MRS. JOHNSON'S LETTER
The spring had passed away, and the warm June sun was shining over
Spring Bank, whose mistress and servants were very lonely now, for Hugh
was absent, and with him the light of the house had departed. Business
of his late uncle's had taken him to New Orleans, where he might
possibly remain all the summer. 'Lina was glad, for since the fatal
dress affair there had been but little harmony between herself and her
brother. The tenderness awakened by her long illness seemed to have been
forgotten, and Hugh's manner toward her was cold and irritating to the
last degree, so that the young lady rejoiced to be freed from his
presence.
"I do hope he'll stay all summer," she said one morning, when speaking
of him to her mother. "I think it's a heap nicer without him, though
dull enough at the best. I wish we could go somewhere, some watering
place I mean. There's the Tifftons, just returned from New York, and I
don't much believe they can afford it more than we, for I heard their
place was mortgaged, or something. Oh, bother, to be so poor," and the
young lady gave a little angry jerk at the tags she was unbraiding.
"Whar's ole miss's?" asked Claib, who had just returned from Versailles.
"Thar's a letter for you," and depositing it upon the bureau, he left
the room.
"Whose writing is that?" 'Lina said, catching it up and examining the
postmark. "Shall I open it?" she called, and ere her mother could reply,
she had broken the seal, and held in her hand the draft which made her
the heiress of one thousand dollars.
Had the fabled godmother of Cinderella appeared to her suddenly, she
would scarcely have been more bewildered.
"Mother," she screamed again, reading aloud the "'Pay to the order of
Adaline Worthington,' etc. Who is Alice Johnson? What does she say? 'My
dear Eliza, feeling that I have not long to live--' What--dead, hey?
Well, I'm sorry for that, but, I must say, she did a very sensible thing
at the last, sending me a thousand dollars. We'll go somewhere now,
won't we?" and clutching fast the draft, the heartless girl yielded the
letter to her mother, who, burying her face in her hands, sobbed
bitterly as the past came back to her, when the Alice, now at rest and
herself were girls together.
'Lina took up the letter her mother had dropped and read it through.
"Wants you to take her daughter, Alice. Is the woman crazy? And her
nurse, Densie, Densie Densmore. Where have I heard that name before?
Say, mother, let's talk the matter over. Shall you let Alice come? Ten
dollars a week, they'll pay. Let me see. Five hundred and twenty dollars
a year. Whew! We are rich as Jews. Our ship is really coming in," and
'Lina rang the bell and ordered Lulu to bring "a lemonade with ice cut
fine and a heap of sugar in it."
By this time Mrs. Worthington was able to talk of a matter which had
apparently so delighted 'Lina. Her first remark, however, was not very
pleasant to the young lady:
"I would willingly give Alice a home, but it's not for me to say. Hugh
alone can decide it."
"You know he'll refuse," was 'Lina'a angry reply. "He hates young
ladies. So you may as well save your postage to New Orleans, and write
at once to Miss Johnson that she cannot come on account of a boorish
clown."
"'Lina," feebly interposed Mrs. Worthington, "'Lina, we must write to
Hugh."
"Mother, you shall not," and 'Lina spoke determinedly. "I'll send an
answer to this letter myself, this very day. I will not suffer the
chance to be thrown away. Hugh may swear a little at first, but he'll
get over it."
"Hugh never swears," and Mrs. Worthington spoke up at once.
"He don't hey? Maybe you've forgotten when he came home from Frankfort,
that time he heard about my dress!"
"I know he swore then; but he never has since, I'm sure, and I think he
is better, gentler, more refined than he used to be, since--since--Adah
came."
A contemptuous "Pshaw!" came from 'Lina's lips. "Say," she continued,
"wouldn't you rather Adah were your child than me? Then you'd be granny,
you know." And a laugh came from 'Lina's lips.
Mrs. Worthington did not reply; and 'Lina proceeded to speak of Alice
Johnson, asking for her family. Were they aristocratic? Were they the
F.F.V.'s of Boston? and so forth.
"Now let us talk a little about the thousand dollars. What shall I do
with it?" 'Lina said, for already the money was beginning to burn in her
hands.
"Redeem Rocket with half of it," Mrs. Worthington said, "and that will
reconcile Hugh to Alice Johnson."
