CHAPTER VI.
After this upheaval there was better understanding for a time betweenBarbara and Mistress Mehitable. The lady made an honest effort toallow for some of the differences in the point of view of a childbrought up on a Maryland plantation, under another creed, and spoiledfrom the cradle. She tried, also, to allow for the volcanic and alienstrain which mingled in Barbara's veins with the well-ordered blood ofthe Ladds. But this alien strain was something she instinctivelyresented and instinctively longed to subdue. Moreover, she lackedimagination; and therefore, with the most sincere good purpose on bothsides, the peace between herself and Barbara was but superficial,demanding the price of ceaseless vigilance. Barbara, on her part,strove to be more diligent with her tasks, and greatly conciliatedMistress Mehitable by her swift progress in plain sewing, penmanship,and playing on the harpsichord; and she quickly learned to read aloudwith a charm and a justness of emphasis which her aunt never wearied ofcommending. But with the elaborate Dresden embroidery and intricatelace-making, and the flummery art of "papyrotamia"--a cutting of paperflowers--which then occupied the leisure of young maids of gentlebreeding, Barbara had no patience at all. She scorned and hatedthem--and she purchased her release from them by electing rather therigid and exacting pursuit of Latin grammar, which only masculineintellects were considered competent to acquire. In this she had hadsome grounding from her father; and now, under the sympathetic tuitionof Doctor John, she found its strenuous intricacies a satisfaction toher restless brain, and made such progress as to compel the reluctantcommendation of the Reverend Jonathan Sawyer himself.
Meanwhile, seeing the restraint under which the child was holdingherself, Mistress Mehitable tried to moderate to some degree herdisapproval of Barbara's vagaries and impetuosities, so that sometimesher wild rides, her canoeings at unseemly hours, her consortings withold Debby, her incorrigible absences from the noonday board, weresuffered to go almost unrebuked. But it was a perennial vexation toMistress Mehitable to observe Barbara's haughty indifference to theother young girls of her own class in the township, who were herfitting associates and might have redeemed her from her wildness;while, on the other hand, she insisted on making an intimate of MercyChapman, the daughter of Doctor John's hired man. Barbara found allthe girls whom her aunt approved hopelessly uninteresting--prim,docile, pious, uninformed, addicted to tatting, excited overfeather-work. But Mercy Chapman was fearless, adventurous within herlimits, protectingly acquainted with all the birds' nests in theneighbourhood, and passionately fond of animals, especially horses andcats. Mercy Chapman, therefore, was admitted very cordially to certainouter chambers of Barbara's heart; while the daughters of SquireGrannis and Lawyer Perley were treated to a blank indifference whichamounted to incivility, and excited the excoriating comment of theirmammas.
Another severe trial to Mistress Mehitable's patience was Barbara'sunhousewifely aversion to the kitchen. She vowed she could not abidethe smell of cooking in her hair, averring that all cooks carried thesavour of the frying-pan. When her aunt pointed out how humiliated shewould be when she came to have a house of her own, she declared therewould be time enough to learn when that day threatened; and she stoutlyasseverated, moreover, that she could cook without learning. Upon thisrash claim Mistress Mehitable pinned her to a test, being minded toabase her for her soul's good; but she emerged from the trial with vastaccession of prestige, doing up sundry tasty desserts with a readinessborn of past interest in the arcana of her father's kitchen by thePawtuxet. But for all her aunt's exhortations she would explore nofurther in the domain of bake-pan and skillet. There was antagonism,moreover, between Barbara and Abby, to the point that if MistressMehitable had prevailed with her niece in this matter, she would havefound herself obliged to change her cook.
There was one department of the household economy, however, in whichBarbara was ever ready to meet her aunt half-way. It furnished acommon ground, whereon many a threatened rupture was averted, or atleast postponed. This was the still-room.
Barbara adored cleanliness and sweet smells. The clean, fragrantplace, wherein bundles of herbs whose odours spoke to her of the South,and of strange lands, and of longed-for, half-forgotten dreams, and ofdesires which she could not understand, was to her a temple ofenchanting mysteries.
Now Mistress Mehitable was a cunning distiller of the waters ofbergamot, rosemary, mint, thyme, and egrimony; but Barbara developed asubtlety in the combining of herbs and simples which resulted inperfumes hitherto unknown. One essence, indeed, which she compounded,proved so penetrating, lasting, and exquisite, that her aunt, in aburst of staid enthusiasm, suggested that she should name it and writedown the formula for security. This was done, to Barbara's greatpride; and thereafter the "Water of Maryland Memories" became theproper thing to use in Second Westings. Nothing, perhaps, did more tomake Barbara a personage in the township than this highly approved"Water of Maryland Memories."
In this way the days passed, so that at times Mistress Mehitable hadhopes that the child was going to assimilate herself, and cease to pinefor her plantation in the South. In reality, the rebellion inBarbara's soul but grew the stronger as her nature deepened andmatured. Throughout her second spring at Second Westings,--when themounting sap set her veins athrill in unison, and she saw the violetscome back to the greening meadows, the quaker-ladies and thewindflowers to the little glades of the wood; and the wild ducksreturned from the south to nest by the lake, and the blackbirds chirredagain in the swaying tops of the pine-trees,--her spirit chafed morefiercely at every bar. The maddest rides over upland field and pasturelot at dawn, the fiercest paddlings up and down the lake when the windwas driving and the chop sea tried her skill, were insufficient vent toher restlessness. Her thoughts kept reverting, in spite of herself, tothe idea of seeking her uncle. Misunderstandings with MistressMehitable grew more frequent and more perilous. But just as she wasbeginning to feel that something desperate must happen at once, therecame to her a responsibility which for a time diverted her thoughts.
