KATY RESORTS TO A LOAN.
Katy was not at all pleased with the mission which her duty seemed to
impose upon her. Again she felt the crushing weight of poverty, and
pride rose up to throw obstacles in her path. She was a child of
twelve, and to ask a loan of twenty dollars, though she offered
sufficient security for the payment of the debt, seemed like demanding
a great deal of her friends--like inviting them to repose a vast amount
of confidence in her ability and honesty. They would not want the
watch; it would be of no value to them; and the more she considered the
matter, the more like an act of charity appeared the favor she was
about to ask.
More than once on her way to Temple Street did she stop short, resolved
to get the money of some other person--the grocer, Mr. Sneed, or even
of a pawnbroker; but as often she rebuked the pride that tormented her
like a demon, and went forward again. She stood some time at Mrs.
Gordon's door before she had the resolution to ring the bell.
"What right have I to be so proud?" said she, grasping the bell handle.
"I must get this money, or my mother may suffer."
She rang with a force that must have astonished Michael, and led him to
think some extraordinary character had arrived; for he ran to the door
at full speed, and burst out into a violent fit of laughter, when he
saw no one but the little candy merchant.
"Good morning, to you, Katy. Are you nervous this morning?" said he.
"Good morning, Michael. I am not very nervous."
"I thought you would pull down the bell," he added, good-naturedly.
"I didn't mean to, Michael; I hope you will excuse me if I did any
harm."
"Not a bit of harm; but you're looking as sober as a deacon. What ails
you, Katy?"
"I feel very sad, Michael; for my mother is very sick, and I don't know
as she will ever get well."
"Indeed? I'm sorry to hear that of her;" and Michael, whatever he felt,
looked very much concerned about Mrs. Redburn's health.
"Is Mrs. Gordon at home?"
"She isn't."
"Is Miss Grace?"
"Neither of them; they went to Baltimore ten days ago but I am
expecting them back every day."
Katy's heart sank within her; for now that Mrs. Gordon was not at hand,
she did not feel like asking any other person; and if the case had not
been urgent, she would have been satisfied to return home, and regard
the lady's absence as a sufficient excuse for not procuring the money.
"You want to see her very much?" asked Michael.
"Very much, indeed."
"Can I be of any service to you?"
"No, Michael."
"Perhaps I can, Katy."
"No, I'm much obliged to you."
"If it's anything in the house you want, I can get it for you."
"No, I must see Mrs. Gordon."
"If it's any nice preserve or jelly you want just say the word, and
I'll bring it to you at once."
"I do not want anything of that kind. Do you think Mrs. Gordon will
return by to-morrow?"
"I thought she would be here yesterday, and she may come to-night."
"Very well; I will, perhaps, call again to-morrow," and she turned to
leave.
"I'll tell Mrs. Gordon you came. Stop a minute, Katy. Won't you tell me
what you want?"
"I would rather not, Michael; but I will come again to-morrow."
"See here, Katy; maybe you're short of money. If you are, I have a
matter of three hundred dollars in the Savings Bank; and you may be
sure you shall have every cent of it if you want it."
This was a very liberal offer, though it is probable he did not think
she would want any considerable portion of it, or that she could even
comprehend the meaning of so large a sum. Katy was sorely tempted to
negotiate with him for the loan but she was not sure that it would be
proper to borrow money of the servant, and perhaps Mrs. Gordon would
not like it.
"I thank you, Michael; you are very kind, but I think I would rather
see Mrs. Gordon."
"I have a matter of five or six dollars in my pocket now; and it
that'll be of any service to you, take it and welcome."
Katy stopped to think. A few dollars would be all that she needed
before the return of Mrs. Gordon; and yet she did not feel like
accepting it. What would the lady say on her return, when told that she
had borrowed money of her servant? Yet the servant had a kind heart,
and really desired to serve her. Was it not pride that prevented her
from accepting his offer? Did she not feel too proud to place herself
under obligations to the servant? She felt rebuked at her presumption;
for what right had she to make such distinctions? If she had been a
lady, like Mrs. Gordon, she might have been excusable for cherishing
such pride; but she was a poor girl; she was actually in want.
"Michael, you are so good, that I will tell you my story," said she,
conquering her repugnance.
"Just come in the house, then;" and he led her into the sitting-room;
being, in the absence of the mistress, the lord and master of the
mansion, and feeling quite at home in that position.
In a few words she explained to him her situation, though her
rebellious pride caused her to paint the picture in somewhat brighter
colors than the truth would justify. She stated her intention to borrow
twenty dollars of Mrs. Gordon, and offer her the watch as security, at
the same time exhibiting the cherished treasure.
"Now Michael, if you will lend me three dollars till Mrs. Gordon
returns, I will pay you then, for I know she will let me have the
money; or at least let me have enough to pay you," continued she, when
she had finished her narrative.
"Indeed I will, Katy!" exclaimed he, promptly pulling out his wallet.
"And if you will come at this time to-morrow, you shall have the whole
twenty dollars."
"Thank you, Michael."
