WANTED—A HOUSEKEEPER
Meanwhile Colonel Wainright was facing a new problem. While living alone
he had needed very little waiting on, a faithful Chinese cook had
provided his meals, and the wife of his hired man had come in daily from
their quarters over the stables to clean the house, but the O’Haras had
decided to return to Ireland. Geraldine, of course, was absolutely
helpless and the Colonel decided that what he needed was a refined and
somewhat elderly housekeeper, one who would be a good influence in the
home. Just where to find such a person he could not think at first, but
he happened to recall his old friend Mrs. Thompson, who had transformed
her fine house on Hickory lane, not far from the girls’ seminary, into a
home for old ladies. It wasn’t a charitable plan, exactly; it was a home
for homeless old ladies of some means whose last days would be made far
happier there than they could be elsewhere. Mrs. Thompson, herself,
retained a large front room overlooking the beautiful grounds, and spent
her summers there; winters she lived either in Europe or with her son in
New York. But only that day he had seen in the paper that for some reason
Mrs. Thompson was spending a few weeks at her country home, and the
courtly old gentleman decided to visit her and ask her advice about how
best to solve the problem with which he was confronted.
An hour later he was walking under the leafless hickory trees that formed
a veritable grove surrounding a very large turreted wooden house, one of
the oldest in the village. A pleasant-faced little old woman answered his
ring, ushered him into the small reception room, and went to summon Mrs.
Thompson. He had not long to wait, for his elderly friend, dressed in a
simple black silk, as she had been all through the years since her
husband had died, soon appeared and greeted him graciously. After
explaining that her return had been because of a need for quiet and
simpler fare than she could obtain easily in her son’s New York home, the
old gentleman explained his mission, telling how he had unexpectedly
acquired a family and so had need of a housekeeper. Before his story was
finished, he knew by the brightening expression in the fine face of the
old lady that she had someone in mind to suggest. Nor was he wrong.
“I believe Mrs. Gray is just the one for you,” she told him. “She
admitted you just now.” Then before Mr. Wainright could reply, Mrs.
Thompson continued: “Mrs. Gray came to us recently, during my absence. I
know nothing at all about her past life; we ask no questions here. It is,
as you know, merely a home boarding-house for gentlewomen. I asked Mrs.
Gray this morning if she were happy with us, and she said, with a wistful
expression on that unusually sweet face of hers, that she was afraid she
never would be entirely contented without a home to keep, and she asked
me if she might go down in the kitchen now and then and stir up a pudding
or something. Now my theory is that she is a born housekeeper and just
the one you need.”
Colonel Wainright agreed, and the little old lady who longed to putter
about a kitchen was called and the proposition was made to her. The other
two knew by the brightening of her softly wrinkled face that she was
delighted to accept. The Colonel had told about the two Morrison
“children,” as he called them, who had come to spend the winter with him,
and by the tender light that glowed in her eyes he was assured that she
loved young people and would have for them an understanding sympathy.
“Mrs. Gray,” he said, when the arrangements had been completed, “there is
about you a haunting suggestion of someone whom I once knew. Ever since
you admitted me an hour ago I have been trying to think who it is that
you resemble, but I have given it up.”
The little old lady smiled pleasantly as she replied: “It does seem that
everywhere I go, folks think I look like somebody they’ve known.”
“Well, that’s about all there is to it,” the old man acknowledged. “I
have had the same thing happen to me. Judge Crow, up in Dorchester, and I
are supposed to be doubles.” Then, holding out his hand, first to one and
then another of the old ladies, he expressed his deep gratitude to them
both, ending with a promise to send for Mrs. Gray and her baggage that
very afternoon.
And so it happened that on the third day after the arrival of the young
people, another member was added to their household. Colonel Wainright
had welcomed the little old lady and had at once introduced her to
Geraldine and Alfred, then he had walked to town, leaving them to their
own devices.
It was quite evident that Geraldine’s good humor of the day before had
departed, for she acknowledged the introduction with a barely perceptible
nod and had risen at once to go to her own room. Never before had she
been _introduced_ to a housekeeper as though she were one of her own
class. Colonel Wainright was certainly old-fashioned. Servants were
servants, she considered, whatever they were called.
