CHAPTER XXXV
MISS PANNEY HAS TEETH ENOUGH LEFT TO BITE WITH
After her recent quick pull and strong pull, Miss Panney restedplacidly on her oars. She knew that Miriam had gone, but she had notyet heard whether the Dranes had returned to their former lodging inThorbury, or had left the neighborhood altogether. She presumed,however, that they were in the town; for the young woman's work for Dr.Tolbridge was probably not completed. She intended to call on Mrs.Brinkly and find out about this; and she also determined to drop in atCobhurst, and see how poor Ralph was getting on by himself. But forthese things there was no hurry.
But jogging into town one morning, she was amazed to meet Ralph and Mrs.Drane returning to Cobhurst in the gig. Both vehicles stopped, and Ralphimmediately began to tell the old lady of Miriam's good fortune. He told,also, of his own good fortune in having Mrs. Drane and her daughter torun the house during Miriam's absence, and was in high good spirits andglad to talk.
Miss Panney listened with rigid attention; but when Ralph had finished,she asked Mrs. Drane if she had left her daughter alone at Cobhurst,while she and Mr. Haverley came to town.
"Oh, yes," answered the other lady; "Cicely is there, and hard at work;but she is not alone. You know our good La Fleur is with us, and willremain as long as the doctor and Mrs. Tolbridge are away."
When Miss Panney received this last bit of information, she gazedintently at Mrs. Drane and then at Ralph, after which she bade them goodmorning, and drove off.
"The old lady is not in such jolly good humor as when she lunched with usthe other day," said Ralph.
"That is true," said Mrs. Drane; "but I have noticed that very elderlypeople are apt to be moody."
Twice in the course of a year Miss Panney allowed herself to swear, ifthere happened to be occasion for it. In her young days a lady of fashionwould sometimes swear with great effect; and Miss Panney did not entirelygive up any old fashion that she liked. Now, there being good reason forit, and no one in sight, she swore, and directed her abjurations againstherself. Then her mind, somewhat relieved from the strain upon it, tookin the humorous points of the situation, and she laughed outright.
"If the Dranes had hired some sharp-witted rogue to help them carry outtheir designs, he could not have done it better than I have done it. Ihave simply put the whole game into their hands; I have given themeverything they want."
But before she reached Thorbury, she saw that the situation was nothopeless. There was one thing that might be done, and that successfullyaccomplished the game would be in her hands. Ralph must be made to go toBarport. A few days with Dora at the seaside, with some astute personthere to manage the affair, would settle the fate of Mr. Ralph Haverley.At this thought her eyes sparkled, and she began to feel hungry. At thisimportant moment she did not wish to occupy her mind with prattle andchat, and therefore departed from her usual custom of lunching with afriend or acquaintance. Hitching her roan mare in front of aconfectionery shop, she entered for refreshment.
Seated at a little table in the back room, with a cup of tea and somesandwiches before her, Miss Panney took more time over her slight mealthan any previous customer had ever occupied in disposing of a similarrepast, at least so the girl at the counter believed and averred to thecolored man who did outside errands. The girl thought that the old lady'sdeliberate method of eating proceeded from her want of teeth; but the manwho had waited at dinners where Miss Panney was a guest contemptuouslyrepudiated this assumption.
"I've seen her eat," said he, "and she's never behind nobody. She's gotall the teeth she wants for bitin'."
"Then why doesn't she get through?" asked the girl. "When is she evergoing to leave that table?"
"When she gits ready," answered the man; "that's the time Miss Panneydoes everything."
Sipping her tea and nibbling her sandwich, Miss Panney considered thesituation. It would be, of course, a difficult thing to get that youngman to visit his sister at Barport. It would cost money, and there wouldseem to be no good reason for his going. Of course no such influencecould be brought to bear upon him at this end of the line. Whateverinducement was offered, must be offered from Barport. And there was noone there who could do it, at least with the proper effect. The girlswould be glad to have him there, but nothing that either of them could,with propriety, be prompted to say, would draw him into such extravagantself-gratification. But if she were at Barport, she knew that she couldsend him such an invitation, or sound such a call to him, that he wouldbe sure to come.
Accordingly Miss Panney determined to go to Barport without loss of time;and although she did hot know what sort of summons she should issue toRalph after she got there, she did not in the least doubt thatcircumstances would indicate the right thing to do. In fact, she wouldarrange circumstances in such a way that they should so indicate.
Having arrived at this conclusion, Miss Panney finished eating hersandwich with an earnestness and rapidity which convinced the astonishedgirl at the counter that she had all the teeth she needed to bite with;and then she went forth to convince other people of the same thing. Onthe sidewalk she met Phoebe.
"How d'ye do, Miss Panney?" said that single-minded colored woman. "Ihain't seen you for a long time."
Miss Panney returned the salutation, and stood for a moment in thought.
"Phoebe," said she, "when did you last see Mike?"
