Uncle Billy Smiles
Judith stood on the platform, swinging her cooler of buttermilk as a
signal to the six-thirty trolley to stop and be fed. Thanks to the
help of Aunt Mandy and Uncle Billy she had been able to furnish
dinners to the motormen and conductors all during the snows of winter
and the rains of spring. It was June again, and a year since she began
keeping what she called a basket boarding-house. It had proved a
profitable business. At the same time she had the undying gratitude
and admiration of her boarders.
The trolley stopped and eager hands relieved her of the basket and
cooler. A young man swung from the platform of the rear car. Aunt
Mandy had fried the chicken and Judith had not had to hurry to meet
the six-thirty, so there was no excuse for the heightened color of her
cheeks when she saw it was Jeff Bucknor.
"In time to carry your 'empties'," he said, taking the basket from
her. "Are you glad to see me?"
"Yes!"
"Very glad?"
"Yes, very glad!"
They followed the path through the beech grove. "Can't we sit down a
minute?" begged the young man. Judith complied. It was a venerable
tree that sheltered them, with dense foliage on twisted limbs, the
lower ones almost touching the ground.
"I so often think of this tree and this mossy bank," said Jeff. "I
have been wondering all the way up from Louisville if you would sit
here with me a while."
"You might have employed your time better."
"Yes, I might have wondered what you were giving the motormen for
dinner. Judith, will you do me a favor? Please put down that milk can.
I want to ask you something and I'd be much happier and feel much
safer if you'd let the buttermilk can roll down the hill. There now,
that's a good girl!" He gave the can a push and it rolled away, with
much banging and jangling.
"First, let me ask your advice. The old men of Ryeville have sent for
me to come and talk with them. It seems they want me to run for the
office of county attorney. They say they are sure their candidate will
be elected and I believe they can control the politics of the county
from their hotel porch. I'll accept their proposition if you will tell
me to."
"Why should I decide?"
"Oh, Judith, can't you see that life isn't worth living in Louisville
or anywhere else if you are not with me? I have been loving you from
the minute I first saw you standing on the platform swinging your milk
can. In fact, I believe I have been loving you from the time I saw you
on the trolley that day I got back home. Why I didn't love you when
you were such a spunky little kid, tramping around peddling fish and
rabbits and blackberries, I don't know. I must have been a blind fool
or I would have. Anyhow, I love the memory of you when you were a
little girl. Can't you care for me a little, Judith?"
"I believe I can."
"And you won't mind putting the _nor_ back on your name?"
"No, Jeff. I won't mind."
Long the lovers sat under the great tree. The seven o'clock trolley
whistled for the next to the last stop, but Jeff and Judith did not
hear it. Fortunately for the hungry men, Uncle Billy had seen from
afar the young people seeking the shade of the beech grove and when
Judith did not return to the house he had astutely reasoned that
matters of import were detaining her.
"Here, Mandy, give me that there basket er victuals an' I'll make
tracks fer the platform. Miss Judy an' Marse Jeff air a co'tin' an'
when folks air a co'tin' time ain't mo'n the win' blowin'."
Miss Ann received the news of the engagement with happy tears and Mrs.
Buck said that it was Judith's business and she had always known what
she wanted from the time she was born. If she wanted Jeff Bucknor,
Mrs. Buck reckoned it was all right. He seemed a likely enough young
man, but she hoped he knew how to save, because Judith did not.
The old men of Ryeville were satisfied when Jeff Bucknor told them he
would run for the office of county attorney if they so wished it. At
the same time he broke to them the news of his engagement. The
veterans exchanged sly glances and laughed delightedly. Little did the
young man dream that they had planned this political coup for the sole
purpose of bringing to the county the person they considered the most
suitable as a husband for their protege.
"It was my idee, my idee!" Pete Barnes declared.
The happiest of all the friends of the young couple was old Billy.
"Marse Jeff done tol' me Miss Ann wa'n't never ter want an' now, bless
Bob, he's gonter come an' live with us-alls an' look arfter the whole
bilin'. I sho' air glad he's gonter come here instead er us havin' ter
pick up an' go wharever he is. The portulac air comin' up so pretty in
my box an' my jewraniums air a bloomin', an' I done made Mandy one
willin' husband, an' Miss Ann air so brisk an' happy it would go hard
on us all ter have ter be movin'. A ol' hen air took ter settin' in
the ca'ige which makes it seem moughty homified. I'd sho' be proud ter
think me'n Miss Ann could live ter see the day that little chilluns
would be playin' stage coach an' injun in Miss Ann's ol' rockaway."
End of Project Gutenberg's The Comings of Cousin Ann, by Emma Speed Sampson