MRS. CLIFF'S YACHT
When the interview with Mrs. Buskirk was reported that afternoon to Mrs.
Cliff, the good lady sat aghast. "I've decided about the park," she
said, "and that is all very well. But what do you mean by a yacht? What
could be more ridiculous than to talk about me and a yacht!"
"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Burke. "It's nothing of the kind! The more I
think of the idea, the better I like it, and if you'll think of it
soberly, I believe you'll like it just as much as I do! In the first
place, you've got to do something to keep your money from being dammed
up and running all over everything. This house and furniture cleared
away things for a time, but the whole business will be just as much
clogged up as it was before if you don't look out. I don't want to give
advice, but it does strike me that anybody as rich as you are oughtn't
to feel that they could afford to sit still here in Plainton, year in
and year out, no matter how fine a house they might have! They ought to
think of that great heap of gold in the mound and feel that it was their
duty to get all the grand and glorious good out of it that they knew
how!"
"But it does seem to me," said Mrs. Cliff, "that a yacht would be an
absolute extravagance and waste of money. And, you know, I have firmly
determined I will not waste my money."
"To call sittin' in a beautiful craft, on a rollin' sea, with a
spankin' breeze, a waste of money, is something I can't get into my
brain!" said Mr. Burke. "But you could do good with a yacht. You could
take people out on cruises who would never get out if you didn't take
them! And now I've an idea! It's just come to me. You might get a really
big yacht. If I was you, I'd have a steam yacht, because you'd have more
control over that than you'd have over a sailin'-vessel, and besides a
person can get tired of sailin'-vessels, as I've found out myself. And
then you might start a sort of summer shelter for poor people; not only
very poor people, but respectable people, who never get a chance to
sniff salt air. And you might spend part of the summer in giving such
people what would be the same as country weeks, only you'd take them out
to sea instead of shipping them inland to dawdle around farms. I tell
you that's a splendid idea, and nobody's done it."
Day after day, the project of the yacht was discussed by Mrs. Cliff and
Burke, and she was beginning to view its benevolent features with a
degree of favor when Mrs. Buskirk called. That lady's visit was prompted
partly by a curiosity to see what sort of a woman was the widow of the
Plainton storekeeper who would cruise the next summer in her yacht; and
partly by a feeling that to such a person a certain amount of respect
was due even from a Buskirk.
But when she entered the house, passed through the great hall, and
seated herself in the drawing-room, she saw more than she had expected
to see. She saw a house immeasurably better fitted out and furnished
than her own. She knew the value of the rugs which Miss Shott had
declared must have cost at least twenty dollars each, and she felt,
although she did not thoroughly appreciate, the difference in artistic
merit between the pictures upon her walls and the masterly paintings
which had been selected by the ladies Thorpedyke for the drawing-room of
Mrs. Cliff.
The discovery startled her. She must talk to her husband about it as
soon as he reached home. It was not only money, but a vast deal of
money, and something more, which had done all this.
She had asked for the ladies, knowing that Mrs. Cliff did not live
alone, and all the ladies were at home. Amid those surroundings, the
elder Miss Thorpedyke, most carefully arrayed, made an impression upon
Mrs. Buskirk very different from that she had produced on the occasion
of their single former interview in the darkened little parlor of the
Thorpedyke house.
Mrs. Cliff, in a costume quite simple, but as rich as her conscience
would allow, felt within herself all the uplifting influence of her
wealth, as she stepped forward to salute this lady who had always been
so uplifted by her wealth.
In the course of the conversation, the yacht was mentioned. The visitor
would not go away without being authoritatively informed upon this
subject.
"Oh yes," said Mrs. Cliff, promptly, "I shall have a yacht next summer.
Mr. Burke will select one for me, and I know it will be a good one, for
he thoroughly understands such matters."
Before she left, Mrs. Buskirk invited Mrs. Cliff, the Misses Thorpedyke,
and Miss Croup to take luncheon with her quite informally on the
following Tuesday. She would have made it a dinner, but in that case her
husband would have been at home, and it would have been necessary to
invite Mr. Burke, and she was not yet quite sure about Mr. Burke.
