Calvin handed her the teapot; it was empty.
"You forgot and put it somewheres else!" he said. "Anybody"s liable to do that when they have a thing on their mind. I"ve done it myself time and again. How about a bureau drawer; what? We"ll find it; don"t you be scared!"
"No!" said Miss Fidely faintly. "No, sir! it was there. I counted it last night the last thing, and there ain"t no one--my Lord! that tramp!"
"What tramp?"
"He came here this morning and asked for some breakfast. He seemed so poor and mis"able, and he told such a pitiful story, I went out to get him a drink of milk--he must have taken it. I remember, he was standin"
over there when I come in, but I never mistrusted--"
Her voice failed, and she covered her eyes with her hands. Calvin Parks cast a rapid glance behind him, and ascertaining the position of the door, began to edge quietly toward it.
"Don"t you fret!" he said soothingly. "I shall be round this way again some time; mebbe you"ll find it some place when you least expect. I"ve known such things to happen, oftentimes."
"No! no!" cried the cripple, her distress increasing momentarily. "It"s gone, sir! The look in that man"s face comes back to me, and I know now what it meant. Oh! he must have a hard heart, to rob a cripple woman of her one pleasure, and on Christmas Eve!"
She flung her hands apart with a wild gesture, but the next moment controlled herself and spoke quietly but rapidly. "I am ashamed to trouble you, sir, but if you"ll take down the bags I"ll empt "em as careful as I can. I wouldn"t trouble you if I could help myself."
"I--I"m afraid I can"t stop!" muttered Calvin; and he hung his head as he spoke, for a dry voice was saying in his ear, "Put this straight to yourself; are you running a candy route or an orphan asylum?"
"Oh! if Mittie May would only come!" cried the lame woman. "I"ll _have_ to trouble you, sir; it won"t take you long."
Calvin mumbled something about calling again.
"No!" cried Miss Fidely. "There"d be no use in your calling again; that"s all I can save in a year, and there"s no more--"
She stopped short, and the blood rushed into her thin face.
"No!" she said after a pause. "I can"t take the burial money, even for the children. Oh! you kind, good man, take down the bags, and take your candy back!"
"I"ve got to see to my hoss!" cried Calvin irritably. "Hear him hollerin"? Jest wait a half a minute--" he sneaked out of the door, closed it carefully behind him, and bolted for his sleigh. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the nose-bag from Hossy"s nose, the robe from his back; clambering hastily in, he cast a guilty glance around him, and saw--Mittie May, standing a few paces off, staring at him round-eyed.
"Here!" he cried. "You tell her I ain"t feelin" real well, and I"ve got to get home. Tell her--tell her my name"s Santy Claus, and my address is the North Pole. And--look here! tell her Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and the same to you! Gitty up, hossy! gitty up!" and laying his whip over the astonished flanks of the brown horse, Calvin Parks fled down the road as if Blucher and the Prussians were after him.
CHAPTER XIII
MERRY CHRISTMAS
"But that ain"t the end of the story, Miss Hands!" said Calvin Parks, after telling as much as he thought proper of the foregoing events.
"That ain"t the end. This mornin" I stopped down along a piece to wish Merry Christmas to Aaron Tarbox"s folks, and I left hossy standin" while I ran into the house. I stayed longer than I intended--you know how "tis when there"s children hangin" round--and when I come out, you may call me mate to a mud-scow if there warn"t a feller with his head and shoulders clear inside the back of my cart. I can"t tell you how, but some way of it, it come over me in a flash who the feller was. I don"t know as ever I moved quicker in my life. I had him by the scruff of his neck and the slack of his pants, and out of that and standin" on his head in a snow-drift before he could have winked more than once, certin.
""Have you got three ones and a two," I says, "belongin" to a lady as sits in a cart, "bout four mile from here? "cause if you have, and was keepin" them for the owner, I"ll save you the trouble," I says. He couldn"t answer real well, his head bein" in the drift, so I went through his pockets, and sure enough there they was, three ones and a two, just as she said."
"My goodness!" cried Mary Sands. "What did you do?"
