Susan Clegg and a Man in the House Read online

  CHAPTER II

  ELIJAH DOXEY AND HIS LOCKED BOX

  "Well," suggested Mrs. Lathrop one pleasant Saturday morning, a few dayslater, when she and her friend met at the fence. Miss Clegg lookedslightly fretted and more than slightly warm, for she had been givingher garden an uncommonly vigorous weeding on account of an uncommonlyvigorous shower which had fallen the afternoon before. The weeding hadbeen so strenuous that Miss Clegg was quite disposed to stop and rest,and as she joined her neighbor and read the keen interest that neverfailed to glow in the latter's eyes, her own expression softenedslightly and she took up her end of the conversation with her customarycapability at giving forth.

  "I don't know," she began, "an' Mr. Kimball don't know either. Elijahwas tellin' me all about it last night. He _is_ a trouble, Mrs. Lathrop,but I don't know but what it pays to have a man around when you can havethem to talk to like I have him. Of course a new broom sweeps clean an'I've no intention of supposin' that Elijah will ever keep on coverin'his soap an' scrapin' his feet long, but so far so good, an' last nightit was real pleasant to hear the rain an' him together tellin' how muchtrouble they're havin', owin' to Hiram's bein' too energetic wringin'the handle of the printin' press an' then to think as when he was alldone talkin' it would be him an' not me as in common decency would haveto go out in the wet to padlock the chickens. Seems, Mrs. Lathrop, asthey're really havin' no end o' trouble over the new paper an' Elijah'sreal put out. He says Hiram had a idea as the more the speed the betterthe paper an' was just wringin' for dear life, an' the first thing heknew the first issue begin to slide a little cornerways an' slid offinto a crank as Elijah never knowed was there, an' him an' Mr. Kimballspent the whole of yesterday runnin' around like mad an' no way to fixit. As a consequence Elijah's very much afraid as there'll be no paperthis week an' it's too bad, for every one is in town spendin' the dayan' waitin' to take it home with them. Young Dr. Brown is goin' to feeljust awful 'cause he'd bought twenty-five papers to mail to all hiscollege class. There was goin' to be a item about him, an' Mrs. Brownsays it was goin' to be a good one for she fed Elijah mince pie while hemade his notes for it an' had Amelia play on her guitar, too."

  "What do you--?" began Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Well, I can't say as I really know _what_ to think of him just yet. Inever see such a young man afore. He has some very curious ways, Mrs.Lathrop, ways as make me feel that I can't tell you positively what Ido think. Now yesterday was the first day as I knowed he'd be gone forlong, so I took it to go through all his things, an' do you know, awaydown at the bottom of one of his trunks I found a box as was locked an'no key anywhere. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I hunted, an' I hunted, an' Ihunted, an' I couldn't find that key a _tall_. I never had any thin' ofthat kind in my house afore an' of course I ain't goin' to give upwithout a good deal more lookin', but if I can't find that key it'llprove beyond a shadow of a doubt as Elijah Doxey ain't of a trustin'nature an' if that's true I don't know how I ever _will_ be able to getalong with him. A trustin' nature is one thing to have around an' adistrustin' nature is another thing, an' I can tell you that there'ssomethin' about feelin' as you ain't trusted as makes me take my handsright out of my bread dough an' go straight upstairs to begin lookin'for that key again. The more I hunt the wilder I get, for it's a verysmall box for a man to keep locked, an' it ain't his money or jewelryfor it don't rattle when you shake it. It's too bad for me to feel sobecause in most other ways he's a very nice young man, although I willsay as sunset is midnight compared to his hair."

  "Do--" began Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Then too, he said yesterday," Miss Clegg continued, "as he wanted itdistinctly understood as his things was never to be touched by no onean' I told him as he could freely an' frankly rely on me. Now that'sgoin' to make it a great deal more work to hunt for that key from nowon. An' I don't like to have it made any harder work to find a thing, asI have n't found yet a _tall_."

  "Wh--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

  "Not me," said Miss Clegg; "I ain't got any give-up in me. I'll keep onuntil I find it if I have to board Elijah Doxey till he dies or till Idrop dead in my huntin' tracks. But I can see that my feelin' towardshim is n't goin' to be what it might of been if he'd been frank an'open with me as I am with him an' every one else. He seems so frank an'open, too--in other ways than that box. He read his editorial aloudnight afore last an' I must say it showed a real good disposition for heeven wished the president well although he said as he knowed he wassometimes goin' to be obliged to maybe be a little bit hard on him. Hesaid as plain speakin' an' to the purpose 'd be the very breath an'blast of the _Megaphone_ an' he should found it on truth, honor an' thegreat American people, an' carry Judge Fitch to congress on them lines.I thought as Judge Fitch would object to goin' to congress on any linesafter all he's said about what he thought of congress in public, butElijah says a new paper must have a standard, an' he asked Judge Fitchif he minded being nailed to ours, an' the judge said he did n't mindnothin' these degenerate days, so Elijah just up with him."

