it happened that the reverend donald maxwell committed a careless indiscretion. when he went to his room to prepare for supper, he found that he had left the miniature of a certain young lady on the mantelpiece, having forgotten to return it to its hiding-place the night before. he quickly placed it in its covering and locked it up in his desk, but not without many misgivings at the thought that mrs. burke had probably discovered it when she put his room in order.
he was quite right in his surmise, for just as she was about to leave the room she had caught sight of the picture, and, after examining it carefully, she had exclaimed to herself:
"hm! hm! so that's the young woman, is it? in a gilded frame set with real glass rubies and turquoises. i guessed those letters couldn't come from his mother. she wouldn't write to him every blessed day; she'd take a day off now and then, just to rest up a bit. well, well, well! so this is what you've been dreaming about; and a mighty good thing too--only the sooner it's known the better. but i suppose i'll have to wait for his reverence to inform me officially, and then i'll have to look mighty surprised! she's got a good face, anyway; but he ought to wait awhile. poor soul! she'd just die of loneliness up here. well, i suppose it'll be my business to look after her, and i reckon i'd best take time by the fetlock, and get the rectory in order. it isn't fit for rats to live in now."
mrs. burke's discovery haunted her all day long, and absorbed her thoughts when she went to bed. if maxwell was really engaged to be married, she did not see why he did not announce the fact, and have it over with. she had to repeat her prayers three times before she could keep the girl in the gilt frame out of them; and she solved the problem by praying that she might not make a fool of herself.
the next morning she went over to jonathan jackson's house to see what her friend and neighbor, the junior warden, would say about the matter. he could be trusted to keep silent and assist her to carry out some provisional plans. she knew exactly what she wished and what she intended to do; but she imagined that she wanted the pleasure of hearing some one tell her that she was exactly right.
jonathan jackson was precisely the person to satisfy the demand, as his deceased wife had never allowed him to have any opinion for more than fifteen minutes at a time--if it differed from hers; and when she had made a pretense of consulting him, he had learned by long experience to hesitate for a moment, look judicially wise, and then repeat her suggestions as nearly as he could remember them. so jonathan made a most excellent friend and neighbor, when any crisis or emergency called for an expert opinion.
mrs. burke had been an intimate friend of sarah jackson, and just before mrs. jackson died she made hepsey promise that after she was gone she would keep a friendly eye on jonathan, and see that he did not get into mischief, or let the house run down, or "live just by eatin' odds and ends off the pantry shelf any old way." mrs. jackson entertained no illusions in regard to her husband, and she trusted hepsey implicitly. so, after mrs. jackson's mortal departure, hepsey made periodic calls on jonathan, which always gave him much pleasure until she became inquisitive about his methods of housekeeping; then he would grow reticent.
"good morning, jonathan," hepsey called, as she presented herself at the woodshed door, where she caught jonathan mending some of his underclothes laboriously.
"well, i declare," she continued, "i'm blessed if you 'aint sewin' white buttons on with black thread. is anybody dead in the family, or 'aint you feelin' well as to your head this mornin'?"
his voice quavered with mingled embarrassment and resentment as he replied:
"what difference does it make, hepsey? it don't make no difference, as long as nobody don't see it but me."
"and why in the name of conscience don't you get a thimble, jonathan? the idea of your stickin' the needle in, and then pressin' it against the chair to make it go through. if that 'aint just like a helpless man, i wouldn't say."
[illustration: "i'm blessed if you 'aint sewin' white buttons on with black thread. is anybody dead in the family, or 'aint you feelin' well this mornin'?"]
"well, of course sewin' 'aint just a man's business, anyway; and when he has just got to do it----"
"why don't you let mary mcguire do it for you? you pay her enough, certainly, to keep you from becomin' a buttonless orphan."
mary mcguire, be it said, was the woman who came in by the day, and cooked for jonathan, and intermittently cleaned him out of house and home.
"she don't know much about such things," replied jonathan confidentially. "i did let her do it for a while; but when my buttonholes got tore larger, instead of sewin' 'em up, she just put on a larger button; and i'd be buttonin' my pants with the covers of saucepans by now, if i'd let her go on."
"it is curious what helpless critters men are, specially widowers. now jonathan, why don't you lay aside your sewin', and invite me into your parlor? you aren't a bit polite."
"well, come along then, hepsey; but the parlor aint just in apple-pie order, as you might say. things are mussed up a bit." he looked at her suspiciously.
when they entered the parlor mrs. burke gazed about in a critical sort of way.
"jonathan jackson, if you don't get married again before long i don't know what'll become of you," she remarked, as she wrote her name with the end of her finger in the dust on the center-table. "why don't you open the parlor occasionally and let the air in? it smells that musty in here i feel as if i was attendin' your wife's funeral all over again."
"well, of course you know we never did use the parlor much, 'cept there was a funeral in the family, or you called, or things like that."
"thank you; but even so, you might put things away occasionally, and not leave them scattered all over the place."
"what's the use? i never can find anything when it's where it belongs; but if it's left just where i drop it, i know right where it is when i want it."
"that's a man's argument. sakes alive! the least you could do would be to shut your bureau drawers."
"what's the use shuttin' bureau drawers when you've got to open 'em again 'fore long?" jonathan asked. "it just makes so much more trouble; and there's trouble enough in this world, anyway."
"you wouldn't dare let things go like this when sarah was livin'."