"Do you think I've taken leave of my senses?" 'Lina asked, with
unaffected surprise. "Buy Rocket for five hundred dollars! Indeed, I
shall do no such thing. If Hugh had not sworn so awfully, I might; but I
remember what he said too well to part with half of my inheritance for
him. I'm going to Saratoga, and you are going, too. We'll have heaps of
dresses, and--oh, mother, won't it be grand! We'll take Lu for a waiting
maid. That will be sure to make a sensation at the North. I can imagine
just how old Deacon Tripp of Elwood, would open his eyes when he heard
'Mrs. Square Worthington and darter' had come back with a 'nigger.' It
would furnish him with material for half a dozen monthly concerts, and
I'm not sure but he'd try to run her off, if he had a chance. But Lu
likes Hugh too well ever to be coaxed away; so we're safe on that
score. 'Mrs. Worthington, daughter, and colored servant, Spring Bank,
Kentucky.' I can almost see that on the clerk's books at the United
States. Then I can manage to let it be known that I'm an heiress, as I
am. We needn't tell that it's only a thousand dollars, most of which I
have on my back, and maybe I'll come home Adaline somebody else. There
are always splendid matches at Saratoga. We'll go North the middle of
July, just three weeks from now."
'Lina had talked so fast that Mrs. Worthington had been unable to put in
a word; but it did not matter. 'Lina was invulnerable to all she could
say, and it was in vain that she pleaded for Rocket, or reminded the
ungrateful girl of the many long, weary nights, when Hugh had sat by her
bedside, holding her feverish hands and bathing her aching head. This
was very kind and brotherly, 'Lina admitted; but she steeled her heart
against the still, small voice, which whispered to her: "Redeem Rocket,
and let Hugh find him here when he gets home."
'Lina wrote to Alice Johnson herself that morning, went to Frankfort
that afternoon, to Versailles and Lexington the next day, and on the
morning of the third day after the receipt of Mrs. Johnson's letter,
Spring Bank presented the appearance of one vast show-room, so full it
was of silks and muslins and tissues and flowers and ribbons and laces,
while amid it all, in a maze of perplexity as to what was required of
her, or where first to commence, Adah Hastings sat, a flush on her fair
cheeks, and a tear half dimming the luster of her eyes as thoughts of
Willie crying for mamma at home, and refusing to be comforted even by
old Sam came to her.
When 'Lina first made known her request to Adah, to act as her
dressmaker, Aunt Eunice had objected, on the ground of Adah's illness
having been induced by overwork, but 'Lina insisted so strenuously,
promising not to task her too much, and offering with an air of extreme
generosity to pay three shillings a day, that Adah had consented, for
pretty baby Willie wanted many little things which Hugh would never
dream of, and for which she could not ask him. Three shillings a day for
twelve days or more seemed like a fortune to Adah, and so she tore
herself away from Willie's clinging arms and went willingly to labor for
the capricious 'Lina, ten times more impatient and capricious since she
"had come into possession of property."
Womanlike, the sight of 'Lina's dresses awoke in Adah a thrill of
delight, and she entered heartily into the matter without a single
feeling of envy.
"I's goin', too. Did you know that?" Lulu said to her as she sat bending
over a cloud of lace and soft blue silk.
"Do you want to go?" Adah asked, and Lulu replied:
"Not much. Miss 'Lina will be so lofty. Jes' you listen and hear her
call me oncet. 'Ho Loo-loo, come quick,' jes' as if she done nothin' all
her life but order a nigger 'round. I knows better. I knows how she done
made her own bed, combed her own ha'r, and like enough washed her own
rags afore she comed here. Yes, 'Loo-loo is coming,'" and the saucy
wench darted off to 'Lina screaming loudly for her.
"Miss Worthington," Adah said, timidly, as 'Lina came near, "Lulu tells
me she is going North with you. Why not take me instead of her?"
"You!" and 'Lina's black eyes flashed scornfully. "What in the world
could I do with you and that child, and what would people think? Why,
I'd rather have Lulu forty times. A negro gives an _éclat_ to one's
position which a white servant cannot. By the way, here is Miss
Tiffton's square-necked bertha. She's just got home from New York, and
says they are all the fashion. You are to cut me a pattern. There's a
paper, the Louisville _Journal_, I guess, but nobody reads it, now Hugh
is gone," and with a few more general directions, 'Lina hurried away
leaving Adah so hot, so disappointed, that the hot tears fell upon the
paper she took in her hand, the paper containing Anna Richards'
advertisement, intended solely for the poor girl sitting so lonely and
sad at Spring Bank that summer morning.
