Getting Acquainted
It was still early, and Holcroft was under the impression that Alida
would sleep late after the severe fatigues of the preceding day. He
therefore continued his work at the barn sufficiently long to give his
wife time for her little surprise. She was not long in finding and
laying her hands on the simple materials for breakfast. A ham hung in
the pantry and beneath it was a great basket of eggs, while the flour
barrel stood in the corner. Biscuits were soon in the oven, eggs
conjured into an omelet, and the ham cut into delicate slices, instead
of great coarse steaks.
Remembering Mrs. Mumpson's failure with the coffee, she made it a
trifle strong and boiled the milk that should temper without cooling
it. The biscuits rose like her own spirits, the omelet speedily began
to take on color like her own flushed face as she busied herself about
the stove.
Everything was nearly ready when she saw Holcroft coming toward the
house with two pails of milk. He took them to the large dairy room
under the parlor and then came briskly to the kitchen.
She stood, screened by the door as he entered, then stopped and stared
at the table all set and at the inviting breakfast on the stove.
Seeing Alida's half-smiling, half-questioning face, seeking his
approval, he exclaimed, "Well, you HAVE stolen a march on me! I
supposed you were asleep yet."
"I felt so much stronger and better when I awoke that I thought you
wouldn't mind if I came down and made a beginning."
"You call this a beginning do you? Such a breakfast as this before
seven in the morning? I hope you haven't overtaxed yourself."
"No, only a little of just the right kind of tired feeling."
"Haven't you left anything for me to do?"
"Perhaps. You will know when I've put all on the table. What I've
prepared is ready."
"Well, this is famous. I'll go and wash and fix up a little and be
right down."
When Holcroft returned, he looked at her curiously, for he felt that
he, too, was getting acquainted. Her thin face was made more youthful
by color; a pleased look was in her blue eyes, and a certain neatness
and trimness about her dress to which he had not been accustomed. He
scanned the table wonderingly, for things were not put upon it at
haphazard; the light biscuits turned their brown cheeks invitingly
toward him,--she had arranged that they should do that,--the ham was
crisp, not sodden, and the omelet as russet as a November leaf. "This
is a new dish," he said, looking at it closely. "What do you call it?"
"Omelet. Perhaps you won't like it, but mother used to be very fond of
it."
"No matter. We'll have it if you like it and it brings you pleasant
thoughts of your mother." Then he took a good sip of coffee and set
the cup down again as he had before under the Mumpson regime, but with
a very different expression. She looked anxiously at him, but was
quickly reassured. "I thought I knew how to make coffee, but I find I
don't. I never tasted anything so good as that. How DO you make it?"
"Just as mother taught me."
"Well, well! And you call this making a beginning? I just wish I
could give Tom Watterly a cup of this coffee. It would set his mind at
rest. 'By jocks!' he would say, 'isn't this better than going it
alone?'"
She looked positively happy under this sweet incense to a housewifely
heart. She was being paid in the coin that women love best, and it was
all the more precious to her because she had never expected to receive
it again.
He did like the omelet; he liked everything, and, after helping her
liberally, cleared the table, then said he felt equal to doing two
men's work. Before going out to his work, he lighted a fire on the
parlor hearth and left a good supply of fuel beside it. "Now, Alida,"
he remarked humorously, "I've already found out that you have one fault
that you and I will have to watch against. You are too willing. I fear
you've gone beyond your strength this morning. I don't want you to do
a thing today except to get the meals, and remember, I can help in this
if you don't feel well. There is a fire in the parlor, and I've
wheeled the lounge up by it. Take it quietly today, and perhaps
tomorrow I can begin to show you about butter-making."
"I will do as you wish," she replied, "but please show me a little more
where things are before you go out."
This he did and added, "You'll find the beef and some other things on a
swing-shelf in the cellar. The potato bins are down there, too. But
don't try to get up much dinner. What comes quickest and easiest will
suit me. I'm a little backward with my work and must plow all day for
oats. It's time they were in. After such a breakfast, I feel as if I
had eaten a bushel myself."
