Susan Clegg and a Man in the House Read online

  CHAPTER XIX

  EXIT THE MAN OUT OF SUSAN CLEGG'S HOUSE

  "Well, Mrs. Lathrop," said Miss Clegg, coming over the evening after,weary but triumphant, "Elijah is gone an' I tell you I'll never be tootender-hearted for my own good again. I won't say but what it was me an'nobody else as brought him down on my own head, but I must fully an'freely state as it's certainly been me an' no one else as has had tohold my own head up under him. An' he _has_ been a load!

  "Why, Mrs. Lathrop, do you know that man's stockin's alone has took meabout one mornin' a week, an' as to buttons--well, I never knew a editorcould bu'st 'em off so fast. An' as to puttin' away what he took off, orfoldin' back things into the drawer where they belongs, why, a monkeyswingin' upside down by his tail is busy carefully keepin' housecompared to Elijah Doxey.

  "I never see such a man afore! If Hiram's anythin' like him I don'tblame Lucy for battin' him about as she does. I did n't suppose suchways could be lived with in oneself. An' that table where he wrote!Well! I tell you I've got it cleared off to-night an' my clean curtainsfolded off on it, an' no man never sets foot on it again, I can tell you_that_.

  "I won't say as it wa'n't a little tryin' gettin' him off to-day an' Idid feel to feel real sober while I was hangin' his mattress back to therafters in the attic, but when I remembered as I'd never see thembedclothes kicked out at the foot again I cheered up amazin'. Mrs. Browncome in just afore supper an' she seemed to think it was some queer as Iwas n't goin' to miss Elijah, but I told her she did n't know me. 'Mrs.Brown,' I says, 'your son was a doctor an' you can't be expected toknow what it is to board a editor, so once bit, soonest mended. She'smournin' over her burnt house yet, so she could n't really feel tosympathize with me, but I had n't time to stop an' mourn with her,--Iwas too busy packin' away Elijah's toilet set.

  "He got a good deal of ink around the room, Mrs. Lathrop, an' I shallmake Mr. Kimball give me a bottle of ink-remover free, seein' as he'shis nephew; but I don't see as he done any other real damage. I lookedthe room over pretty sharp an' I can't find nothin' wrong with it. Ishall burn a sulphur candle in there to-morrow an' then wash out thebureau drawers an' I guess then as the taste of Elijah'll be pretty wellout of my mouth.

  "I'm sure I don't know what we're comin' to as to men, Mrs. Lathrop, forI must say they seem more extra in the world every day. Most everythin'as they do the women is able to do better now, an' women is so willin'to be pleasant about it, too. Not as Elijah was n't pleasant--I neversee a more pleasant young man, but he had a way of comin' in with muddyboots an' a smile on his face as makes me nothin' but glad as he's leftmy house an' gone to Polly White's."

  "Won't you--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

  "No, I won't,--not if I know myself. I ain't never been lonesome aforein my life an' I ain't goin' to begin now. Bein' lonesome is very finefor them as keeps a girl to do their work, but I have to slave all daylong if there's anybody but me around the house, an' I don't like toslave. I guess Elijah's expectin' to be lonesome though, for he asked meif I'd mind his comin' up an' talkin' over the Personal column with mesometimes. I could see as he was more'n a little worried over how underthe sun he was goin' to run the paper without me. As a matter of fact,Mrs. Lathrop, I've been the main stay of that paper right from thefirst. Not to speak o' boardin' the editor, I've supplied most o' thebrains as run it. You know as I never am much of a talker, but I didtry to keep Elijah posted as to how things was goin' on an' the feelin'as no matter what I said, it was him an' not me as would be blamed ifthere was trouble, always kept up my courage. There's a many nights asI've kept him at his work an' a many others as I've held him down to it.Elijah has n't been a easy young man to manage, I can tell you."

  Susan stopped and sighed.

  "I like to think how he's goin' to miss me now," she said, "I made himawful comfortable. Polly'll never do all the little things as I did.It's a great satisfaction when a man leaves your house, Mrs. Lathrop, toknow as he'll be bound to wish himself back there many an' many time."

  "What--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Oh, I'll find plenty to do," said Susan Clegg, "it ain't made a mite ofdifference in my life. I shall go on livin' just the same as ever.Nothin's changed for me just because for three months I had a man inthe house. I ain't even altered my general views o' men any, for landknows Elijah wa'n't so different from the rest of them that he couldteach me much as is new. I ain't never intended to get married anyway,so he ain't destroyed my ideals none, an' I told Mr. Kimball when I tookhim as I'd agree to keep him three months an' I would n't agree for loveor money to keep him any longer, an' I've kept him for three months an'no love or money could of made me keep him a day longer."

  "Did n't you--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Why, yes, I liked him," said Susan, "there were spots durin' the timewhen I felt to be real fond of him, but laws, that did n't make me wantto have him around any more than I had to. But you know as well as I dothat a woman can like a man very much an' still be happiest when sheain't got him on her hands to fuss with. I was n't built to fuss, Mrs.Lathrop, as you know to your cost, for if I had been I'd of been overhere two days a week tidyin' up out of pure friendship, for the lasttwenty years. But no, I ain't like that--never was an' never willbe--an' I ain't one to go pitchin' my life hither an' yon an' dancin'wildly first on one leg an' then the other from dawn to dusk for otherpeople. Elijah's come an' Elijah's gone an' his mattress is hung back tothe rafter in the attic an' his sulphur candle is all bought to burnto-morrow an' when that's over an' the smell's over too I shall look tosettle down an' not have nothin' more to upset my days an' nights tillyour time comes, Mrs. Lathrop, an' I hope to goodness as it won't comein the night, for boardin' a editor has put me all at outs with nightwork."

  "I--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Well, if you say so, I'll believe it," said Miss Clegg; "for I will saythis for you, Mrs. Lathrop, an' that is as with all your faults you'venever yet told me nothin' as I've found out from others afterwards wasn't true."