Mrs. Howe returned with the lilac hat in her possession, and her purse
lighter by some scores of dollars. She had also a new Honiton pelerine,
a thirty-dollar _mouchoir_, and a gold bracelet, all of which she spread
out upon the silken coverlet of her bed, walking round and round it,
with very unequivocal glances of admiration.
"Has that old woman gone?" she asked, as Patty answered the bell.
"Yes, ma'am; just gone, and desired her respects to you."
"Well, her room is better than her company. Hand me my wine-colored
brocade, Patty, from the wardrobe, a pair of silk stockings, and my
black satin slippers. Now give me my frilled under-sleeves. Dinner going
on, Patty? I thought I smelt something burning as I came in; perhaps it
was only my fancy."
"I am sure it was, ma'am--the pies has had a lovely bake, and so has the
custards and puddings."
"I hope Nancy put vanilla in her custards," said Mrs. Howe. "Tell her I
want wine in the pudding-sauce; and tell her to strew grapes over the
dishes of oranges."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And, Patty?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Tell Betty--where's my other slipper? Oh! here it is--tell Betty--did
you take down my wine-colored brocade, Patty?--tell Betty--it's no
matter, Patty; I don't know what I was going to tell you."
Patty had nearly closed the door, when she again heard her name called.
"I've just thought what I wanted to say, Patty: did you clean the
silver, this morning?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"And wash the parlor looking-glass?"
"You told me not to do that, ma'am."
"Oh! so I did. Where's my other under-sleeve? Gracious! you burned a
hole in it, ironing it. Oh, no; it is a fuzz of black silk sticking to
it. There, do go along, Patty; I want to dress;" and the fussy Mrs. Howe
locked the door, and gave herself up to the undisturbed contemplation of
her new Honiton pelerine and gold bracelet.
Dinner had been satisfactorily discussed, and Mrs. Howe sat back in her
cushioned chair to the work of digestion, and self-appreciation, while
John retired to smoke.
A visitor is announced. (_Enter Mrs. Flynn._)
The usual very sincere compliments, were tossed shuttle-cock fashion
from one lady to the other, Mrs. Howe, meanwhile, losing no opportunity
to display her new bracelet and settle the folds of her new pelerine,
which Mrs. Flynn persistently declined observing.
"I am _so_ tired," groaned Mrs. Howe, at length; "if I am stupid, my
dear creature, you really must pardon me, for I have been at Du Pont's
all the morning. I bought a few trifles of her, this pelerine, only
forty dollars, and this cheap bracelet for fifty. Du Pont never is easy
till I give her my opinion of her new millinery."
"She prefers the opinion of one qualified, by experience, to be a
judge," said the vexed Flynn, alluding to Dolly's former chrysalis
state.
Mrs. Howe bit her lip, and pulling the _mouchoir_ from her pocket, said,
"I forgot to show you this seventy-five dollar handkerchief. I did not
need any _common_ handkerchiefs, but I bought this to please Du Pont."
"I fancied I had seen that, as well as your pelerine and bracelet at
Mrs. Gardiner's party last winter," said the fibbing, irritating Flynn.
"Last winter!"--screamed Mrs. Howe--"my dear creature, I wouldn't wear
the same garter two winters."
"O, I must have been thinking of somebody else; pardon me, dear, my
memory is _so_ bad. What kind of servants have you, dear? I am so
plagued with servants."
"I have no trouble," replied Mrs. Howe, folding her hands complacently
over her pelerine, "for I always pay the highest prices." The rising
flush on Flynn's face announced this to be a dead shot.
Taking breath again, however, she came gallantly to the rescue.
"Yes my dear creature, but they are all alike about gossiping; now our
Margy, came to me with a long story about a baby which she declares she
saw up in your attic, and a young girl, beautiful as an angel, tending
it, and an old woman, and a young doctor, and goodness knows what. I
told her it was all nonsense, sheer nonsense, for of course you would
have spoken of it had there been a baby in your house; did you ever hear
such stuff?" asked Flynn, with a triumphant air.
"Never," replied the exasperated Mrs. Howe, stooping to settle her
bracelet to conceal her vexation; "I never heed what they say."
"Of course not," said Flynn, who having accomplished her mission, was
now ready to depart, before the enemy rallied sufficiently to charge
back. "Call and see me, my dear creature; intimate friends like us
should not stand upon ceremony. O, I forgot to tell you Finels called on
me yesterday. Bon jour;" and Flynn made good her retreat with flying
colors.
"Spiteful creature!" said Mrs. Howe, "she knows she never saw that
pelerine, or bracelet, or _mouchoir_, before this morning. I shall go
mad. And that baby business, too; if she had not floored me so
unexpectedly on that, I could have said a few things that would have
shut her mouth. I know that an own cousin of her husband is servant-man
at Mr. Jenks's; but my bright thoughts never come till afterward. Yes, I
will go and see her, as she requested. She shall hear of it yet, and
then we will see. Finels call on _her_! Finels requires _mind_ in a
female friend," and Dolly turned to the "marked passages" for
consolation.