for a few minutes lammy sat looking after the vanishing train. then he carefully wrapped the paint-box and portfolio in the blanket again, and, patting twinkle, who was quivering with excitement and looking into his face with a pitiful, pleading glance, he put the dog down in the straw again, saying, “we can’t help it, old fellow; we’ve just got to stand it until we can fix up some way to get her back.”
as he turned the wagon about, with much backing and rasping of cramped wheels, the bright silver dollar that was lying in the dirt caught his eye. it seemed like a slap in the face when o’more threw it, though in his rough way he meant well enough, and lammy’s first impulse was to drive home and leave it where it had fallen.
still, after all, it was money, and to earn money vaguely seemed to him the only way by which[39] he could get bird back again, for though lammy had a comfortable home, enough clothing, and plenty to eat, whole dollars were as rare in his pockets as white robins in the orchard.
so he picked up the shining bit of silver, wiped it carefully on his sleeve, and, wrapping it in a scrap of paper, opened the precious paint-box, and tucked the coin into one of the small compartments. it never occurred to him to spend the money for any of the little things a boy of fourteen always wants, and he quite forgot that his knife had only half of one blade left. the money was for bird, and from that moment the paint-box, which was to spend some months in his lower bureau drawer in company with his best jacket and two prizes won at school, became a savings bank.
lammy stopped at the “centre” druggist’s for some medicine for aunt jimmy, and while he was waiting for the mixture, he had to undergo a running fire of questions concerning his aunt’s “spell” from the people who came in from all sections for their mail, as this store was also the post-office and there was as yet no rural free-delivery system to deprive the community of its daily trade in news.
now aunt jimmy, otherwise jemima lane, occupied[40] an unusual position in the neighbourhood and was a personage of more than common importance. in the first place she was a miser, which is always interesting, as a miser is thought to be a sort of magician whose money is supposed to lie hidden in the chimney and yet increase as by double cube root; then she owned ten acres of the best land for small fruits—strawberries, raspberries, currants, and peaches—in the state. the ground was on the southern slope of laurel ridge, and though it was shielded in such a way that the march sun did not tempt the peach blossoms out before their time, yet aunt jimmy’s strawberries were always in the northboro market a full week ahead of the other native fruit.
of course there was nothing particularly strange in this interest, as many people coveted the land. the odd part that concerned the gossips was that aunt jimmy had three able-bodied nephews, of which joshua lane was eldest, all farmers struggling along on poorish land, while she, though seventy-five years old, insisted upon running her fruit farm and house entirely alone, hiring poles or hungarians, who could speak no english, to till and gather the crops, instead of going shares with her own kin. in fact, until a few years back, no one, man, woman, or child, except little janey lane, had ever got beyond the kitchen[41] door. then when she died, aunt jimmy had opened her house and heart to joshua lane’s wife, and ever since, that dear, motherly soul had done all that she could for the queer, lonely old woman, in spite of the fact that the gossips said she did it from selfish motives.
joshua lane was very sensitive about this talk and would have held aloof like his two brothers, who lived beyond the centre, one of whom had a sick wife and was too lazy to more than scratch half rations from his land, while the other had once given the old lady some unwise advice about pruning peach trees, and had been forbidden inside the gate under pain of being cut off with a “china button,” aunt jimmy’s pet simile for nothing.
mrs. joshua, however, was gossip proof, and, tossing her head, had publicly declared, “i’m a-going to keep the old lady from freezin’, burnin’, or starvin’ herself to death jest so far ’s i’m able, accordin’ to scripture and the feelings that’s in me, and if that’s ‘undue influence,’ so be it! i shan’t discuss the subject with anybody but the lord,” and she never did.
many a meal of hot cooked food she took to the old woman to replace the crackers and cheese of her own providing. it was not that aunt jimmy meant to be mean, but she had lived so long alone that she[42] had gotten out of the habits of human beings. she certainly looked like a lunatic when she went about the place superintending her men, clad in a short skirt, a straw sunbonnet, and rubber boots, merely adding in the winter a man’s army overcoat and cape that she had picked up cheap; but the lawyer who had come down from northboro a year before to make her will said he had never met a clearer mind outside of the profession, for she had dr. jedd testify that she was of sound mind, and a second physician from northboro swear that dr. jedd’s wits were also in good order.