"There's six dollars; take it, Katy, and my blessing with it."
"Only three dollars, Michael," replied Katy, firmly.
Michael insisted, but all his persuasion would not induce her to accept
more than the sum she had mentioned, and he was reluctantly compelled
to yield the point.
"Here is the watch, Michael; you shall keep that till I pay you."
"Is it me!" exclaimed he, springing to his feet, with an expression
very like indignation on his countenance. "Sure, you don't think I'd
take the watch."
"Why not you as well as Mrs. Gordon?" asked Katy.
"She didn't take it," replied Michael triumphantly. "You couldn't make
her take it, if you try a month. Don't I know Mrs. Gordon?"
"But please to take it; I should feel much better if you would."
"Bad luck to me if I do! I wouldn't take it to save my neck from the
gallows. Where's my Irish heart? Did I leave it at home, or did I bring
it with me to America?"
"If you will not take it, Michael----"
"I won't."
"If you won't, I will say no more about it," replied Katy, as she
returned the watch to her pocket. "You have got a very kind heart, and
I shall never forget you as long as I live."
Katy, after glancing at the portrait of the roguish lady that hung in
the room, took leave of Michael, and hastened home. On her way, she
could not banish the generous servant from her mind. She could not
understand why he should be so much interested in her as to offer the
use of all he had; and she was obliged to attribute it all to the
impulses of a kind heart. If she had been a little older, she might
have concluded that the old maxim, slightly altered would explain the
reason: "Like mistress, like man," that the atmosphere of kindness and
charity that pervaded the house had inspired even the servants.
"Where have you been, Katy?" asked Mrs. Redburn, as she entered the
sick chamber, and Mrs. Sneed hastened home.
"I have been to Mrs. Gordon."
"What for?"
Katy did not like to tell. She knew it would make her mother feel very
unhappy to know that she had borrowed money of Mrs. Gordon's servant.
"Oh, I went up to see her," replied Katy.
"No matter, if you don't like to tell me," faintly replied Mrs. Redburn.
"I will tell you, mother," answered Katy, stung by the gentle rebuke
contained in her mother's words.
"I suppose our money is all gone," sighed the sick woman.
"No, mother; see here! I have three dollars," and Katy pulled out her
porte-monnaie, anxious to save her even a moment of uneasiness.
But in taking out the money she exhibited the watch also, which at once
excited Mrs. Redburn's curiosity.
"What have you been doing with that, Katy?" she asked. "Ah, I fear I
was right. We have no money! Our business is gone! Alas, we have
nothing to hope for!"
"O, no, mother, it is not half so bad as that!" exclaimed Katy. "I went
up to Mrs. Gordon for the purpose of borrowing twenty dollars of her; I
didn't want it to look like charity, so I was going to ask her to keep
the watch till it was paid. That's all, mother."
"And she refused?"
"No; she was not at home."
"But your money is not all gone?"
Katy wanted to say it was not, but her conscience would not let her
practise deception. She had the three dollars which she had just
borrowed of Michael, and that was not all gone. But this was not the
question her mother asked, and it would be a lie to say the money was
not all gone, when she fully understood the meaning of the question.
Perhaps it was for her mother's good to deceive her; but she had been
taught to feel that she had no right to do evil that good might follow.
"It was all gone, but I borrowed three dollars," she replied, after a
little hesitation.
"Of whom?"
"Of Michael."
"Who's he?"
"Mrs. Gordon's man.
"O Katy! How could you do so?" sighed Mrs. Redburn.
"I couldn't help it, mother. He would make me take it;" and she gave
all the particulars of her interview with Michael and reviewed the
considerations which had induced her to accept the loan.
"Perhaps you are right, Katy. My pride would not have let me borrow of
a servant; but it is wicked for me to cherish such a pride. I try very
hard to banish it."
"Don't talk any more now, mother. We are too poor to be too proud to
accept a favor of one who is in a humble station." replied Katy.
"I don't know what will become of us," said Mrs. Redburn, as she turned
her head away to hide the tears that flooded her eyes.
Katy took up the Bible that lay by the bedside, and turning to the
twenty-third psalm, she read, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside
the still waters."
"Go on, Katy; those words are real comfort," said Mrs. Redburn, drying
her tears. "I know it is wicked for me to repine."
Katy read the whole psalm, and followed it with others, which produced
a healing influence upon her mother's mind, and she seemed to forget
that the purse was empty, and that they had placed themselves under
obligations to a servant.
The sufferer rested much better than usual that night, and Katy was
permitted to sleep the greater part of the time--a boon which her
exhausted frame very much needed. About ten o'clock in the forenoon,
Michael paid her a visit, to inform her that Mrs. Gordon had just
arrived: and that, when he mentioned her case, she had sent him down to
request her immediate attendance and that his mistress would have come
herself, only she was so much fatigued by her journey.
Katy could not leave then, for she had no one to stay with her mother;
but Mrs. Sneed could come in an hour. Michael hastened home with the
intelligence that Mrs. Redburn was better, and Katy soon followed him.