PERKINS CLEANS THE SILVER
All the next day, Tommy skulked in the shadow of the pier and in the
boat-house, whence during the morning Judy made her way laden with
mysterious bundles and various baggage. At noon she departed for Lutie
Barton's, leaving Anne, who had a cold, at home.
After Judy's departure, Anne wandered listlessly about the house. She
tried to read, to sew a little, to pick out some simple tunes on Judy's
piano, but thoughts of the little gray house, of the little
grandmother, of Becky and Belinda, came between her and her
occupations, so that at last, late in the afternoon, she sought the
society of Perkins, who was in the dining-room cleaning silver.
"I believe I am homesick, Perkins," said Anne, perching herself in a
great mahogany chair opposite him.
"Well, it ain't to be wondered at," said Perkins, as he picked up a
huge cake-dish and began to work on it, energetically. "It ain't to be
wondered at. You ain't ever been away from home much, Miss Anne."
"It is lovely not to have anything to do," said Anne. "That is, it is
nice in a way, but do you know, Perkins, I sometimes just wish there
were some rooms to dust or something, but you and the maids keep
everything so clean," and Anne sighed a sigh that came from the depths
of her housewifely soul.
"You might dip these cups in hot water and wipe them as I gets them
finished," suggested Perkins, handing her several quaint little mugs,
which he had placed in a row in front of him.
"Aren't they dear," Anne said, enthusiastically. "Why this one says
'Judith.' Is it Judy's, Perkins?"
"No, Miss, that was her great-grand-mother's, and that one with 'John'
on it is the Judge's, and the one with 'Philip' is Miss Judy's
father's--they are christening cups, Miss--six generations of them."
"Oh, how lovely," said Anne, and she handled them lovingly, dipping
them into clear hot water, and polishing them until they shone.
"Judy never speaks of her father, lately," she said, as she placed the
"Philip" cup on the sideboard.
"No, Miss, but she thinks of him a lot," said Perkins, with a shake of
his old head. "I saw her this morning, Miss, standing in front of his
picture in the hall, and there were tears in her eyes, Miss, and then
all at once she whirled around and ran away, and her face had a wild
look on it, Miss."
"Do you know, Perkins," said little Anne, stopping work for a minute
and speaking earnestly, "do you know that I think Judy would be
different if she only knew something about him. The uncertainty makes
her unhappy, and then she does reckless things just to get away from
herself."
"Yes, Miss," said Perkins, "and there ain't a morning that she don't
put fresh flowers in front of that there picture, and there ain't a
night that she don't kiss her hand to it from the top of the stairs."
"I know," sighed Anne. "Poor Judy."
"When will the Judge be back?" she asked after awhile.
But at that Perkins shut up like a clam. "I don't know, Miss," he
snapped. "It's best for you not to ask too many questions, Miss."
Anne flushed. "Oh, of course I won't, Perkins," she said, "if you
don't like to have me--" and she was very quiet, until the old butler,
with a glance at her troubled face, said, "I don't care how many
questions you axes, Miss, but the Judge might."
And Anne smiled at him, with radiant forgiveness.
"Isn't all this silver a lot of care, Perkins?" she asked, to clear the
air.
"It is that," answered Perkins, "and yet there isn't half as much of it
as there is at the Judge's in Fairfax. Only the Judge keeps his locked
up in a safe, all except the things we uses every day. But here they
just puts it on the sideboard, where it is a temptation to
burglars--with them long windows opening out on the porch, and the
curtains drawn back half the time. I don't call it safe, Miss, I
surely don't."
"But there aren't any burglars around here, are there, Perkins?" and
Anne stopped rubbing the cups to look at him anxiously.
"Nobody knows whether there is or not," grumbled Perkins. "There might
be for all they know. It ain't fair to the servants, Miss, for to let
them lie around loose this way. Mrs. Adams says so, too, but the Judge
don't pay no attention to things since the Captain left, and Miss Judy
is too young to bother."
"They wouldn't like to lose these cups," said Anne, as she finished the
last one, and arranged them in a squat little row on the shelf.
"They wouldn't like to lose any of it," returned Perkins, putting a
great soup-ladle back into its flannel bag. "It's all old and it's all
family silver, and people ought to take care of it, and when the Judge
comes back I am going to tell him so, Miss."
