THE NEXT DAY
She slept as she had never before slept and was awakened in the morning
by the robins that sang in the white blossomed cherry trees. It was so
lovely that she lay quite still to listen. Then she arose, but before
dressing she gazed out of the window. They were over a mile from the
town. The path up from the gate was bordered on either side by spring
flowers. Immense trees hid the road from view but she could hear the
toot of the motors in passing and it all seemed strange, for the house
was over one hundred years old, and everything, even to the pump in the
yard, was so old-fashioned.
Ethel looked sideways at the house on the hill in which Aunt Susan told
her she had once lived. It was immense,--more like an Institution.
Probably it had been sold and remodeled, and perhaps was something of
the sort now, thought Ethel.
She dressed and went down stairs. Aunt Susan must have been up some
time, for the house looked so clean, and the odor of roses was
everywhere,--roses on the old-fashioned piano, on the mantel, and on the
breakfast table.
Ethel ate heartily, everything tasted so good. Old Jane, the maid of all
work, had been with her Aunt Susan ever since her father's death many
years before, and she was a woman who cooked most deliciously. Ethel
wondered why Aunt Susan kept but one maid, although she ceased to wonder
at anything after Aunt Susan had finished breakfast.
"Tom lives in Akron at the hotel," said she. "He has many clients, some
of whom can only consult him in the evening, and that's why he cannot
stay here with me. But until I left for New York," she continued, "I had
the village school teacher for company. You see, although this place
belongs to Akron, there are many children who cannot journey back and
forth to school, so we have a little schoolhouse near. The teacher
usually boards with me, and with Jane in the kitchen I am well
protected."
Ethel pondered. She had solved the mystery. Aunt Susan was a miser, of
that there was no doubt. Imagine a woman of her immense wealth taking a
boarder and living as she did. Ethel wondered if at night when everyone
was sound asleep she counted her money as misers do; and perhaps it was
on this very mahogany table that she emptied the bags before counting.
"What they had to eat was of the best and she enjoyed the ham and eggs
and freshly churned butter. After a while she started up stairs, but
Aunt Susan was ahead of her.
"Oh, Auntie, I wanted to make my own bed."
"Well, dear, you may after today, if you will. Jane is pretty old to go
up and down stairs."
The change was so complete that Ethel felt like a new girl.
"I don't care if she is a miser," she thought, "she's just lovely and so
like Grandmother; and I'll have a happy time, I know."