice seemed to leap out of every opened door. She rose above her duties and floated along on a constant stream of joyous talk.
"We"re going to have fried chicken and strawberries--my favorite dinner!" said Belle when Molly was showing her just how she liked the table set. After dinner, cheerfully polishing gla.s.ses, she suddenly burst into song as she stood at the open pantry window, some ten feet from the side porch. The words floated out:
"And the band was bravely playing The song of the cross and crown-- Nearer, my G.o.d, to thee-- As the ship--"
Mrs. Tressady sat up, a stirring shadow among the shadows of the porch.
"I must ask her not to do that," she announced quietly, and disappeared.
"And I spoke to her about joining in the conversation at dinner," she said, returning. "She took it very nicely."
Belle"s youthful spirits were too high to succ.u.mb to one check, however. Five minutes later she burst forth again:
"Ring, ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, on your telephone-- And ring me up tonight--"
"Soft pedal, Belle!" Jerry called.
Belle laughed.
"Sure!" she called back. "I forgot."
Presently the bright blot of light that fell from the pantry window on the little willow trees vanished silently, and they could hear Belle"s voice in the kitchen.
"Good-natured," said Molly.
"Strong," Mrs. Porter said.
"And pretty as a peach!" said Peter Porter.
"Oh, she"ll do!" Jerry Tressady said contentedly.
She was good-natured, strong, and pretty indeed, and she did a great deal. Timmy"s little garments fluttered on the clothes-line before breakfast; Timmy"s room was always in order: Timmy was always dainty and clean. Belle adored him and the baby returned her affection. They murmured together for hours down on the river bank or on the shady porch. Belle always seemed cheerful.
Nor could it be said that Belle did not know her place. She revelled in her t.i.tle. "This is Mrs. Tressady"s maid," Belle would say mincingly at the telephone, "and she does not allow her servants to make engagements for her." "My friends want me to enter my name for a prize for the most popular girl in the Emville bazaar, Mrs. Tressady; but I thought I would ask your permission first."
But there was a sort of breezy familiarity about her very difficult to check. On her second day at the ranch she suddenly came behind Jerry Tressady seated on the piano bench and slipped a sheet of music before him.
"Won"t you just run over that last chorus for me, Mr. Tress"dy?" asked Belle. "I have to sing that at a party Thursday night and I can"t seem to get it."
No maid between Washington Square and the Bronx Zoo would have asked this favor. Yes, but Rising Water Ranch was not within those limits, nor within several thousand miles of them; so Jerry played the last chorus firmly, swiftly, without comment, and Belle gratefully withdrew.
The Porters, unseen witnesses of this scene, on the porch, thought this very amusing; but only a day later Mrs. Porter herself was discovered in the act of b.u.t.toning the long line of b.u.t.tons that went down the back of one of Belle"s immaculate white gowns.