第12章 CHAPTER III(1)

The white house on Phinney's Hill looked desolate and mournful when the buggy containing Judge Baxter and his two companions drove into the yard. The wagon belonging to Mr. Hallett, the undertaker, was at the front door, and Hallett and his assistant were loading in the folding chairs. Mr. Hallett was whistling a popular melody, but, somehow or other, the music only emphasized the lonesomeness. There is little cheer in an undertaker's whistle.

Captain Gould, acting under the Judge's orders, piloted his horse up the driveway and into the back yard. The animal was made fast to the back fence and the three men alighted from the buggy and walked up to the side door of the house.

"Say, Judge," whispered the Captain, as they halted by the step, "you don't cal'late I can find out who loaded up that music-box chair on me, do you? If I could meet that feller for two or three minutes I might feel more reconciled at bein' fool enough to come over here."

Mrs. Hobbs answered the knock at the door--she invited them in.

When told that they had come to see Mary-'Gusta she sniffed.

"She's in her room," she said, rather sharply. "She hadn't ought to be let out, but of course if you want to see her, Judge Baxter, I presume likely she'll have to be. I'll go fetch her."

"Wait a minute, Mrs. Hobbs," said Baxter. "What's the matter? Has the child been behaving badly?"

Mrs. Hobbs' lean fingers clinched. "Behavin' badly!" she repeated.

"I should say she had! I never was so mortified in my life. And at her own father's funeral, too!"

"What has she done?"

"Done? She--" Mrs. Hobbs hesitated, glanced at Captain Shadrach, and left her sentence unfinished. "Never mind what she done," she went on. "I can't tell you now; I declare I'd be ashamed to. I'll go get her."

She marched from the room. Zoeth rubbed his forehead.

"She seems sort of put out, don't she," he observed, mildly.

Baxter nodded. "Susan Hobbs has the reputation of getting 'put out' pretty often," he said. "She has a temper and it isn't a long one."

"Has she been takin' care of Marcellus's girl?" asked Zoeth.

"Yes. As much care as the child has had."

Captain Shad snorted. It was evident that the housekeeper's manner had not impressed him favorably.

"Humph!" he said. "I'd hate to have her take care of me, judgin' by the way she looked just now. Say," hopefully, "do you suppose SHE was the one fixed that chair?"

They heard Mrs. Hobbs on the floor above, shouting:

"Mary-'Gusta! Mary-'Gusta! Where are you? Answer me this minute!"

"Don't seem to be in that room she was talkin' about," grumbled Shadrach. "Tut! Tut! What a voice that is! Got a rasp to it like a rusty saw."

Mrs. Hobbs was heard descending the stairs. Her face, when she reentered the sitting-room, was red and she looked more "put out" than ever.

"She ain't there," she answered, angrily. "She's gone."

"Gone?" repeated Zoeth and Shadrach in chorus.

"Gone?" repeated the Judge. "Do you mean she's run away?"

"No, no! She ain't run away--not for good; she knows better than that. She's sneaked off and hid, I suppose. But I know where she is. I'll have her here in a minute."

She was hurrying out again, but the Captain detained her.

"Wait!" he commanded. "What's that you say? You know where she is?"

"Yes, or I can guess. Nine chances to one she's out in that barn."

"In the barn? What's she doin" there--playin' horse?"

"No, no. She's hidin' in the carriage room. Seems as if the child was possessed to get out in that dusty place and perch herself in the old carryall. She calls it her playhouse and you'd think 'twas Heaven the way she loves to stay there. But today of all days! And with her best clothes on! And after I expressly told her--"

"Yes, yes; all right. Humph! Well, Zoeth, what do you say? Shall we go to Heaven and hunt for her? Maybe 'twill be the only chance some of us'll get, you can't tell," with a wink at Baxter.

"Hush, Shadrach! How you do talk!" protested the shocked Mr. Hamilton.

"Let's go out to the barn and find the young-one ourselves," said the Captain. "Seems the simplest thing to do, don't it?"

Mrs. Hobbs interrupted.

"You don't need to go at all," she declared. "I'll get her and bring her here. Perhaps she ain't there, anyway."

"Well, if she ain't there we can come back again. Come on, boys."

He led the way to the door. The housekeeper would have accompanied them, but he prevented her doing so.

"Don't you trouble yourself, ma'am," he said. "We'll find her. I'm older'n I used to be, but I ain't so blind but what I can locate a barn without a spyglass."

"It won't be any trouble," protested the lady.

"I know, but it might be. We'll go alone."

When the three were in the back yard, and the discomfited housekeeper was watching them from the door, he added:

"I don't know why that woman rubs my fur the wrong way, but she does. Isaiah Chase says he don't like mosquitoes 'cause they get on his nerves. I never thought I wore my nerves on the back of my neck, which is where Isaiah gets skeeter-bit mostly, but anyhow, wherever they be, that Hobbs woman bothers 'em. There's the barn, ain't it? Don't look very heavenly, but it may seem that way after a spell in t'other place. Now where's the carriage room?"

The door of the carriage room was open, and they entered. A buggy and the muslin draped surrey were there, but no living creature was in sight. They listened, but heard nothing.

"Mary! Mary-'Gusta!" called Baxter. "Are you here?"

No answer. And then, from beneath the cover of the surrey, appeared a fat tortoise-shell cat, who jumped lightly to the floor, yawned, stretched, and blinked suspiciously at the visitors.

"Humph!" grunted Captain Shadrach. "There's one stowaway, anyhow.

Maybe there's another; I've had 'em come aboard in pairs."

The Judge walked over to the surrey, and raised the cover. From behind it came a frightened little squeal.

"Oh, there you are!" said Baxter. "Mary-'Gusta, is that you?"

There was a rustle, a sob, and then a timid voice said, chokingly, "Yes, sir."

"Come out," said the Judge, kindly. "Come out; here are some friends who want to meet you."