*JULIE M. LIPPMANN*
AUTHOR OF
MARTHA BY-THE-DAY,
MARTHA AND CUPID
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1913,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published October, 1913
Reprinted November (twice), December, 1913
May, August, October, 1914
October, 1915
*MAKING OVER MARTHA*
*CHAPTER I*
Martha Slawson sat at her sewing-machine, stitching away for dear life.
About her, billowed yards upon yards of white cotton cloth, which, in
its uncut length, shifted, as she worked, almost imperceptibly piling up
a snowy drift in front of her, drawn from the snowy drift behind. This
gradual ebb and flow was all that marked any progress in her labor, and
her husband, coming in after some hours of absence and finding her,
apparently, precisely where he had left her, was moved to ask what
manner of garment she was making.
"'Tain't a garment at all, Sam. It's a motta."
"A motto?" Sam fairly gasped.
Martha put on more speed, then took her feet from the treadle, her hands
from the cloth-plate.
"I guess you forgot what's goin' to happen, ain't you?" she returned,
sitting back in her chair, looking up at him amiably.
Sam squared his great shoulders. "Going to happen? Oh, you mean--you
mean--Mr. and Mrs. Ronald coming home?"
"Sure I do!"
"Well, but I don't see----"
"I didn't suppose you would see. Men ain't much on _seein'_ where
sentiment's concerned. They go it blind, an' that's a fack. I s'pose a
_man_ would let a gen'lman an' lady come back from their weddin'-tour
(which they been gone 'most a year on it), and never think o' givin' 'em
a welcome home, any more than to find their house an' grounds kep' up,
an' their bills kep' down, an' everything in tip-top order. But, with a
woman it's different. _I'm_ goin' to give Miss Claire an' Lord Ronald a
reception that _is_ a reception. Somethin' they won't forget in a
hurry. I'm goin' to have lantrens in the trees, an' a arch of laurel
over the gateposts, an' then, as they come on in, they'll see my motta
strung acrost the driveway--