The kitchen cat presented the household with four kittens. Having awell-grounded suspicion that kittens were a superfluity in SecondWestings, the mother hid her furry miracles in the recesses of a loftin the barn. Not until their eyes were well open were they discovered;and it was Barbara who discovered them. With joyous indiscretion, allundreaming of the consequences, she proclaimed her discovery in thehouse. Then the customary stern decree went forth--but in this casetempered with fractional mercy, seeing that Mistress Mehitable was ajust woman. One was spared to console the mother, and three weredoomed to death.
Barbara, all undreaming of the decree, chanced to come upon Amos in thecow-shed, standing over a tub of water. She saw him drop a kitten intothe tub, and pick up the next. She heard the faint mewing of thevictims. For one instant her heart stood still with pain and fury.Then, speechless, but with face and eyes ablaze, she swooped down andsprang upon him with such impetuous violence that, bending over as hewas, he lost his balance and sprawled headlong, upsetting the tub as hefell. As the flood went all abroad, sousing Amos effectually, Barbarasnatched up the dripping and struggling mewer, clutched it to herbosom, seized the basket containing the other two, burst into wildtears, fled to the house, and shut herself into her room with hertreasures. Straightway realising, however, that they would not be safeeven there, she darted forth again, defying her aunt's efforts to stopher, ran to the woods, and hid them in the secret hollow of an oldtree. Knowing that Amos would never have committed the enormity at hisown instance, she hastened to make her peace with him,--which was easy,Amos being at heart her slave,--with a view to getting plenty of milkfor the tiny prisoners; but against Mistress Mehitable her wrath burnedhotly. She stayed out till long past supper, and crept to bed withoutspeaking to any one--hungry save for warm milk supplied by Amos.
This was an open subversion of authority, and Mistress Mehitable wasmoved. In the morning she demanded the surrender of the kittens.Barbara fiercely refused. Then disc
ipline was threatened--a whipping,perhaps, since duty must be done, however hard--or imprisonment in herroom for a week. Barbara had a vision of the kittens slowly starvingin their hollow tree, and her face set itself in a way that gaveMistress Mehitable pause, suggesting tragedies. The next momentBarbara rushed from the room, flew bareheaded down the street, burstinto Doctor Jim's office, and announced that she would kill herselfrather than go back to her Aunt Hitty. Past events precluding thepossibility of this being disregarded as an idle threat, it wasperforce taken seriously. Doctor John was summoned. The situation wasthrashed out in all its bearings; and finally, while Barbara curledherself up in a tired heap on the lounge and went to sleep, her twochampions went to confer with Mistress Mehitable. Hard in this casewas the task, for the little lady considered a principle at stake; butthey came back at last triumphant. Barbara was to be allowed to retainthe kittens, on the pledge that she would keep them from becoming inany way a nuisance to the rest of the house, and that she would, assoon as possible, find homes elsewhere for at least two of them. Thislast condition might have troubled her, but that Doctor John and DoctorJim both winked as they announced it, which she properly interpreted tomean that they, being catless and mouse-ridden, would help her.
So Barbara went back to Aunt Hitty--who received her gravely; and thekittens came back from their hollow tree; and the shock of clashingspheres was averted. But the peace was a hollow and precarious one--anarmistice, rather than a peace. For about a week Barbara's heart andhands were pretty well occupied by her little charges, and MistressMehitable found her conciliatory. But one day there came a letter fromUncle Bob, accompanied by a box which contained macaroons andmarchpanes, candied angelica, a brooch of garnets, and a piece ofwatchet-blue paduasoy sufficient to make Barbara a dress. The letterannounced that Uncle Bob was at Bridgeport, and about to sojourn for atime at the adjoining village of Stratford. Why, Stratford was inConnecticut--it could not be very far from Second Westings! Barbara'sheart throbbed with excitement. The very next day she made excuse tovisit Lawyer Perley, and consult a map of the Connecticut colony whichshe had once observed in his office. She noted the way the riversran--and her heart beat more wildly than ever. Just at this pointconscience awoke. She put the dangerous thought away vehemently, andfor a whole week was most studious to please. But Mistress Mehitablewas still austere, still troubled in her heart as to whether she haddone right about the kittens. One morning just after breakfast Barbarawas set to hemming a fine linen napkin, at a time when she was in hasteto be at something else more interesting. She scamped the uncongenialtask--in very truth, the stitches were shocking. Hence came anunpleasantness. Barbara was sent to her room to meditate for an hour.She was now all on fire with revolt. Escape seemed within reach. Shemeditated to such purpose that when her hour was past she came forthsmiling, and went about her affairs with gay diligence.
It was on the following morning that, when the first pallor of dawntouched the tree-tops, she climbed out of the window, down theapple-tree, and fled with her bundle and her kittens.