"Well, now, really, Miss Panney, I can't say, but it's been a mighty longtime. He don't come into town to see me, and I's too busy to go way outthar. I does the minister's wash now, besides boardin' him an' keepin'his clothes mended. An' then it's four or five miles out to that farm. Ican't 'ford to hire no carriage, an' Mike ain't no right to expect me towalk that fur."
"Phoebe," said Miss Panney, "you are a lazy woman and an undutiful wife.It is not four miles to Cobhurst, and you walk two or three times thatdistance every day, gadding about town. You ought to go out there andattend to Mike's clothes, and see that he is comfortable, instead ofgiving up the little time you do work to that minister, and everybodyknows that the reason you have taken him to board is that you want to setyourself up above the rest of the congregation."
"Good laws, Miss Panney!" exclaimed Phoebe, "I don't see as how anybodycan think that!"
"Well, I do," replied the old lady, "and plenty of other people besides.But as you won't go out to Cobhurst to attend to your own duty, I wantyou to go there to attend to something for me. I was going myself, but Istart for the seashore to-morrow, and have not time. I want to know howthat poor Mr. Ralph is getting along. Molly Tooney has left, and hissister is away, and of course those two Drane women are temporaryboarders and take no care of him or his clothes. To be sure, there is awoman there, but she is that English-French creature who gives all hertime to fancy dishes, and I suppose never made a bed or washed a shirt inher life."
"That's so, Miss Panney," said Phoebe, eagerly, "an' I reckon it's a lotof slops he has to eat now. 'Tain't like the good wholesome meals I gavehim when I cooked thar. An' as fur washin', if there's any of that done,I reckon Mike does it."
"I should not wonder," said the old lady. "And, Phoebe, I want you to goout there this afternoon, and look over Mr. Haverley's linen, and seewhat ought to be washed or mended, and take general notice of how thingsare going on. I shall see his sister, and I want to report the state ofaffairs at her home. For all I know, those Dranes and their cook may packup and clear out to-morrow if the notion takes them. Then you must meetme at the station at nine o'clock to-morrow morning, and tell me what youfind out. If things are going all wrong, Mr. Haverley will never write tohis sister to disturb her mind. Start for Cobhurst as soon as you can,and I will pay your carriage hire--no, I will not do that, for I wantyou to make a good long stay, and it will cost too much to keep a hackwaiting. You can walk just as well as not, and it will do you good. Andwhile you are there, Phoebe, you might take notice of Miss Drane. If shehas finished the work she was doing for the doctor, and is just sittingabout idly or strolling around the pla
ce, it is likely they will soonleave, for if the young woman does not work they cannot afford to staythere. And that is a thing Miss Miriam ought to know all about."
"Seems to me, Miss Panney," said the colored woman, "that 'twould be amighty good thing for Mr. Hav'ley to get married. An' thar's that MissDrane right thar already."
"What stupid nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Panney. "I thought you had moresense than to imagine such a thing as that. She is not in any waysuitable for him. She is a poor little thing who has to earn her ownliving, and her mother's too. She is not in the least fit to be themistress of that place."
"Don't see whar he'll get a wife, then," said Phoebe. "He never goesnowhar, and never sees nobody, except p'r'aps Miss Dora Bannister; an'she's too high an' mighty for him."
"Phoebe, you are stupider than I thought you were. No lady is too highand mighty for Mr. Haverley. And if he should happen to fancy Miss Dora,it will be a capital match. What he needs is to marry a woman of positionand means. But that is not my business, or yours either, and by the way,Phoebe, since you are here, I will get you to take a letter to thepost-office for me. I will go back into this shop and write it. You cantake these two cents and buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and bringthem in to me."
With this Miss Panney walked into the shop, and having asked the loan ofpen and ink, horrified the girl at the counter by proceeding to the tableshe had left, which, in a corner favored by all customers, had just beenprepared for the next comer, and, having pushed aside a knife and forkand plate, made herself ready to write her letter, which was to a friendin Barport, informing her that the writer intended making her a visit.
"I shall get there," she thought, "about as soon as it does, but it looksbetter to write."
Before the letter was finished, Phoebe was nearly as angry as theshop-girl; but at last, with exactly two cents with which to buy a stamp,she departed for the post-office.
"The stingy old thing!" she said to herself as she left the shop; "not acent for myself, and makes me walk all the way out to that Cobhurst, too!I see what that old woman is up to. She's afraid he'll marry the younglady what's out thar, an' she wants him to marry Miss Dora, an' git a lotof the Bannister money to fix up his old house, an' then she expects togo out thar an' board with 'em, for I reckon she's gittin' mighty tiredof the way them Wittons live. She's always patchin' up marriages so shecan go an' live with the people when they first begins housekeepin', an'things is bran-new an' fresh. She did that with young Mr. Witton, buttheir furniture is gittin' pretty old an' worn out now. If she tries itwith Mr. Hav'ley an' Dora Bannister, I reckon she'll make as big a botchof it as she did with Mike an' me."