shortly after this she had given it out quietly that, though joshua lane was the only one of her kin that was worth a box of matches, yet they would share and share alike, as she didn’t believe in stirring up strife among brothers by showing favour.
then everybody expected mrs. lane would lessen her attentions, but as often happens everybody was mistaken.
of course the good woman could not help thinking once in a while what a fine thing it would be if some day her elder boys could work the fruit farm (lammy she never thought of as working at anything) instead of delving in a shop at milltown, but she put the idea quickly from her. however, it would keep coming[43] back all that night after terence o’more’s funeral when she watched with the old lady, while poor bird slept her grief-spent sleep before her journey.
if the fruit farm could ever be hers, she would adopt bird without hesitation, for the little lady-child had crept into the empty spot that janey had left in her big mother heart and filled it in a way that greatly astonished her.
lammy finally secured the medicine and jogged homeward, thinking, all the time thinking about bird. he knew that people said he was stupid, and yet he also felt that he could learn as well as any one if they would only let him pick his own way a little. his father wanted him to be a carpenter, his mother thought that too rough, and that he was still a baby and some day perhaps he might be a clerk.
but lammy himself, as he looked into the future, saw only the whirling wheels of the machinery at milltown, or the wonders of the locomotive works that he had once visited at northboro. that was why he was always day-dreaming and looking in the air. of course it was very stupid and dumb of him not to tell his parents, but bird’s was the only ear that had ever heard his thoughts.
all that day he stayed about the place at home,[44] keeping the fire in and doing the chores, for his mother’s time was divided between her aunt’s and straightening things at bird’s old home, and his father was up in the back lots planting corn. toward night, as he was sitting on the steps having brought back twinkle who had run to his old home in search of his little mistress, mrs. lane bustled in, mystery and importance written on her face. spying lammy, she beckoned him to follow her into the kitchen, then, carefully closing the doors, putting twinkle in the closet and the cat out of the window, as if they could carry tales, she unfastened her bonnet and collar and settled herself in the rocking-chair.
“samuel lane,” she began solemnly, shaking her forefinger and making the boy quake at the unused title, while his eyes opened wide in wonder, “no, ’tain’t that; aunt jimmy’s much more comfortable, and i suspect she’s going to pick up again after scaring us well, or i wouldn’t be home, but she said private words to me this afternoon that if i do keep quite to myself, i’ll burst, i know, and maybe get a headache spell that’ll lay me by a day and upset everything. now, samuel, i’ve found as far as givin’ messages you’re told to carry, you’re as good as nobody, so i reckon you’ll be tight sealed on something[45] that you’re bid to keep close and forget maybe for some years.”
“is it about bird?” asked lammy, suddenly jumping up and fixing his big, gray eyes on his mother’s face with a gaze that made her nervous, for she well knew that there was something in this pet son of hers that was a little beyond her comprehension.
“no, not about bird,—that is, not straight, though another way it may have a lot to do with her; it all depends. listen, samuel!
“this afternoon aunt jimmy waked up, and, seeing me sitting by the window croshayin’,—true i was making a bungle of the tidy, not feelin’ like workin’ (but she hates, same ’s i do, for watchers to set idle looking ready to jump at a body like a cat does at a mouse hole),—she says, says she, her voice comin’ back steady, ‘set nearer, lauretta ann lane, i’m goin’ to tell you somethin’ no one else need ever know.’
“i drew up all of a flutter, of course. ‘you’re a good woman, lauretta ann,’ says she, ‘and you’ve never poked and pried, or shown desires for what’s another’s, an’ you’ve worked hard to keep me livin’, which i’ve done to my satisfaction beyond my expectations.’
