The Albany Depot | Page 3

the cook as soon as she comes in, or she'll get discouraged and go
away again; you can't depend on them for an instant; I told her you
would be here to meet her, if I wasn't--I thought I might be late; and
you mustn't let her slip. And if the Campbells happen to get here before
I'm back, don't you give them the least inkling of our having just
engaged a cook. I'm going to smuggle her into the house without Amy's
knowing it; I wouldn't have her know it for the world. She prides
herself on keeping that impudent, spoiled thing of hers, with her two
soups; and she would simply never stop crowing if she knew I'd had to
change cooks in the middle of the summer."
Roberts, picking up and dropping the multitudinous packages, and
finally sitting down with them all in his lap, very red and heated: "I'll
be careful, my dear."
Mrs. Roberts: "How flushed you are, bending over! You're so stout
now, you ought to bend sidewise; it's perfect folly, your trying to bend
straight over; you'll get apoplexy. But now I must run, or I shall never
be back in the world. Don't forget to look out for the cook!"

Roberts, at whom she glances with misgiving as she runs out, holding
the parcels on his knees with both elbows and one hand, and contriving
with the help of his chin to get his magazine open again: "No, no; I
won't, my dear." He loses himself in his reading, while people come
and go restlessly. A gentleman finally drops into the seat beside him,
and contemplates his absorption with friendly amusement.

II
ROBERTS AND WILLIS CAMPBELL Campbell: "Don't mind _me,_
Roberts."
Roberts, looking up: "Heigh? What! Why, Willis! Glad to see you--"
Campbell: "Now that you do see me, yes, I suppose you are. What have
you got there that makes you cut all your friends?" He looks at
Roberts's open page. "Oh! _Popular Science Monthly._ Isn't Agnes a
little afraid of your turning out an agnostic? By-the-way, where is
Agnes?"
Roberts: "She left her purse at Stearns's, and she's gone back after it.
Where's Amy?"
Campbell: "Wherever she said she wouldn't be at the moment. I
expected to find her here with you and Agnes. What time did you say
your train started?"
Roberts. "At ten minutes to four. And, by-the-way--I'd almost forgotten
it--I must keep an eye out for the cook Agnes has been engaging. She
was to meet us here before half-past two, and I shall have to receive her.
You mustn't tell Amy; Agnes doesn't want her to know she's been
changing cooks; and I've got to be very vigilant not to let her give us
the slip, or you won't have any dinner to-night."
Campbell: "Is that so? Well, that interests _me._ Were you expecting to
find her in the _Pop. Sci._?"
Roberts: "Oh, I'd only been reading a minute when you came in."

Campbell: "I don't believe you know how long you'd been reading.
Very likely your cook's come and gone."
Roberts, with some alarm: "She couldn't. I'd only just opened the
book."
Campbell: "I dare say you think so. But you'd better cast your eagle eye
over this assemblage now, and see if she isn't here; though probably
she's gone. What sort of looking woman is she?"
Roberts, staring at him in consternation: "Bless my soul! I don't know!
I never saw her!"
Campbell: "Never saw her?"
Roberts: "No; Agnes engaged her at the intelligence-office, and told her
we should meet her here, and she had to go back for her purse, and left
me to explain."
Campbell: "Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! How did she expect you to
recognize her?"
Roberts: "I--I don't know, I'm sure. She--she was very anxious I
shouldn't let her get away."
Campbell, laughing: "You poor old fellow! What are you going to do?"
Roberts: "I'm sure I've no idea. Agnes--"
Campbell: "Agnes ought to have a keeper. You know what I've always
thought of your presence of mind, Roberts; but Agnes--I'm really
surprised at Agnes. This is too good! I must tell Amy this. She'll never
get over this. Ah, ha, ha, ha!"
Roberts: "No, no! You mustn't, Willis. Agnes would be very much
provoked with me, if you told Amy she had been engaging a cook. She
expects to smuggle her into the house without Amy's knowing."
Campbell: "And she left you to meet her here, and keep her--a cook

you'd never set eyes on! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah, ha, ha, ha! What's her
name?"
Roberts: "Agnes couldn't remember her last name--one never
remembers a cook's last name. Her first name is Norah or Bridget."
Campbell: "Maggie, perhaps; they all sound alike. Ah, ha, ha! Ha, ha,
ha!