Alfred, who had promised to go skating with Jack and Bob, had welcomed
the old lady in the friendliest manner, and she knew at once that she was
going to love the boy, but the girl—that was quite a different matter.
The Colonel had shown the housekeeper to her pleasant room overlooking
the orchard when her trunk and bags had been taken there; he had also
introduced her to Ching Lee, the plump, smiling Chinaman in the kitchen.
When she was quite alone, the old lady stood by a window in her room
gazing out at a sparkling snow-covered scene, and her eyes were misty.
How happy she had been when the Colonel had told her she was to make a
home, a real home, for a boy and girl. One of the unfulfilled desires of
her life was to have had grandchildren. She blinked a bit, then wiped her
eyes with her handkerchief and smiled at the scene before her. “Well,”
she comforted herself by thinking, “I’ll pretend these two are my
grandchildren, and I’ll treat them just as lovingly as though they really
were, and I’ll begin that game right now.”
Putting a clean white apron over her soft grey dress, she went down the
wide upper hall toward the front room, which was Geraldine’s.
Meanwhile that rebellious girl was unpacking her trunk in a manner which
showed that it was a most distasteful task. Never before had she lifted
her finger to wait on herself. Susan, her maid, had always done
everything for her. She had asked her father to permit her to bring Susan
to Sunnyside with her, but he had said that he could not ask his old
friend to take three people into his home. As she thought of this
injustice, her anger mounted higher and higher, and she took things from
her trunk and actually threw them over the bed, chairs and lounge. Every
conceivable spot was littered when there came a tap on the door.
“Come in!” the girl said sullenly, supposing that it was her brother who
wished to speak with her. Instead a smiling little old lady opened the
door.
“Why, Geraldine, child,” she said kindly, “you _are_ busy, aren’t you?
Unpacking and hanging things up is quite an undertaking, but I think
folks like to do it themselves, then they know where things were put.”
The girl’s face reddened in very evident displeasure. “Well, _I_ don’t
like it,” she said coldly, “and I don’t see why I should have to. I’ve
_always_ had a maid to wait on me, and I’ve simply got to have one. Now
that you’ve come, I suppose you’ll make my bed and keep my room in
order.”
The old lady had had a talk with the Colonel about this very matter, and
he had definitely said that waiting on the girl was _not_ one of her
duties, explaining that Mr. Morrison had especially requested that she
learn how to care for herself. Very quietly Mrs. Gray replied: “No,
little girl, that is _not_ one of my duties.”
Then, as the front door bell was ringing, the housekeeper went to answer
it. Geraldine, standing among the confusion and litter, watched the
retreat with flashing eyes.
“Little girl, indeed! Our housekeeper always addressed me as Miss
Geraldine. Country ways and country servants are certainly hard to
understand.”
Her torrent of angry thoughts was interrupted by a sweet voice calling:
“Geraldine, two girls are coming up to see you.”
Geraldine looked around the room wildly, but before she had time to
decide what she could do to prevent the girls from entering, they were
standing in the open door.
“Oh, good morning, Miss Drexel and Miss Lee,” the unwilling hostess
exclaimed, with a quickly assumed graciousness which had been acquired at
the young ladies’ select seminary. “Wait until I remove a few dresses
from the chairs and I will ask you to be seated.”
Doris and Merry exchanged puzzled glances. They felt Geraldine’s true
attitude of mind, and the former said: “Oh, Miss Morrison, we really
ought not to have made so early a morning call, but we have decided to go
to the Drexel Lodge on Little Bear Lake tomorrow, and there are so many
things to talk about. We did try to telephone, but the line is out of
order, but first do let us help you put away your things.”
To Geraldine’s amazement, the two girls removed their wraps, laughing and
chatting the while in a most social fashion.
“I’m going to suggest that we drop formality,” Merry said, “and call each
other by our first names; and now, Geraldine, I just know that you are
ever so tired with unpacking, so you sit here and tell us where you want
these dresses hung, and presto, we’ll have them up in a twinkling.”