“i burst out cryin’, i couldn’t help it; for i never thought she set any store by me, and i felt guilty[46] about wishes i’d had last night and had fed with thoughts inwardly.
“‘hush up, now, and don’t spoil all by pretendin’,’ she ran on; ‘i know you’d like to have my farm, though not a day before i’m done with it. i’ll credit you that. it’s natural and proper and i’m glad to have interest took in it, likewise i’ve said i’d share and share alike between my nephews, which i intend; but listen, lauretta ann, for there’s ways of circumventin’ that suits me, i’ve left you the farm for your own; moreover, i’ve fixed it so there’ll be no talk and no one’ll know it but you. you think i’m crazy, i guess, and that you couldn’t get the farm unbeknown, nohow. just wait and see!’
“then she asked me to draw her a cup of tea, and when i went to fetch that battered old pewter tea-pot she’s used i reckon these fifty years, ’twasn’t in its place, but on her mantel-shelf, and when i reached up to take it down she said, ‘leave that be and take the chiney one; its work’s over for me and we’re both takin’ a rest;’ then she dozed off after the very first sup.”
“mother,” said lammy, who was now leaning on her knees with his hands behind her head and drawing it close, while his eyes glowed like coals, “if—if you ever get the farm—will—you—”
[47]
“bring bird back?” she finished for him, hugging him close. “yes, i will, and you shall both go to school to northboro, too; but mind you, samuel, no crowdin’ aunt jimmy, and it may be years yet.
“now bustle round and help me cook up something, for i must go back to aunt jimmy’s before seven, as mis’ jedge o’ probate ricker is the only one i’ll trust to spell me, for dinah lucky’s mush in a bowl when the village folks smooth her down with their palarver.”
so lammy flew about, sifting flour, skimming milk, or rattling cups and saucers, and it was not quite dark, supper over, and every dish washed, when he went back to the porch steps and whispered the precious hope to twinkle, who raised one ear and his lip together as much as if he understood and cautioned silence. then the boy began day-dreaming anew, but this time his mind, instead of following flying wheels, was busy weeding strawberry plants and carefully picking raspberries, so as not to crush them, while bird stood by and watched. “and,” he startled himself by saying aloud, “the first thing i’ll do ’ll be to divide off a root of those red pineys and plant it up on the hill, so bird ’ll find it next spring all in blow.”
a few days later when dr. jedd and all the neighbours[48] were convinced that aunt jimmy would be out in the garden again by raspberry time, with good chance of another ten years, and mrs. lane had made indoors more comfortable than it had been for years by a thorough cleaning and renovating, the strange old lady again upset all their calculations and died. then in due time the lawyer from northboro sent letters to the three nephews and their families, to dr. jedd, to the minister of the first congregational church, and to the superintendent of the new school of industrial art of northboro, to meet on a certain friday afternoon at aunt jimmy’s house to hear the will read.
once more was the entire community involved in a guessing match. the summoning of the kin was a matter of course, and usually took place immediately, so that the lawyer was evidently carrying out special directions in delaying the matter for more than a week, but as to what the doctor, the minister, and the teacher from northboro could possibly have to do in the matter was a mystery that not even the fertile brain of mrs. slocum could settle, either for good nor evil.
it couldn’t be that aunt jimmy had left these three outside men anything, for it was known that she only employed dr. jedd because she couldn’t[49] help it, that she hadn’t been to church for five years because the minister had preached a sermon against avarice and the vanity of hoarding money, and as to the northboro teacher it was positively certain that she had never even seen him, for he was a stranger in these parts, having recently been sent from new york, to take charge of the school, by a wealthy man who had been influential in founding it and whose country place was on the farther edge of the town.
mrs. lane was as much in the dark as any one and did not hesitate to say so, while excitement ran so high that on this particular friday afternoon the women sat in their fore-room windows overlooking the village street with the expectant air of waiting for a passing procession.
mrs. dr. jedd, mrs. judge of probate ricker, and the minister’s wife were privileged to attend the reading by courtesy for reason of being their husband’s wives, and cakes had been baked and several plans made to waylay them separately on their divers routes home to drink a cup of tea, that every detail might be gleaned for comparing of notes afterward.
