Part 20 (2/2)
”I can!” she cried, gleefully. ”You tell him I can! An' when I can't, folks are so neighborly they strike a light for me to see by. You tell him! Well, now, what is it? You've come to ask suthin'. Out with it!”
”Father told me to come over, and see if you can't tell something about our cows. They're all drying up, and he don't see any reason why.”
Dilly nodded her head sagely.
”You'd better ha' come sooner,” she announced. ”You tell him he must drive 'em to pastur' himself, an' go arter 'em, too.”
”Why?”
”An' you tell him to give Davie a Sat.u.r.day, here an' there, to go fis.h.i.+n' in, an' not let him do so many ch.o.r.es. Now, you hear! Your father must drive the cows, an' he must give Davie time to play a little, or there'll be dark days comin', an' he won't be prepared for 'em.”
”My!” exclaimed Rosa, blankly. ”My! Ain't it queer! It kind o' scares me. But, Dilly,”--she turned about, so that only one flushed cheek remained visible,--”Dilly, 'ain't you got something to say to me? We're going to be married next Tuesday, Elvin and me. It's all right, ain't it?”
Dilly bent forward, and peered masterfully into her face. She took the girl's plump pink handy and drew her forward. Rosa, as if compelled by some unseen force, turned about, and allowed her frightened gaze to lie ensnared by the witch's great black eyes. Dilly began, in a deep intense voice, with the rhythm of the Methodist exhorter, though on a lower key,--
”Two years, that boy's been arter you. Two years, you trampled on him as if he'd been the dust under your feet. He was poor an' strugglin'.
He was left with his mother to take care on, an' a mortgage to work off.
An' then his house burnt down, an' he got his insurance money; an' that minute, you turned right round an' says, 'I'll have you.' An' now, you say, 'Is it all right?' _Is_ it right, Rosy Tolman? You tell _me_!”
Rosa was sobbing hysterically.
”Oh, I wish you wouldn't scare me so!” she exclaimed, yet not for a moment attempting to withdraw her hand, or turn aside her terrified gaze. ”I wish I never'd said one word!”
Dilly broke the spell as lightly as she had woven it. A smile pa.s.sed over her face, like a charm, dispelling all its prophetic fervor.
”There! there!” she said, dropping the girl's hand. ”I thought I'd scare ye! What's the use o' bein' a witch, if ye can't upset folks? Now don't cry, an' git your cheeks all blotched up afore Elvin calls to fetch ye, with that hired horse, an' take ye to the Cattle-Show! But don't ye forgit what I say! You remember we ain't goin' to wait for the Day o' Judgment, none on us. It comes every hour. If Gabriel was tootin', should you turn fust to Elvin Drew, an' go up or down with him, wherever he was 'lected? That's what you've got to think on; not your new hat nor your white _pique_. (Didn't iron it under the overskirt, did ye? How'd I know? Law! how's a witch know anything?) Now, you 'ain't opened your bundle, dear, have ye? Raisin-cake in it, ain't there?”
Rosa bent suddenly forward, and placed the package in Dilly's lap. In spite of the bright daylight all about her, she was frightened; if a cloud had swept over, she must have screamed.
”I don't know how you found it out,” she whispered, ”but _'tis_ raisin-cake. Mother sent it. She knew I was going to ask you about the cows. She said I was to tell you, too, there's some sickness over to Sudleigh, and she thought you could go over there nussing, if you wanted to.”
”I 'ain't got time,” said Dilly, placidly. ”I give up nussin', two year ago. I 'ain't got any time at all! Well, here they come, don't they?
One for me, an' one for you!”
A light wagon, driven rapidly round the corner, drew up at the gate.
Elvin Drew jumped down, and helped out his companion, a short, rather thickset girl, with smooth, dark hair, honest eyes, and a sensitive mouth. She came quickly up the path, after an embarra.s.sed word of thanks to the young man.
”He took me in,” she began, almost apologetically to Rosa, who surveyed her with some haughtiness. ”I was comin' up here to see Dilly, an' he offered me a ride.”
Rosa's color and spirits had returned, at the sight of her tangible ally at the gate.
”Well, I guess I must be going,” she said, airily. ”Elvin won't want to wait. Good-by, Dilly! I'll tell father. Good-by, Molly Drew!”
But Dilly followed her down to the road, where Elvin stood waiting with the reins in his hands. He was a very blond young man, with curly hair, and eyes honest in contour and clear of glance. Perhaps his coloring impressed one with the fact that he should have looked very young; but his face shrunk now behind a subtile veil of keen anxiety, of irritated emotion, which were evidently quite foreign to him. Even a stranger, looking at him, could hardly help suspecting an alien trouble grafted upon a healthy stem. He gave Dilly a pleasant little nod, in the act of turning eagerly to help Rosa into the wagon. But when he would have followed her, Dilly laid a light but imperative hand on his arm.
”Don't you want your fortune told?” she asked, meaningly. ”Here's the witch all ready. Ain't it well for me I wa'n't born a hunderd year ago?
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