LIMITS.
Even the wisest men know very little of household management, and never
did an excellent and well-intentioned individual put, to use a
well-known phrase, his foot more completely into it than Dr. Maybright
when he allowed Polly to learn experience by taking the reins of
household management for a week.
Except in matters that related to his own profession, Dr. Maybright was
apt to be slightly absent-minded; here he was always keenly alive. When
visiting a patient not a symptom escaped him, not a flicker of timid
eyelids passed unnoticed, not a passing shade of color on the invalid's
countenance but called for his acute observation. In household matters,
however, he was apt to overlook trifles, and very often completely to
forget what seemed to his family important arrangements. He was the kind
of man who was sure to be very much beloved at home, for he was neither
fretful nor fussy, but took large views of all things. Such people are
appreciated, and if his children thought him the best of all men, his
servants also spoke of him as the most perfect of masters.
"You might put anything before him," Mrs. Power would aver. "Bless his
'art, _he_ wouldn't see, nor _he_ wouldn't scold. Ef it were rinsings of
the tea-pot he would drink it instead of soup; and I say, and always
will say, that ef a cook don't jelly the soup for the like of a
gentleman like the doctor what have no mean ways and no fusses, she
ain't fit to call herself a cook."
So just because they loved him, Dr. Maybright's servants kept his table
fairly well, and his house tolerably clean, and the domestic machinery
went on wheels, not exactly oiled, but with no serious clog to their
progress.
These things of course happened since Mrs. Maybright's death. In her day
this gentlest and firmest of mistresses, this most tactful of women,
kept all things in their proper place, and her servants obeyed her with
both will and cheerfulness.
On the Saturday before Polly's novitiate poor Dr. Maybright's troubles
began. He had completely forgotten all about his promise to Polly, and
was surprised when the little girl skipped into his study after
breakfast, with her black frock put on more neatly than usual, her hair
well brushed and pushed off her face, and a wonderful brown holland
apron enveloping her from her throat to her ankles. The apron had
several pockets, and certainly gave Polly a quaint and original
appearance.
"Here I am, father," she said. "I have come for the money, please."
"The--the what, my dear?"
Dr. Maybright put up his eye-glass, and surveyed the little figure
critically.
"Are these pockets for your school-books?" he said. "It is not a bad
idea; only don't lose them, Polly. I don't like untidy books scattered
here and there."
Polly took the opportunity to dart a quick, anxious glance into her
father's eyes--they were bright, dark, clear. Of course Helen's horrid
story was untrue. Her spirits rose, she gave a little skip, and clasped
her hands on the Doctor's arm.
"These are housekeeping pockets, father," she said. "Nothing at all to
say to books. I'm domestic, not intellectual; my housekeeping begins on
Monday, you know, and I've come for the eighty shillings now. Can you
give it to me in silver, not in gold, for I want to divide it, and pop
it into the little box with divisions at once?"
"Bless me," said the Doctor, "I'd forgotten--I did not know that
indigestion week was so near. Well, here you are, Polly, two pounds in
gold and two pounds in silver. I can't manage more than two sovereigns'
worth of silver, I fear. Now my love, as you are strong, be
merciful--give us only small doses of poison at each meal. I beseech of
you, Polly, be temperate in your zeal."
"You laugh at me," said Polly, "Well, never mind. I'm too happy to care.
I don't expect you'll talk about poisoning when you have eaten my
cheesecakes. And father, dear father, you _will_ let Paul and Virginia
come? Nell and I meant to speak to you yesterday about them, but you
were out all day. With me to housekeep, and Nell to look after
everybody, you needn't have the smallest fear about Paul and Virginia;
they can come and they can line your pockets, can't they?"
"My dear child, I have not an idea what you are talking about. Who _are_
Paul and Virginia--have I not a large enough family without taking in
the inhabitants of a desert island? There, I can't wait to hear
explanations now; that is my patients' bell--run away, my dear, run
away."
Dr. Maybright always saw his poorer patients gratis on Saturday morning
from ten to twelve. This part of his work pleased him, for he was the
sort of man who thought that the affectionate and grateful glance in the
eye, and the squeeze of the hand, and the "God bless you, doctor," paid
in many cases better than the guinea's worth. He had an interesting case
this morning, and again Polly and her housekeeping slipped from his
mind. He was surprised, therefore, in the interim between the departure
of one patient and the arrival of another, to hear a somewhat tremulous
tap at his study door, and on his saying "Come in," to see the pretty
but decidedly ruffled face of his housemaid Alice presenting herself.
"Ef you please, Doctor, I won't keep you a minute, but I thought I'd ask
you myself ef it's your wish as Miss Polly should go and give orders
that on Monday morning I'm to turn the linen-press out from top to
bottom, and to do it first of all before the rooms is put straight. And
if I'm to unpick the blue muslin curtains, and take them down from where
they was hung by my late blessed mistress's orders, in the spare room,
and to fit them into the primrose room over the porch--for she says
there's a Miss Virginy and a Master Paul coming, and the primrose room
with the blue curtains is for one of them, she says. And I want to know
from you, please, Doctor, if Miss Polly is to mistress it over me? And
to take away the keys of the linen-press from me, and to follow me
round, and to upset all my work, what I never stood, nor would stand. I
want to know if it's your wish, Doctor?"