“But I cannot permit you girls to wait upon me!” the hostess protested.
“Why not?” Doris inquired. “My mother says that the most beautiful thing
that we can do is loving service for one another. Oh, what a darling
dress this is! It glows like jewels, doesn’t it, Merry?”
The city girl was rather pleased to be showing off her elaborate wardrobe
to these village girls, who were evidently quite impressed.
“Oh, that’s just one of my party gowns,” she said indifferently. “I have
several.” Then she confessed: “I honestly don’t know how to go about
hanging them up. I have just stepped out of my clothes and Susan, my
maid, has put them away.”
“My, how I would hate to have anyone tagging _me_ around all the time
like that,” Merry exclaimed, not any too tactfully. “It would get on my
nerves.”
Geraldine drew herself up haughtily and bit her lip to keep from
replying. Her two guests, with many exclamations of admiration for the
dresses, hung them up in the long closet, and then, when that task was
finished, Merry announced: “Now I will show you my latest accomplishment,
of which I am real proud.”
Her chum laughed as she explained: “You see, Geraldine, my mother has a
companion, who is also a trained nurse, and last week she taught Merry
how to make a bed in hospital fashion, and the next day when I went over
to the Lees’, Merry had made and unmade her bed seven times trying to get
it perfect.”
“There’s quite a knack to it,” that maiden smilingly declared, as she
stretched, smoothed and tucked in sheets and blankets. Then as she stood
back proudly and surveyed her accomplishment, she said, “Mother thinks my
bed-making is a work of art.”
Geraldine wanted to say that she did not consider menial labor of any
kind an art, but she refrained from making the comment.
Merry sank down in an easy chair by the fireplace and looked around with
a radiant smile. “Everything was cleared away like magic, wasn’t it?” she
said sociably; then she added philosophically: “If one dreads a thing,
that makes the doing of it doubly hard, but when one pretends that it is
going to be great fun, it gets done much more quickly; don’t you think
so, Geraldine?”
Poor Geraldine’s head was in a whirl. Somehow she could not adjust
herself to the view of things held by these country girls.
The Colonel had told her that Mr. Lee was the wealthiest man in the
countryside, and, of course, she knew the financial and social standing
of the Drexel family, and yet these girls had been taught that it was a
privilege to render loving service and that bed-making was an art.
“Now, we must tell you all of our grand and glorious plans for tomorrow’s
lark,” Doris began as she drew her chair up cosily. Then they chattered
about the sleigh ride and the skating party, and when at last the little
clock on the mantle chimed the hour of twelve, Merry sprang up and looked
out of the window. “Here come the boys!” she said. “I made them promise
that they would call for us at noon. They’ve been down to the lake to
clean off a space on the ice for our skating party.”
“I’m so glad, Geraldine, that you like to skate,” Doris exclaimed as she
slipped on her fur coat. “You’ll want to wear your heaviest shoes and
leggins on the sleigh-ride party and your oldest, warmest clothes. You
won’t need to bring anything toward the picnic part. You and Alfred are
to be our guests of honor tomorrow. Good-bye.”
That night the Colonel, finding Geraldine standing alone in front of the
fireplace in the living-room, slipped a fatherly arm about her, saying:
“Little girl, I know how hard it is going to be for you to get used to
our country ways, and I was just thinking that perhaps you would like to
go to Dorchester with me tomorrow and spend the day with your friends.”
“Oh, but I couldn’t, Uncle-Colonel!” was the unexpected reply, brightly
given. “The girls and boys of Sunnyside are giving a welcome party for
Alfred and me. It’s a sleigh ride out the lake road to the Drexel lodge;
then there is to be skating, and a ride home in the moonlight. I never
was so interested in anything before in all my life.”
“That’s good news!” the Colonel replied, deeply touched because the girl
had, almost unconsciously, used the name which he had taught her when she
was very small. “Well, some other time you may go with me to the city. I
go there often to attend to business matters.”
That night after the young people had retired to their rooms, the Colonel
and Mrs. Gray exchanged confidences and each felt hopeful that the
unfortunate motherless girl was soon to have a change of heart.