"No, ma"m, I won"t do that. It is not for me to place an estimation upon you. I don"t know much about--"
"Come right in," Margaret called to Mose Blake, hesitating at the door.
She led him into the room and began to introduce him to the company.
"Mose, this is Miz Mayfield--" Mose shook hands with Jim. "No, this is Miz Mayfield." Mose shook hands with Lou, then with Mrs. Mayfield, and turning to Tom, to whom he was now presented, shook the stool which Tom held in his hand and upon which he was about to sit, took it from him and sat down. "All h--h--h--h--hands w--w--well, I h--h--hope."
"Well as usual," Margaret answered, sitting down in the rocker. "Why ain"t you folks been over?"
"Been a t--t--t--tryin" t--t--t--t--t--to git off. Granny sot t--t--t--the feather b--b--b--bed a--f--f--fire night afore l--l--l--last an" come mighty n--n--n--nigh b--b--b--burnin" up."
"Why, you don"t say so?" Margaret exclaimed.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "YES, I D-D-D-DO SAY SO, A-A-A-ATTER A F-F-F-FASHION."]
"Yes I d--d--d--do say so a--a--a--atter a f--f--f--fashion."
"How far do you live from here Mr. Blake?" Tom inquired.
"Oh, "bout t--t--t--three sights and a g--g--g--good long w--w--w--walk."
"Charmingly indefinite," said Mrs. Mayfield and Jim, his eyes set, nodded to her. Tom declared himself willing to bet that Mose was a good fellow, "and I don"t want to be impertinent," he ventured to remark, "but do you know they can cure stammering now? They can."
"Y--y--y--yes, I kik--kik--kik--know. I tuck--tuck some l--l--l--lessons once a--a--a--and was kik--kik--kik--cured. Got along all r--r--r--right till I t--t--tried to talk--long as I di--d--d--din didn"t say nuthin".
Lou, air you g--g--g--goin" to church Sunday?"
"I don"t know."
"Lowed I"d g--g--g--go with you. Mother said I ought to go up to the m--m--m--m--m--mourner"s b--b--bench, but p--p--p--p--pap he "lowed if I did git "ligion I couldn"t s--s--s--shout. But I"m in a hurry this m--m--m--m--mornin". Granny"s sick and wants some m--m--m--med--hison."
"What"s the matter with her?" Margaret inquired.
"Don"t know. She didn"t s--s--s--say."
"But what sort of medicine did they send you after?"
"Oh, a--a--a--any sort you ain"t g--g--g--got no use fur."
"Why, that won"t do," Mrs. Mayfield spoke up. "Why don"t you send for a physician?"
"Oh, that"s a--a--a--all right. It never makes any d--d--dif--difference with granny what s--s--sort of medicine she t--t--t--take--takes. If you go to church Sunday, L--L--L--Lou, I may see you there. G--g--g--got somethin" to s--s--s--say to you."
"How are you going to manage to say it?" Lou asked and he began to make signs.
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Mayfield, "what he has to say could be conveyed by signs."
"Yes," Tom declared, "signs are very impressive. Fellow made a few at me once and when he got through I found he"d knocked me down."
"Knocked you down!" cried Lou. "Oh, how could anybody knock you down?"
Mrs. Mayfield looked at Jim. "How charming to be a hero in the sight of a beautiful eye."
Jim drooped and said: "Yes"m."
Mose who had been s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his face began again: "Feller knock me down have me to w--w--w--w--whup."
The voice of Kintchin, driving the steers, came up the hill: "Whoa, hor, Buck, come yere. Come yere Bright." Mose remarked after a serious effort that the steers must have about all they could pull, and then added that he must be going. Tom asked if he found it difficult to pull himself loose, and his aunt cried out! "Why Thomas." Kintchin"s voice was heard again, further off and Mose said he "reckoned" he"d have to be pulled out by the steers. Margaret who had been searching the safe and the "cubbo"d", bade him wait a moment, that she had some medicine for him.
"Here," she said, giving him two small packages, ""is some quinine and some calomy. Tell yo" granny not to take too much of the calomy. Mout salavater her."
"Yes"m. But it won"t m--m--m--m--make any diffunce with granny w--w--w--wuther she"s s--s--s--salivated or not. She ain"t got no teeth.
And b--b--b--besides, she likes the quinine better. She"s d--d--d--d--deef and the q--q--q--quinine makes her head r--r--r--r--roar and she thinks she"s hearin" suthin". Well, er g--g--g--g--good day."
"Miz Mayfield," said Margaret, when Mose was gone, "I reckon these folks air mighty queer to you."
"Oh, no, they are close to nature in her most whimsical mood, and a mother of fun is better than a step-mother to scandal."
"I don"t know what you mean, auntie" said Tom, "and I don"t guess you do, but I"ll bet they are game and that is enough to make them all right with me."
"Why," Lou replied, "the man that won"t fight is a Judas."
"Good," cried Tom, taking her hands. "I"d rather hear a girl say that than to hear her play a symphony. Before my father was a judge he was a soldier. Now they call him a learned jurist but I am prouder of the fact that he was a distinguished colonel of cavalry."
"Gracious me!" exclaimed Margaret, "I must see about dinner."
"I"ll help you mother," said Lou.
"No you won"t," Margaret replied. "You jest stay right whar you air."
"You won"t object to my helping," said Mrs. Mayfield, arising.
"Oh, no, that is you may come an" look on."
Jim s.n.a.t.c.hed his hat off the floor and followed, leaving Tom and Lou alone in the room. The girl stood leaning on the table looking at the young fellow, and though often of late had they strolled alone in the woods, yet he seemed to feel that this was the first time he stood facing so confidential a privilege.
"And you lived away off in Maine," said Lou.
"Yes, until father received the appointment to come down here."
"Is yo" mother livin"?"
"No, I can just remember her."
She mused for a few moments as if struggling with a thought. "I read of them findin" a new star," she said, "and I wondered if it wan"t the speret of some good man or woman that hed pa.s.sed away from down here an"
gone up there."
"If that were true," he replied, coming forward and putting his hands on the table, gazing into her eyes--"if that were true and I should find a new star brighter than all the rest, I would call it--Lou."
She straightened up. "You must be careful how you talk to me because I might not know how to act. When folks would hide things they must talk like in a book, and I can"t do that. But do you think if I was to read books I could be smart?"
"I have begun to think that books don"t make so much difference after all. It"s the soul that makes people great."