Part 24 (1/2)
CHAPTER XXIV
One Month Later
One month had pa.s.sed since the eventful opening day. A month of hard, incessant work for Constance, Mammy and Jean, who insisted upon doing her share. It was nearly March, and the air already held a hint of spring. The p.u.s.s.y-willows were beginning to peep out upon the world, and in sheltered spots far away in the woodland the faint fragrance of arbutus could be detected.
From her opening day, Constance's venture had prospered, and the little candy booth's popularity became a fact a.s.sured. Up betimes every morning, Constance had her kettles boiling merrily and by seven o'clock many pounds of candy were ready to be packed in the dainty boxes. Then came Jean's part of the work and never had she failed to come to time. True to her word to be a ”sure-enough partner,” she was up bright and early and had her candies wrapped and packed before her breakfast was touched. Mammy and Baltie, soon became familiar figures in South Riveredge, and many of Constance's patrons believed the old woman to be the real mover of the enterprise. How she found time to convey the candy boxes to the booth, arrange them with such care, collect the money deposited there the previous day by the rapidly increasing number of customers, and still reach home in time to prepare the mid-day meal with her usual care, was a source of wonder to all. Yet do it she did, and her pride and ambition for the success of the venture rivaled Constance's. Failure was not even to be dreamed of. No one ever guessed the hours stolen from her sleep by the good soul to make up for the hours stolen from her daily duties, but many a night after bidding the family an ostentatious ”good-night, ladies,”
and betaking herself to her bedroom above stairs, did she listen until every sound was hushed and then creep back to her kitchen and work softly until everything was completed to her satisfaction.
Friday afternoons and Sat.u.r.days, Constance took matters into her own hands, and she soon discovered that another mode of transportation for her candy would be imperative, so rapidly was the demand for Constance B.'s Candies increasing. So after the first two weeks the local expressman was pressed into service, and the old colored man, who for years had run the elevator in the Arcade, received the boxes upon their delivery.
The way in which the old man had sc.r.a.ped acquaintance with Mammy, caused Mr. Porter considerable amus.e.m.e.nt. Mammy's intercourse with the colored people she had met since coming North, had not been calculated to increase her respect for her race. Finding ”Uncle Rastus” at the North, she instantly concluded that he had been born and raised there.
That, like herself, he might have been transplanted, she did not stop to argue. But one day when Mammy was struggling with an unusually large consignment of candy, Uncle Rastus hurried to offer his services ”to one ob de quality colored ladies,” as he gallantly expressed it.
This led to a better understanding between the two old people, and when Mammy discovered that Rastus had been born and raised in the county adjoining her own, and that his old master and hers had been warm friends, Rastus' claim to polite society was indisputable, and from that moment, Mammy and Rastus owned the Arcade, and the courtly old negro, and dignified old negress caused not a little amus.e.m.e.nt to Constance B.'s customers, and the people who frequented the Arcade. It would be hard to tell which grew to take the greater pride in the venture, for Rastus had all the old antebellum negro's love and respect for his white folks and Mammy lost no opportunity for singing the praises of hers. And thus another member was added to the firm and Constance's interests were well guarded.
Not once since launching upon her venture had Constance met with any loss. The little cash box invariably held the correct amount to balance the number of boxes taken from the booth, and the returns surprised Constance more than anyone else.
”I tell you I'm going to be a genuine business woman, see if I'm not,”
she cried, after balancing her accounts one Sat.u.r.day evening. ”Why just think of it Mumsey, dear, here are fifteen dollars over and above _all_ expenses for the week. If I continue like this I'll be a million_nairess_ before I know what has happened. How are you flouris.h.i.+ng, Nornie? Are your Pegasus Ponies as profitable?”
”Not quite, but I'm hopeful,” laughed Eleanor. ”Some of them are spavined in their minds, I fear. At any rate they don't 'arrive' as quickly as I'd like to have them in spite of all my efforts. However, they are not going backward, and I dare say that ought to gratify me, especially when they are willing to pay me two dollars an hour for helping them to stand _still_. I can't make such a showing from driving my coach as you can make from wielding your big spoon, Connie dear, but ten dollars added to your fifteen will keep the wolf from the door, won't it little mother?” ended Eleanor, laying her hand upon her mother's shoulder.
Mrs. Carruth rested her cheek upon it as she replied:
”What should I do without my girls? I am _so_ proud of my girls! So proud!--yet I cannot realize it all.”
”You haven't got to do without us. We're here to be done _with_, aren't _we_, Nornie?” cried Constance, gayly.
”We certainly _are_,” was the hearty response.
”Then why don't you add my part?” demanded Jean, who had faithfully made her journeys to the Irving School each Sat.u.r.day morning, and upon each occasion returned triumphant with her candy box empty, but her little coin bag well filled with dimes, for her customers were always on the lookout for her.