Mrs. Roberts: "Went out and got him?"
Roberts: "When I spoke to her."
Mrs. Roberts: "When you spoke to her? But you said you didn"t see her!"
Roberts: "Of _course_ I didn"t see her. How should I see her, when I never saw her before? I went up and spoke to her, and she said she wasn"t the one. She was very angry, and she went out and got her husband. He was tipsy, and he"s been coming back ever since. I don"t know what to do about the wretched creature. He says I"ve insulted his abominable wife!"
Campbell, laughing: "O Lord! Lord! This will be the death of me!"
Mrs. Campbell: "This is one of your tricks, Willis; one of your vile practical jokes."
Campbell: "No, no, my dear! I couldn"t invent anything equal to _this_.
Oh my! oh my!"
Mrs. Campbell, seizing him by the arm: "Well, if you don"t tell, instantly, what it is--"
Campbell: "But I _can"t_ tell. I promised Roberts I wouldn"t."
Roberts, wildly: "Oh, tell, tell!"
Campbell: "About the cook, too, Agnes?"
Mrs. Roberts: "Yes, yes; everything! Only tell!"
Campbell, struggling to recover himself: "Why, you see, Agnes engaged a cook, up-town--"
Mrs. Roberts: "I didn"t want you to know it, Amy. I thought you would be troubled if you knew you were coming to visit me just when I was trying to break in a new cook, and so I told Edward not to let Willis know. Go on, Willis."
Mrs. Campbell: "And I understand just how you felt about it, Agnes; you knew he"d laugh. Go on, Willis."
Campbell: "And she sent her down here, and told Roberts to keep her till she came herself."
Both Ladies: "Well?"
Campbell: "And I found poor old Roberts here, looking out for a cook that he"d never seen before, and expecting to recognize a woman that he"d never met in his life." He explodes in another fit of laughter.
The ladies stare at him in mystification.
Mrs. Roberts: "I would have stayed myself to meet her, but I"d left my plush bag with my purse in it at Stearns"s, and I had to go back after it."
Mrs. Campbell: "She _had_ to leave him. What is there to laugh at?"
Mrs. Roberts: "I see nothing to laugh at, Willis."
Campbell, sobered: "You _don"t_?"
Both Ladies: "No."
Campbell: "Well, by Jove! Then perhaps you don"t see anything to laugh at in Roberts"s having to guess who the cook was; and going up to the wrong woman, and her getting mad, and going out and bringing back her little fiery-red tipsy Irishman of a husband, that wanted to fight Roberts; and my having to lie out of it for him; and their going off again, and the husband coming back four or five times between drinks, and having to be smoothed up each time--"
Both Ladies: "No!"
Mrs. Roberts: "It was simply horrid."
Mrs. Campbell: "It wasn"t funny at all; it was simply disgusting. Poor Mr. Roberts!"
Campbell: "Well, by the holy poker! This knocks me out! The next time I"ll marry a man, and have somebody around that can appreciate a joke.
The Irishman said himself it would make a cow laugh."
Mrs. Campbell: "I congratulate you on being of the same taste, Willis.
And I dare say you tried to heighten the absurdity, and add to poor Mr. Roberts"s perplexity."
Roberts: "No, no! I a.s.sure you, Amy, if it hadn"t been for Willis, I shouldn"t have known how to manage. I was quite at my wits" end."
Mrs. Campbell: "You are very generous, I"m sure, Mr. Roberts; and I suppose I shall have to believe _you_."
Roberts: "But I couldn"t act upon the suggestion to take the man out and treat him; Willis was convinced himself, I think, that that wouldn"t do. But I confess I was tempted."
Mrs. Roberts: "Treat him?"
Roberts: "Yes. He was rather tipsy already; and Willis thought he would be more peaceable perhaps if we could get him quite drunk; but I really couldn"t bring my mind to it, though I was so distracted that I was on the point of yielding."
Both Ladies: "Willis!"
Mrs. Roberts: "You wanted poor Edward to go out and drink with that wretched being, so as to get him into a still worse state?"
Mrs. Campbell: "You suggested that poor Mr. Roberts should do such a thing as that? Well, Willis!"
Mrs. Roberts: "Well, Willis!" She turns from him more in sorrow than in anger, and confronts a cook-like person of comfortable bulk, with a bundle in her hand, and every mark of hurry and exhaustion in her countenance. "Why, here"s Bridget now!"
The Cook: "Maggie, mem! I was afraid I was after missun" you, after all. I couldn"t see the gentleman anywhere, and I"ve been runnun" up and down the depot askun" fur um; and at last, thinks I, I"ll try the ladies" room; and sure enough here ye was yourself. It was lucky I thought of it."
Mrs. Roberts: "Oh! I forgot to tell you he"d be in the ladies" room.
But it"s all right now, Maggie; and we"ve just got time to catch our train."
Campbell, bitterly: "Well, Agnes, for a woman that"s set so many people by the ears, you let yourself up pretty easily. By Jove! here comes that fellow back again!" They all mechanically shrink aside, and leave Roberts exposed to the approach of McIlheny.
McIlheny: "Now, sor, me thrain"s gahn, and we can talk this little matter oover at our aise. What did ye mane, sor, by comin" up to the Hannorable Mrs. Michael McIlheny and askun" her if she was a cuke? Did she luke like a person that"d demane herself to a manial position like that? Her that never put her hands in wather, and had hilpers to milk her father"s cows? What did ye mane, sor? Did she luke like a lady, or did she luke like a cuke? Tell me that!"
The Cook, bursting upon him from behind Roberts, who eagerly gives place to her: "_I"ll_ tell ye that meself, ye impidint felly! What"s to kape a cuke from lukun" like a lady, or a lady from lukun" like a cuke? Ah, Mike McIlheny, ye drunken blaggurd, is it _me_ ye"re tellin"
that Mary Molloy never put her hands in wather, and kept hilpers to milk her father"s cows! Cows indade! It was wan pig under the bed; and more shame to them that"s ashamed to call it a pig, if ye _are_ my cousin! _I"m_ the lady the gentleman was lukin" for, and if ye think I"m not as good as Mary Molloy the best day she ever stipped, I"ll thank ye to tell me who is. Be off wid ye, or I"ll say something ye"ll not like to hear!"
McIlheny: "Sure I was jokin", Maggie! I was goun" to tell the gintleman that if he was lukun" for a cuke, I"d a cousin out of place that was the best professed cuke in Bahston. And I"m glad he"s got ye: and he"s a gintleman every inch, and so"s his lady, I dar" say, though I haven"t the pleasure of her acquaintance--"
The Colored Man who calls the Trains: "Cars ready for West Newton, Auburndale, Riverside, Wellesley, Natick, and South Framingham. Train for South Framingham. Express to West Newton. Track No. 5."
Mrs. Roberts: "That"s our train, Amy" We get off at Auburndale.
Willis, Edward, Maggie--come!" They all rush out, leaving McIlheny alone.