Quaint Courtships | Page 8

His chest was behind the door; a
blowfish, stuffed and varnished, hung from the ceiling; two colored
prints of the "Barque Letty M., 800 tons," decorated the walls; his
sextant, polished daily by his big, clumsy hands, hung over the
mantelpiece, on which were many dusty treasures--the mahogany spoke
of an old steering-wheel; a whale's tooth; two Chinese wrestlers, in
ivory; a fan of spreading white coral; a conch-shell, its beautiful red lip
serving to hold a loose bunch of cigars. In the chimney-breast was a
little door, and the Captain, pulling his son into the room after that call
on Mrs. North, fumbled in his pockets for the key. "Here," he said; ("as
the Governor of North Carolina said to the Governor of South
Carolina)--Cyrus, she gave her mother _beef tea!_"
But Cyrus was to receive still further enlightenment on the subject of
his opposite neighbor:
"She called him in. I heard her, with my own ears! 'Alfred,' she said,
'come in.' Cyrus, she has designs; oh, I worry so about it! He ought to
be protected. He is very old, and, of course, foolish. You ought to
check it at once."
"Gussie, I don't like you to talk that way about my father," Cyrus
began.
"You'll like it less later on. He'll go and see her to-morrow."
"Why shouldn't he go and see her to-morrow?" Cyrus said, and added a
modest bad word; which made Gussie cry. And yet, in spite of what his
wife called his "blasphemy," Cyrus began to be vaguely uncomfortable
whenever he saw his father put his pipe in his pocket and go across the
street. And as the winter brightened into spring, the Captain went quite

often. So, for that matter, did other old friends of Mrs. North's
generation, who by and by began to smile at each other, and say, "Well,
Alfred and Letty are great friends!" For, because Captain Price lived
right across the street, he went most of all. At least, that was what Miss
North said to herself with obvious common sense--until Mrs. Cyrus put
her on the right track....
"What!" gasped Mary North. "But it's impossible!"
"It would be very unbecoming, considering their years," said Gussie;
"but I worry so, because, you know, nothing is impossible when people
are foolish; and of course, at their age, they are apt to be foolish."
So the seed was dropped. Certainly he did come very often. Certainly
her mother seemed very glad to see him. Certainly they had very long
talks. Mary North shivered with apprehension. But it was not until a
week later that this miserable suspicion grew strong enough to find
words. It was after tea, and the two ladies were sitting before a little fire.
Mary North had wrapped a shawl about her mother, and given her a
footstool, and pushed her chair nearer the fire, and then pulled it away,
and opened and shut the parlor door three times to regulate the draught.
Then she sat down in the corner of the sofa, exhausted but alert.
"If there's anything you want, mother, you'll be sure and tell me?"
"Yes, my dear."
"I think I'd better put another shawl over your limbs?"
"Oh no, indeed!"
"Are you sure you don't feel a draught?"
"No, Mary; and it wouldn't hurt me if I did!"
"I was only trying to make you comfortable,--"
"I know that, my dear; you are a very good daughter. Mary, I think it
would be nice if I made a cake. So many people call, and--"
"I'll make it to-morrow."
"Oh, I'll make it myself," Mrs. North protested, eagerly; "I'd really
enjoy--"
"_Mother!_ Tire yourself out in the kitchen? No, indeed! Flora and I
will see to it."
Mrs. North sighed.
Her daughter sighed too; then suddenly burst out: "Old Captain Price
comes here pretty often."
Mrs. North nodded, pleasantly. "That daughter-in-law doesn't half take

care of him. His clothes are dreadfully shabby. There was a button off
his coat to-day. And she's a foolish creature."
"Foolish? she's an unladylike person!" cried Miss North, with so much
feeling that her mother looked at her in mild astonishment. "And coarse,
too," said Mary North; "I think married ladies are apt to be coarse.
From association with men, I suppose."
"What has she done?" demanded Mrs. North, much interested.
"She hinted that he--that you--"
"Well?"
"That he came here to--to see you."
"Well, who else would he come to see? Not you!" said her mother.
"She hinted that he might want to--to marry you."
"Well,--upon my word! I knew she was a ridiculous creature, but
really--!"
Mary's face softened with relief. "Of course she is foolish; but--"
"Poor Alfred! What has he ever done to have such a daughter-in-law?
Mary, the Lord gives us our children; but Somebody Else