when the interview with mrs. buskirk was reported that afternoon to mrs. cliff, the good lady sat aghast. "i've decided about the park," she said, "and that is all very well. but what do you mean by a yacht? what could be more ridiculous than to talk about me and a yacht!"
"ridiculous!" exclaimed burke. "it's nothing of the kind! the more i think of the idea, the better i like it, and if you'll think of it soberly, i believe you'll like it just as much as i do! in the first place, you've got to do something to keep your money from being dammed up and running all over everything. this house and furniture cleared away things for a time, but the whole business will be just as much clogged up as it was before if you don't look out. i don't want to give advice, but it does strike me that anybody as rich as you are oughtn't to feel that they could afford to sit still here in plainton, year in and year out, no matter how fine a house they might have! they ought to think of that great heap of gold in the mound and feel that it was their duty to get all the grand and glorious good out of it that they knew how!"
"but it does seem to me," said mrs. cliff, "that a yacht would be an absolute extravagance and waste of money. and, you know, i have firmly determined i will not waste my money."
"to call sittin' in a beautiful craft, on a rollin' sea,[pg 148] with a spankin' breeze, a waste of money, is something i can't get into my brain!" said mr. burke. "but you could do good with a yacht. you could take people out on cruises who would never get out if you didn't take them! and now i've an idea! it's just come to me. you might get a really big yacht. if i was you, i'd have a steam yacht, because you'd have more control over that than you'd have over a sailin'-vessel, and besides a person can get tired of sailin'-vessels, as i've found out myself. and then you might start a sort of summer shelter for poor people; not only very poor people, but respectable people, who never get a chance to sniff salt air. and you might spend part of the summer in giving such people what would be the same as country weeks, only you'd take them out to sea instead of shipping them inland to dawdle around farms. i tell you that's a splendid idea, and nobody's done it."
day after day, the project of the yacht was discussed by mrs. cliff and burke, and she was beginning to view its benevolent features with a degree of favor when mrs. buskirk called. that lady's visit was prompted partly by a curiosity to see what sort of a woman was the widow of the plainton storekeeper who would cruise the next summer in her yacht; and partly by a feeling that to such a person a certain amount of respect was due even from a buskirk.
but when she entered the house, passed through the great hall, and seated herself in the drawing-room, she saw more than she had expected to see. she saw a house immeasurably better fitted out and furnished[pg 149] than her own. she knew the value of the rugs which miss shott had declared must have cost at least twenty dollars each, and she felt, although she did not thoroughly appreciate, the difference in artistic merit between the pictures upon her walls and the masterly paintings which had been selected by the ladies thorpedyke for the drawing-room of mrs. cliff.
the discovery startled her. she must talk to her husband about it as soon as he reached home. it was not only money, but a vast deal of money, and something more, which had done all this.
she had asked for the ladies, knowing that mrs. cliff did not live alone, and all the ladies were at home. amid those surroundings, the elder miss thorpedyke, most carefully arrayed, made an impression upon mrs. buskirk very different from that she had produced on the occasion of their single former interview in the darkened little parlor of the thorpedyke house.
mrs. cliff, in a costume quite simple, but as rich as her conscience would allow, felt within herself all the uplifting influence of her wealth, as she stepped forward to salute this lady who had always been so uplifted by her wealth.
in the course of the conversation, the yacht was mentioned. the visitor would not go away without being authoritatively informed upon this subject.
"oh yes," said mrs. cliff, promptly, "i shall have a yacht next summer. mr. burke will select one for me, and i know it will be a good one, for he thoroughly understands such matters."[pg 150]
before she left, mrs. buskirk invited mrs. cliff, the misses thorpedyke, and miss croup to take luncheon with her quite informally on the following tuesday. she would have made it a dinner, but in that case her husband would have been at home, and it would have been necessary to invite mr. burke, and she was not yet quite sure about mr. burke.
this invitation, which soon became known throughout the town, decided the position of mrs. cliff at plainton. when that lady and her family had gone, with her carriage and pair, to the mansion of the buskirks on the hill, and had there partaken of luncheon, very informally, in company with three of the most distinguished ladies of harrington, who had also been invited very informally; and when the news of the magnificent repast which had been served on the occasion, with flowers from the greenhouse nearly covering the table, with everything tied up with ribbons which could possibly be so decorated, and with a present for each guest ingeniously concealed under her napkin, floated down into the town, there was no woman in that place who could put her hand upon her heart and honestly declare that hereafter mrs. cliff could look up to anybody in plainton.
this recognition, which soon became obvious to mrs. cliff, was a source of genuine gratification to that good lady. she had never been inclined to put herself above her neighbors on account of her fortune, and would have been extremely grieved if she had been convinced that her wealth would oblige her to assume a superior position[pg 151] but when that wealth gradually and easily, without creating any disturbance or commotion in her circle, raised her of itself, without any action on her part, to the peak of social eminence in her native place, her genuine satisfaction was not interfered with in the least degree by her conscience. her position had come to her, and she had assumed it as if she had been born to it.
but whenever she thought of her pre?minence,—and she did not think of it nearly so often as other people thought of it,—she determined that it should make no difference to her; and when next she gave a high tea,—not the grand repast to which she intended to invite the buskirks on the hill,—she invited miss cushing. now, there were people in plainton who did not invite the dressmaker to their table, but mrs. cliff had asked her when they were all poor together, and she would have her now again when they were not all poor together.
as the winter went on, burke became more and more interested in mrs. cliff's yacht, and if he had not had this subject to talk about, and plan about, and to go at all hours to see mrs. cliff about, it is likely that he would have been absolutely obliged to leave plainton for want of occupation. but the idea of commanding a steam yacht was attraction enough to keep him where he could continually consider it.
he assured mrs. cliff that it was not at all necessary to wait until pleasant weather before undertaking this great enterprise. as soon as the harbors were reasonably free of ice it would be well for him to go and look at yachts, and then when he found one which suited him,[pg 152] mrs. cliff could go and look at it, and if it suited her, it could be immediately put into commission. they could steam down into southern waters, and cruise about there. the spring up here in the north was more disagreeable than any other season of the year, and why should they not go and spend that season in the tranquil and beautiful waters of florida or the west indies?
mrs. cliff had now fully determined to become the owner of a yacht, but she would not do so unless she saw her way clear to carry out the benevolent features of the plan which mr. burke had suggested.
