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Page 35
"Oh, Nell, don't you dislike to have anybody lecture you like that? It
makes one feel so uncomfortable. I don't suppose it's so very wrong to
wear bird trimming or our minister's wife wouldn't do it. You know her
black velvet hat with that big bird on it with the red points on the
wings, is one of the most striking hats that come to church. And her
feather muff is so elegant, awfully expensive too. And what would her
hat look like without that bird on it, I'd like to know? So if it
isn't wicked for her it isn't wicked for us, Nell, and I'm not going to
give up looking nice just to please papa. He'd like to have me dress
as antiquated as old Mrs. Noah when she came out of the ark, but I'm
not going to encourage him in his old-fashioned notions. And here,
Nell, just listen to this! Don't you think, he says the Episcopal
Prayer Book ought to be revised for the women worshipers and omit that
part of the litany where it says, 'From pride, vain-glory, and
hypocrisy, good Lord, deliver us.' What fol-de-rol!" And being out of
breath she stopped talking and they walked away down the street
together.
CHAPTER XIII
DICKEY'S VISIT
Kind hearts are more than coronets.
--_Tennyson._
Plainly furnished and small was the house to which I was taken by Miss
Katharine to stay during Polly's absence at her grandmother's in the
country. But though it was destitute of fine furnishings, it was the
abode of peace and love, and its lowly roof sheltered noble and kindly
hearts. The two sisters lived there alone, supported mainly by
Katharine's earnings in the millinery store, though occasionally the
sister, who was lame, added something to their little income by making
paper flowers and other articles of bright tissues. It was her
business to keep the house while Miss Katharine was at the shop, and
very long and lonely the hours must have seemed to her while her sister
was away.
The first day I was there a boy whom she addressed as John Charles came
to the house. Apparently he had been carefully trained, for he raised
his cap when the lame girl opened the door to his knock. His manners
were fine, for he remained standing after he entered until she had
first seated herself, as if to say, "A gentleman will not sit while a
lady stands."
He had come to inquire if she wished to buy some cooking apples.
"They are very nice," said John Charles briskly, quite as if he were an
old salesman. "No mashed or decayed ones among them."
"I have been wanting some apples," said Eliza. "If I knew what yours
were like I might buy some."
"I have a few here to show," and John Charles drew from a small paper
sack one or two bright rosy apples. "There, try one," he said. "You
will find them nice and juicy and sour enough to cook quickly."
Eliza bit into one and expressed her approval of the fruit. "They will
make delicious apple-sauce, I'm sure," she said. After inquiring the
price she told the young merchant he might carry in a peck.
With a business-like flourish John Charles took a small note-book and
pencil from his pocket and wrote something at the top of the leaf.
"I'm not delivering now," he said as he returned the note-book to his
pocket. "I'm only taking orders; but I'll have your apples here in an
hour."
Eliza bit her lip to keep back a smile. A boy in knee pants
transacting business like a grown man, appeared quite amusing to her.
"Oh, I see," she said. "You take orders for your goods. You don't
sell from door to door."
"No, indeed!" answered John Charles with a lofty air. "That's too much
like peddling. I won't peddle. I prefer to get regular customers and
take orders and fill them."
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