The dining corner had a round table and high-backed chairs finished in
weathered oak, and when all was in order the effect was not
inharmonious. Some inspiration had induced Mr. Merrick to send down a
batch of eighteen framed pictures, procured at a bargain but from a
reliable dealer. He thought they might "help out," and Ethel knew they
would, for the walls of the old house were quite bare of ornament. She
made them go as far as possible, and Old Hucks, by this time thoroughly
bewildered, hung them where she dictated and made laughable attempts to
describe the subjects to blind Nora.
A telegram, telephoned over from the junction, announced the proposed
arrival of the party on Thursday morning, and the school-teacher was
sure that everything would be in readiness at that time. The paint on
Lon's repairs would be dry, the grass in the front yard was closely
cropped, and the little bed of flowers between the corn-crib and the
wood-shed was blooming finely. The cow was in the stable, the pigs in
the shed, and the Plymouth Rocks strutted over the yard with an absurd
assumption of pride.
Wednesday Ethel took Old Hucks over to Millville and bought for him from
Sam Cotting a new suit of dark gray "store clothes," together with
shirts, shoes and underwear. She made McNutt pay the bill with John
Merrick's money, agreeing to explain the case to "the nabob" herself,
and back up the agent in the unauthorized expenditure.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48