"what i want," said mrs. cliff, "is to have the whole thing understood! i am perfectly willing to spend some of the pleasant months sailing about the coast and feeling that i'm giving health and pleasure to poor and deserving people, especially children, but i am not willing to consider myself a rich woman who keeps an expensive yacht just for the pleasure of cruising around when she feels like it! but i do like the plan of giving country weeks at sea."
"very good, madam," he said, "and we can fix that thing so that nobody can possibly make any mistake about it. what do you say to calling your yacht the summer shelter? we'll paint the name in white letters on the bows and stern, and nobody can take us for idle sea-loafers with more money than we know what to do with!"
"i like that!" said mrs. cliff, her face brightening. "you may buy me a yacht as soon as you please, and we'll call her the summer shelter!"[pg 153]
in consequence of this order, mr. burke departed from plainton the next day, and began a series of expeditions to the seaport towns on the atlantic coast in search of a steam yacht for sale.
the winter grew colder, and the weather was very bad; there were heavy snows and drifts, and many hardships. there were cases of privations and suffering, and never did she hear of one of these cases that a thankful glow did not warm the heart of mrs. cliff as she thought that she was able to relieve it.
but mrs. cliff knew, and if she had not known she would have soon found out, that it was often very difficult to relieve distress of body without causing distress of mind, but she and willy and the misses thorpedyke had known all phases of the evil which has its root in the want of money, and they always considered people's sensibilities when they held charitable councils. there was one case in which mrs. cliff felt that she must be very careful indeed.
old nancy shott was not standing the winter well. she had a bad cold, and was confined to her bed, and one day miss inchman mentioned, during a call on mrs. cliff, that she did not believe the poor old thing was able to keep herself warm. she had been to see her, and the coverings on her bed were very insufficient she thought.
the shotts never did keep a warm house, nor did they care to spend their money upon warm clothes; but although that sort of thing might do very well while they were in health and were constantly on the move, it did[pg 154] not do when they were sick in bed. when miss inchman had gone, mrs. cliff called willy.
"where are we using those california blankets which i brought home with me?" she asked.
"using them!" exclaimed willy. "we aren't using them anywhere! i'm sure nobody would think of using such blankets as those, except when some extra company might happen to come. it ought to be a long time before those blankets would have to go into the wash, and i've kept them covered up on the top shelf of the linen closet!"
"well, i wish you would go and get them," said mrs. cliff, "and then wrap them up and take them to miss shott as a present from me."
"take them to nancy shott!" cried willy. "i never heard of such a thing in my life! she's able to buy blankets, dozens of them if she wants them, and to take to her such blankets as the ones you brought from california,—why it takes my breath away to think of it!"
"but you must take them to her," said mrs. cliff. "she may be stingy, but she is suffering, and i want her to have those blankets because they are the very best that i could possibly send her. you can get andrew marks to drive you there, but stop two or three doors from the house. she will think you are putting on airs if you drive up to the door. and i wish you would give her the blankets just as if it was a matter of course that anybody would send things to a sick person."
"oh yes!" said willy. "as if you hadn't a pot of[pg 155] jelly to spare and so sent her these blankets fit for an emperor on his throne!"
that very evening the reluctant willy took the blankets to miss shott, for mrs. cliff knew it was going to be a very cold night, and she wanted her to have them as soon as possible.
when nancy shott beheld the heavy and beautiful fabrics of fine wool which willy spread out upon her bed in order that she might better examine them, the eyes of the poor old woman flashed with admiring delight.
"well," said she, "sarah cliff has got a memory!"
"what do you mean?" asked willy.
"why, she remembers," said miss shott, "that i once joined in to give her a pair of blankets!"
"good gracious!" exclaimed willy, and she was on the point of speaking her mind in regard to the salient points in the two transactions, but she refrained. the poor old thing was sick, and she must not say anything to excite her.
"i suppose," said miss shott, after lifting a corner of a blanket and rubbing and pinching it, "that these are all wool!"
then willy thought herself privileged to speak, and for some minutes she dilated on the merits of those superb blankets, the like of which were not to be found in the whole state, and, perhaps, not in any state east of the rocky mountains.
"well," said miss shott, "you may tell her that i will not throw her present back at her as she once threw[pg 156] one back at me! and now that you're here, willy croup, i may as well say to you what i've intended to say to you the next time i saw you. and that is, that when i was at your house you told me an out and out falsehood,—i won't use any stronger word than that,—and how you could sleep after having done it i'm sure i don't know!"
"falsehood!" cried willy. "what do you mean?"
"you told me," said nancy, "that mrs. cliff wasn't goin' to take boarders,—and now look at those thorpedykes! not two days after you tried to deceive me they went there to board! and now what have you got to say to that?"
willy had not a word to say. she sprang to her feet, she glared at the triumphant woman in the bed, and, turning, went downstairs.
