THE house in which the late Jethro Somerton had lived was a plain
wooden structure, entered by a door opening directly into a room which
had been used as a sitting room. Behind this was a kitchen, beside
which was a bedroom, while in front, beside the sitting room, was a
"best room" or parlor. There was a second floor, in which were four
rooms, some of which had never been used. The ceilings throughout the
house were so low that Philip, who was quite tall, could touch them
with his finger-tips when he stood on tiptoe. The walls of the sitting
room and parlor were hard-finished and white; all the other walls were
rough and whitewashed.
"This is quite out of the question, as a home," said Philip. "No hall,
no--"
"Why not make believe that the sitting room is a square hall?" Grace
asked. "They're the rage in the swell villages around New York."
"But there's no bath room."
"We can make one, on the upper floor, where we've rooms to spare."
"Perhaps; but 'tis very improbable that the town has a water service."
"Then have a tank, fed from the roof or by a pump, as Aunt Eunice
has in her cottage, smaller than this and in a town no larger than
Claybanks."
"No furnace, of course, to warm the house, and--ugh!--I don't believe
the town knows of the existence of coal, for both stoves at the store
are fed with wood."
"So they were, and--oh, I see! Here are fireplaces in the
sitting-room--or hall, I suppose I should say--and in the parlor! Think
how unutterably we longed for the unattainable--that is, an open wood
fire--in our little flat in the city!"
"But, dear girl, a fireplace grows cold at night."
"Quite likely; but don't you suppose the principal merchant in town
could economize on something so as to afford enough quilts and blankets
to keep his family from freezing to death while they sleep?"
"You angel, you've all the brains of the family. Where did you learn so
much about houses? And about what to do when you don't find what you
want in them? And who taught you?"
"I suppose necessity taught me," Grace replied, with a laugh, "and
within the past few minutes, too. For, don't you see, we must live in
this house. There seems to be no other place for us. And I suppose
'tis instinct for women, rather than men, to see the possibilities of
houses, for a woman has to spend most of her life indoors."
Then she walked slowly toward the kitchen, where she contemplated the
stove, two grease-spotted tables, and four fly-specked walls. Philip
followed her, saying:--
"What a den! Money must be spent here at once, and--oh, Grace! You're
crying? Come here--quick! I never before saw tears in your eyes!"
"And you never shall again," Grace sobbed. "I don't see what can be the
matter with me; it must be the cold weather that has--"
"This forlorn barn of a house and this shabby, God-forsaken town have
broken your heart!" exclaimed Philip. "I wish I too could cry. I assure
you my heart has been in my boots, though I've tried hard to keep it
in its proper place. Don't let's remain here another hour. I'll gladly
abandon my inheritance to the benevolent societies. We'll hurry back to
the city and let our things follow us."
"But we can't, Phil, for we've burned our bridges behind us. We can
take only such money as will get us back, and we would not be certain
of employment on reaching the city. Besides, we told our acquaintances
of our good fortune, but not of its conditions; if we go back, they
will suspect you and pity me."
"You're right--you're right!" said Philip, from behind tightly closed
jaws. "Why hadn't I sense to get leave of absence for a week, and look
at the gift before accepting it? Still, we're alive; we have the money,
and the first and best use of it is to make you comfortable. I'll get
Caleb to get me some men at once,--one of them to make fires, and the
others to bring over and unpack our goods. In the meanwhile, you shall
at least keep warm in the office of the store. You'll have only barrels
of molasses and vinegar and bales of grain-sacks for company, but--"
"But my husband won't be farther away than the next room," Grace said,
"and the door between shall remain open."
Then Philip kissed the tears from her eyes, and Grace called herself an
unreasonable baby, and Philip called himself an unpardonable donkey,
and they returned together to the store, entering softly by the back
door, so that Caleb should not see them and join them at once. But
dingy though the back windows of the office were, Caleb, standing
behind one of them, said to himself:--
"Rubbin' her face with her handkerchief!--that means she's been cryin'.
Well, I should think she would, if city houses are anythin' like the
picture-papers make 'em out to be."
Caleb retired to the store, where Phil joined him after a few moments,
and said:--
"We shall live in the old house, Mr. Wright. My wife and I have been
looking it over, and we see how it can be made very comfortable."
"You do, eh?" Caleb replied; at the same time his face expressed so
much astonishment that Philip laughed, and said:--
"You mustn't mistake us for a pair of city upstarts. My wife, as she
told you, was a country girl; she went to New York only a few years
ago, and 'twas only four years since I passed through here on my way to
the city. We're strong enough and brave enough to take anything as we
find it, if we can't make it better. That reminds me that the old house
can be bettered in many ways. Is there a plumber in the town?"
"No, sir!" replied Caleb, with emphasis, and a show of indignation such
as might have been expected were he asked if Claybanks supported a
gambling den. "We've read about 'em, in the city papers, an' I reckon
one of 'em would starve to death if he come out here, unless the boys
run him out of town first."
"H'm! I'm going to beg you to restrain the boys when I coax a plumber
here from the nearest city, for a few days' work in the house. And
I've another favor to ask; you know people here, and I don't, as yet.
Won't you find me two or three men, this morning--at once--to unpack
my things that came from the city, and put them into the house? When
they're ready to move them, I wish you'd make some excuse to coax
my wife out here, so that I can slip down to the house, without her
knowledge, and prepare a surprise for her by placing all our belongings
about as they were in our rooms in the city."
"Good for you! Good for you!" exclaimed Caleb, rubbing his hands. "If
you're that kind o' man, I reckon you're deservin' of her. Most men's
so busy with their own affairs, or so careless, that women comin' to a
new country have a back-breakin' time of it, an' a heart-breakin' too.
