第63章 IN WHICH THE SEA MIST SAILS(3)
There!he exclaimed,in a tone of relief.Now I remember.It must have dropped on the floor and I thought 'twas my handkerchief and picked it up and--What did you think you'd be carryin'a white handkerchief for,on a week day?Well,I had on my Sunday suit and--
Yes,and for the dear mercy sakes WHY have you got it on?Kyan saw an opportunity for self-justification.
You TOLD me to put it on,he declared triumphantly.You said yourself I'd better rig out in my Sunday clothes 'cause we might go to Eben's funeral.You know you did.Hear the man!And then,after you've dressed up to go to his funeral,you pretend to believe I'm goin'to tell you he's dead.Inever--
Well,what IS it,then?He ain't come to life,has he?Grace Van Horne's engaged to be married,that's what it is.Look out!Oh,you--Just here occurred the accident already described.Knife and fish ball descended upon the waistcoat belonging to the Sunday suit.Lavinia flew for warm water,ammonia,and a cloth,and the soiled waistcoat was industriously scrubbed.The cleansing process was accompanied by a lively tongue lashing,to which Kyan paid little attention.
Engaged?he kept repeating.Gracie Van Horne engaged?Engaged?
En--
Be still,you poll parrot!Dear!dear!dear!look at them spots.
Yes,yes;don't say it again;she's engaged.Who--who--who--
Now you've turned to an owl,I do believe.'Hoo!hoo!'She's engaged to Nat Hammond,that's who.Nothin'very surprisin'about that,is there?Kyan made no answer.He rubbed his forehead,while his sister rubbed the grease spots.In jerky sentences she told of the engagement and how the news had reached her.
I can't believe it,faltered Abishai.She goin'to marry Nat!
Why,I can't understand.I thought--
What did you think?See here!you ain't keepin'anything from me,be you?The answer was enthusiastically emphatic.
No,no,no,no!declared Kyan.Only I didn't know they was--was--
Neither did anybody else,but what of it?Folks don't usually advertise when they're keepin'comp'ny,do they?No--o.But it's gen'rally found out.I know if I was keepin' comp'ny--or you was,La-viny--
His sister started.
What makes you say that?she demanded,looking quickly up from her rubbing.
Why,nothin'.Only if I was--or you was,somebody'd see somethin' suspicious and kind of drop a hint,and--
Better for them if they 'tended to their own affairs,was the sharp answer.I ain't got any patience with folks that's always talkin'about their neighbor's doin's.There!now you go out and stand alongside the cook stove till that wet place dries.Don't you move till 'TIS dry,neither.So to the kitchen went Kyan,to stand,a sort of living clotheshorse,beside the hot range.But during the drying process he rubbed his forehead many times.Remembering what he had seen in the grove he could not understand;but he also remembered,even more vividly,what Keziah Coffin had promised to do if he ever breathed a word.And he vowed again that that word should not be breathed.
The death and funeral of Captain Eben furnished Trumet with a subject of conversation for a week or more.Then,at the sewing circle and at the store and after prayer meeting,both at the Regular meeting house and the Come-Outer chapel,speculation centered on the marriage of Nat and Grace.When was it to take place?Would the couple live at the old house and keep packet tavernor would the captain go to sea again,taking his bride with him?Various opinions,pro and con,were expressed by the speculators,but no one could answer authoritatively,because none knew except those most interested,and the latter would not tell.
John Ellery heard the discussions at the sewing circle when,in company with some of the men of his congregation,he dropped in at these gatherings for tea after the sewing was over.He heard them at church,before and after the morning service,and when he made pastoral calls.People even asked his opinion,and when he changed the subject inferred,some of them,that he did not care about the doings of Come-Outers.Then they switched to inquiries concerning his health.
You look awful peaked lately,Mr.Ellery,said Didama Rogers.
Ain't you feelin'well?
The minister answered that he was as well as usual,or thought he was.
No,no,you ain't nuther,declared Didama.You look's if you was comin'down with a spell of somethin'.I ain't the only one that's noticed it.Why,Thankful Payne says to me only yesterday,'Didama,'says she,'the minister's got somethin'on his mind and it's wearin'of him out.'You ain't got nothin'on your mind,have you,Mr.Ellery?I guess not,Mrs.Rogers.It's a beautiful afternoon,isn't it?
There!I knew you wa'n't well.A beautiful afternoon,and it hotter'n furyation and gettin'ready to rain at that!Don't tell me!'Tain't your mind,Mr.Ellery,it's your blood that's gettin' thin.My husband had a spell just like it a year or two afore he died,and the doctor said he needed rest and a change.Said he'd ought to go away somewheres by himself.I put my foot down on THATin a hurry.'The idea!'I says.'You,a sick man,goin'off all alone by yourself to die of lonesomeness.If you go,I go with you.'So him and me went up to Boston and it rained the whole week we was there,and we set in a little box of a hotel room with a window that looked out at a brick wall,and set and set and set,and that's all.I kept talkin'to him to cheer him up,but he never cheered.I'd talk to him for an hour steady and when I'd stop and ask a question he'd only groan and say yes,when he meant no.Finally,I got disgusted,after I'd asked him somethin'four or five times and he'd never answered,and I told him,I believed he was gettin'deef.'Lordy!'he says,'I wish I was!'Well,that was enough for ME.Says I,'If your mind's goin'to give out we'd better be home.'So home we come.And that's all the good change and rest done HIM.Hey?What did you say,Mr.Ellery?Er--oh,nothing,nothing,Mrs.Rogers.