  "Did you--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

  "See Mrs. Macy?--yes, I see her in the square yesterday noon. She wasjust back from Meadville. She says the editor of the _Meadville Mixture_is awful bitter over our havin' a paper of our own, an' says he'll crosstinfoils with Elijah any day. I told Elijah what she said last night,but Elijah did n't mind. I hoped tellin' him'd take his appetite away,but he ate eleven biscuits just the same. That reminds me as he's comin'home to dinner to-day, an' I ought to be goin' in."

  "Goo--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

  --"But I'll come over after he goes an' tell you how the paper's comin'out," Susan added, as she turned from the fence; and as she was alwaystrue to her promises she did come over to Mrs. Lathrop's kitchen afterdinner, wearing a clean apron and a new expression--an expression ofmixed doubt and displeasure.

  Mrs. Lathrop hurried to give her a chair and make her welcome, and thentook a chair herself and sat at attention.

  Susan began at once.

  "Well," she said, "it's a good thing as the Fishers are thinkin' some ofsendin' John Bunyan to college, for he's surely a sight too smart forthis town."

  Mrs. Lathrop opened her eyes in wide surprise, as it was certainly notabout John Bunyan that she had expected to hear tales.

  "Elijah says as John Bunyan made them all feel pretty cheap down at theprintin' press this mornin'," Miss Clegg went on: "seems the wholecommunity was squeezin' into the back of Mr. Kimball's store to see whatunder the sun could be done to get the first paper out of the press,when all of a sudden John Bunyan spoke up an' asked why they did n'tturn the handle backward an' empty the whole muss out that way. Well,every one see the sense of what he said right off, an' so they began,an' as soon as they began to turn the crank backward the paper began tocome out backward, tore, of course, but as nice as pie.

  "Well, Elijah says he most thought his uncle was goin' to take his jobas editor away and give it to John Bunyan right off, he was so pleased.But Mr. Kimball ain't the sort of uncle as Elijah so far supposeshimself to of got, an' he only give John Bunyan fifty cents' worth ofsoda water tickets, an' they're to work to-night (if Lucy'll let Hiram),an' have the paper ready for church to-morrow. The Jilkins an' Sperritswas a little disapp'inted 'cause they was n't comin' in to church,countin' on stayin' home an' readin' the paper all day instead, butElijah's goin' to put in a late column of late news an' give 'em theirmoney's worth that way. Mr. Kimball had arranged to have one wholecolumn of Ks to draw attention to his dried apples, an' he's goin' togive it up for the occasion an' let Elijah write a Extra about the causeof the delay, for that's really all the late news there is. Then, too,Elijah's goin' to have a joke about the paper's comin' in among us likea man goes into politics, kind of slidin' an' turnin' this way an'that, an' I must say I begin to find some of Elijah's ideas prettybright. But my mind's taken a new turn on his subjeck from what he saidat dinner, an' I will admit, Mrs. Lathrop, as I see now as I misjudgedhim in one way, for he come an' asked me while I was washin' up if Iknowed any
way to open a locked box without a key, for he could n't findthe key to his flute box nowhere, an' when he was a little nervousnights he always wore it off practisin' on his flute. Well, Mrs.Lathrop, you can maybe imagine as learnin' as there was a flute in thatbox an' the key lost, an' him in the habit of playin' that flute nights,altered my views more 'n a little, an' I can tell you that I had tothink pretty fast afore answerin' him. While I was thinkin' he said hehad n't played since he was here, an' he was gettin' so wild to play hethought the best way would be to maybe pry the lock open. I see then asI'd got to come out firm an' I said I'd never consent to no young manin my house, spoilin' a good box like that an' maybe a fine flute too,just because he had n't got a little patience. He said I was right aboutits being a fine flute, an' he was just achin' to hear it an' blow it. Itold him to let me hunt an' maybe I'd find the key, an' so he went offsome soothed, an' now the Lord have mercy on you an' me, for ElijahDoxey never will from this day on. Will you only think of him bein'nervous an' playin' nights! It'll be worse than a tree-toad an' you knowwhat a tree-toad is, Mrs. Lathrop,--I declare to goodness if Elijah actslike a tree-toad he'll drive me stark, ravin' mad."

  "Ca--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop.

  "I don't see how I can," said Miss Clegg, dubiously. "I shall do mybest, but, oh my, a young man as is a editor an' has red hair an' aflute is awful uncertain to count on. I almost wish I had n't took him."

  "Why--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

  "I can't now," said Miss Clegg, "the arrangements of this world isdreadful hard on women. It's very easy to take a man into your house butonce a woman has done it an' the man's settled, nobody but a undertakercan get him out in any way as is respectable accordin' to my order ofthinkin'."

  "But you--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop, comfortingly.

  "I know, but even three months is a long time," said Miss Clegg, "an'he's begun to leave his soap uncovered already, an' oh my heavens alive,how am I ever goin' to stand that flute!"