At Home with the Jardines

ve it. It must be out-of-town, yet not so far but that the Angel and

ploit the glories of their own particular towns, but t

t of its mosquitoes, and both Aubrey and I cared nothing for the seashore. But the Hudson, with its beauty and

an hour of New Yo

ead until I got a "hunch." That is not good Engli

h Peach Orchard, Clovertown, stamped on it, for I instantly made up my mind that Susan must be asked to rent Peach Orchard for a term of y

rtown names for a real estate agent. I found one, and

Miss Bucks would like to let Peach Orchard? She would? Well, how large is it? Four? Oh, five? Is there a good house on the place? And a stable? That's nice. I see. Yes. Well, I would like to see it to-day if I could, but it is snowing here. Not sno

iver, and rushed i

nted a place in Clovertown, and we go out to ta

ked up wit

zy little cat," he said, but I could see tha

ned as I struggled into my coat with Mary's help, and Aubrey paw

have gone mad at our erratic proceedings, but nothing ever disturbed Mary's equanimity. I

The gallant Mr. Close met us, true to his word, and

r. Close clapped his hand to hi

I said, with a

rgotten

can easily get in through a window

window to find if haply one had been left unlocked. Nor did we notice that we were doing all the work until Aubrey selected the back hall window as the loos

lso, but the look I encountered froze the smile on my lips and the words on my tongue,

silence, and the light dawned

abruptly on the top step and shriek with laughter. But I am sure, in my

see the house properly. The short winter afternoon was drawing to a close and it looked for a moment as if we would have to come again, when on a shelf, good Mr. Close, whose business instincts were k

, needing them more than you need anything else on earth,-home or friends or wife or mother or

factory torch, we explored, and as we went up and down, in and out of the queer old place, built a hundred years ago (Mr. Close said!), we decided to take it, and most unwisely said s

ns only, and had not fathomed the possibility of our deciding to live there, for when we came hom

and question her, and when the coffee had been served and we said she might go,

o Clovertown, but of all the towns along the H

my life suspecting her of the tricks which

he railroad right at the station at Clove

w that no one could face such harrowing memories. As I gazed at her and she saw I was touched, tears began to gath

told me to pr

sister killed

ngton's Birthday, Missis dear," whimp

o laugh h

nd hated-the one you have told me a dozen tim

pishly. I saw she was we

e cured in twenty-two years,-let alone a grief which never was a grief. And you did not see her after she was dead-you told me you wouldn't go. And what made you the maddest was having to pay the funeral expenses when she had a husba

finally co

n't possibly get along without you. You are absolutely necessary to us. Wh

seductive flattery,

bout it, Boss

ot that she had suggested going, and

obtained more feverish and thrilling joy than from those next

ere three or four windows in the library, and with what complacency did we discover that, owing to a shrewd forethought of my own in furnishing

nothing-could do nothing rather, as she had a consumptive brother who must live in the Adirondacks, and her resources were few. Therefore,

ng without something you want, for fear that sometime you'll want something which probably you won't

to sit at our well-set table and smoke the Angel's good cigars and sip his excellent wines. And feeling that

be more careful next time. In fact, it encouraged us in our recklessness, for in our darkest hour the Angel's first play was accepted, and, being staged, was so instantaneously a

he happiest we had ever known. Susan had been persuaded to let the place for a term of years with

ned all the windows which gave upon the porches into doors, so that we could step out-of-doors at will. We ordered our porch screened entirely, and planned to furnish it as a study f

ce, we put no faith in their promises, but engaged Mr.

. It seemed a gigantic task to crate and barrel everything and move from

nts, but you surely aren't thinking of sending all the fur

"Will vans move

like," said M

town to

hout taking the pins out of the cus

fascinated me. I begged Aubrey to investigate, and h

telephone to two or three different companies to come and estimate th

hieves, and fire; to pack all the stuff in vans one day, take them to their warehouse for the early part of the night, and start at one

was to go to a hotel for one night, and ta

uperb conveniences. Only Paris excels her in her purveying shops, for in Paris one can buy the wing of a chicken only, and that just around the corner, while in New York one must buy a