A few moments later she saw him going up the lane, that continued on
past the house, with his stout team and the plow, and she smiled as she
heard him whistling "Coronation" with levity, as some good people would
have thought.
Plowing and planting time had come and under happier auspices,
apparently, than he had ever imagined possible again. With the lines
about his neck, he began with a sidehill plow at the bottom of a large,
sloping field which had been in corn the previous year, and the long,
straight furrows increased from a narrow strip to a wide, oblong area.
"Ah," said he in tones of strong satisfaction, "the ground crumbles
freely; it's just in the right condition. I'll quit plowing this
afternoon in time to harrow and sow all the ground that's ready. Then,
so much'll be all done and well done. It's curious how seed, if it
goes into the ground at the right time and in the right way, comes
right along and never gets discouraged. I aint much on scientific
farming, but I've always observed that when I sow or plant as soon as
the ground is ready, I have better luck."
The horses seemed infected by his own brisk spirit, stepping along
without urging, and the farmer was swept speedily into the full, strong
current of his habitual interests.
One might have supposed the recent events would have the uppermost
place in his thoughts, but this was not true. He rather dwelt upon
them as the unexpectedly fortunate means to the end now attained. This
was his life, and he was happy in the thought that his marriage
promised to make this life not merely possible, but prosperous and full
of quiet content.
The calling of the born agriculturist, like that of the fisherman, has
in it the element of chance and is therefore full of moderate yet
lasting excitement. Holcroft knew that, although he did his best, much
would depend on the weather and other causes. He had met with
disappointments in his crops, and had also achieved what he regarded as
fine successes, although they would have seemed meager on a Western
prairie. Every spring kindled anew his hopefulness and anticipation.
He watched the weather with the interested and careful scrutiny of a
sailor, and it must be admitted that his labor and its results depended
more on natural causes than upon his skill and the careful use of the
fertilizers. He was a farmer of the old school, the traditions
received from his father controlled him in the main. Still, his good
common sense and long experience stood him fairly well in the place of
science and knowledge of improved methods, and he was better equipped
than the man who has in his brain all that the books can teach, yet is
without experience. Best of all, he had inherited and acquired an
abiding love of the soil; he never could have been content except in
its cultivation; he was therefore in the right condition to assimilate
fuller knowledge and make the most of it.
He knew well enough when it was about noon. From long habit he would
have known had the sky been overcast, but now his glance at the sun was
like looking at a watch. Dusty and begrimed he followed his team to
the barn, slipped from them their headstalls and left them to amuse
themselves with a little hay while they cooled sufficiently for
heartier food. "Well now," he mused, "I wonder what that little woman
has for dinner? Another new dish, like enough. Hanged if I'm fit to
go in the house, and she looking so trim and neat. I think I'll first
take a souse in the brook," and he went up behind the house where an
unfailing stream gurgled swiftly down from the hills. At the nearest
point a small basin had been hollowed out, and as he approached he saw
two or three speckled trout darting away through the limpid water.
"Aha!" he muttered, "glad you reminded me. When SHE'S stronger, she
may enjoy catching our supper some afternoon. I must think of all the
little things I can to liven her up so she won't get dull. It's
curious how interested I am to know how she's got along and what she
has for dinner. And to think that, less than a week ago, I used to
hate to go near the house!"
As he entered the hall on his way to his room, that he might make
himself more presentable, an appetizing odor greeted him and Alida
smiled from the kitchen door as she said, "Dinner's ready."
Apparently she had taken him at his word, as she had prepared little
else than an Irish stew, yet when he had partaken of it, he thought he
would prefer Irish stews from that time onward indefinitely. "Where did
you learn to cook, Alida?" he asked.
"Mother wasn't very strong and her appetite often failed her. Then,
too, we hadn't much to spend on our table so we tried to make simple
things taste nice. Do you like my way of preparing that old-fashioned
dish?"