“we shall soon see whether lauretta ann lane’s cake is dough or fruit loaf,” sniffed mrs. slocum,[50] angrily, drawing in her head suddenly from the third fruitless inspection of the road that she had made in fifteen minutes and giving it a smart bump against the sash as she did so. “either the folks is late, or they’re gone around the back road, and if so, why? i’d just like you to tell me,” she snapped at hope snippin, the meek little village dressmaker who, drawn over as if she had a perpetual stitch in her side, was remaking a skirt for the lady of the house and felt very much discouraged, as it had been turned once before, at the possibility of making it look startlingly new.
“maybe they’ve stopped down to the lane’s and have walked around the meadow path,” ventured hope snippin. “the other day when i was fixin’ up mis’ lane’s black gown, changing the buttons and such like to turn it from just sunday best to mourning, i heard her tell mis’ jedd that, as there was no convenience for gettin’ up a proper meal down to aunt jimmy’s, seein’ as nothing must be touched until the will was read, she’d asked all the folks concerned to dinner—a roast-beef dinner with custards—at her house so’s they could be comfortable and stable their teams, and then walk right around short cut to the other house after. you see the two farms meets the road separate, like the[51] two heels of a horseshoe, and then join by going back of the doctor’s hill woods. my father was sayin’ last night if those two farms and the wood lot went together, they’d be something worth while,” and miss snippin smiled pleasantly as if she thought she had propitiated mrs. slocum by her news.
“then you knew all the while they wouldn’t come by here and never told me, though seein’ me slavin’ over that cake,” snapped mrs. slocum. “i wish you’d mind your work closer; you’re makin’ that front breadth up stain out.”
“but it runs clean through,” pleaded the dressmaker, miserably.
“depend upon it,” mrs. slocum muttered to herself, not heeding the protest, “she’s made sure of that farm, or she wouldn’t risk the cost of a roast dinner for a dozen folks if she wasn’t.”
meanwhile this dinner had been eaten and the party, headed by the lawyer and the teacher, had gone through the sweet june fields to aunt jimmy’s house and seated themselves upon the stiff-backed, fore-room chairs that were ranged in a long row, as if the company expected to play “go to jerusalem.”
outside, the bees were humming in the syringa bushes while the cat-birds and robins, unmolested,[52] were holding a festival in the great strawberry bed, for to-day there was no one to see that the birds “kept moving” after the usual custom, as the hired man on returning from taking eggs to market had gone to sleep in the hay barn, knowing that the stern voice of the old lady in rubber boots and sunbonnet would not disturb his dreams.
“hem,” the lawyer cleared his throat and read the usual preliminaries about “last will and testament, sound mind,” etc., “paying of just debts,” etc., in a clear but rapid voice that grew gradually solemn and important, until, as the pith of the matter was reached, every word was separated from its neighbour, and the buzzing of a fly on the window-pane seemed an unbearable noise.
“i give and bequeath to amelia, the wife of william jedd, doctor of medicine in this town, the sum of two thousand dollars, because i think she may need it owing to her husband’s slack way of collecting bills.”
mrs. jedd, who had for a moment looked radiant, quickly cast down her eyes after a frightened glance at her husband who was, with apparent difficulty, refraining from laughter as he looked crosswise at the minister.
[53]
“i give and bequeath to sarah ann, wife of joel stevens, minister of the first congregational church, a like sum of two thousand dollars because she is sure to need it, this being twice the amount that he once desired me to give to foreign missions. if he still holds to his views of avarice and hoarding, he will doubtless be able to persuade her to share his ideas as to its use.”
it was the minister’s turn now to look red and confused, while his wife’s face expressed her views on the subject beyond a doubt.