In spite of the doctor's predictions and consignment of that girl to
Georgia, or some warmer place, it had reached her at last. She did not
see it at first, so fast her tears fell, but just as her scissors were
raised to cut the pattern her eyes fell on the spot headed, "A Curious
Advertisement," and suspending her operations for a moment, she read it
through, a feeling rising in her heart that it was surely an answer to
her own advertisement, sent forth months ago, with tearful prayers that
it might be successful.
At the table she heard 'Lina say that Claib was going to town that
afternoon, and thinking within herself. "If a letter were only ready, he
could take it with him," she asked permission to write a few lines. It
would not take her long, she said, and she could work the later to make
it up.
'Lina did not refuse, and in a few moments Adah penned a note to A.E.R.
"It's an answer to an advertisement for a governess or waiting maid,"
she said, as 'Lina glanced carelessly at the superscription.
"It will do no harm, or good either, I imagine," was 'Lina'a reply, and
placing the letter in her pocket, she was about returning to her mother,
when she spied Ellen Tiffton dismounting at the gate.
Ellen was delighted to see 'Lina, and 'Lina was delighted to see Ellen,
leading her at once into the work-room, where Adah sat by the window,
busy on the bertha, and looking up quietly when Ellen entered, as if
half expecting an introduction. But 'Lina did not deign to notice her,
save in an aside to Ellen, to whom she whispered softly:
"That girl, Adah, you know."
Reared in a country where the menials all were black, Ellen knew no such
marked distinction among the whites, and walked directly up to Adah,
whose face seemed to puzzle her. It was the first time they had met, and
Adah turned crimson beneath the close scrutiny to which she was
subjected. Noticing her embarrassment, and wishing to relieve it, Ellen
addressed to her some trivial remark concerning her work, complimenting
her skill, asking some questions about Willie, whom she had seen, and
then leaving her for a girlish conversation with 'Lina, to whom she
related many particulars of her visit to New York. Particularly was she
pleased with a certain Dr. Richards, who was described as the most
elegant young man at the hotel.
"There was something queer about him too," she said, in a lower tone,
and drawing nearer to 'Lina. "He seemed so absent-like, as if there were
something on his mind--some heart trouble, you know; but that only made
him more interesting; and such an adventure as I had, too. Send her out
of the room, please," and nodding toward Adah, Ellen spoke beneath her
breath.
'Lina comprehended her meaning, and turning to Adah said rather
haughtily:
"It's cool on the west end of the piazza. You may go and sit there a
while."
With a heightened color at being thus addressed before a stranger, Adah
withdrew, and Ellen continued:
"It's so strange. I found in the hall, near my door, a tiny ambrotype of
a young girl, who must have been very beautiful--such splendid hair,
soft brown eyes, and cheeks like carnation pinks. I wondered much whose
it was, for I knew the owner must be sorry to lose it. Father suggested
that we put a written notice in the business office, and that very
afternoon Dr. Richards knocked at our door, saying the ambrotype was
his. 'I would not lose it for the world,' he said, 'as the original is
dead,' and he looked so sad that I pitied him so much; but I have the
strangest part yet to tell. You are sure she cannot hear?" and walking
to the open window, Ellen glanced down the long piazza to where Adah's
dress was visible.
"I looked at the face so much that I never can forget it, particularly
the way the hair was worn, combed almost as low upon the forehead as you
wears yours, and just as that Mrs. Hastings wears hers. I noticed it the
moment I came in; and, 'Lina, Mrs. Hastings is the original of that
ambrotype, I'm sure, only the picture was younger, fresher-looking, than
she. But they are the same, I'm positive, and that's why I started so
when I first saw this Adah. Funny, isn't it?"
'Lina knew just how positive Ellen was with regard to any opinion she
espoused, and presumed in her own mind that in this point, as in many
others, she was mistaken. Still she answered that it was queer, though
she could not understand what Adah could possibly be to Dr. Richards.
"Call her in for something and I'll manage to question her. I'm so
curious and so sure," Ellen said, while 'Lina called: "Adah, Miss
Tiffton wishes to see how my new blue muslin fits. Come help me try it
on."
Obedient to the call Adah came, and was growing very red in the face
with trying to hook 'Lina's dress, when Ellen casually remarked:
"You lived in New York, I think?"
