CHAPTER XXIX
A COMMITTEE OF LADIES
It was about a week after the receipt of Edna's letter that Willy Croupcame to Mrs. Cliff's bedroom, where that lady had been taking asurreptitious glance at her Californian blankets, to tell her that therewere three ladies down in the parlor who wished to see her.
"It's the minister's wife, and Mrs. Hembold, and old Miss Shott," saidWilly. "They are all dressed up, and I suppose they have come forsomething particular, so you'd better fix up a little afore you go down."
In her present state of mind, Mrs. Cliff was ready to believe thatanybody who came to see her would certainly want to know something whichshe could not tell them, and she went down fearfully. But these ladiesdid not come to ask questions. They came to make statements. Mrs. Perley,the minister's wife, opened the interview by stating that, while she wassorry to see Mrs. Cliff looking so pale and worried, she was very glad,at the same time, to be able to say something which might, in somedegree, relieve her anxiety and comfort her mind, by showing her that shewas surrounded by friends who could give her their heartfelt sympathy inher troubles, and perhaps do a little more.
"We all know," said Mrs. Perley, "that you have had misfortunes, andthat they have been of a peculiar kind, and none of them owing to yourown fault."
"We can't agree exactly to that," interpolated Miss Shott, "but I won'tinterrupt."
"We all know," continued Mrs. Perley, "that it was a great loss anddisappointment to you not to be able to get down to Valparaiso and settleyour affairs there, for we are aware that you need whatever money is dueyou from that quarter. And we understand, too, what a great blow it wasto you to be shipwrecked, and lose all your baggage except a hand-bag."
Miss Shott was about to say something here, but Mrs. Hembold touched heron the arm, and she waited.
"It grieves us very much," continued the minister's wife, "to think thatour dear friend and neighbor should come home from her wanderings andperils and privations, and find herself in what must be, although we donot wish to pry into your private affairs, something of an embarrassedcondition. We have all stayed at home with our friends and our families,and we have had no special prosperity, but neither have we met withlosses, and it grieves us to think that you, who were once as prosperousas any of us, should now feel--I should say experience--in any manner thepressure of privation."
"I don't understand," said Mrs. Cliff, sitting up very straight in herchair. "Privation? What does that mean?"
"It may not be exactly that," said Mrs. Perley, quickly, "and we all knowvery well, Mrs. Cliff, that you are naturally sensitive on a point likethis. But you have come back shipwrecked and disappointed in yourbusiness, and we want to show you that, while we would not hurt yourfeelings for anything in the world, we would like to help you a little,if we can, just as we would hope you would help us if we were in anyembarrassment."
"I must say, however--" remarked Miss Shott; but she was again silencedby Mrs. Hembold, and the minister's wife went on.
"To come straight to the point," said she, "for a good while we have beenwanting to do something, and we did not know what to do. But a few daysago we became aware, through Miss Willy Croup, that what was most neededin this house is blankets. She said, in fact, that the blankets you hadwere the same you bought when you were first married, that some of themhad been worn out and given to your poorer neighbors, and that now youwere very short of blankets, and, with cold weather coming on, she didnot consider that the clothing on your own bed was sufficient. She evenwent so far as to say that the blankets she used were very thin, and thatshe did not think they were warm enough for winter. So, some of us haveagreed together that we would testify our friendship and our sympathy bypresenting you with a pair of good, warm blankets for your own bed; thenthose you have could go to Willy Croup, and you both would be comfortableall winter. Of course, what we have done has not been upon an expensivescale. We have had many calls upon us,--poor old Mrs. Bradley, forone,--and we could not afford to spend much money. But we have bought youa good pair of blankets, which are warm and serviceable, and we hope youwill not be offended, and we do not believe that you will be, for youknow our motives, and all that we ask is that when you are warm andcomfortable under our little gift, you will sometimes think of us. Theblankets are out in the hall, and I have no doubt that Miss Willy Croupwill bring them in."
Mrs. Cliff's eyes filled with tears. She wanted to speak, but how couldshe speak! But she was saved from further embarrassment, for when Willy,who had been standing in the doorway, had gone to get the blankets, MissShott could be restrained no longer.
