I was so sorry not to find you at the Rectory when I called this
afternoon. And, what is worse, I fear we may not see you for a long
time, if, as your housekeeper says, you are to be in California for a
month. For before you return we shall be gone! "Gone?" you will
ask. "Where?" Well, I do not quite know. The fact is I am in such
a whirl that I hardly know what I am writing! Perhaps it would be
better if I began at the beginning.
You know how overworked John has been for some time. He has not been
sleeping well, and at times has been--well, almost cross!--which
means he is tired out. The culmination came on Good Friday. I left
church before the conclusion of the three-hour service that I might
reach home in time to have a cup of tea ready for him when he
returned. You remember what a hot day it was. Well, I was standing
by the open window in the study waiting to see him come round the
corner, and Rex--the beautiful Irish setter which Mr. Dennis gave
John--was with me. When John appeared he waved his hand to me and
called out "Hello, Rex!" and the poor dog, no doubt thinking he had
called him to come, sprang from the window and fell the two flights,
striking his head on the steps, and was instantly killed. I rushed
down-stairs and found John looking as if he were about to faint. We
carried the body into the laundry, and John, gazing upon it, groaned:
"I wish it were I." You may imagine how frightened I was, but
fortunately I had self-control enough to keep silence and led him
away and induced him to drink a cup of strong tea. Then I brought
out his pipe, and, though he murmured, "I have given it up for Lent,"
I said firmly, "You have not given it up for to-day." When he was
resting I ran round the corner and asked Mr. Hathaway, the carpenter,
to make a box for poor Rex, which he said he would do at once, for
every one on the block loved him. Then I telephoned to Mabel
Wheelock and asked her if she would be willing to have the dear
creature buried on her place at Pelham. She was as sympathetic as if
we had lost a member of the family--as indeed we have. But how to
get the body there I did not know! I called up the hotel garage and
learned that it would cost seven dollars to hire a taxi. It seemed
more than we could pay, but I decided we must risk it. How I wished
I had not bought that new hat for Easter!
When all was ready I called John and we started for Pelham, where we
left the body of a creature of whom it could be said more truly than
of many humans, that "he was faithful unto death." When we reached
home I induced John to go to bed, and was soon thankful to find that
he had fallen asleep.
The next morning I went to the store where I had bought the hat and
asked the woman to take it back. She was none too well pleased.
But, as she had known me forever, she insisted upon knowing the
reason, and when I told her the kind-hearted creature said: "Why, you
poor thing, you keep that hat, and I'll take the price of the taxi
off the bill. It will be good business, anyhow, for when that hat is
seen on you there will be a run on them." You may think less of me,
but I was so glad to keep it!
Then I went to see Dr. Webster. He listened to my story and then
said: "Your husband is as sound as a dollar. I went all over him
when he had that touch of bronchitis in January. But he has
exhausted his nervous energy and must have a rest." "But," I said,
"we cannot afford to go away." He answered gruffly: "You can't
afford to keep on."
We got through Easter somehow, and John did his part better than I
supposed would be possible. But when one of those "gushy" females,
who are found in every church, said to me: "How wonderful Mr. Dobson
was to-day! I don't see how he does it! However, it cannot be a
strain on him because he speaks so easily. If he had to _prepare_
his sermons I don't suppose he could do it, with all the parish work
he has to do!" That woman is called by some people "The salt of the
earth." She may be, but it is salt in lumps, and I don't like it
that way!
John slept the clock round on Easter night and it was nearly noon
when he came down for a cup of coffee. There were not many letters,
fortunately, but I had noticed one with the name of a well-known firm
of lawyers on the envelope, and rather wondered what they could have
to say.