Part 18 (2/2)
”I wasn't mutterin', 'special. I just said I bet they heard you if they was anywheres 'round.”
”Is that so? Do tell! Well, I'll have you to understand----”
Elvira and Miss Berry together intervened to calm this new disturbance.
Then the former went on with the reading of the ”resolutions.”
”'No. 2. Item ... 1 Hand painted lion. Iron....' Hush, Aurora!... Yes, 'lion,' that's right.... I did say 'iron.' It's an iron lion, isn't it?... Oh, _do_ be quiet! We'll never get through if everybody keeps interrupting. 'No. 2 ... Item ... 1 Hand painted lion iron'--iron lion, I mean.... Oh, my soul and body! If everybody keeps talking I shan't know what I mean.... 'A very wonderful piece of statuary. In perfect condition. Paint needs touching up, that's all.
”'No. 3--Item.... 1 Deer. Hand painted iron. Perfectly lovely--'”
”Stuff!” This from the irrepressible Mrs. Tidditt, of course. ”One horn is broke off and it looks like the Old Harry. No, I'll take that back; the Old Harry is supposed to have two horns. But that deer image is a sight, just the same. Why, it ain't got any paint left on it.”
”Nonsense! It may need a little paint, here and there, but----”
”Humph! A little here and a lot there and a whole lot more in between.
Elvira Snowden, that image looks as if 'twas struck with leprosy, like Lazarus in the Bible; you know it well as I do.”
Sears Kendrick enjoyed the reading of these resolutions. If it were not for certain elements in the situation he would have considered the morning's performance the most amusing entertainment he had witnessed afloat or ash.o.r.e. He managed not to laugh aloud, although he was obliged to turn his head away several times and to cough at intervals. Once or twice he and Elizabeth Berry exchanged glances and the whimsical look of resignation and humorous appreciation in her eyes showed that she, too, was keenly aware of the joke.
But at other times she was serious enough and it was her expression at these times which prevented the captain's accepting the whole ridiculous affair as a hilarious farce. Then she looked deeply troubled and careworn and anxious. He began to realize that this affair, funny as it was, was but one of a series, a series of annoyances and trials and petty squabbles which, taken in the aggregate, were anything but funny to her. For it was obvious, the truth of what Judah Cahoon had said and Judge Knowles intimated, that this girl, Elizabeth Berry, was bearing upon her young shoulders the entire burden of responsibility for the conduct and management of affairs in the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women at Bayport. Her mother was supposed to bear this burden, but it was perfectly obvious that Cordelia Berry was incapable of bearing any responsibilities, including her own personal ones.
Miss Snowden solemnly read the concluding paragraph of the resolutions.
It summed up those preceding it and announced that those whose names were appended, ”being guests at the Fair Harbor, the former home of our beloved benefactress and friend Mrs. Lobelia Phillips, _nee_ Seymour, are unanimously agreed that as a simple matter of duty to the inst.i.tution and those within its gates, not to mention the beautifying of Bayport, the collection of lawn statuary and fountain now adorning the estate of the late deceased Captain Seth Snowden be bought, purchased and obtained from that estate at the very low price of seventy-five dollars, this money to be paid from the funds in the Fair Harbor treasury, and the said statuary and fountain to be erected and set up on the lawns and grounds of the Fair Harbor. Signed----”
Miss Elvira read the names of the signers. They included, as she took pains to state, the names of every guest in the Fair Harbor with one--ahem--exception.
”And I'm it, praise the lord,” announced Mrs. Tidditt, promptly. ”I ain't quite crazy yet, nor I ain't a niece-in-law of Seth Snowden's widow neither.”
”Esther Tidditt, I've stood your hints and slanders long enough.”
”n.o.body's payin' _me_ no commissions for gettin' rid of their old junk for 'em.”
”Esther, be still! You shouldn't say such things. Elvira, stop--stop!”
Miss Berry stepped forward. Mrs. Tidditt was bristling like a combative bantam and Elvira was shaking from head to feet and crooking and uncrooking her fingers. ”There mustn't be any more of this,” declared Elizabeth. ”Esther, you must apologize. Stop, both of you, please.
Remember, Cap'n Kendrick is here.”
This had the effect of causing every one to look at the captain once more. He felt unpleasantly conspicuous, but Elizabeth's next speech transferred the general gaze from him to her.
”There isn't any use in saying much more about this matter, it seems to me,” she said. ”It comes down to this: You and the others, Elvira, think we should buy the--the statues and the fountain because they would, you think, make our lawns and grounds more beautiful.”
”We don't think at all--we know,” declared Elvira. Mrs. Brackett said, ”Yes indeed, we do,” and there was a general murmur of a.s.sent. Also a loud sniff from the Tidditt direction.
”And your mother thinks so, too,” spoke up Miss Peasley, from the group.
”She told me herself she thought they were lovely. Didn't you, Cordelia?
You know you did.”
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