DORA'S NEW MIND
When Ralph Haverley made up his mind to agree to anything, he did it with
his whole soul, and if he had had any previous prejudices against it, he
dismissed them; so as he sat at supper with the doctor and his sister he
was very much amused at being waited upon by a woman in a pink sunbonnet.
That she should wear such a head-covering in the house was funny enough
in itself, but the rest of her dress was also extremely odd, and she kept
the front of her dark projecting bonnet turned downward or away, as if
she had never served gentlemen before, and was very much overpowered by
bashfulness. But for all that she waited very well, and with a light
quickness of movement unusual in a servant.
"I am afraid, doctor," said Miriam, when the pink figure had gone
downstairs to replenish the plate of rolls, "that you will miss your
dinner. I have heard that you have a most wonderful cook."
"She is indeed a mistress of her art," replied the doctor; "but you do
very well here, I am sure. That new cook of yours beats Phoebe utterly. I
know Phoebe's cooking."
"But you must not give her all the credit," exclaimed Miriam; "I made
that bread, although she shaped it into rolls. And I helped with the
beefsteak, the potatoes, and the coffee."
"Which latter," said Ralph, "is as strong as if six or seven women had
made it, although it is very good."
The meal went on until the two hungry men were satisfied, Miriam being so
absorbed in Dora's skilful management of herself that she scarcely
thought about eating. There was a place for the woman in pink, if she
chose to take it, but she evidently did not wish to sit down. Whenever
she was not occupied in waiting upon those at the table, she bethought
herself of some errand in the kitchen.
"Well," said Ralph, "those rolls are made up so prettily, and look so
tempting, that I wish I had not finished my supper."
"You are right," said the doctor, "they are aesthetic enough for La
Fleur," and then pushing back his chair a little, he looked steadfastly,
with a slight smile on his face, at the figure, with bowed sunbonnet,
which was standing on the other side of the table.
"Well, young woman," he said, "how is your mind by this time?"
For a moment there was silence, and then from out of the sunbonnet there
came, clearly and distinctly, the words:--
"That is very well. How is your kitten?"
At this interchange of remarks, Ralph sat up straight in his chair,
amazement in his countenance, while Miriam, ready to burst into a roar of
laughter, waited convulsively to see what would happen next. Turning
suddenly toward Ralph, Dora tore off her sunbonnet and dashed it to the
floor. Standing there with her dishevelled hair, her flushed cheeks, her
sparkling eyes and her quaint gown, Ralph thought her the most beautiful
creature he had ever gazed upon.
"How do you do, Mr. Haverley?" said Dora, advancing and extending her
hand; "I know you are not willing to eat with cooks, but I do not believe
you will object to shaking hands with one, now and then."
Ralph arose, and took her hand, but she gave him no opportunity to
say anything.
"Your sister and I got up this little bit of deception for you, Mr.
Haverley," she continued, "and we intended to carry it on a good deal
further, but that gentleman has spoiled it all, and I want you to know
that I stopped here to see your sister, and finding she had not a soul to
help her, I would not leave her in such a plight, and we had a royal good
time, getting the supper, and were going to do ever so many more
things--I should like to know, doctor, how you knew me. I am sure I did
not look a bit like myself."
"You did not look like yourself, but you walked like yourself," replied
Dr. Tolbridge. "I watched you when you first tried to toddle alone, and I
have seen you nearly every day since, and I know your way of stepping
about as well as I know anything. But I must really apologize for having
spoiled the fun. I discovered you, Dora, before we had half finished
supper, but I thought the trick was being played on me alone. I had no
idea that Mr. Haverley thought you were the new cook."
"I certainly did think so," cried Ralph, "and what is more, I intended to
discharge you to-morrow morning."
There was a lively time for a few minutes, after which Dora explained
what had been said about her mind and a kitten.
"He was just twitting me with having once changed my mind--every one
does that," she said; "and then I gave him a kitten. That is all. And
now, before I change my dress, I will go and get some wood for the
kitchen fire. I think you said, Mr. Haverley, that the woodhouse was not
far away."
"Wood!" cried Ralph; "don't you think of it!"
Miriam burst into a laugh.
"Oh, you ought to have heard the lord of the manor declare that he would
not carry fuel for the cook," she cried.
Ralph joined in the laugh that rose against him, but insisted that Dora
should not change her dress.
"You could not wear anything more becoming," he said, "and you do not
know how much I want to treat the new cook as one of the family."
"I will wear whatever the lord of the manor chooses," said Dora,
demurely, and was about to make reference to his concluding remark, but
checked herself.
When the two girls joined the gentlemen on the porch, which they did with
much promptness, having delegated the greater part of their household
duties to Mike, who could take a hand at almost any kind of work, Dr.
Tolbridge announced that he must proceed to visit his patient.
"Are you coming back this way, doctor?" asked Dora. "Because if you are,
would it be too much trouble for you to look for our buggy on the side of
the road, and to bring back the cushions and the whip with you? Herbert
may think that in this part of the country the people are so honest that
they would not steal anything out of a deserted buggy, but I do not
believe it is safe to put too much trust in people."
"A fine, practicable mind," said the doctor; "cuts clean and sharp. I
will bring the cushions and the whip, if they have not been stolen before
I reach them. And now I will go to the barn and get my horse. We need
not disturb the industrious Mike."
"If you are going to the barn, doctor," cried Miriam, seizing her hat, "I
will go with you and put the mosquito net over my calf, which I entirely
forgot to do. Perhaps, if it is light enough, you will look at its eye."
The doctor laughed, and the two went off together, leaving Dora and Ralph
on the piazza.
Dora could not help thinking of herself as a very lucky girl. When she
had started that afternoon to make a little visit at Cobhurst, she had
had no imaginable reason to suppose that in the course of a very few
hours she would be sitting alone with Mr. Haverley in the early
moonlight, without even his sister with them. She had expected to see
Ralph and to have a chat with him, but she had counted on Miriam's
presence as a matter of course; so this tête-à-tête in the quiet beauty
of the night was as delightful as it was unanticipated. More than that,
it was an opportunity that ought not to be disregarded.
The new mind of Miss Dora Bannister was clear and quick in its
perceptions, and prompt and independent in action. It not only showed
what she wanted, but indicated pretty clearly how she might get it. Since
she had been making use of this fresh intellect, she had been impressed
very strongly by the belief that in the matter of matrimonial alliance, a
girl should not neglect her interest by depending too much upon the
option of other people. Her own right of option she looked upon as a
sacred right, and one that it was her duty to herself to exercise, and
that promptly. She had just come from the seaside, where she had met some
earnest young men, one or two of whom she expected to see shortly at
Thorbury. Also Mr. Ames, their young rector, was a very persevering
person, and a great friend of her brother.
Of course it behooved her to act with tact, but for all that she must be
prompt. It was easy to see that Ralph Haverley could not be expected to
go very soon into the society of Thorbury, to visit ladies there, and as
she wanted him to learn to know her as rapidly as possible, she resolved
to give him every opportunity.
Miriam was gone a long time, because when she reached the barn, the calf
was not to be found where she had left it, and she had been obliged to go
for Mike and a lantern. After anxious search the little fellow had been
found reclining under an apple tree, having gained sufficient strength
from the ministrations of its fair attendants to go through the open
stable door and to find out what sort of a world it had been born into.
It required time to get the truant back, secure it in its stall, and make
all the arrangements for its comfort which Miriam thought necessary.
Therefore, before she returned to the piazza, Miss Bannister and Ralph
had had a long conversation, in which the latter had learned a great deal
about the disposition and tastes of his fair companion, and had been much
interested in what he learned.