I dunno, though, that I can keep her away from you long enough. From
her ways,--the little I've seen of 'em,--I reckon she's one o' the kind
o' wives that sticks to her husband like hot tar to a sheep's wool."
"Oh, you'll have no trouble, for she already has taken a great liking
to you."
"I recippercate the sentiment," said Caleb, again rubbing his hands.
"I don't know much, but a man can't work in a country store about
twenty year or more without sizin' up new specimens of human nature
powerful quick, an' makin' mighty few mistakes at it. You'll find out
how it is. All of a sudden, some day, a new settler, that you never
saw before, 'll come in an' want to be trusted for goods--sca'cely any
of 'em has any cash, an' you have to wait for your pay till they can
raise some kind of produce, an' bring it in. If you can't read faces,
you're likely to be a goner, to the amount of what you sell, an' if
you refuse, you may be a thousan' times wuss a goner; for if the man's
honest, an' also as proud as poor folks usually be, he'll never forgive
you, and some other storekeeper'll get all his trade. Or, a stranger
passin' through town wants to sell a hoss; you don't know him or the
hoss either, or whether they come by each other honestly, an'--But this
ain't what you was talkin' about. I'll stir about and see what help I
can pick up. I reckon you won't have no trouble in the store while I'm
gone; prices is marked on pretty much everythin'. Want to get settled
to-day?"
"Yes, if possible."
"Reckon I'll see to makin' fires in the house, then, so's to warm
things up. If any customer comes in that you don't quite understand,
or wants any goods that bothers you, try to hold him till I get back.
'Twon't be hard. Folks in these parts ain't generally in a drivin'
hurry."
"All right. I used to lounge in the stores in our town; I know their
ways pretty well, and I remember many prices."
"That's good. Well, if you get stuck, get your wife to help you.
There's a good deal in havin' been behind a counter, besides what Mrs.
Somerton is of her own self."
Then Caleb turned up his coat-collar and sauntered out.
"Grace," shouted Philip, as soon as the door had closed, "do come
here! Allow me to congratulate you on having made a conquest of Caleb
Wright. He kindly tolerates me, but 'tis quite plain that he regards
you as the head of the family. I was going to replace that shabby old
sign over the door, but now I fear that Caleb will demand that the new
one shall read 'Mrs. Somerton & Husband.'"
Grace's face glowed as merrily as if it had not been tear-stained half
an hour before, and she replied:--
"I've not seen a possible conquest--since I was married--that would
give me greater pleasure; for I am you, you know, and you are me, and
the you-I would be dreadfully helpless if we hadn't such a man to
depend upon."
"'You-I'! That's a good word--a very good one. You ought to be richly
paid for coining it."
"Pay me, then, and promptly!" Grace replied.
Some forms of payment consume much time when the circumstances do
not require haste: they also have a way of making the payer and
payee oblivious to their surroundings, so Philip and Grace supposed
themselves alone until they heard the front door close with a loud
report, and saw a small boy who seemed to consist entirely of eyes.
Grace quickly and intently studied the label of an empty powder keg on
the counter, while Philip said:--
"Good morning, young man. What can we do for you?"
"Wantapoundo'shinglenails," was the reply, in nasal monotone.
Philip searched the hardware section of the store, at the same time
searching his memory for the price, in his native town, of shingle
nails. The packing of the nails, in soft brown paper, was a slow and
painful proceeding to a man whose hands in years had encountered
nothing harder or rougher than a pen-holder, but when it was completed,
the boy, taking the package, departed rapidly.
"He forgot to pay for them," said Grace.
"Yes," Philip replied. "I hope his memory will be equally dormant in
other respects."
But it wasn't; for little Scrapsey Green stopped several times, on the
way home, to tell acquaintances that "up to Somerton's store ther
was a man a-kissin' a woman like all-possessed, an' he wasn't Caleb,
neither."
The aforesaid acquaintances made haste to spread the story abroad,
as did Scrapsey's own family; so when Caleb returned, an hour later,
the store was jammed with apparent customers, and Philip was behind
one counter, and Grace behind the other, and the counters themselves
were strewn and covered with goods of all sorts, at which the people
pretended to look, while they gazed at the "man and woman" of whom they
had been told.
"You must be kind o' tuckered out," said Caleb, softly, behind Grace's
counter, as he stood an instant with his back to the crowd, and
pretended to adjust a shelf of calicoes. "Better take a rest in the
back room. I'll relieve you."
Grace responded quickly to the suggestion, while Caleb, leaning over
the goods on the counter, said, again softly, to the women nearest
him:--
"That's the new Mr. Somerton's wife--an' that's him, at t'other
counter."
"Mighty scrumptious gal!" commented a middle-aged woman.
"Yes, an' she's just as nice as she looks. Clear gold an' clear grit,
an' her husband's right good stuff, too."
Within two or three minutes Caleb succeeded in signalling Philip to the
back room; five minutes later the store was empty, and Caleb joined the
couple, and said:--
"Sell much?"
"Not a penny's worth," Grace replied, laughing heartily. "We've been
comparing notes."
"Sho!" exclaimed Caleb, although his eyes twinkled. "I met Scrapsey
Green up the road, with a pound of shingle-nails that he said come
from here, an' I didn't s'pose Scrapsey would lie, for he's one o' my
Sunday-school scholars." Philip and Grace quickly reddened, while Caleb
continued, "Well, might's well be interduced to the gen'ral public
one time's another, I s'pose, 'specially if you can be kept busy,
so's not to feel uncomfortable. Besides," he said, after a moment of
reflection, "if a man hain't got a right to kiss his own wife, on his
own property, whose wife has he got a right to kiss, an' where'bouts?"
Then Caleb looked at the account books on the desk, and continued:
"Reckon you forgot to charge the nails. Well, I don't wonder."