Jed took the mackerel out of the ice-chest and put the plate containing it on the top of the latter. "We-ell," he drawled, "you can"t always tell. I might take so long gettin" it that, first thing I knew, "twould be supper."
Humming a hymn he took another dish from the ice-chest and placed it beside the mackerel plate.
"What"s that?" inquired Barbara.
"That? Oh, that"s my toppin"-off layer. That"s a rice puddin", poor man"s puddin", some folks call it. I cal"late your ma"d call it a man"s poor puddin", but it makes good enough ballast for a craft like me." He began singing again.
""I know not, yea, I know not What bliss awaits me there.
Di, doo de di di doo de--""
Breaking off to suggest: "Better stay and eat along with me to-day, hadn"t you, Babbie?"
Barbara tried hard not to seem superior.
"Thank you," she said, "but I guess I can"t. We"re going to have chicken and lemon jelly." Then, remembering her manners, she added: "We"d be awful glad if you"d have dinner with us, Mr.
Winslow."
Jed shook his head.
"Much obliged," he drawled, "but if I didn"t eat that mackerel, who would?"
The question was answered promptly. While Mr. Winslow and his small caller were chatting concerning the former"s dinner, another eager personality was taking a marked interest in a portion of that dinner. Cherub, the Taylor cat, abroad on a foraging expedition, had scented from his perch upon a nearby fence a delicious and appetizing odor. Following his nose, literally, Cherub descended from the fence and advanced, sniffing as he came. The odor was fish, fresh fish. Cherub"s green eyes blazed, his advance became crafty, strategical, determined. He crept to the Winslow back step, he looked up through the open door, he saw the mackerel upon its plate on the top of the ice-chest.
"If I didn"t eat that mackerel," drawled Jed, "who would?"
There was a swoop through the air, a scream from Barbara, a crash-- two crashes, a momentary glimpse of a brindle cat with a mackerel crosswise in its mouth and the ends dragging on the ground, a rattle of claws on the fence. Then Jed and his visitor were left to gaze upon a broken plate on the floor, an overturned bowl on top of the ice-chest, and a lumpy rivulet of rice pudding trickling to the floor.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Barbara, wringing her hands in consternation.
Jed surveyed the ruin of the "poor man"s pudding" and gazed thoughtfully at the top of the fence over which the marauder had disappeared.
"Hum," he mused. "H-u-u-m. . . . Well, I did cal"late I could get a meal out of sight pretty fast myself, but--but--I ain"t in that critter"s cla.s.s."
"But your dinner!" wailed Barbara, almost in tears. "He"s spoiled ALL your dinner! Oh, the BAD thing! I hate that Cherub cat! I HATE him!"
Mr. Winslow rubbed his chin. "We-e-ll," he drawled again. "He does seem to have done what you might call a finished job.
H-u-u-m! . . . "Another offensive on the--er--no"theast"ard front; all objectives attained." That"s the way the newspapers tell such things nowadays, ain"t it? . . . However, there"s no use cryin" over spilt--er--puddin". Lucky there"s eggs and milk aboard the ship. I shan"t starve, anyhow."
Barbara was aghast. "Eggs and milk!" she repeated. "Is THAT all you"ve got for Sunday dinner, Mr. Winslow? Why, that"s awful!"
Jed smiled and began picking up the fragments of the plate. He went to the closet to get a broom and when he came out again the young lady had vanished.
But she was back again in a few minutes, her eyes shining.
"Mr. Winslow," she said, "Mamma sent me to ask if you could please come right over to our house. She--she wants to see you."
Jed regarded her doubtfully. "Wants to see me?" he repeated.
"What for?"
The child shook her head; her eyes sparkled more than ever. "I"m not sure," she said, "but I think there"s something she wants you to do."
Wondering what the something might be, Jed promised to be over in a minute or two. Barbara danced away, apparently much excited. Mr.
Winslow, remembering that it was Sunday, performed a hasty toilet at the sink, combed his hair, put on his coat and walked across the yard. Barbara met him at the side door of the house.
"Mamma"s in the dining-room," she said. "Come right in, Mr.
Winslow."
So Jed entered the dining-room, to find the table set and ready, with places laid for three instead of two, and Mrs. Armstrong drawing back one of three chairs. He looked at her.
"Good mornin", ma"am," he stammered. "Babbie, she said--er--she said there was somethin" you wanted me to do."
The lady smiled. "There is," she replied. "Babbie has told me what happened to your dinner, and she and I want you to sit right down and have dinner with us. We"re expecting you, everything is ready, and we shall--yes, we shall be hurt if you don"t stay.
Shan"t we, Babbie?"
Barbara nodded vigorously. "Awf"ly," she declared; ""specially Petunia. You will stay, won"t you, Mr. Winslow--please?"
Poor Jed! His agitation was great, his embarra.s.sment greater and his excuses for not accepting the invitation numerous if not convincing. But at last he yielded and sat reluctantly down to the first meal he had eaten in that house for five years.
Mrs. Armstrong, realizing his embarra.s.sment, did not urge him to talk and Barbara, although she chattered continuously, did not seem to expect answers to her questions. So Jed ate a little, spoke a little, and thought a great deal. And by the time dinner was over some of his shyness and awkwardness had worn away. He insisted upon helping with the dishes and, because she saw that he would be hurt if she did not, his hostess permitted him to do so.
"You see, ma"am," he said, "I"ve been doin" dishes for a consider"ble spell, more years than I like to count. I ought to be able to do "em fair to middlin" well. But," he added, as much to himself as to her, "I don"t know as that"s any sign. There"s so many things I ought to be able to do like other folks--and can"t.
I"m afraid you may not be satisfied, after all, ma"am," he went on.
"I suppose you"re a kind of an expert, as you might say."
She shook her head. "I fear I"m no expert, Mr. Winslow," she answered, just a little sadly, so it seemed to him. "Barbara and I are learning, that is all."
"Nora used to do the dishes at home," put in Barbara. "Mamma hardly ever--"
"Hush, dear," interrupted her mother. "Mr. Winslow wouldn"t be interested."
After considerable urging Jed consented to sit a while in the living-room. He was less reluctant to talk by this time and, the war creeping into the conversation, as it does into all conversations nowadays, they spoke of recent happenings at home and abroad. Mrs. Armstrong was surprised to find how well informed her landlord was concerning the world struggle, its causes and its progress.
"Why, no, ma"am," he said, in answer to a remark of hers; "I ain"t read it up much, as I know of, except in the newspapers. I ain"t an educated man. Maybe--" with his slow smile--"maybe you"ve guessed as much as that already."
"I know that you have talked more intelligently on this war than any one else I have heard since I came to this town," she declared, emphatically. "Even Captain Hunniwell has never, in my hearing, stated the case against Germany as clearly as you put it just now; and I have heard him talk a good deal."
Jed was evidently greatly pleased, but he characteristically tried not to show it. "Well, now, ma"am," he drawled, "I"m afraid you ain"t been to the post office much mail times. If you"d just drop in there some evenin" and hear Gabe Bea.r.s.e and Bluey Batcheldor raise hob with the Kaiser you"d understand why the confidence of the Allies is unshaken, as the Herald gave out this mornin"."
A little later he said, reflectively:
"You know, ma"am, it"s an astonishin" thing to me, I can"t get over it, my sittin" here in this house, eatin" with you folks and talkin" with you like this."
Mrs. Armstrong smiled. "I can"t see anything so very astonishing about it," she said.
"Can"t you?"
"Certainly not. Why shouldn"t you do it--often? We are landlord and tenant, you and I, but that is no reason, so far as I can see, why we shouldn"t be good neighbors."