This invitation, which soon became known throughout the town, decided
the position of Mrs. Cliff at Plainton. When that lady and her family
had gone, with her carriage and pair, to the mansion of the Buskirks on
the hill, and had there partaken of luncheon, very informally, in
company with three of the most distinguished ladies of Harrington, who
had also been invited very informally; and when the news of the
magnificent repast which had been served on the occasion, with flowers
from the greenhouse nearly covering the table, with everything tied up
with ribbons which could possibly be so decorated, and with a present
for each guest ingeniously concealed under her napkin, floated down into
the town, there was no woman in that place who could put her hand upon
her heart and honestly declare that hereafter Mrs. Cliff could look up
to anybody in Plainton.
This recognition, which soon became obvious to Mrs. Cliff, was a source
of genuine gratification to that good lady. She had never been inclined
to put herself above her neighbors on account of her fortune, and would
have been extremely grieved if she had been convinced that her wealth
would oblige her to assume a superior position but when that wealth
gradually and easily, without creating any disturbance or commotion in
her circle, raised her of itself, without any action on her part, to the
peak of social eminence in her native place, her genuine satisfaction
was not interfered with in the least degree by her conscience. Her
position had come to her, and she had assumed it as if she had been born
to it.
But whenever she thought of her preeminence,--and she did not think of
it nearly so often as other people thought of it,--she determined that
it should make no difference to her; and when next she gave a high
tea,--not the grand repast to which she intended to invite the Buskirks
on the hill,--she invited Miss Cushing. Now, there were people in
Plainton who did not invite the dressmaker to their table, but Mrs.
Cliff had asked her when they were all poor together, and she would have
her now again when they were not all poor together.
As the winter went on, Burke became more and more interested in Mrs.
Cliff's yacht, and if he had not had this subject to talk about, and
plan about, and to go at all hours to see Mrs. Cliff about, it is likely
that he would have been absolutely obliged to leave Plainton for want of
occupation. But the idea of commanding a steam yacht was attraction
enough to keep him where he could continually consider it.
He assured Mrs. Cliff that it was not at all necessary to wait until
pleasant weather before undertaking this great enterprise. As soon as
the harbors were reasonably free of ice it would be well for him to go
and look at yachts, and then when he found one which suited him, Mrs.
Cliff could go and look at it, and if it suited her, it could be
immediately put into commission. They could steam down into southern
waters, and cruise about there. The spring up here in the north was more
disagreeable than any other season of the year, and why should they not
go and spend that season in the tranquil and beautiful waters of Florida
or the West Indies?
Mrs. Cliff had now fully determined to become the owner of a yacht, but
she would not do so unless she saw her way clear to carry out the
benevolent features of the plan which Mr. Burke had suggested.
"What I want," said Mrs. Cliff, "is to have the whole thing understood!
I am perfectly willing to spend some of the pleasant months sailing
about the coast and feeling that I'm giving health and pleasure to poor
and deserving people, especially children, but I am not willing to
consider myself a rich woman who keeps an expensive yacht just for the
pleasure of cruising around when she feels like it! But I do like the
plan of giving country weeks at sea."
"Very good, madam," he said, "and we can fix that thing so that nobody
can possibly make any mistake about it. What do you say to calling your
yacht the _Summer Shelter_? We'll paint the name in white letters on the
bows and stern, and nobody can take us for idle sea-loafers with more
money than we know what to do with!"
"I like that!" said Mrs. Cliff, her face brightening. "You may buy me a
yacht as soon as you please, and we'll call her the _Summer Shelter_!"
In consequence of this order, Mr. Burke departed from Plainton the next
day, and began a series of expeditions to the seaport towns on the
Atlantic coast in search of a steam yacht for sale.
The winter grew colder, and the weather was very bad; there were heavy
snows and drifts, and many hardships. There were cases of privations and
suffering, and never did she hear of one of these cases that a thankful
glow did not warm the heart of Mrs. Cliff as she thought that she was
able to relieve it.