"Well, I give him his Christmas present, a good solid one, that"ll last him a sight longer than the money would have, and then I hove him back into the drift to cool off a spell,--he was some warm, and so was I,--and come along. So now I"ve got the money, and that lady can rest easy in her mind; only I"ve got to let her know. Now, Miss Hands, I"m no kind of a hand at writin" letters; I"ve been studyin" all the way along the ro"d how to tell that lady that she ain"t owin" me a cent; and I don"t know as I"ve hit it off real good."
[Ill.u.s.tration: ""THEN I HOVE HIM BACK INTO THE DRIFT TO COOL OFF A SPELL.""]
He felt in his pockets, and produced a sc.r.a.p of paper; with an anxious eye on Mary Sands, he read aloud as follows.
"Dear Ma"am;--I got that money and give the feller one instead, so no more and received payment from yours respy C. Parks."
"How"s that, Miss Hands? Will it do, think?"
Mary"s eyes twinkled. "It"s short and sweet, Mr. Parks," she said; "it tells the story, certin, though I don"t doubt but she"d be pleased to hear more from you."
"That"s all I"ve got to say!" said Calvin simply; "I"m glad to get it off my mind. How"s the boys this morning?"
"That"s why I made an errand out here before you went into the house!"
said Mary Sands.
They were sitting in the harness-room, she in the chair, he on the bucket. There was a fire in the stove, and the place was full of the pleasant smell of warm leather. Their speech was punctuated by the stamping and neighing of the brown horse, the young colt, the old horse of all, the mare, and Old John, in the stable adjoining.
Mary Sands" hazel eyes were full of a half-humorous anxiety.
"I wanted to talk to you a little about Cousins!" she said. "They"ve been actin" real strange the past week, ever since you was here last.
Honest, I don"t believe they"ve thought of one single thing besides each other. Werryin" and frettin" and watchin"--I"m "most worn out with "em.
There! if it warn"t so comical I should cry, and if it warn"t so pitiful I should laugh. That"s just the way I feel about it, Mr. Parks."
"Sho!" said Calvin sympathetically. "I don"t wonder at it, Miss Hands, not a mite. They haven"t got round to speakin" to each other yet, I s"pose?"
Mary shook her head. "No!" she said. "They want to, I"m sure of that, but yet neither one of "em will speak first. Such foolishness I never did see. Now take yesterday! Cousin Sam went to town, and Cousin Sim werried every single minute he was gone. The mare was skittish, and the harness might break, and he might meet the cars, and I don"t know what all. If he called me off my work once he did a dozen times, till I thought I should fly. By the time Cousin Sam got back he was all worn out, and soon as he heard him safe in the house he dropped off asleep in his chair. Well! then "twas all to do over again with Cousin Sam. How had Simeon been, and what had he been doin" while he was gone, and didn"t I think he had a bad color at breakfast? Then Cousin Sim begun to snore, and Cousin Sam would have it that "twarn"t natural snorin", and he must be in a catamouse condition."
"What did he mean by that?" asked Calvin.
"That"s what he said!" Mary replied. "It"s a medical term, but I don"t know as he got it just right. It means sleepin" kind of heavy and unhealthy, I understand. "Well," I says, "Cousin Sam, just you step here and look at Cousin Sim!" So he did, and see him sound asleep with his mouth open, lookin" peaceful as a fish. He stood and looked at him a spell, and I see his mouth begin to work. "There"s nothin" catamouse about that sleep, Cousin!" I says. "There couldn"t a baby sleep easier than what he is." He shakes his head mournful. "Simeon"s aged terrible since Ma went," he says. He stood there lookin" at him a spell longer, and then he give a kind of groan and went back to his own chair.
"Now, Mr. Parks, it"s time this foolishness was put a stop to."
"That"s right!" said Calvin Parks. "That"s so, Miss Hands. I believe you"ve got a plan to stop it, too."
"I have!" said Mary Sands. "I"ve been studyin" it out while I was settin" here waitin" for you. This is Christmas Day, Mr. Parks; and if you"ll help me, I believe we can bring it about to-day. Will you?"
"Will I?" said Calvin Parks. "Will a dog bark?"
"Merry Christmas, Sam!" said Calvin Parks.
"Same to you, Calvin, same to you!" said Mr. Sam. "Come in! come in!
Shet the door after you, will ye?"
Calvin shut the door into the entry. Mr. Sam glanced about him uneasily.