Part 43 (1/2)
”'You can have your automobile put right into the barn,' I says, 'if you want to.'
”'I don't know as it will be necessary--' began the big feller, but the woman interrupted him. She was starin' through her thick veil at the barn door. Sim Butler, in his overalls and ragged s.h.i.+rt sleeves, was leanin' against that door, interested as the rest of us in what was goin' on.
”'I would have it put there, I think,' says the woman, lofty and superior. 'It is rather dusty, and I think the wheels ought to be washed. Can that man be trusted to wash 'em?' she asks, pointin' kind of scornful at Simeon.
”'Yes, marm, I cal'late so,' I says. 'Here, Sim!' I sung out, callin'
Butler over to the steps. 'Can you wash the dust off them wheels?'
”He said course he could, but he didn't act joyful over the job. The woman seemed some doubtful.
”'He looks like a very ignorant, common person,' says she, loud and clear, so that everybody, includin' the 'ignorant person' himself, could hear her. 'However, James'll superintend. James,' she orders the shofer, 'you see that it is well done, won't you? Make him be very careful.'
”James looked Butler over from head to foot. 'Humph!' he sniffs, contemptuous, with a kind of half grin on his face. 'Yes, marm, I'll 'tend to it.'
”So he steered the auto into the barn, and Simeon got busy. Judgin' by the sharp language that drifted out through the door, 'twas plain that the shofer was superintendin' all right.
”Jonadab heaves in sight, bowin', and makes proclamation that dinner is served. The pair riz up majestic and headed for the dinin' room. The woman was a little astern of her man, and in the hall she turns brisk to me.
”'Mr. Wingate,' she whispers, 'Mr. Wingate.'
”I stared at her. Her voice had sounded sort of familiar ever sence I heard it, but the veil kept a body from seein' what she looked like.
”'Hey?' I sings out. 'Have I ever--'
”'S-s-h-h!' she whispers. 'Say, Mr. Wingate, that--that Susannah thing is here, ain't she? Have her wait on us, will you, please?'
”And she swept the veil off her face. I choked up and staggered bang!
against the wall. I swan to man if it wa'n't Effie! EFFIE, in silks and automobiles and gorgeousness!
”Afore I could come to myself the two of 'em marched into that dining room. I heard a grunt and a 'Land of love!' from just ahead of me. That was Jonadab. And from all around that dinin' room come a sort of gasp and then the sound of whisperin'. That was the help.
”They took a table by the window, which had been made ready. Down they set like a king and a queen perchin' on thrones. One of the waiter girls went over to em.
”But I'd come out of my trance a little mite. The situation was miles ahead of my brain, goodness knows, but the joke of it all was gettin' a grip on me. I remembered what Effie had asked and I spoke up prompt.
”'Susannah,' says I, 'this is a particular job and we're anxious to please. You'd better do the waitin' yourself.'
”I wish you could have seen the glare that ex-housekeeper give me. For a second I thought we'd have open mutiny. But her place wa'n't any too sartin and she didn't dare risk it. Over she walked to that table, and the fun began.
”Jonadab had laid himself out to make that meal a success, but they ate it as if 'twas pretty poor stuff and not by no means what they fed on every day. They found fault with 'most everything, but most especial with Susannah's waitin'. My! how they did order her around--a mate on a cattle boat wa'n't nothin' to it. And when 'twas all over and they got up to go, Effie says, so's all hands can hear:
”'The food here is not so bad, but the service--oh, horrors! However, Albert,' says she to the side-whiskered man, 'you had better give the girl our usual tip. She looks as if she needed it, poor thing!'
”Then they paraded out of the room, and I see Susannah sling the half dollar the man had left on the table clear to Jericho, it seemed like.
”The auto was waitin' by the piazza steps. The shofer and Butler was standin' by it. And when Sim see Effie with her veil throwed back he pretty nigh fell under the wheels he'd been was.h.i.+n' so hard. And he looked as if he wisht they'd run over him.
”'Oh, dear!' sighs Effie, lookin' scornful at the wheels. 'Not half clean, just as I expected. I knew by the looks of that--that PERSON that he wouldn't do it well. Don't give him much, Albert; he ain't earned it.'
”They climbed into the c.o.c.kpit, the shofer took the helm, and they was ready to start. But I couldn't let 'em go that way. Out I run.