Part 10 (1/2)
I never saw nicer, more considerate boys than were on that party. They vied with one another in briskness and efficiency. They wanted to help us with dishwas.h.i.+ng and housework, but there was enough outside work to keep them busy, and with all good intentions in the world, most men-folks are a hindrance rather than a help when it comes to so-called woman's work.
How we did fly around! Miss Maria got real gay and giddy in the general whirlwind that ensued. Dum and Mary undertook to be housemaids, and such a spreading up of beds and flicking of dusters was never known. The beds did look a little b.u.mpy, but what difference did it make? The dust they swished off with the feather dusters settled quietly back on the things, but why not? Maxton was beautifully kept and very clean but there is always dust on furniture in the morning, no matter how well it has been cleaned the day before. Jessie's bed they left unmade, declaring that she could sleep in the same hole for a month before they would even spread it up for her.
”Lazy piece!” cried Dum. ”I actually believe she does not mean to turn a hair.”
That young lady had taken herself off to the parlor where she was singing in the most operatic manner with a very well-trained strong voice with about as much sweetness to it as cut gla.s.s. The accompaniment she was rendering on the piano was brilliantly executed, so much so that I thought for a moment she had in a pianola record. I peeped in the parlor and smiled at her, fearing somehow that she must feel herself to be an outsider and that was why she was not entering into the fun of helping. I got no answering smile but something of a cold stare, so I beat a hasty retreat and hastened off to consult with Miss Maria about future meals.
I found that lady sitting on a bench in the covered pa.s.sage leading to the kitchen. Her spirit was willing but her flesh was too much for her.
She must rest. I sank by her, not sorry at all to indulge in a little sly resting of my own. Cooking is great fun but certainly exhausting.
”What for dinner, Miss Maria?”
”Oh, my dear, I can't contemplate your helping about dinner, too!”
I couldn't help having a little inward fun with myself over her speaking of my helping. I had certainly cooked breakfast myself, but since she fooled herself into thinking that I had only helped to cook it, it made no difference to me.
”But someone will have to cook it unless the servants are miraculously cured in time for it.”
”That's so!” and she sighed a great sigh.
”I know you wish we would all of us go home, but please don't wish it.
We are having such a good time and don't want to leave one little bit.”
”Oh, my dear! Don't think I could have such inhospitable sentiments. My brother would be deeply distressed if he thought you thought I thought such things.”
Both of us laughed at her complicated thinks and then began the serious matter of dinner.
”Thank goodness, I had those trifling creatures dress the chickens yesterday. That, at least, is out of the way.”
”Oh, good! Have you got them all dressed? Then let's have chicken gumbo.
If we make enough of it, it will be the dinner, with a great dish of rice to help in each soup plate.”
”Splendid!” declared Dee, pausing for a moment to listen to the proposed menu. ”And it will be such an economy in dishes, too. Just a plate and spoon all around and no frills.”
Dee had been as busy as possible was.h.i.+ng dishes while Miss Maria wiped, and I cleared the table.
”But, child, can you make a gumbo? It is very difficult, I am afraid.”
”Not a bit of it. I have Mammy Susan's recipe tucked away somewhere in my brain. I can get to work on it immediately and then it will be done for dinner. It can't cook too long.”
Dee and Wink undertook to gather the vegetables, but they took so long that a relief and search party had to be sent to the garden after them.
They were so busy discussing the different kinds of bandages that they had forgotten their mission. Wink had taken a leaf from Adam's-and-Eve's-needle-and-thread and was demonstrating on Dee's arm the reverse bandage. Her other arm was already decorated with the figure eight style made from a long green corn leaf. How I wished Wink would treat me as sensibly as he did Dee. They seemed to be having such a good time as I, who was one of the search party, discovered them in the tomato patch solemnly debating the values of the various styles. Now if Wink had ever agreed to discuss such a thing as that with me he would have felt compelled to say all kinds of silly things, and as for bandaging my arm,--it would have been out of the question, as he would have felt it necessary to ask to kiss my hand or some such stuff.
The right kind of gumbo must have tomatoes, okra, potatoes, onions and corn in it, and anyone who has served apprentices.h.i.+p under Mammy Susan will make the right kind of gumbo. Miss Maria and I started in preparing those vegetables at nine o'clock and it took us one solid hour to finish, working as hard as we could go. I was beginning to be very fond of the old lady. She was so gentle and sweet. I asked her many questions about Maxton and its history, and since, like many gentlewomen of her age, she lived in the past, she was most happy to recount to me tales of the lovely old place and its aristocratic founders.
”Oh, yes, we have a ghost,” she laughed, when I asked her to tell me if there were any such inhabitants. ”It is a lady ghost, too, and inhabits your wing of the house, as is the way with all the ladies of Maxton. It is the young sister of my great grandfather,--that makes her my great, great aunt.”
”Oh, please tell me about her!”