Part 10 (1/2)
”Yes, 'suppose.' If we _do_, well and good, but supposes aren't much account for immediate needs, and those are the things we've got to think about now.”
”Then let me think too,” broke in Eleanor.
”You may _think_ all you've a mind to; that's exactly what your brains are for, and some day you'll astonish us all. Meanwhile _I'll_ work.”
”Now, Constance, what are you planning? You know perfectly well that if you leave school and take up something that _I_ shall too. I _won't_ take all the advantages.”
”Who said I had any notion of leaving school? Not a bit of it. My plan won't affect my school work. But of that later. Now to our capital.
Mother will have at the outside nineteen hundred a year, and out of that she will have to pay five hundred rent for this house. That leaves fourteen hundred wherewith to feed and clothe five people, doesn't it? Now, she can't possibly _feed_, let alone clothe, us for less than twenty dollars a week, can she? And out of that must come fuel which is no small matter now-a-days. That leaves only three hundred and sixty dollars for all the other expenses of the year, and, Nornie, it isn't enough. We _could_ live on less in town I dare say, but town is no place for Jean while she's so little. She'd give up the ghost without a place to romp in. Then, too, mother loves every stone in Riveredge, and she is going to _stay_ here if I can manage it. So listen: You know what a fuss everybody at the fair made over my nut-fudge and pralines. Well, I'm going to make candy to sell----.”
”Oh, Constance, you can't! You mustn't!” interrupted Eleanor whose instincts shrank from any member of her family launching upon a business enterprise.
”I can and I _must_,” contradicted Constance positively. ”And what is more, I shall. So don't have a conniption fit right off, because I've thought it all out and I know just exactly what I can do.”
”Mother will _never consent_,” said Eleanor firmly, and added, ”and I hope she won't.”
”Now Nornie, see here,” cried Constance with decided emphasis. ”What _is_ the use of being so ridiculously high and mighty? We aren't the first people, by a long chalk, that have met with financial reverses and been forced to do something to earn a livelihood. The woods are full of them and they are none the less respected either. For my part, I'd rather hustle round and earn my own duddies than settle down and wish for them, and wail because I can't have them while mother strives and struggles to make both ends meet. I haven't _brains_ to do big things in the world, but I've got what Mammy calls 'de bangenest han's' and we'll see what they'll bang out!” concluded Constance resolutely.
”Mammy will never let you,” cried Eleanor, playing what she felt to be her trump card.
”On the contrary, Mammy is going to _help_ me,” announced Constance triumphantly.
”_What_, Mammy consent to a Blairsdale going into trade?” cried Eleanor, feeling very much as though the foundations of the house were sinking.
”Even so, Lady,” answered Constance, laughing at her sister's look of dismay. ”Old Baltie was not rescued for naught. His days of usefulness were not ended as you shall see. But don't look so horrified, and, above all else, don't say one word to mother. There is no use to worry her, and remember she _is_ a Blairsdale and it won't be so easy to bring her to my way of thinking as it has been to bring _you_; you're only half one, like myself, and remember we've got Carruth blood to give us mercantile instincts.”
”As though the Carruths were not every bit as good as the Blairsdales,” brindled Eleanor indignantly.
”c.o.c.k-a-doodle! See its feathers ruffle. You are as s.p.u.n.ky as the Henry's game c.o.c.k,” cried Constance laughing and gathering Eleanor's head into her arms to maul it until her hair came down.
”Well,” retorted Eleanor, struggling to free herself from the tempestuous embrace, ”so they are.”
”Yes, my beloved sister. I'll admit all that, but bear in mind that _their_ ancestors were born in Pennsylvania _not_ in 'ole Caroliny, and that's the difference 'twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. I don't believe Mad Anthony stopped to consider whether he was a patrician or a plebeian when he was storming old Stony Point, or getting fodder for Valley Forge, so I don't believe _I_ will, when I set out to hustle for frocks and footgear for his descendants. So put your pride in your pocket, Nornie, and watch me grow rich and the family blossom out in luxuries undreamed of. I'm going to _do_ it: you'll see,” ended Constance in a tone so full of hope and courage that Eleanor then and there resolved not to argue the point further or discourage her.
”When are you going to begin this enterprise?” she asked.
”This very day. I'm only waiting for Mammy to come back from market with some things I need, and there she is now. Good-bye. Go look after the little Mumsie, or Jean; you'd find your hands full with the last undertaking, no doubt,” and with a merry laugh Constance ran down-stairs to greet Mammy who was just entering the back door.
CHAPTER XI
First Ventures
”Did you get all the things, Mammy?” cried Constance, as she flew into the kitchen where Mammy stood puffing and panting like a grampus, for the new home was at the top of a rather steep ascent and the climb took the old woman's breath.
”Co'se Ise got 'em,” panted Mammy, as she untied the strings of her bright purple worsted hood. ”Dar dey is, all ob 'em, eve'y one, an yo'
kin git busy jes' as fas' as yo's a mind ter. But, la, honey, don' yo'
let yo' _ma_ know nothin' 'tall 'bout it, 'cause she lak 'nough frail me out fer lettin' yo' do hit. But sumpin 's gotter be done in dis yere fambly. What wid de rint fer _dis_ place, an' de taxes for de yether, an' de prices dey's teken' ter chargin', fer t'ings ter _eat_, I 'clar' ter goodness dar ain't gwine be nuffin 'tall lef' fer we-all ter fall back on ef we done teken sick, er bleeged ter do sumpin'
extra,” ended Mammy as she bustled about putting away her things and untying the packages as Constance lifted them from the basket.
”Yes, you've got every single thing I need, Mammy, and now I'll begin right off. Which kettles and pans can you spare for my very own? I don't want to bother to ask every time and if I have my own set at the very beginning that saves bother in the end,” cried Constance, as she slipped her arms through the shoulder straps of a big gingham ap.r.o.n and after many contortions succeeded in b.u.t.toning it back of her shoulders.