CHAPTER VII
WE VISIT COUSIN MATTIE'S
One Saturday in March we walked over to Baywater, for a long-
talked-of visit to Cousin Mattie Dilke. By the road, Baywater was
six miles away, but there was a short cut across hills and fields
and woods which was scantly three. We did not look forward to our
visit with any particular delight, for there was nobody at Cousin
Mattie's except grown-ups who had been grown up so long that it
was rather hard for them to remember they had ever been children.
But, as Felicity told us, it was necessary to visit Cousin Mattie
at least once a year, or else she would be "huffed," so we
concluded we might as well go and have it over.
"Anyhow, we'll get a splendiferous dinner," said Dan. "Cousin
Mattie's a great cook and there's nothing stingy about her."
"You are always thinking of your stomach," said Felicity
pleasantly.
"Well, you know I couldn't get along very well without it,
darling," responded Dan who, since New Year's, had adopted a new
method of dealing with Felicity--whether by way of keeping his
resolution or because he had discovered that it annoyed Felicity
far more than angry retorts, deponent sayeth not. He invariably
met her criticisms with a good-natured grin and a flippant remark
with some tender epithet tagged on to it. Poor Felicity used to
get hopelessly furious over it.
Uncle Alec was dubious about our going that day. He looked abroad
on the general dourness of gray earth and gray air and gray sky,
and said a storm was brewing. But Cousin Mattie had been sent
word that we were coming, and she did not like to be disappointed,
so he let us go, warning us to stay with Cousin Mattie all night
if the storm came on while we were there.
We enjoyed our walk--even Felix enjoyed it, although he had been
appointed to write up the visit for Our Magazine and was rather
weighed down by the responsibility of it. What mattered it though
the world were gray and wintry? We walked the golden road and
carried spring time in our hearts, and we beguiled our way with
laughter and jest, and the tales the Story Girl told us--myths and
legends of elder time.
The walking was good, for there had lately been a thaw and
everything was frozen. We went over fields, crossed by spidery
trails of gray fences, where the withered grasses stuck forlornly
up through the snow; we lingered for a time in a group of hill
pines, great, majestic tree-creatures, friends of evening stars;
and finally struck into the belt of fir and maple which intervened
between Carlisle and Baywater. It was in this locality that Peg
Bowen lived, and our way lay near her house though not directly in
sight of it. We hoped we would not meet her, for since the affair
of the bewitchment of Paddy we did not know quite what to think of
Peg; the boldest of us held his breath as we passed her haunts,
and drew it again with a sigh of relief when they were safely left
behind.
The woods were full of the brooding stillness that often precedes
a storm, and the wind crept along their white, cone-sprinkled
floors with a low, wailing cry. Around us were solitudes of snow,
arcades picked out in pearl and silver, long avenues of untrodden
marble whence sprang the cathedral columns of the firs. We were
all sorry when we were through the woods and found ourselves
looking down into the snug, commonplace, farmstead-dotted
settlement of Baywater.
"There's Cousin Mattie's house--that big white one at the turn of
the road," said the Story Girl. "I hope she has that dinner
ready, Dan. I'm hungry as a wolf after our walk."
"I wish Cousin Mattie's husband was still alive," said Dan. "He
was an awful nice old man. He always had his pockets full of nuts
and apples. I used to like going there better when he was alive.
Too many old women don't suit me."
"Oh, Dan, Cousin Mattie and her sisters-in-law are just as nice
and kind as they can be," reproached Cecily.
"Oh, they're kind enough, but they never seem to see that a fellow
gets over being five years old if he only lives long enough,"
retorted Dan.
"I know a story about Cousin Mattie's husband," said the Story
Girl. "His name was Ebenezer, you know--"
"Is it any wonder he was thin and stunted looking?" said Dan.
"Ebenezer is just as nice a name as Daniel," said Felicity.
"Do you REALLY think so, my angel?" inquired Dan, in honey-sweet
tones.
"Go on. Remember your second resolution," I whispered to the
Story Girl, who was stalking along with an outraged expression.
The Story Girl swallowed something and went on.
"Cousin Ebenezer had a horror of borrowing. He thought it was
simply a dreadful disgrace to borrow ANYTHING. Well, you know he
and Cousin Mattie used to live in Carlisle, where the Rays now
live. This was when Grandfather King was alive. One day Cousin
Ebenezer came up the hill and into the kitchen where all the
family were. Uncle Roger said he looked as if he had been
stealing sheep. He sat for a whole hour in the kitchen and hardly
spoke a word, but just looked miserable. At last he got up and
said in a desperate sort of way, 'Uncle Abraham, can I speak with
you in private for a minute?' 'Oh, certainly,' said grandfather,
and took him into the parlour. Cousin Ebenezer shut the door,
looked all around him and then said imploringly, 'MORE PRIVATE
STILL.' So grandfather took him into the spare room and shut that
door. He was getting frightened. He thought something terrible
must have happened Cousin Ebenezer. Cousin Ebenezer came right up
to grandfather, took hold of the lapel of his coat, and said in a
whisper, 'Uncle Abraham, CAN--YOU--LEND--ME--AN--AXE?'"
"He needn't have made such a mystery about it," said Cecily, who
had missed the point entirely, and couldn't see why the rest of us
were laughing. But Cecily was such a darling that we did not mind
her lack of a sense of humour.
"It's kind of mean to tell stories like that about people who are
dead," said Felicity.
"Sometimes it's safer than when they're alive though, sweetheart,"
commented Dan.
We had our expected good dinner at Cousin Mattie's--may it be
counted unto her for righteousness. She and her sisters-in-law,
Miss Louisa Jane and Miss Caroline, were very kind to us. We had
quite a nice time, although I understood why Dan objected to them
when they patted us all on the head and told us whom we resembled
and gave us peppermint lozenges.