"I am bound to say," she began, "that, while I put my money in with therest to get those blankets,--and am very glad to be able to do it, Mrs.Cliff,--I don't think that we ought to do anything which would look as ifwe were giving our countenances to useless extravagances in persons, evenif they are our friends, who, with but small means, think they must livelike rich people, simply because they happen to be travelling among them.It is not for me to allude to hotels in towns where there are goodboarding-houses, to vestibule cars and fur-trimmed cloaks; but I will saythat when I am called upon to help my friends who need it, I will do itas quick as anybody, but I also feel called upon by my conscience to liftup my voice against spending for useless things what little money aperson may have, when that person needs that money for--well, for thingsI shall not mention. And now that I have said my say, I am just as gladto help give you those blankets, Mrs. Cliff, as anybody else is."
Every one in the room knew that the thing she would not mention was themoney Mrs. Cliff had borrowed for her passage. Miss Shott had not lentany of it, but her brother, a retired carpenter and builder, had, and ashis sister expected to outlive him, although he was twelve years youngerthan she was, she naturally felt a little sore upon this point.
Now Mrs. Cliff was herself again. She was not embarrassed. She wasneither pale nor trembling. With a stern severity, not unknown to herfriends and neighbors in former days, she rose to her feet.
"Nancy Shott," said she, "I don't know anything that makes me feel moreat home than to hear you talk like that. You are the same woman thatnever could kiss a baby without wanting to spank it at the same time. Iknow what is the matter with you. You are thinking of that money Iborrowed from your brother. Well, I borrowed that for a year, and thetime is not up yet; but when it is, I'll pay it, every cent of it, andinterest added. I knew what I was about when I borrowed it, and I knowwhat I am about now, and if I get angry and pay it before it becomes due,he will lose that much interest, and he can charge it to you. That is allI have to say to you.
"As for you, Mrs. Perley, and the other persons who gave me theseblankets, I want you to feel that I am just as grateful as if--just asgrateful as I can be, and far more for the friendliness than for thegoods. I won't say anything more about that, and it isn't necessary, butI must say one thing. I am ready to take the blankets, and to thank youfrom the bottom of my heart, but I will not have them unless the moneyMiss Shott put in is given back to her. Whatever that was, I will make itup myself, and I hope I may be excused for saying that I don't believe itwill break me."
Now there was a scene. Miss Shott rose in anger and marched out of thehouse. Mrs. Perley and the other lady expostulated with Mrs. Cliff fora time, but they knew her very well, and soon desisted. Twenty-fivecents was handed to Mrs. Perley to take the place of the sumcontributed by Miss Shott, and the ladies departed, and the blanketswere taken up-stairs. Mrs. Cliff gave one glance at them as WillyCroup spread them out.
"If those women could see my Californian blankets!" she said to herself,but to Willy she said, "They are very nice, and you may put them away."
Then she went to her own room and went to bed. This last shock was toomuch for her nerves to bear. In the afternoon Willy brought her some tea,but the poor lady would not get up. So long as she stayed in bed, peoplecould be kept away from her, but there was nowhere else where she couldbe in peace.
All night she lay
and thought and thought and thought. What should shedo? She could not endure this condition of things. There was only onerelief that presented itself to her: she might go to Mr. Perley, herminister, and confide everything to him. He would tell her what sheought to do.
"But," she thought, "suppose he should say it should all go to thePeruvians!" And then she had more thinking to do, based upon thiscontingency, which brought on a headache, and she remained in bed allthe next day.
The next morning, Willy Croup, who had begun to regret that she had eversaid anything about blankets,--but how could she have imagined thatanybody could be so cut up at what that old Shott woman hadsaid?--brought Mrs. Cliff a letter.
This was from Edna, stating that she and Ralph and the two negroes hadjust arrived in New York, from which point they were to sail for Havre.Edna wished very much to see Mrs. Cliff before she left the country, andwrote that if it would be convenient for that lady, she would run up toPlainton and stay a day or two with her. There would be time enough forthis before the steamer sailed. When she read this brief note, Mrs. Cliffsprang out of bed.