But Mrs. Cliff knew, and if she had not known she would have soon found
out, that it was often very difficult to relieve distress of body
without causing distress of mind, but she and Willy and the Misses
Thorpedyke had known all phases of the evil which has its root in the
want of money, and they always considered people's sensibilities when
they held charitable councils. There was one case in which Mrs. Cliff
felt that she must be very careful indeed.
Old Nancy Shott was not standing the winter well. She had a bad cold,
and was confined to her bed, and one day Miss Inchman mentioned, during
a call on Mrs. Cliff, that she did not believe the poor old thing was
able to keep herself warm. She had been to see her, and the coverings on
her bed were very insufficient she thought.
The Shotts never did keep a warm house, nor did they care to spend their
money upon warm clothes; but although that sort of thing might do very
well while they were in health and were constantly on the move, it did
not do when they were sick in bed. When Miss Inchman had gone, Mrs.
Cliff called Willy.
"Where are we using those California blankets which I brought home with
me?" she asked.
"Using them!" exclaimed Willy. "We aren't using them anywhere! I'm sure
nobody would think of using such blankets as those, except when some
extra company might happen to come. It ought to be a long time before
those blankets would have to go into the wash, and I've kept them
covered up on the top shelf of the linen closet!"
"Well, I wish you would go and get them," said Mrs. Cliff, "and then
wrap them up and take them to Miss Shott as a present from me."
"Take them to Nancy Shott!" cried Willy. "I never heard of such a thing
in my life! She's able to buy blankets, dozens of them if she wants
them, and to take to her such blankets as the ones you brought from
California,--why it takes my breath away to think of it!"
"But you must take them to her," said Mrs. Cliff. "She may be stingy,
but she is suffering, and I want her to have those blankets because they
are the very best that I could possibly send her. You can get Andrew
Marks to drive you there, but stop two or three doors from the house.
She will think you are putting on airs if you drive up to the door. And
I wish you would give her the blankets just as if it was a matter of
course that anybody would send things to a sick person."
"Oh yes!" said Willy. "As if you hadn't a pot of jelly to spare and so
sent her these blankets fit for an Emperor on his throne!"
That very evening the reluctant Willy took the blankets to Miss Shott,
for Mrs. Cliff knew it was going to be a very cold night, and she wanted
her to have them as soon as possible.
When Nancy Shott beheld the heavy and beautiful fabrics of fine wool
which Willy spread out upon her bed in order that she might better
examine them, the eyes of the poor old woman flashed with admiring
delight.
"Well," said she, "Sarah Cliff has got a memory!"
"What do you mean?" asked Willy.
"Why, she remembers," said Miss Shott, "that I once joined in to give
her a pair of blankets!"
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Willy, and she was on the point of speaking
her mind in regard to the salient points in the two transactions, but
she refrained. The poor old thing was sick, and she must not say
anything to excite her.
"I suppose," said Miss Shott, after lifting a corner of a blanket and
rubbing and pinching it, "that these are all wool!"
Then Willy thought herself privileged to speak, and for some minutes she
dilated on the merits of those superb blankets, the like of which were
not to be found in the whole State, and, perhaps, not in any State east
of the Rocky Mountains.
"Well," said Miss Shott, "you may tell her that I will not throw her
present back at her as she once threw one back at me! And now that
you're here, Willy Croup, I may as well say to you what I've intended to
say to you the next time I saw you. And that is, that when I was at your
house you told me an out and out falsehood,--I won't use any stronger
word than that,--and how you could sleep after having done it I'm sure I
don't know!"
"Falsehood!" cried Willy. "What do you mean?"
"You told me," said Nancy, "that Mrs. Cliff wasn't goin' to take
boarders,--and now look at those Thorpedykes! Not two days after you
tried to deceive me they went there to board! And now what have you got
to say to that?"
Willy had not a word to say. She sprang to her feet, she glared at the
triumphant woman in the bed, and, turning, went downstairs.