"no," jonathan replied sadly, "but there's some advantages in bein' a widower. of course i don't mean no disrespect to sarah, but opinions will differ about some things. she'd never let me go up the front stairs without takin' my boots off, so as not to soil the carpet; and when she died and the relatives tramped up and down reckless like, i almost felt as if it was wicked. for a fact, i did."
"well, i always told sarah she was a slave to dust; i believe that dust worried her a lot more than her conscience, poor soul. i should think that mary mcguire would tidy up for you a little bit once in a while."
"well, mary does the best she knows how. but i like her goin' better than comin'. the fact is, a man of my age can't live alone always, hepsey. it's a change to live this way, till----"
"oh, heaven save the mark! i can't stay here talkin' all day; but i'll tidy up a bit before i go, if you don't mind, jonathan. you go on with what you call your sewin'."
"go ahead, hepsey. you can do anything you like," he replied, beaming upon her.
mrs. burke opened the blinds and windows, shook up the pillows on the lounge, straightened the furniture, dusted off the chairs and opened the door to the porch. she made a flying trip to the garden, and returned with a big bunch of flowers which she placed in a large glass vase on the mantel. then she hung jonathan's dressing gown over the back of a chair, and put his slippers suggestively near at hand. in a few moments she had transformed the whole appearance of the room, giving it a look of homelike coziness which had long been foreign to it.
"there now, jonathan! that's better, isn't it?"
jonathan sighed profoundly as he replied:
"it certainly is, hepsey; it certainly is. i wonder why a man can't do that kind of thing like a woman can? he knows somethin's wrong, but he can't tell what it is."
hepsey had almost forgotten her errand; but now that her work was done it came back to her with sudden force; so, puckering up her lips and scowling severely at the carpet, she began:
"the fact is, jonathan, i didn't come over here to dust the parlor or to jolly you. i've come to have a confidential talk with you about a matter of great importance."
"what is it, hepsey?"
"matrimony."
jonathan started eagerly, and colored with self-conscious embarrassment; and after clearing his throat, nervously inquired:
"did you think of contemplatin' matrimony again, hepsey?--though this 'aint leap year."
"i, contemplate matrimony? oh, land of gideon, no. it's about some one else. don't get scared. i'm no kidnapper!"
"well, who is it, then?" jonathan inquired, with a touch of disappointment.
"my adopted son."
"you don't say! i've heard rumors about maxwell and virginia bascom; but i didn't take no stock in 'em, knowin' virginia."
"virginia hasn't nothin' to do with it."
"well, who has then, for land's sake!"
"i don't know the girl's name; but i saw her picture on his mantelpiece yesterday mornin', and i've had my suspicions for some time."
"well, i suppose his marryin' 'aint none of our business anyway, be it?"
"yes, it is our business; if he's goin' to get married, the rectory's got to be fixed over a whole lot 'fore it's fit to live in. you know the senior warden won't lift his finger, and you've got to help me do it."
jonathan sighed profoundly, knowing from past experience that hepsey's word carried more weight than all the vestry.
"i suppose i have, if you say so, hepsey."
"yes sir, you've got to help me do it. no decent girl is goin' into that house as it is, with my consent. it's the worst old rat-trap i ever saw. i've got the key, and i'm goin' through it this afternoon, and then i'm goin' to plan what ought to be done."
"but it seems to me you're venturin' some. you don't know they're goin' to be married."
"no, but all the symptoms point that way, and we've got to be prepared for it."
"but the people round town seem to think that virginia has a first mortgage on the rector already."
"no doubt she thinks she has; but it 'aint true. he's made a blunder, though, not announcin' his engagement, and i'm goin' to tell him so the first chance i get. i don't see why he should air his private affairs all over the town, but if he don't announce his engagement before long, virginia bascom'll make an awful row when he does."
"yes, and to the best of my knowledge and belief this'll be her fifth row."
"well, you meet me at the rectory at two o'clock sharp."
"but we ought to consult the vestry first," the junior warden cautioned her.
"what for, i'd like to know?"
"'cause they are the trustees of the property."
"then why don't they 'tend to the property? the vestry are a lot of----"
"sh! hepsey, be careful. i'll be there, i'll be there!"
mrs. burke rose and started for the door; but jonathan called out to her:
"hepsey, can't you stay to dinner? i'd like awful well to have you. it would seem so nice and homelike to see you sittin' opposite me at the table."
"am i to consider this a proposal of marriage, jonathan?"
"well, i hadn't thought of it in that light; but if you would, i'd be mighty thankful."
but hepsey was beating her retreat.
jonathan stood for a minute or two in the middle of the room and looked very sober. slowly he took off his coat and put on his dressing gown. then he sat down, and cautiously put his feet in another chair. next he lighted a cigar--gazing about the room as if his late wife might appear at any moment as an avenging deity, and drag him into the kitchen where he belonged. but nothing happened, and he began to feel a realization of his independence. he sat and thought for a long time, and a mighty hunger of the heart overwhelmed him. before he knew it, a tear or two had fallen on the immaculate carpet; and then, suddenly recollecting himself, he stood up, saying to himself--such is the consistency of man:
"sarah was a good soul accordin' to her lights; but she's dead, and i must confess i'm powerful reconciled. hepsey burke's different. i wonder if----"
but he put he thought away from him with a "get thee behind me" abruptness, and putting on his coat, went out to water the stock.
