第28章

'Twas dark and shut up, but the back door key was under the mat, as usual, so she got in all right.The plants hadn't been watered for two days, at least; the clock had stopped; the cat's saucer was licked dry as a contribution box, and the critter itself was underfoot every second, whoopin' for somethin' to eat.The whole thing pretty nigh broke Hannah's heart, but she wa'n't the kind to give up while there was a shot in the locker.

"She went to the closet and found that Kenelm's Sunday hat and coat was gone.Then she locked the back door again and cut acrost the lots down to Abbie's.She crept round the back way and peeked under the curtain at the settin'-room window.There set Abbie, lookin' sweet and sugary.Likewise, there was Kenelm, lookin'

mighty comfortable, with a big cigar in his mouth and more on the table side of him.Hannah gritted her teeth, but she kept quiet.

"About ten minutes after that Chris Badger was consider'ble surprised to hear a knock at the back door of his store and to find that 'twas Hannah that had knocked.

"'Mr.Badger,' says Hannah, polite and smilin', 'I want to buy a box of the best cigars you've got.'

"'Ma'am!' says Chris, thinkin' 'twas about time to send for the constable or the doctor--one or t'other.

"'Yes,' says Hannah; 'if you please.Oh! and, Mr.Badger, please don't tell anyone I bought 'em.PLEASE don't, to oblige me.'

"So Chris trotted out the cigars--ten cents straight, they was--and said nothin' to nobody, which is a faculty he has when it pays to have it.

"When Kenelm came home that night he was knocked pretty nigh off his pins to find his sister waitin' for him.He commenced a long rigmarole about where he'd been, but Hannah didn't ask no questions.She said that Washington was mighty fine, but home and Kenelm was good enough for her.Said the thoughts of him alone had been with her every minute, and she just HAD to cut the trip short.

Kenelm wa'n't any too enthusiastic to hear it.

"Breakfast next mornin' was a dream.Hannah had been up since five o'clock gettin' it ready.There was everything on that table that Kenelm liked 'special.And it all tasted fine, and he ate enough for four.When 'twas over Hannah went to the closet and brought out a bundle.

"'Kenelm,' she says, 'here's somethin' I brought you that'll surprise you.I've noticed since I've been away that about everybody smokes--senators and judges, and even Smithsonian Institute folks.And when I see how much comfort they get out of it, my conscience hurt me to think that I'd deprived my brother of what he got such a sight of pleasure from.Kenelm, you can begin smokin' again right off.Here's a box of cigars I bought on purpose for you; they're the kind the President smokes.'

"Which wa'n't a bad yarn for a church member that hadn't had any more practice than Hannah had.

"Well, Kenelm was paralyzed, but he lit up one of the cigars and found 'twas better than Abbie's brand.He asked Hannah what she thought the church folks would say, but she said she didn't care what they said; her travels had broadened her mind and she couldn't cramp herself to the ideas of a little narrow place like East Wellmouth.

"Dinner that day was a bigger meal than breakfast, and two of the cigars went fine after it.Kenelm hemmed and hawed and fin'lly said that he wouldn't be home to supper; said he'd got to go downtown and would get a bite at the Trav'lers' Rest or somewheres.

It surprised him to find that Hannah didn't raise objections, but she didn't, not a one.Just smiled and said, 'All right,' and told him to have a good time.And Abbie's supper didn't seem so good to him that night, and her cigars--bein' five centers--wa'n't in it with that Washington box.

"Hannah didn't have dinner the next day until two o'clock, but 'twas worth waitin' for.Turkey was twenty-three cents a pound, but she had one, and plum puddin', too.She kept pressin' Kenelm to have a little more, so 'twas after three when they got up from the table.

"'Twas a rainy, drizzly afternoon and the stove felt mighty homey and cozy.So did the big rocker that Hannah transplanted from the parlor to the settin'-room.That chair had been a kind of sacred throne afore, and to set in it had been sort of sacrilegious, but there 'twas, and Kenelm didn't object.And those President cigars certainly filled the bill.

"About half-past five Kenelm got up and looked out of the window.

The rain come spattin' against the pane and the wind whined and sounded mean.Kenelm went back to the chair again.Then he got up and took another observation.At last he goes back to the chair, stretches himself out, puts his feet against the stove, pulls at the cigar, and says he:

"'I was cal'latin' to go downtown on a bus'ness trip, same's I did last night.But I guess,' he says--'I guess I won't.It's too comfort'ble here,' says he.

"And I cal'late," said Captain Obed, in conclusion, "that afore Hannah turned in that night she gave herself three cheers.She'd gained a tack on Abbie Larkin that had put Abbie out of the race, for that time, anyhow.""But who sent the 'friend' letter?" asked Thankful, whose thoughts had been diverted from her own troubles by hearing those of Miss Parker.

The captain laughed.