Susan Clegg and Her Neighbors' Affairs Part 9

Then she limped home.

It was about nine that night that she returned and pounded vigorously on her friend's window-pane. Mrs. Lathrop woke from her rocker-nap, went to the window and opened it. Susan stood below and the moon illuminated her smile and her ears with its most silvery beams.

"He 's just gone!" she announced.

"Yes," said Mrs. Lathrop, rubbing her eyes.

"He's gone; I come over to tell you."

"What--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"I would n't care if my ears was as big as a elephant's now."

"Why--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

"Mrs. Lathrop, you know as I took them bonds straight after father died 'n' locked 'em up 'n' I ain't never unlocked 'em since?"

Mrs. Lathrop a.s.sented with a single rapt nod.

"Well, when I explained to Mr. Weskin as I 'd got to have money 'n' how was the best way to sell a bond, he just looked at me, 'n' what do you think he said--what _do_ you think he said, Mrs. Lathrop?"

Mrs. Lathrop hung far out over the window-sill--her gaze was the gaze of the ever earnest and interested.

Susan stood below. Her face was aglow with the joy of the affluent--her very voice might have been for once ent.i.tled as silvery.

"He said, Mrs. Lathrop, he said, 'Miss Clegg, why don't you go down to the bank and cut your coupons?'"

A VERY SUPERIOR MAN

Miss Clegg sat in Mrs. Lathrop's rocking-chair, on Mrs. Lathrop's kitchen stoop. Mrs. Lathrop sat at her friend's feet, picking over currants. If she picked over a great many she intended making jelly; if only a few, the result was to be a pie.

Susan had on her bonnet and mitts and held her sun-umbrella firmly gripped between her two hands and her two knees. She looked weary and worn.

"It seems kind o' funny that I bothered to go, now that I come to think it over," she said, gazing meditatively down upon her friend and her friend's currant-picking; "I wa'n't no relation of Rufus Timmans, 'n'

although I don't deny as it 's always a pleasure to go to any one's funeral, still it's a long ways to Meadville, 'n' the comin' back was most awful, not to speak o' havin' no dinner nowhere. It never makes no one brisk but a horse to go without eatin', 'n' I must in consequence say 't I was really very sorry as Rufus was dead durin' the last part of the drive; but o' course he was a very superior man, 'n' as a consequence n.o.body wanted to have it said in after life as they wa'n't to his buryin'. So I went along with the rest, 'n' Heaven help me now, for I never was more beat out in all my life. I was up awful early this mornin' to be sure o' not bein' left, 'n' I may in confidence remark as I 've thought many times to-day as if I had been left I 'd of been a sight better off. Long rides is very frisky for them as is young 'n' in love 'n' likes to drive alternate, but for a woman o' my age, bein'

wedged solid for sixteen miles at a time is most tryin'; 'n' comin' back some o' them smart Meadville boys had the fine idea o' puttin' walnuts under the seats, 'n' we rode most of the way thinkin' as they was our bones till Mr. Dill jus' got up 'n' whopped his cus.h.i.+on over to see if it 'd feel any different the other side, 'n' I may state as the results I shall remember till I die."

"Who--" began Mrs. Lathrop.

"Everybody!" said Susan; "I never knowed how superior Rufus was till I see how folks turned out for his funeral. Every minister 'n' doctor in the whole vicinity was there. The Lumbs drove way up from Clightville, got overturned in the brook by the old knife factory, but come along just the same. Old Mr. 'n' Mrs. Trumbull started day before yesterday as soon as they knowed he was dead 'n' ate with relations all the way along 'n' got them to come too whenever they could. They was seven buggies 'n'

two democrats when they arrived at last. Mrs. Macy was waitin' for me in the square when I got there this mornin' 'n' she told me as a city reporter had come up to write a account of it 'n' as Dr. Cogswell was goin' to be there. They say as a live bishop wanted to make the prayer but Rufus was so advanced in his views it seemed better not to come out too strong over his dead body. Mrs. Macy said it all showed what a very superior man he was. She says as she feels as maybe we did n't appreciate him enough. She says maybe we was prejudiced. Lord knows it's very hard not to be prejudiced agin' the folks you live among, 'n' I guess any one as see Rufus mildly stumblin' around losin'

pocket-handkerchiefs 'd of had a hard time regardin' him as superior; but he _was_ superior, 'n' Mrs. Macy says he _always_ was superior, for her aunt, old Mrs. Kitts, of Meadville, remembers when he was born, 'n'

Mrs. Macy says Mrs. Kitts always says as he was superior right from the start. She says as Mrs. Kitts says as Rufus's father was really 'most a nuisance, talkin' about his superiority even the very first week he was born. Mrs. Macy says Mrs. Kitts says that his father said right off the day he was born, as to his order o' thinkin' Rufus was different from other babies right then 'n' there. He told Mrs. Kitts hisself as he knowed folks was often fools over their first babies, 'n' he did n't calcalate to act no such part, but in common honesty he _must_ state as Rufus was 'way above the ordinary run, not because he was his baby, but just because it was the plain truth. Mrs. Kitts said she see Rufus herself when he wa'n't but three days old, 'n' she told Mrs. Macy as she must in truth confess as he looked then jus' about as he always looked--kind of too awful wise to have any sense a _tall_. Mrs. Macy says Mrs. Kitts says the superior thing about Rufus them first days was the way as his mother looked on him. Mrs. Kitts says Tabitha Timmans was a mos' remarkable woman, straight up her back 'n' all in 'n' out in front--one o' them women as is most all teeth--front teeth, 'n' Mrs.