"Edna come here!" she exclaimed. "That would be simply ruin! But I mustsee her. I must tell her everything, and let her help me."
As soon as she was dressed, she went down-stairs and told Willy that shewould start for New York that very afternoon. She had received a letterfrom Mrs. Horn, and it was absolutely necessary to see her before shesailed. With only a small leather bag in her hand, and nearly all herready money and her peace-destroying draft sewed up inside the body ofher dress, she left Plainton, and when her friends and neighbors heardthat she had gone, they could only ascribe such a sudden departure to thestrange notions she had imbibed in foreign parts. When Plainton peoplecontemplated a journey, they told everybody about it, and took plenty oftime to make preparations; but South Americans and Californians wouldstart anywhere at a moment's notice. People had thought that Mrs. Cliffwas too old to be influenced by association in that way, but it was plainthat they had been mistaken, and there were those who were very muchafraid that even if the poor lady had got whatever ought to be coming toher from the Valparaiso business, it would have been of little use toher. Her old principles of economy and prudence must have been terriblyshaken. This very journey to New York would probably cost twenty dollars!
When Mrs. Cliff entered Edna's room in a New York hotel, the latter wasstartled, almost frightened. She had expected her visitor, for she hadhad a telegram, but she scarcely recognized at the first glance the paleand haggard woman who had come to her.
"Sick!" exclaimed poor Mrs. Cliff, as she sank upon a sofa. "Yes, I amsick, but not in body, only in heart. Well, it is hard to tell you whatis the matter. The nearest I can get to it is that it is wealth struckin, as measles sometimes strike in when they ought to come out properly,and one is just as dangerous as the other."
When Mrs. Cliff had had something to eat and drink, and had begun to tellher tale, Edna listened with great interest and sympathy. But when thegood lady had nearly finished, and was speaking of her resolution toconfide everything to Mr. Perley, Edna's gaze at her friend became veryintent, and her hands tightly grasped the arms of the chair in which shewas sitting.
"Mrs. Cliff," said she, when the other had finished, "there is but onething for you to do: you must go to Europe with us."
"Now!" exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. "In the steamer you have engaged passagein? Impossible! I could not go home and settle up everything and comeback in time."
"But you must not go home," said Edna. "You must not think of it. Yourtroubles would begin again as soon as you got there. You must stay hereand go when we do."
Mrs. Cliff stared at her. "But I have only a bag and the clothes I haveon. I am not ready for a voyage. And there's the house, with nobody butWilly in it. Don't you see it would be impossible for me to go?"
"What you need for the passage," said Edna, "you can buy here in a fewhours, and everything else you can get on the other side a great dealcheaper and better than here. As to your house, you can write to thatother lady to go there and stay with Miss Croup until you come back. Itell you, Mrs. Cliff, that all these things have become mere trifles toyou. I dare say you could buy another house such as you own in Plainton,and scarcely miss the money. Compared to your health and happiness, theloss of that house, even if it should burn up while you are away, wouldbe as a penny thrown to a beggar."
"And there is my new trunk," said Mrs. Cliff, "with my blankets and everso many things locked up in it."
"Let it stay there," said Edna. "You will not need the blankets, and Idon't believe any one will pick the lock."
"But how shall I explain my running away in such a fashion? What willthey all think?"
"Simply write," said Edna, "that you are going to Europe as companionto Mrs. Horn. If they think you are poor, that will explain everything.And you may add, if you choose, that Mrs. Horn is so anxious to haveyou, she will take no denial, and it is on account of her earnestentreaties that you are unable to go home and take leave in a properway of your friends."
It was half an hour afterwards that Mrs. Cliff said: "Well, Edna, I willgo with you. But I can tell you this: I would gladly give up all themountains and palaces I may see in Europe, if I could go back to Plaintonthis day, deposit my money in the Plainton bank, and then begin to liveaccording to my means. That would be a joy that nothing else on thisearth could give me."
Edna laughed. "All you have to do," she said, "is to be patient and waitawhile, and then, when you go back like a queen to Plainton, you willhave had your mountains and your palaces besides."