"Anne," said Judy, peeping in at the door, "I'm back, and Lutie Barton
is with me. Come on in and see her."
"Oh, dear," said Anne, with a dismayed glance at her spattered apron,
"I look like a sight."
"Run up the back way and fix up," said Judy, "and I'll talk to her
until you come down."
Lutie Barton brought with her the gossip of the town. There had been a
dance at the big hotel the night before, a sailing party down the bay
in the afternoon had been caught in a thunder shower, and all the
girls' hats had been ruined, and there had been a burglary at one of
the cottages in an outlying district.
Anne jumped when they said that. "What did they steal?" she faltered,
with her conversation with Perkins fresh in her mind.
"_Everything_, my dear," said Lutie, who did everything by extremes,
and who wore the highest pompadour, and the highest heels, and who had
the smallest waist and the largest hat that Anne had ever seen, and who
always used the superlative when telling a tale.
"They stole _every single thing_ down to the very shoes, and the kitten
from the rug."
"Oh," said Anne, thinking of Belinda, "the dear little kitten. What
did they want with it?"
"It was a Persian, and this morning it came back, but the silver collar
was gone from its neck, and they took even a thimble from a
work-basket, and a box of candy and a cake!"
"Did they get anything valuable?" asked Anne.
"All of Mrs. Durant's diamonds and the family silver," said Lutie. "My
dear, Mrs. Durant is ill, _absolutely ill_, and the worst of it is that
she saw the burglar, and it frightened her so that she hasn't gotten
over it yet."
"How dreadful," said little Anne, thinking of the great sideboard and
all of the Jameson silver that she and Perkins had cleaned. "Oh, Judy,
suppose they should come here!"
But Judy was standing by the window, watching a figure that slipped
from the boat-house to the wharf with a bundle on his shoulder, the
figure of a small boy, with his cap pulled low.
"Such things are like lightning; they never strike twice in the same
place," she said, indifferently. "Don't go, Lutie."
"Oh, I _must_," gushed Lutie. "I was just _dying_ to see you, Anne,
for a minute, so I came with Judy. But I _must_ go. They will think I
am _dead_."
But she stopped to ask a giggling question. "Tell me about Launcelot
Bart, Anne," she begged. "Judy happened to mention him, but she
wouldn't tell me a _thing_. I think they must have an _awful_ case,
for she is too quiet about him for _anything_. Is he nice?"
"He is the nicest boy I know," said Anne, enthusiastically.
"Oh, oh," gurgled silly Lutie, shaking her finger at the two girls as
they stood together on the top step of the porch. "Don't get jealous
of each other, you two."
"Jealous?" asked Anne's innocent eyes.
"Jealous?" blazed Judy's indignant eyes.
"Don't be a goose, Lutie." Judy was trying to control her temper.
"Anne and I aren't grown up yet, and I hope we never will grow up and
be horrid and self-conscious. Launcelot is our friend, and I didn't
talk about him because I had plenty of other subjects."
"Oh," murmured Lutie, subdued for the moment; but she recovered as she
went down the walk. "Oh, _good-bye_," she gushed; "let me know when it
is to be, and I will dance at your wedding."
"Anne," said Judy, darkly, as the high heels tilted down the beach, and
the feathers of the big hat fluttered in the breeze, "Anne, she hasn't
talked a thing to-day but boys--and she reads the silliest books and
writes the silliest poetry, about flaming hearts and Cupid's darts.
Oh," and Judy stretched out her arms in a tense movement, "I don't want
to grow up--I want to stay a little girl as long as I can and not think
about lovers or getting married, or--or--anything--"
"You are lover enough for me," said Anne.
"And you for me," said Judy.
And arm in arm they went into the house. But as they went through the
darkening hall, Anne clung tightly to Judy.
"Wouldn't it be dreadful, Judy, if burglars should come here," she
quavered.
But Judy laughed. "I think it would be fun," she jested. "Bring on
your burglars, Anne. I'm _dying_ for excitement, as Lutie Barton would
say." And then she touched a button, and the lights flared up, chasing
away the shadows, and chasing away with them, for the moment, the fears
of little Anne.