"I'm going to show you how I like it," he replied, nodding approvingly.
"Well, what have you been doing besides tempting me to eat too much?"
"What you said, resting. You told me not to get up much of a dinner,
so I very lazily prepared what you see. I've been lying on the lounge
most of the morning."
"Famous, and you feel better?"
"Yes, I think I shall soon get well and strong," she replied, looking
at him gratefully.
"Well, well! My luck's turned at last. I once thought it never would,
but if this goes on--well, you can't know what a change it is for the
better. I can now put my mind on my work."
"You've been plowing all the morning, haven't you?" she ventured, and
there was the pleased look in her eyes that he already liked to see.
"Yes," he replied, "and I must keep at it several days to get in all
the oats I mean to sow. If this weather holds, I shall be through next
week."
"I looked in the milk-room a while ago. Isn't there anything I could
do there this afternoon?"
"No. I'll attend to everything there. It's too damp for you yet.
Keep on resting. Why, bless me! I didn't think you'd be well enough
to do anything for a week."
"Indeed," she admitted, "I'm surprised at myself. It seems as if a
crushing weight had been lifted off my mind and that I was coming right
up. I'm so glad, for I feared I might be feeble and useless a long
time."
"Well, Alida, if you had been, or if you ever are, don't think I'll be
impatient. The people I can't stand are those who try to take
advantage of me, and I tell you I've had to contend with that
disposition so long that I feel as if I could do almost anything for
one who is simply honest and tries to keep her part of an agreement.
But this won't do. I've enjoyed my own dinner so much that I've half
forgotten that the horses haven't had theirs yet. Now will you scold
if I light my pipe before I go out?"
"Oh, no! I don't mind that."
"No good-natured fibs! Isn't smoke disagreeable?"
She shook her head. "I don't mind it at all," she said, but her sudden
paleness puzzled him. He could not know that he had involuntarily
recalled the many times that she had filled the evening pipe for a man
who now haunted her memory like a specter.
"I guess you don't like it very much," he said, as he passed out.
"Well, no matter! It's getting so mild that I can smoke out of doors."
With the exception of the episode of dinner the day was chiefly passed
by Alida in a health-restoring languor, the natural reaction from the
distress and strong excitements of the past. The rest that had been
enjoined upon her was a blessed privilege, and still more happy was the
truth that she could rest. Reclining on the lounge in the parlor, with
a wood fire on one side and the April sun on the other, both creating
warmth and good cheer, she felt like those who have just escaped from a
wreck and engulfing waves. Her mind was too weary to question either
the past or the future, and sometimes a consciousness of safety is
happiness in itself. In the afternoon, the crackling of the fire and
the calling and singing of the birds without formed a soothing lullaby
and she fell asleep.
At last, in a dream, she heard exquisite music which appeared to grow
so loud, strong, and triumphant that she started up and looked around
bewildered. A moment later, she saw that a robin was singing in a
lilac bush by the window and that near the bird was a nest partially
constructed. She recalled her hopeless grief when she had last seen
the building of one of their little homes; and she fell upon her knees
with a gratitude too deep for words, and far more grateful to Heaven
than words.
Stepping out on the porch, she saw by the shadows that the sun was low
in the west and that Holcroft was coming down the lane with his horses.
He nodded pleasantly as he passed on to the barn. Her eyes followed
him lingeringly till he disappeared, and then they ranged over the wide
valley and the wooded hills in the distance. Not a breath of air was
stirring; the lowing of cattle and other rural sounds softened by
distance came from other farmhouses; the birds were at vespers, and
their songs, to her fancy, were imbued with a softer, sweeter melody
than in the morning. From the adjacent fields came clear, mellow notes
that made her nerves tingle, so ethereal yet penetrating were they.
She was sure she had never heard such bird music before. When Holcroft
came in to supper she asked, "What birds are those that sing in the
field?"
