Part 36 (1/2)
As Janice came nearer she saw that Marm Parraday did not look as she once did. Her hair had turned very gray, there were deeper lines in her weather-beaten face, and a trembling of her lips and hands made Janice's heart ache.
If the Inn was doing well and Lem Parraday was prospering, his wife seemed far from sharing in the good times that appeared to have come to the Lake View Inn.
The great, rambling house had been freshened with a coat of bright paint; the steps and porch and porch railings were mended; the sod was green; the flower gardens gay; the gravel of the walks and driveway freshly raked; while the round boulders flanking the paths were brilliant with whitewash.
”Why!” said Janice honestly, ”the old place never looked so nice before, Mrs. Parraday. You have done wonders this Spring. I hope you will have a prosperous season.”
Mrs. Parraday clutched the girl's arm tightly. Janice saw that her eyes seemed quite wild in their expression as she pointed a trembling finger at the gilt sign at the corner of the house, lettered with the single word: ”Bar.”
”With that sign a-swingin' there, Janice Day?” she whispered. ”You air wis.h.i.+n' us prosperity whilst Lem sells pizen to his feller men?”
”Oh, Mrs. Parraday! I was not thinking of the liquor selling,” said Janice sympathetically.
”Ye'd better think of it, then,” pursued the tavernkeeper's wife.
”Ye'd better think of it, day and night. That's what _I_ do. I git on my knees and pray 't Lem won't prosper as long as that bar room's open.
I do it 'fore Lem himself. He says I'm a-tryin' ter pray the bread-and-b.u.t.ter right aout'n aour mouths. He's so mad at me he won't sleep in the same room an' has gone off inter the west wing ter sleep by hisself. But I don't keer,” cried Mrs. Parraday wildly. ”Woe ter him that putteth the cup to his neighbor's lips! That's what _I_ tell him. 'Wine is a mocker--strong drink is ragin'.' That's what the Bible says.
”An' Lem--a perfessin' member of Mr. Middler's church--an' me attendin'
the same for goin' on thutty-seven years----”
”But surely, Mrs. Parraday, you are not to blame because your husband sells liquor,” put in Janice, sorry for the poor woman and trying to comfort her.
”Why ain't I?” sharply demanded the tavern-keeper's wife. ”I've been Lem's partner for endurin' all that time, too--thutty-seven years.
I've been hopin' all the time we'd git ahead an' have suthin' beside a livin' here in Polktown. _I've been hungry for money_!
”Like enough if I hadn't been so sharp after it, an' complained so 'cause we didn't git ahead, Lem an' Cross Moore wouldn't never got their heads together an' 'greed ter try rum-selling to make the old Inn pay a profit.
”Oh, yes! I see my fault now. Oh, Lord! I see it,” groaned Marm Parraday, clasping her trembling hands. ”But, believe me, Janice Day, I never seen this that's come to us. We hev brought the curse of rum inter this taown after it had been free from it for years. An' we sh.e.l.l hafter suffer in the end--an' suffer more'n anybody else is sufferin' through our fault.”
She broke off suddenly and, without looking again at Janice, mounted the steps with her broom and disappeared inside the house.
Janice, heartsick and almost in tears, was turning away when a figure appeared from around the corner of the tavern--from the direction of the bar-room, in fact. But Frank Bowman's smiling, ruddy face displayed no sign of _his_ having sampled Lem Parraday's bar goods.
”Hullo, Janice,” he said cheerfully. ”I've just been having a set-to with Lem--and I don't know but he's got the best of me.”
”In what way?” asked the girl, brus.h.i.+ng her eyes quickly that the young man might not see her tears.
”Why, this is pay day again, you know. My men take most of the afternoon off on pay day. They are cleaning up now, in the camp house, and will be over by and by to sample some of Lem's goods,” and the engineer sighed.
”No, I can't keep them away from the place. I've tried. Some of them won't come; but the majority will be in that pleasing condition known as 'howling drunk' before morning.”
”Oh, Frank! I wish Lem would stop selling the stuff,” cried Janice.'
”Well, he won't. I've just been at him. I told him if he didn't close his bar at twelve o'clock tonight, according to the law, I'd appear in court against him myself. I mean to stand outside here with Constable Cantor to-night and see that the barroom is dark at twelve o'clock, anyway.”
”That will be a splendid move, Frank!” Janice said quickly, and with enthusiasm.
”Ye-es; as far as it goes. But Lem said to me: 'Don't forget this is a hotel, Mr. Bowman, and I can serve my guests in the dining room or in their own rooms, all night long, if I want to.' And that's true.”