Then we betook ourselves to the Waldorf, with our "glad rags," as Jimmie had commanded, in our suit-cases, and dined in

s and shrieked (in as ladylike a manner as we could), while tears poured down our cheeks and our ribs cramped and our breath failed. That

turned lovingly toward the warehouse where our precious

my preoccupat

enough, I would like to ask you what you thought o

e same day we bought t

gust. "Think of remembering a royal pr

you, dear?" inquired

amaged article, so we got it for less than half the origi

ince, dear," sa

olitely, "by all means, let us bring the conversation down to

seeing the prince. This, you must remember, was our first ice-box

u!" jeered Jimmie. "Gee, but

I shall certainly report you to Mr. Overman. He ought to be ashamed to send out a driver without a livery!' 'If you please, ma'am,' said the man, 'I'm Mr. Overman, and rather than disappoint you ladies, as all my men are out, I thought I'd drive you myself.' Well, that was too much for even Bee. So she thanked him, and in we got. The first house we went to was that of a haughty society dame of whose opinion Bee stood much in awe. Personally, I thought her an illiterate old bore. She was newly rich, and laid gr

you or any of us ever forget the night

. Jimmie, softly. "H

ove of your going to C

Idyls and pastorals ar

bet she will never co

har

st," said Aubrey. "It i

p a cow, Jimmie!" I

if keeping a cow put the stamp of the Fou

rvants. Of course she was all right while there was no one else and she was boss of the ranch, but we must

rain I noticed that Mary had on her best dress and hat. She had no bag with her, so I

is would in reality be a kid-glove moving, for Mr. Close had telephoned the day before that e

s we got off the train I stopped at a grocery and bought a loaf of bread, a tin of devilled

rriage almost before it

, I ran up the step

whole house was finished. Not a hardwood floor had been laid. The lumber was piled in the hall. Not a chandelier was up. The ragged wires projected

rned on. I ran back and Aubrey shouted for the carr

ric light men, and to the agents, and see where the men are,

hing vengeance. I fel

ompany!" I cried, after

ver lashed his horses

to Mary in h

the agent thought we were flies, and could move in on the ceiling-a

I said, ominously. "Then something else

ill him!" said

ing him, mentally, by the scruff of the neck. I have seen terriers yanked back to look at th

me yesterday and said you had been here personally and seen with your own eyes th

o meet my accusing

of calling a man a liar. An

test put through the plumbing

gerly produc

ls are conclu

cleaned and the water-

br

ollowing. I think Close preferred Aubrey to me, and me or anybody to Mary, for Mary's very spectacles were bristling wit

lay the floors. The man from the water office. My negro cleaning woman and the groc

e grocer's boy-or rather the grocer's boy under Mary's direction-built one in the

e street, and it was gaily pouring into the cellar. Mr. Close is a fat man, but he ran like a jack-rabbit

he cleaning woman turned from black to a dirty gray with fright, and without further ado went home. I can't say that I b

nstead of smiting me to the earth, aroused e

laugh. I laughed until Aubrey heard me and thought I was crying. He ca

! I know this is

, I'l

I was not cast down by all these disasters. In fact, our moving partook more of the

evilled ham sandwiches. But as we were obliged to cook on that grate for six days, I may as well record now that we grew into expert cooks, attempting eggs in all forms, batter-cakes, hoe cakes, fried

ng, I mean, such as ours, until one has tried. It makes a perfect double boiler, and as for a bain Marie, well, I used to cream potatoes in the top part, and when they were all done but t

ot killed by the explosion. Mary cheerfully declared her regret that Mr. Close had not been bending over the stove with his lie in his thr

were in order, and send the bill to Mr. Close. But even though her suggestion was made at two o'clock in

my friend, the grocer's boy, had brought me reinforcements in the shape of plates, tumblers, pots,

scried the big red vans, each drawn by

ichel, for that is all one, but Clovertown consists of a series of small Mt. St. Michels, equally ste

ed pillars and of keeping their footing on icy asphalt. They were not used to climbing trees, as we afterward discovered Clovertown horses to be quite capable of doing. So, after straining and pulling a

said, "and I'll pull you up t

us. What! One pair of horses accomplish

ncredulity on the countenances of the van men. They tried not to show it, for tha

ook the reins. One of the men offered him a

acks won't pull for love,

ward, digging their sharp little hoofs into the hillside. The van gave an inch-two! A foot! Then urged by their master's voice, and for very pride of home and race and breed, the gallant blacks

self-vindication, and was refusing the van man's offer to

a fever of appreciation, I had to go and feed apples and sugar to all ten of them, and to remind the blacks that the New York horses had been pulling

re is moved from room to room to accommodate the carpenters, and the uninitiated

the drip-pan had to be emptied every hour, and the iceman had to come twice a day. We learned to step over ro

ainted the house from top to bottom. We had put in gas, telephone, and electric light, and when

e old grizzled negro, they let me have him. I adored Amos. It was he who had attended to all my childish pleasures on the plantation when I went there to visit, and, in tu

one we had hitherto modestly used, and thus, with the aid of friends' and judicious servants' adv

ride being an imported Guernsey, which figures quite prominently in my narrative further on. And as Aubrey's unwonted prosperity continued, we endeavoured not to let our rich

cks and clove pinks and common annuals cost us. We planted five bushels of potatoes and dug three and a half, which made them come to a dollar a bus

glass of champagne or a glass o

ed before we could kill them? It was the pride of ownership which ate into our lives and made us quite sickening to our friends whose tastes r