第36章

"You don't suppose, Pa," she said, "that this Mrs.Armstrong has a past, do you?""A past? What kind of a thing is a past, for thunder sakes?""Why, I mean a--a--well, has she done something she doesn't want other people to know; is she trying to hide something, like--well, as people do in stories?""Eh? Oh, in the books! I see.Well, young woman, I cal'late the first thing for your dad to do is to find out what sort of books you read.A past! Ho, ho! I guess likely Mrs.Armstrong is a plaguey sight more worried about the future than she is about the past.She has lived the past already, but she's got to live the future and pay the bills belongin' to it, and that's no triflin'

job in futures like these days."

Needless to say Jed Winslow did no speculating concerning his tenant's "past." Having settled the question of that tenancy definitely and, as he figured it, forever, he put the matter entirely out of his mind and centered all his energies upon the new variety of mill, the gull which was to flap its wings when the wind blew.Barbara was, of course, much interested in the working out of this invention, and her questions were many.Occasionally Mrs.

Armstrong came into the shop.She and Jed became better acquainted.

The acquaintanceship developed.Jed formed a daily habit of stopping at the Armstrong door to ask if there were any errands to be done downtown."Goin' right along down on my own account, ma'am," was his invariable excuse."Might just as well run your errands at the same time." Also, whenever he chopped a supply of kindling wood for his own use he chopped as much more and filled the oilcloth-covered box which stood by the stove in the Armstrong kitchen.He would not come in and sit down, however, in spite of Barbara's and her mother's urgent invitation; he was always too "busy" for that.

But the time came when he did come in, actually come in and sit down to a meal.Barbara, of course, was partially responsible for this amazing invitation, but it was Heman Taylor's old brindle tomcat which really brought it to pass.The cat in question was a disreputable old scalawag, with tattered ears and a scarred hide, souvenirs of fights innumerable, with no beauty and less morals, and named, with appropriate fitness, "Cherub."It was a quarter to twelve on a Sunday morning and Jed was preparing his dinner.The piece de resistance of the dinner was, in this instance, to be a mackerel.Jed had bought the mackerel of the fish peddler the previous afternoon and it had been reposing on a plate in the little ancient ice-chest which stood by the back door of the Winslow kitchen.Barbara, just back from Sunday school and arrayed in her best, saw that back door open and decided to call.Jed, as always, was glad to see her.

"You're getting dinner, aren't you, Mr.Winslow?" she observed.

Jed looked at her over his spectacles."Yes," he answered.

"Unless somethin' happens I'm gettin' dinner."His visitor looked puzzled.

"Why, whatever happened you would be getting dinner just the same, wouldn't you?" she said."You might not have it, but you'd be getting it, you know."Jed took the mackerel out of the ice-chest and put the plate containing it on the top of the latter."We-ell," he drawled, "you can't always tell.I might take so long gettin' it that, first thing I knew, 'twould be supper."Humming a hymn he took another dish from the ice-chest and placed it beside the mackerel plate.

"What's that?" inquired Barbara.

"That? Oh, that's my toppin'-off layer.That's a rice puddin', poor man's puddin', some folks call it.I cal'late your ma'd call it a man's poor puddin', but it makes good enough ballast for a craft like me." He began singing again.

"'I know not, yea, I know not What bliss awaits me there.

Di, doo de di di doo de--'"

Breaking off to suggest: "Better stay and eat along with me to-day, hadn't you, Babbie?"Barbara tried hard not to seem superior.

"Thank you," she said, "but I guess I can't.We're going to have chicken and lemon jelly." Then, remembering her manners, she added: "We'd be awful glad if you'd have dinner with us, Mr.

Winslow."

Jed shook his head.

"Much obliged," he drawled, "but if I didn't eat that mackerel, who would?"The question was answered promptly.While Mr.Winslow and his small caller were chatting concerning the former's dinner, another eager personality was taking a marked interest in a portion of that dinner.Cherub, the Taylor cat, abroad on a foraging expedition, had scented from his perch upon a nearby fence a delicious and appetizing odor.Following his nose, literally, Cherub descended from the fence and advanced, sniffing as he came.The odor was fish, fresh fish.Cherub's green eyes blazed, his advance became crafty, strategical, determined.He crept to the Winslow back step, he looked up through the open door, he saw the mackerel upon its plate on the top of the ice-chest.

"If I didn't eat that mackerel," drawled Jed, "who would?"There was a swoop through the air, a scream from Barbara, a crash--two crashes, a momentary glimpse of a brindle cat with a mackerel crosswise in its mouth and the ends dragging on the ground, a rattle of claws on the fence.Then Jed and his visitor were left to gaze upon a broken plate on the floor, an overturned bowl on top of the ice-chest, and a lumpy rivulet of rice pudding trickling to the floor.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Barbara, wringing her hands in consternation.

Jed surveyed the ruin of the "poor man's pudding" and gazed thoughtfully at the top of the fence over which the marauder had disappeared.

"Hum," he mused."H-u-u-m....Well, I did cal'late I could get a meal out of sight pretty fast myself, but--but--I ain't in that critter's class.""But your dinner!" wailed Barbara, almost in tears."He's spoiled ALL your dinner! Oh, the BAD thing! I hate that Cherub cat! IHATE him!"

Mr.Winslow rubbed his chin."We-e-ll," he drawled again."He does seem to have done what you might call a finished job.