Part 17 (2/2)

”Hummm!” said Kate. ”There IS food for reflection there. But wasn't it plain logic, that if the hat was to bring the man, it should be worn where at any minute he might see it?”

”But my dear, my dear! If such a man as a woman like you should have, had seen you wearing that hat in the morning, on a railway train, he would merely have thought you prideful and extravagant. You would have been far more attractive to any man I know in your blue sunbonnet.”

”I surely have learned that lesson,” said Kate. ”Hereafter, sailors or sunbonnets for me in the morning. Now what may I do to add to your comfort?”

”Leave me for an hour until I take a nap, and then we'll have lunch and go to a lecture. I can go to-day, perfectly well, after an hour's rest.”

So Kate went for a very interesting walk around the grounds. When she returned Mrs. Jardine was still sleeping so she wrote Nancy Ellen, telling all about her adventure, but not a word about losing her hat.

Then she had a talk with Jennie Weeks whom she found lingering in the hall near her door. When at last that nap was over, a new woman seemed to have developed. Mrs. Jardine was so refreshed and interested the remainder of the day that it was easier than before for Kate to see how shocked and ill she had been. As she helped dress her for lunch, Kate said to Mrs. Jardine: ”I met the manager as I was going to post a letter to my sister, so I asked him always to send you the same waiter.

He said he would, and I'd like you to pay particular attention to her appearance, and the way she does her work.”

”Why?” asked Mrs. Jardine.

”I met her in the hall as I came back from posting my letter, so we 'visited' a little, as the country folks say. She has taught one winter of country school, a small school in an out county. She's here waiting table two hours three times a day, to pay for her room and board. In the meantime, she attends all the sessions and studies as much as she can; but she's very poor material for a teacher. I pity her pupils. She's a little thing, bright enough in her way, but she has not much initiative, not strong enough for the work, and she has not enough s.p.u.n.k. She'll never lead the minds of school children anywhere that will greatly benefit them.”

”And your deduction is--”

”That she would make you a kind, careful, obedient maid, who is capable enough to be taught to wash your hair and manicure you with deftness, and who would serve you for respect as well as hire. I think it would be a fine arrangement for you and good for her.”

”This surely is kind of you,” said Mrs. Jardine. ”I'll keep strict watch of Jennie Weeks. If I could find a really capable maid here and not have to wire John to bring one, I'd be so glad. It does so go against the grain to prove to a man that he has a right to be more conceited than he is naturally.”

As they ate lunch Kate said to Mrs. Jardine: ”I noticed one thing this morning that is going to be balm to my soul. I pa.s.sed many teachers and summer resorters going to the lecture halls and coming from them, and half of them were bareheaded, so my state will not be remarkable, until I can get another hat.”

”'G.o.d moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform,'” laughingly quoted Mrs. Jardine. ”You thought losing that precious hat was a calamity; but if you hadn't lost it, you probably would have slept soundly while I died across the hall. My life is worth the price of a whole millinery shop to me; I think you value the friends.h.i.+p we are developing; I foresee I shall get a maid who will not disgrace my in public; you will have a full summer here; now truly, isn't all this worth many hats?”

”Of course! It's like a fairy tale,” said Kate. ”Still, you didn't see the hat!”

”But you described it in a truly graphic manner,” said Mrs. Jardine.

”When I am the snowiest of great-grandmothers, I shall still be telling small people about the outcome of my first attempt at vanity,” laughed Kate.

The third morning dawned in great beauty, a ”misty, moisty morning,”

Mrs. Jardine called it. The sun tried to s.h.i.+ne but could not quite pierce the intervening clouds, so on every side could be seen exquisite pictures painted in delicate pastel colours. Kate, fresh and rosy, wearing a blue chambray dress, was a picture well worth seeing. Mrs.

Jardine kept watching her so closely that Kate asked at last: ”Have you made up your mind, yet?”

”No, and I am afraid I never shall,” answered Mrs. Jardine. ”You are rather an astonis.h.i.+ng creature. You're so big, so vital; you absorb knowledge like a sponge takes water--”

”And for the same purpose,” laughed Kate. ”That it may be used for the benefit of others. Tell me some more about me. I find me such an interesting subject.”

”No doubt!” admitted Mrs. Jardine. ”Not a doubt about that! We are all more interested in ourselves than in any one else in this world, until love comes; then we soon learn to a love man more than life, and when a child comes we learn another love, so clear, so high, so purifying, that we become of no moment at all, and live only for those we love.”

”You speak for yourself, and a cla.s.s of women like you,” answered Kate gravely. ”I'm very well acquainted with many women who have married and borne children, and who are possibly more selfish than before. The Great Experience never touched them at all.”

There was a tap at the door. Kate opened it and delivered to Mrs.

Jardine a box so big that it almost blocked the doorway.

Mrs. Jardine lifted from the box a big Leghorn hat of weave so white and fine it almost seemed like woven cloth instead of braid. There was a bow in front, but the bow was nested in and tied through a web of flowered gold lace. One velvet end was slightly long and concealed a wire which lifted one side of the brim a trifle, beneath which was fastened a smas.h.i.+ng big, pale-pink velvet rose. There was an ostrich plume even longer than the other, broader, blacker, as wonderful a feather as ever dropped from the plumage of a lordly bird. Mrs.

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