Part 37 (1/2)
Wrapping up the pie and handing it to the delighted negro, La Fleur proceeded to business, for she felt she had no time to lose.
”And how are you getting on, Michael?” said she. ”I suppose everybody is very busy preparing for the master's wedding.”
”The what!” exclaimed Mike, his eyebrows elevating themselves to such a degree that his hat rose.
”Mr. Haverley's marriage with Miss Dora Bannister. Isn't that to take place very soon, Michael?”
Mike put his pie on the post of the barn gate, took off his hat, and wiped his brow with his s.h.i.+rt-sleeve.
”Bless my evarlastin' soul, Mrs. Flower! who on this earth told you that?”
”Is it then such a great secret? Miss Panney told it to me not twenty minutes ago.”
Mike put on his hat; he took his pie from the post, and held it, first in one hand and then in the other. He seemed unable to express what he thought.
”Look a here, Mrs. Flower,” he said presently, ”she told you that, did she?”
”She really did,” was the answer.
”Well, then,” said Mike, ”the long an' the short of it is, she lies.
'Tain't the fust time that old Miss Panney has done that sort of thing.
She comes to me one day, more than six year ago, an' says, 'Mike,' says she, 'why don't you marry Phoebe Moxley?' ''Cause I don't want to marry her, nor n.o.body else,' says I. 'But you ought to,' said she, 'for she's a good woman an' a nice washer an' ironer, an' you'd do well together.'
'Don't want no was.h.i.+n' nor ironin', nor no Phoebe, neither,' says I.
But she didn't mind nothin' what I said, an' goes an' tells everybody that me an' Phoebe was goin' to be married; an' then it was we did git married, jest to stop people talkin' so much about it, an' now look at us. Me never so much as gittin' a bite of corn-bread, an' she a boardin' the minister! Jes' you take my word for it, Mrs. Flower, old Miss Panney wants Miss Dora to marry him, an' she's goin' about tellin'
people, thinkin' that after a while they'll do it jes' 'cause everybody 'spects them to.”
”But don't you think they intend to marry, Mike?” forgetting to address him by his full name.
Mike was about to strike the pie in his right hand with his left, in order to give emphasis to his words, but he refrained in time.
”Don't believe one cussed word of it,” said he. ”Mr. Haverley ain't the man to do that sort of thing without makin' some of his 'rangements p'int that way, an' none of his 'rangements do p'int that way. If he'd been goin' to git married, he'd told me, you bet, an' we'd laid out the farm work more suitable for a weddin' than it is laid out. I ain't goin' to believe no word about no weddin' till I git it from somebody better nor Miss Panney. If he was goin' to marry anybody, he'd be more like to marry that purty little Miss Drane. She's right here on the spot, an' she ain't pizen proud like them Bannisters. She's as nice as cake, an' not stuck up a bit. Bless my soul! She don't know one thing about nothin'.”
”You're very much mistaken, Michael,” exclaimed La Fleur. ”She is very well educated, and has been sent to the best schools.”
”Oh, I don't mean school larnin',” said Mike; ”I mean 'bout cows an'
chickens. She'll come here when I'm milkin', an' ask me things about the critters an' c.r.a.ps that I knowed when I was a baby. I reckon she's the kind of a lady that knows all about what's in her line, an' don't know nothin' 'bout what's not in her line. That's the kind of young lady I like. No spyin' around to see what's been did, an' what's hain't been did. I've lived with them Bannisters.”
La Fleur gazed reflectively upon the ground.
”I never thought of it before,” she said, ”but Miss Cicely would make a very good wife for a gentleman like Mr. Haverley. But that's neither here nor there, and none of our business, Michael. But if you hear anything more about this marriage between Mr. Haverley and Miss Bannister, I wish you'd come and tell me. I've had a deal of curiosity to know if that old lady's been trying to make a fool of me. It isn't of any consequence, but it is natural to have a curiosity about such things, and I shall be very thankful to you if you will bring me any news that you may get. And when you come, Michael, you may be sure that you will not go away hungry, be it daytime or night.”
”Oh, I'll come along, you bet,” said Mike, ”an' I am much obleeged to you, Mrs. Flower, for this here pie.”
When the good cook had gone to speak with Mrs. Drane, Mike repaired to the woodshed, where, picking up an axe, he stood for some moments regarding a short, knotty log on end in front of him. His blood flowed angrily.
”Marry that there Bannister girl,” he said to himself. ”A pretty piece of business if that family was to come here with their money an' their come-up-ence. They'd turn everythin' upside down on this place. No use for ramshackle farmin' they'd have, an' no use for me, nuther, with their top boots an' stovepipe hats.”
Mike had been discharged from the Bannisters' service because of his unwillingness to pay any attention to his personal appearance.