"The fact is, Alice," began the Doctor--he put his hand to his brow,
and a dim look came over his eyes--"the fact is--ah, that is my
patients' bell, I must ask you to go, Alice, and to--to moderate your
feelings. I have been anxious to give Miss Polly a lesson in experience,
and it is only for a week. You will oblige me very much, Alice, by
helping me in this matter."
The Doctor walked to the door as he spoke, and opened it courteously.
"Come in, Johnson," he said, to a ruddy-faced farmer, who was
accompanied by a shy boy with a swelled face. "Come in; glad to see you,
my friend. Is Tommy's toothache better?"
Alice said afterwards that she never felt smaller in her life than when
Dr. Maybright opened the study door to show her out.
"Ef I'd been a queen he couldn't have done it more elegant," she
remarked. "Eh, but he's a blessed man, and one would put up with two
Miss Pollys for the sake of serving him."
The Doctor having conquered Alice, again forgot his second daughter's
vagaries, but a much sterner and more formidable interview was in store
for him; it was one thing to conquer Alice, who was impressionable, and
had a soft heart, and another to encounter the stony visage and rather
awful presence of Mrs. Power.
"It's to give notice I've come, Dr. Maybright," she said, dropping a
curtsey, and twisting a corner of her large white apron round with one
formidable red hand. "It's to give notice. This day month, please,
Doctor, and, though I says it as shouldn't, you won't get no one else to
jelly your soups, nor feather your potatoes, nor puff your pastry, as
Jane Power has done. But there's limits, Dr. Maybright; and I has come
to give you notice, though out of no disrespect to you, sir."
"Then why do you do it, Mrs. Power?" said the Doctor. "You are an honest
and conscientious servant, I know that from your late mistress's
testimony. You cook very good dinners too, and you make suitable
puddings for the children, and pastry not too rich. Why do you want to
leave? I don't like change; and, if it is a question of wages, perhaps I
may be able to meet you."
"I'm obligated to you, Doctor; but it ain't that. I has my twenty-two
pounds paid regular, and all found. I ain't grumbling on that score, and
Jane Power was never havaricious nor grasping. I'm obligated too by what
you says with respect to the pastry; but, Doctor, it ain't in mortal
woman to stand a chit of a child being put over her. So I'm going this
day month; and, with your leave, I'll turn the key in the kitchen-door
next week, or else I'll forfeit my wage and go at once."
"Dear, dear," said the Doctor. "This is really embarrassing. I never
thought that Polly's experience would upset the household economy in so
marked a manner. I am really annoyed, for I certainly gave her leave to
housekeep for a week."
"It isn't as I minds youth, Dr. Maybright," continued Mrs. Power. "I
makes due allowances for the young, for I says to myself, 'Jane Power,
you was once, so to speak, like an unfledged chick yourself;' but
there's youth _and_ youth, Dr. Maybright; and Miss Polly's of the kind
as makes your 'air stand on hend."
"Poor Polly," said the Doctor.
"No, sir, begging your parding, if you was in the kitchen, it's 'poor
Mrs. Power' you'd be a-saying. Now I don't say nothing agin Miss
Nelly--she's the elder, and she have nice ways with her--she takes a
little bit after my poor dear mistress; oh, what a nature was hers,
blessed angel!"
Here Mrs. Power rolled her eyes skywards, and the Doctor, turning his
back, walked to the window.
"Be brief," he said, "I am pressed for time."
"Sir, I was never one for long words; agen' Miss Helen I haven't a word
to say. She comes down to the kitchen after breakfast as pretty as you
please, and she says, 'Power,' says she, 'you'll advise me about the
dinner to-day,' says she. 'Shall we have minced collops, or roast beef?
And shall we have fruit tart with custard?' Pretty dear, she don't know
nothink, and she owns it, and I counsel her, as who that wasn't the most
hard-hearted would. But Miss Polly, she's all on wires like, and she
bounds in and she says that I pepper the soup too strong, and that I
ought to go to cookery schools, and ef I'll go with her that blessed
minit she'll tell me what I wants in my own store-room. There's limits.
Dr. Maybright, and Miss Polly's my limits; so, ef you'll have no
objection, sir, I'll go this day month."
"But I have an objection," replied Dr. Maybright. "Even Polly's
experiment must not cost me a valuable servant. Mrs. Power, I have
promised my little girl, and I feel more than convinced that her week's
trial will ensure to you the freedom you desire and deserve in the
future. Listen, I have a plan. Suppose you go for a week's holiday on
Monday?"
"Oh, my word, sir! And are you to be poisoned hout and hout?"
"That is unlikely. Maggie, your kitchen-maid, is fond of cooking, and
she won't quarrel with Miss Polly. Let us consider it arranged, then. A
week's holiday won't do you any harm, cook, and your expenses I will
defray. Now, excuse me, I must go out at once. The carriage has been at
the door for some time."