“ochone! the ould boy has got into the mistress, to be sure, and all to wanst. here’s real round steak, and i’m ordered to broil it nice for the breakfast, instead of frying it in hog-fat like i used to; and there’s twice as much as we ever had before. and she has got fresh bread in the basket! and little jess is cackling round like a pullet after corn, and the mistress said i wasn’t to spake a cross word to her. sure, i belave the worruld is comin’ to an end. i am to put two cups of ground coffee in the pot instead of one, and i’m not to water the milk any more after the milk-man laves it, but take two quarts instead of one. i do belave the ould maid is a-goin’ crazy. she looks as if she had been a-cryin’ all night; and there’s that jess a-settin’ the table, and a-singin’ like a little canary. i’d like to slap the jade over; i’d make her sing like a cat with a basin of hot water on its hide!”
thus biddy lanigan heralded the sudden change in her department of miss scrimp’s boarding-house. it was evident she did not like it. it gave her a good deal more work—and hotter work; for the steak, formerly fried till too hard to be eatable, on the range, now had to be broiled over hot coals.
“i’ll have a raise o’ wages for this, or i’ll lave,” she uttered, as she turned the juicy steak. for she knew how to cook it nicely when it had to be done. she had ever kept and cooked the best in a proper way for her mistress and herself.
[70]
at last, early as the hour was, not fairly light outdoors, the breakfast bell rang, and the girls trooped into the breakfast room.
how hattie enjoyed their looks of wonder, and then their cries of joy.
“nice steak—so tender and juicy!” cried one.
“fresh bread and butter! dear me!” cried another.
“oh, such coffee—with real milk in it!” almost screamed a third.
and merrily, happily, the girls went to work over those luxuries like a bevy of singing birds in a field of grain.
even miss scrimp’s face grew softer as she heard the merry music at her board, though a sigh now and then told that this extravagance, while it saved her from a prison cell, was eating vastly into the profits which she had hitherto made.
wild kate, in the exuberance of her feelings over this change, made a speech. she often did. but seldom did she make one so much to the point.
“girls,” said she, “isn’t this just glorious! over this cup of nice coffee i feel like weeping, for having been so saucy to good miss scrimp last night. over this delicious steak i feel like promising never to find a fault here again, without real, strong occasion for it. over this sweet butter and this fresh, nice bread, cut thick, i feel like giving thanks both to heaven, and to her who has provided such a splendid table, and to move a vote of thanks from us all to miss scrimp.”
“thanks! thanks!” rose from every girl’s lips at the table.
“let us also thank biddy lanigan for cooking all these luxuries so nicely!” added hattie butler, who[71] saw the cook standing near the door, in her accustomed position.
“i knew that angel-born wouldn’t forget ould biddy. she has ever the kind word for me!” cried the happy lanigan.
“thanks to biddy lanigan, and little jess, too,” shouted wild kate, and the cry echoed from one end of the room to the other.
but the girls had not long to tarry over this new and joyous scene. they all had to reach their workshops on time, or be cut short in wages, and soon they were all speeding away to their various destinations.
and jessie sat down for the first time in many a long, sad day to a full, substantial meal, with time enough allowed her to eat it. and when it was time to clear up the table and wash the dishes, she went to her work with a song on her lips and gladness in her heart. hitherto sighs and tears had accompanied her labors.
when miss scrimp sat down to her breakfast, which was no better than the boarders had just enjoyed, biddy was the first to speak.
“worra! but wasn’t i mad with the stame and the hate when i was a-cookin’ the breakfast sure. but when i saw how good the girl craythurs felt, and how thankful they were, sure the mad all went off, and i felt like i do when the praste hears me at confession and says it’s all right. ‘biddy, go along wid ye, say all your prayers, and be a good woman.’”
“it costs awful,” was all miss scrimp said, but there was a whole volume of misery in the sigh which followed her words.
“i’ll keep it up if i can,” she continued. “if i can’t, why i can’t.”
[72]
“what sot ye to doin’ it?” asked biddy.
the question confused miss scrimp. not for any consideration would she have biddy know the truth. it would have ruined her in biddy’s estimation if the latter had known she had succumbed to the demands of the cheapest boarder in the house.
“i thought i’d just try a change,” she said. “i’d got so sick of hearin’ the girls grumble and growl, i thought i’d see what real good feedin’ would do with them.”
at that instant miss scrimp caught a glimpse of jessie albemarle’s face. the girl hardly dared to, but she seemed to want to laugh right out; and from that instant miss scrimp knew that jessie albemarle knew why and how the change had come.
and the moment she could get the little girl alone after breakfast, she said to her, in a kinder tone than she had ever used to her before:
“jessie, my dear, if you will keep a close mouth about all you know you’ll never be sorry for it. i’ll have a nice cot-bed put up in your room, and you shall have two new calico frocks, and a good, soft pair of shoes.”
“thank you, miss scrimp. miss hattie told me not to say anything as long as i was treated well, and you may be sure i’ll mind her. she is the best friend i ever had.”
miss scrimp would really have liked to tear the poor girl limb from limb, but she dared not even be cross with her, so, with what she meant for a smile, she told her to go and do her work, and take her time about it.