"Yes, ma'am," was the reply, and Ellen continued:
"Maybe I saw some of your acquaintances. I was there a long time."
Oh, how eagerly Adah turned toward her now, the glad thought flashing
upon her that possibly she meant George. Maybe he'd come home.
"Whom did you see?" she asked, her eyes fixed wistfully on Ellen, who
replied:
"Oh, a great many. There was Mr. Reed, and Mr. Benedict, and Mr. Ward,
and--well, I saw the most of Dr. Richards, perhaps. Do you know either
of them?"
"No, I never heard of them before," was the reply, so frankly spoken
that Ellen was confounded, for she felt sure that Dr. Richards was a
name entirely new to Adah.
"I thought you were mistaken," 'Lina said, when the dress was taken off
and Adah gone. "A man such as you describe the doctor would not care for
a poor girl like Adah. Is his home at New York, and are you sure he'll
be at Saratoga?"
"He said so; and I think he told me his mother and sisters were in some
such place as Snow-down, or Snow-something."
"Snowdon," suggested 'Lina. "That's where Alice Johnson lives. I must
tell you of her."
"Alice Johnson," Ellen repeated; "why, that's the girl father says so
much about. Of course I fell in the scale, for there was nothing like
Alice, Alice--so beautiful, so religious."
"Religious!" and 'Lina laughed scornfully. "Adah pretends to be
religious, too, and so does Sam, while Alice will make three. Pleasant
prospects ahead. I wonder if she's the blue kind--thinks dancing wicked,
and all that."
Ellen could not tell. She thought it queer that Mrs. Johnson should send
her to a stranger, as it were, when they would have been so glad to
receive her. "Pa won't like it a bit, and she'd be so much more
comfortable with us," and Ellen glanced contemptuously around at the
neat but plainly-furnished room.
It was not the first time Ellen had offended by a similar remark, and
'Lina flared up at once. Mrs. Johnson knew her mother well, and knew to
whom she was committing her daughter.
"Did she know Hugh, too?" hot-tempered Ellen asked, sneeringly,
whereupon there ensued a contest of words touching Hugh, in which
Rocket, the Ladies' Fair, and divers other matters figured
conspicuously, and when, ten minutes later, Ellen left the house, she
carried with her the square-necked bertha, together with sundry other
little articles of dress, which she had lent for patterns, and the two
were, on the whole, as angry as a sandy-haired and black-eyed girl could
be.
"What a stupid I was to say such hateful things of Hugh, when I really
do like him," was Ellen's comment as she galloped away, while 'Lina
muttered: "I stood up for Hugh once, anyhow. To think of her twitting me
about our house, when everybody says the colonel is likely to fail any
day," and 'Lina ran off upstairs to indulge in a fit of crying over what
she called Nell Tiffton's meanness.
One week later and there came a letter from Alice herself, saying that
at present she was stopping in Boston with her guardian, Mr. Liston, who
had rented the cottage in Snowdon, but that she would meet Mrs.
Worthington and daughter at Saratoga. Of course she did not now feel
like mingling in gay society and should consequently go to the
Columbian, where she could be comparatively quiet; but this need not in
the least interfere with their arrangements, as the United States was
very near, and they could see each other often.
The same day also brought a letter from Hugh, making many kind inquiries
after them all, saying his business was turning out better than he
expected, and inclosing forty dollars, fifteen of which, he said, was
for Adah, and the rest for Ad, as a peace offering for the harsh things
he had said to her. Forty dollars was just the price of a superb pearl
bracelet in Lexington, and if Hugh had only sent it all to her instead
of a part to Adah! The letter was torn in shreds, and 'Lina went to
Lexington next day in quest of the bracelet, which was pronounced
beautiful by the unsuspecting Adah, who never dreamed that her money had
helped to pay for it. Truly 'Lina was heaping up against herself a dark
catalogue of sin to be avenged some day, but the time was not yet.
Thus far everything went swimmingly. The dresses fitted admirably, and
nothing could exceed the care with which they had been packed. Her
mother no longer bothered her about Hugh. Lulu was quite well posted
with regard to her duty.
Thus it was in the best of humors, that 'Lina tripped from Spring Bank
door one pleasant July morning, and was driven with her mother and Lulu
to Lexington, where they intended taking the evening train for
Cincinnati.