Mr Jack Hamlins Mediation | Page 4

I did, Jane, if I didn't bring it in
HERE."
"That you didn't," returned Jane. "And I reckon ye forgot that 'ar
pepper-sauce for yer husband."
Mrs. Rylands looked up with piteous contrition. "I really don't know
what's the matter with me. I certainly went into the shop, and had it on
my list,--and--really"--
Jane evidently knew her mistress, and smiled with superior toleration.

"It's kinder bewilderin' goin' in them big shops, and lookin' round them
stuffed shelves." The shop at the cross roads and post-office was 14 x
14, but Jane was nurtured on the plains. "Anyhow," she added
good-humoredly, "the expressman is sure to look in as he goes by, and
you've time to give him the order."
"But is he SURE to come?" asked Mrs. Rylands anxiously. "Mr.
Rylands will be so put out without his pepper-sauce."
"He's sure to come ef he knows you're here. Ye kin always kalkilate on
that."
"Why?" said Mrs. Rylands abstractedly.
"Why? 'cause he just can't keep his eyes off ye! That's why he comes
every day,--'tain't jest for trade!"
This was quite true, not only of the expressman, but of the butcher and
baker, and the "candlestick-maker," had there been so advanced a
vocation at the cross roads. All were equally and curiously attracted by
her picturesque novelty. Mrs. Rylands knew this herself, but without
vanity or coquettishness. Possibly that was why the other woman told
her. She only slightly deepened the lines of discontent in her cheek and
said abstractedly, "Well, when he comes, YOU ask him."
She dried her shoes, put on a pair of slippers that had a faded splendor
about them, and went up to her bedroom. Here she hesitated for some
time between the sewing-machine and her knitting-needles, but finally
settled upon the latter, and a pair of socks for her husband which she
had begun a year ago. But she presently despaired of finishing them
before he returned, three hours hence, and so applied herself to the
sewing-machine. For a little while its singing hum was heard between
the blasts that shook the house, but the thread presently snapped, and
the machine was put aside somewhat impatiently, with a discontented
drawing of the lines around her handsome mouth. Then she began to
"tidy" the room, putting a great many things away and bringing out a
great many more, a process that was necessarily slow, owing to her
falling into attitudes of minute inspection of certain articles of dress,

with intervals of trying them on, and observing their effect in her
mirror. This kind of interruption also occurred while she was putting
away some books that were lying about on chairs and tables, stopping
midway to open their pages, becoming interested, and quite finishing
one chapter, with the book held close against the window to catch the
fading light of day. The feminine reader will gather from this that Mrs.
Rylands, though charming, was not facile in domestic duties. She had
just glanced at the clock, and lit the candle to again set herself to work,
and thus bridge over the two hours more of waiting, when there came a
tap at the door. She opened it to Jane.
"There's an entire stranger downstairs, ez hez got a lame hoss and
wants to borry a fresh one."
"We have none, you know," said Mrs. Rylands, a little impatiently.
"Thet's what I told him. Then he wanted to know ef he could lie by here
till he could get one or fix up his own hoss."
"As you like; you know if you can manage it," said Mrs. Rylands, a
little uneasily. "When Mr. Rylands comes you can arrange it between
you. Where is he now?"
"In the kitchen."
"The kitchen!" echoed Mrs. Rylands.
"Yes, ma'am, I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered his
shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye see,
ma'am, he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. But he ain't
one o' the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make hisself cowf'ble before
the kitchen stove."
"Well, then, he don't want ME," said Mrs. Rylands, with a relieved
voice.
"Yes'm," said Jane, apparently equally relieved. "Only, I thought I'd
just tell you."

A few minutes later, in crossing the upper hall, Mrs. Rylands heard
Jane's voice from the kitchen raised in rustic laughter. Had she been
satirically inclined, she might have understood Jane's willingness to
relieve her mistress of the duty of entertaining the stranger; had she
been philosophical, she might have considered the girl's dreary,
monotonous life at the rancho, and made allowance for her joy at this
rare interruption of it. But I fear that Mrs. Rylands was neither satirical
nor philosophical, and presently, when Jane reentered, with color in her
alkaline face,