“i give and bequeath to the trust fund of the school of industrial art in northboro the sum of $10,000, the income therefrom to be applied to the board and teaching of two girls each year who cannot afford to pay, for the reason that i think a girl is usually worth two boys if she has a chance, and i don’t like to see our best girls running to the big cities for schooling.
“i direct that my fruit farm of ten acres, more or less, with the adjoining one hundred acres of meadow and woodlands, and all buildings and fixtures, other than household furniture, appertaining thereto, shall be sold at public auction within six months of my death, and that the cash proceeds be divided between my three nephews, share and share[54] alike, i holding the hope that one of them will be the purchaser. i also direct that the pieces of household furniture mentioned in the enclosed memorandum shall be divided between the wives of my three nephews by the drawing of lots, and i charge that all other furnishings not mentioned in this paper, being of no value except to myself, shall be destroyed either by burning or burying in the swamp bog-hole according to their character, as i don’t wish them scattered about for the curiosity of the idle, of which this town has its full share.
“making one exception to the above, i give to my dear niece by marriage, lauretta ann, wife of joshua lane, in token of my respect for her, my old pewter tea-pot that, as she knows, i have treasured as having laid buried in the garden through the war of independence and had in daily use for years, hoping she will cherish it and by like daily use hold me in constant remembrance by the sight of it.”
at this juncture no one dared look up, for all felt the cruelty of the gift after mrs. lane’s years of service, and the poor woman herself merely tightened her grasp upon the chair arms, but she could not prevent the sickening sense of disappointment that crept over her.
[55]
“i hereby appoint my nephew, joshua lane, as my sole executor, directing that he be paid the sum of $1000 from my estate for his services, desiring him to carry on the fruit business for the current year, the profits to be added to my estate. (here followed special instructions.) if there be any residue after paying to the before-named legacies, i direct that he divide it equally between himself and his two brothers, and i hope that all concerned may feel the same pleasure in hearing this testament that i have had in making it.”
as the lawyer stopped reading there was a pause, and then a rush of voices, congratulations and condolences mingled. that he had made an error in summoning dr. jedd and the minister instead of their wives was plain.
the two brothers, who cared nothing for the fruit farm except its cash price and had been too indolent to bother about the matter or go to see their aunt except in fruit time, assumed importance and talked about wounded pride and the injustice of having but one executor. the school superintendent, an englishman of fifty or so who had received his art training at south kensington and brought it to market in america, confused by his surroundings, but of course pleased at the gift[56] by which his school benefited, made haste to leave, feeling that he was intruding in a gathering where a family storm was brewing.
“mebbe there’s something in the tea-pot,” suggested the minister’s wife, hopefully, “else i can’t think she knew her own mind.”
“there’s surely something in it,” echoed mrs. dr. jedd.
the lawyer, who himself had thought this possible, went upstairs, and took down the battered bit of pewter from the best bedroom shelf, where it had remained since the day mrs. lane had placed it there at aunt jimmy’s request, opened it, shook it, and held it toward the eager group,—it was absolutely empty!
mrs. lane stretched out her hand for the legacy, but her husband grasped her arm and asserting himself for the first time in his married life, said: “lauretta ann, don’t you tech it; it’ll go down in the swamp hole with the other trash for all of you. i’ll not have you a-harbourin’ a viper. i’ll do my lawful duty, but, by crickey, i’ll not have you put upon no more.”
this very ambiguous speech so impressed the hearers that it was reported that “joshua lane wasn’t tied to lauretta’s apron-strings and could[57] hold his own equal to anybody,” which had been seriously doubted, while the news was a surprise and disappointment to every one but mrs. slocum, who said, “dough! i told you so,”—and actually cut a big slice of cake for hope snippin to take home for tea.
as for lammy he seemed dazed for a while, and then set to work daily with his father on the fruit farm, so that he might earn the tickets to send to bird when hot weather and the time for her visit came. his mother noticed that he did not gaze about as much as usual, and, while he was picking berries for market, he said to himself, “i’ll snake a root of those red pineys for bird anyhow before the auction, ’long in november, and maybe before then something ’ll turn up.”