"Meadow larks. Do you like them?"
"I never heard a hymn sung that did me more good."
"Well, I own up, I'd rather hear 'em than much of the singing we used
to have down at the meeting house."
"It seems to me," she remarked, as she sat down at the table, "that
I've never heard birds sing as they have today."
"Now I think of it, they have been tuning up wonderfully. Perhaps
they've an idea of my good luck," he added smilingly.
"I had thought of that about myself," she ventured. "I took a nap this
afternoon, and a robin sang so near the window that he woke me up. It
was a pleasant way to be waked."
"Took a nap, did you? That's famous! Well, well! This day's gone
just to suit me, and I haven't had many such in a good while, I can
tell you. I've got in a big strip of oats, and now, when I come in
tired, here's a good supper. I certainly shall have to be on the watch
to do Tom Watterly good turns for talking me into this business. That
taking a nap was a first-rate idea. You ought to keep it up for a
month."
"No, indeed! There's no reason why you should work hard and I be idle.
I've rested today, as you wished, and I feel better than I ever
expected to again; but tomorrow I must begin in earnest. What use is
there of your keeping your cows if good butter is not made? Then I
must be busy with my needle."
"Yes, that's true enough. See how thoughtless I am! I forgot you
hadn't any clothes to speak of. I ought to take you to town to a
dressmaker."
"I think you had better get your oats in," she replied, smiling shyly.
"Besides, I have a dressmaker that just suits me--one that's made my
dresses a good many years."
"If she don't suit you, you're hard to be suited," said he, laughing.
"Well, some day, after you are fixed up, I shall have to let you know
how dilapidated I am."
"Won't you do me a little favor?"
"Oh, yes! A dozen of 'em, big or little."
"Please bring down this evening something that needs mending. I am so
much better--"
"No, no! I wasn't hinting for you to do anything tonight."
"But you've promised me," she urged. "Remember I've been resting
nearly all day. I'm used to sewing, and earned my living at it.
Somehow, it don't seem natural for me to sit with idle hands."
"If I hadn't promised--"
"But you have."
"I suppose I'm fairly caught," and he brought down a little of the most
pressing of the mending.
"Now I'll reward you," she said, handing him his pipe, well filled.
"You go in the parlor and have a quiet smoke. I won't be long in
clearing up the kitchen."
"What! Smoke in the parlor?"
"Yes, why not? I assure you I don't mind it."
"Ha! Ha! Why didn't I think of it before--I might have kept the parlor
and smoked Mrs. Mumpson out."
"It won't be smoke that will keep me out."
"I should hope not, or anything else. I must tell you how I DID have
to smoke Mrs. Mumpson out at last," and he did so with so much drollery
that she again yielded to irrepressible laughter.
"Poor thing! I'm sorry for her," she said.
"I'm sorry for Jane--poor little stray cat of a child! I hope we can
do something for her some day," and having lighted his pipe, he took up
the county paper, left weekly in a hollow tree by the stage driver, and
went into the parlor.
After freshening up the fire he sat down to read, but by the time she
joined him the tired man was nodding. He tried to brighten up, but his
eyes were heavy.
"You've worked hard today," she said sympathetically.
"Well, I have," he answered. "I've not done such a good day's work in a
year."
"Then why don't you go to sleep at once?"
"It don't seem polite--"
"Please don't talk that way," she interrupted. "I don't mind being
alone at all. I shall feel a great deal more at home if you forget all
about ceremony."
"Well, Alida, I guess we had both better begin on that basis. If I
give up when I'm tired, you must. You mustn't think I'm always such a
sleepyhead. The fact is I've been more tired out with worry of late
than with work. I can laugh about it now, but I've been so desperate
over it that I've felt more like swearing. You'll find out I've become
a good deal of a heathen."
"Very well; I'll wait till I find out."
"I think we are getting acquainted famously, don't you?"
"Yes," she nodded, with a smile that meant more than a long speech.
"Good night."