CHAPTER XVI.
A VISIT FROM THE TUCKERS.
The Tuckers arrived, and Tucker-like, neither at the time nor by theroute expected. I was just calling Sam to hitch Peg (short for Pegasus)to the surrey to drive to Milton to meet them, when the unaccustomedtoot of an automobile attracted my attention. It was tearing down ouravenue at breakneck speed. Dee was at the wheel with Mr. Tucker besideher, and Dum was bouncing around alone on the back seat.
"Beat the train! By Jove, I thought we could!" exclaimed Mr. Tucker,when he spied me at the yard gate. "We were so afraid you might havestarted for Milton. That's the reason we were violating the speedlimit," and they all piled out, the girls hugging me and kissing me andMr. Tucker almost hugging me and not quite kissing me.
"It was such a grand day we couldn't resist coming in the car," tweedledthe twins, "but if you had started for Milton before we got here, wewould have died of mortification."
When I told them I had not even had Peg hitched up yet, they weredelighted.
"A mounted policeman chased us just as we were leaving Manchester, butwe dusted him so Tweedles and I are hoping he did not get our number,"said Mr. Tucker.
I called Sam to bring in the grips and rugs.
"I am sorry he can't take your steed around to the stable, Mr. Tucker,but we don't know a thing about automobiles at Bracken."
"Leave it where it is, maybe we can have a spin later on."
We went into the house, where the open wood fires made everything brightand cheerful, although not very warm for persons who are accustomed tosteam heat. Mammy Susan in a stiffly starched purple calico dress with agay bandanna handkerchief on her head was ready to greet the guests.
"Well, bress the Lord, an' you done come all the way from town in thatthere fire wagon. I hearn the horn a tootin' and a rushin' like mightywings, and I says, says I: 'Susan Collins, 'tis the Angel Gabr'el acomin' fer you.' So I clap on my clean head hankcher an' a starchedapron tow be ready fer the Resrection."
"Mammy Susan, we've heard a lot about you. Page talks about you all thetime at school," said the twins, shaking the old woman warmly by thehand.
"Well, now, does she? Mammy's baby don't fergit her any more'n Mammyfergits her baby. An' is this your pa? Well, save us, ef you don't lookmore like somebody's great-grandson than anybody's pa."
"Well, they do treat me like a stepson, sometimes, Mammy," laughed Mr.Tucker. "If I could only take on the looks of years without the years,I'd be glad, and maybe I could command more respect."
"Why don't you grow some whiskers, then? They ain't nothin' so ageyfyingas whiskers on a young man."
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" exclaimed Mr. Tucker.
"Yes, and you do and we'll pull 'em out," Tweedles declared.
"Well, here am I a-gassin' when I ought to be settin' a little lunch ferthe travelers."
"Oh, we had lunch on the way," the three of them declared. "We were notgoing to be any trouble to you by coming so much earlier than we wereexpected."
"Oh, now, you must be hungry," I said. "It won't take Mammy Susan aminute."
"Cose they's hungry, child. Can't I tell hungry folks soon as I clapseyes on 'em? Maybe they did eat a snack in that there chariot of fire,but the way they come down the abenue was enough to jolt down aChristmus dinner, plum puddin' an' all, an' plum puddin' takes a heap erjoltin'," and Mammy Susan hastened out to "set a little lunch,"--whichthe Tuckers later declared was a feast.
They were hungry and cold, in spite of their protestations to thecontrary, and cold turkey and country ham with the delicious littlecornmeal cakes that Mammy could stir up and bake in half a minutedisappeared like magic.
"Such coffee!" and Mr. Tucker rolled up his eyes in ecstasy. "And realcow cream! I tell you, Tweedles, as soon as you finish getting this muchneeded education, we've got to get out of an apartment and into a housewhere we can do some real housekeeping and have some home cooking."
"You ought to be made to eat at Gresham for a month or so, Zebedee, andyou would think the cafe is pretty fine," said Dee. "The grub at Greshamis not so bad, but there is such a deadly sameness to it."
"Well, the grub may be tejus," broke in Mammy, who had just come in witha heaped-up plate of corn cakes, "but it must hab suption in it, 'causelil Miss Page is growd in width as well as wisdom, and you two youngtwin ladies is got cheeks like wine-saps."
"You are right, Mammy, the food must be pretty good to keep them so fatand rosy," said Mr. Tucker, helping himself plentifully to the daintylittle cakes.
"Yassir," and Mammy had a sly twinkle in her kind old eyes, "an' thatthere caffy whar you gits yo' victuals mus' be dishin' out somenourishment, too, 'cause you ain't to say peaked lookin'."
How we did laugh at Zebedee, and as for him, he got up and gave Mammy alittle hug. The Tuckers all knew how to take jokes on themselves.
"She certainly did get you, Zebedee," teased Dum. "You were trying to beso Mr. Tuckerish, too, admonishing Dee and me for complaining about thefood at Gresham."
Father came in soon from his rounds and greeted the visitors in hiskindly hospitable way. Mr. Tucker was to have several days' holiday fromhis newspaper and Father said the neighborhood was in an extremelyhealthy condition, owing to the clear, cold weather, and he did notexpect to be overworked; so the gentlemen began immediately to plantheir hunts. Dum and Dee were wild at the prospect of going on the deerhunt.
"I saw Jo Winn this morning, daughter," said Father, "and he will gowith us. He has a cousin from New York who is visiting him and he wantsto take him."
"Well, if the cousin has no more conversation than Jo he certainly willnot bore us with his chatter," I said. "Now, how about lunch, Father? Wemust give Mammy some warning, because she gets flustrated if we come ather too suddenly."
"To-morrow suits Jo and his kinsman, and it will suit us, too, I think.Tell Mammy how many of us there are and tell her to put up twice as muchlunch as you think she should. That ought to be 'most enough. We'll wantthe big camping coffee pot and a skillet and some salt; also some slicedbacon, ground coffee and sugar, and a little flour to roll the rabbitsin. We may make a fire and cook some if we get cold and have good luckin the morning."
I went out to the kitchen to interview Mammy, Tweedles following me, andthen we had to go see the dogs. Dee approved of them and they heartilyapproved of her. Dum did not have the passion for them that Dee and Ihad, but she liked them well enough. The dogs licked her handrespectfully and then jumped up on Dee and knocked her down and had abig romp.
How delightful it was to have some companions of my own age at mybeloved Bracken! The Tuckers wanted to see everything and go everywhere.We visited the horses in the stable and the cows in the pen and climbedup in the hay loft to hunt for eggs that a sly old blue hen refused tolay in the proper place.
"It's just like Grandpa Tucker's, only nicer," declared Dum. "Grandpatreats us as though we were about two years old and treats Zebedee asthough he had just arrived in his teens, so when we go there, while wehave splendid times, we are being told what not to do from morning tillnight."
"Well, nobody ever has told me not to do things," I said. "Mammy Susangrumbles when she thinks I am too venturesome, but she has always endedby letting me have my own way; and Father says he thinks my way is aboutas good as anybody's way."
"Well, isn't it funny you are not spoiled?" tweedled the girls.
"I believe I used to be spoiled when I was a tiny thing; but Father saysif people grow up spoiled, it is because they lack sense, and he alwayssaid he knew I had sense enough to live down the spoiling that he andMammy Susan just couldn't help giving me."
"I believe Dr. Allison is right, Dee," said Dum very solemnly, "and whenwe are unruly with Zebedee I know it is not the fault of our earlytraining that we love to lay it on, but just plain lack of sense."
"Well, I'm going to try to be mighty good, then," exclaimed Dee. "Ifthere is anything in the world I hate, it's stupidity."