Kitts said whenever she looked at Rufus she was all back teeth too. They had him in a clothes-basket to keep off draughts, with a quilt to pervent changes in the weather, 'n' a mosquito-nettin' for fear a fly might thaw out unexpectedly 'n' get near him. Mrs. Kitts said Tabitha Timmans was just about wild over him; she told Mrs. Kitts she felt it gallopin' up 'n' down her spine as how Rufus was surely goin' to grow up to be a inspector--or mebbe the president; she said any one could see he was in for bein' suthin' high up 'n' sort o' quiet 'n' important. Tilda Ann, Sammy Timmans's aunt, was there too. Mrs. Kitts says she always liked Tilda Ann, what little she see of her, even if she _was n't_ patient. Mrs. Macy says Mrs. Kitts says Tilda Ann never had no real fault, only her never bein' able to be patient. She says if Tilda Ann had only had a little patience it 'd of been a great deal better for her in the end, for if Tilda Ann 'd had a little more patience she 'd never have come scurryin' home cross-lots that night in the fog 'n' gone hickety-pickety over the well-curb, thinkin' it was a stone wall. Mrs.

Kitts says she never can help considerin' what a shock Tilda Ann must have got when she realized as she was over, 'n' so was everythin' else."

"My--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"But she was alive then," continued Susan, "'n' she was there takin'

care o' Tabitha 'n' watchin' over Rufus. Mrs. Kitts said it did n't take much to see as Tilda Ann had n't no particular admiration for Rufus; she said right then 'n' there, as to her order o' thinkin,' Tabitha 'd ought to teach him to quit suckin' his thumb right off,--she said as it was a most terrible job when they got bigger. Mrs. Kitts said Tabitha said as not many babies was smart enough to suck their thumbs at Rufus's age, 'n' then Tilda Ann said as not many mothers was fool enough to let 'em.

Mrs. Kitts said Tilda Ann was never one to mince words. She always said jus' what she thought, 'n' that was a very bad thing for her too, for afore she died she 'd said jus' what she thought to so many people that they had great difficulty gettin' a party together to hunt for her that day as she turned up missin' on a'count of bein' down in the well.

"While we was talkin'--Mrs. Macy 'n' me--up Gran'ma Mullins come 'n' it turned out from her as we was all three expected to squeeze over to Meadville on Mr. Jilkins's back seat together. Mrs. Macy 'n' me was far from pleased at that prospeck, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins did n't look over rejoiced herself. There is them as can wedge, 'n' them as can't, 'n' we was all three the kind as can't. I ain't as wide as Mrs. Macy, nor yet the soft and squashy kind like Gran'ma Mullins, but I will say, Mrs.

Lathrop, as bein' overflowed around for sixteen miles, is to my order o'

thinkin' full as tryin' as to be overflowin' aroun' somebody else."

"I--" said Mrs. Lathrop, mildly.

"No, you would n't either," said Susan, "I know you better 'n you know yourself, Mrs. Lathrop, for I know you asleep 'n' awake, 'n' you only know yourself awake; not as asleep 'n' awake is n't very much the same thing with you, Mrs. Lathrop; but asleep or awake, the main fact is as I know most, so you can just keep still till I get done with what I 'm sayin'."

Mrs. Lathrop kept still.

"Well, after it was settled as, w.i.l.l.y-nilly, we'd got to back-seat it to Meadville together, Gran'ma Mullins begin about what a very superior man Rufus was 'n' what a very superior boy he used to be. Mrs. Macy did n't say nothin', 'cause it was easy to see as she 'd really took it a good deal to heart bein' thirded for sixteen miles; but Gran'ma Mullins went right on with when she lived in Meadville 'n' taught school that winter she was seventeen. She said as Rufus was in her middle cla.s.s that winter 'n' _mos_' superior. He was nine 'n' the oldest o' nine, there bein' two pairs o' twins; she said it looked like Tabitha 'n' Sammy had took the Bible about replenis.h.i.+n' the earth right on to their own shoulders.

Gran'ma Mullins said it was suthin' to make any one content to teach school forever, only to look at 'em; she said she should always think it was that as made all the men in Meadville so ready to go to the war 'n'

the women so calm over their gettin' killed; she said no one wanted to get married there, anyhow."

"But she--" interposed Mrs. Lathrop, quickly.

"Well, but she knew he had a bullet in him 'n the Roman fever 'n' a pension," said Susan, "she knowed she was pretty safe--I would n't blame her under them circ.u.mstances. But that's neither here nor anywhere else, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' what with your interruptin' Lord knows when we will get around to Rufus, for I keep forgettin' he 's dead 'n' rememberin'

him alive, 'n' no one as remembers Rufus Timmans alive could ever tell anything about him, 'n' you know that as well as I do. Gran'ma Mullins said herself to-day as he was a great problem to her in school, 'n' she used to study him out of all comparison to the other children. Every one admitted as he was superior, 'n' yet no one knowed jus' why. She says he really _was_ superior in lots o' ways, 'n' he whittled her a open-work ink-stand once for a Christmas as she 's used for toothpicks ever since, but she says the inside o' his ideas was surely most amazin'. She says she had him for two years, 'n' all she could say was as in all them two years she was mostly struck dumb by him. She says she used to go up 'n'

talk to Tabitha, 'n' Tilda Ann used to come down 'n' talk with her, but nothin' ever seemed to come of it. Tilda Ann declared up 'n' down as he was a fool through 'n' through, 'n' poor Tabitha was awful nervous for fear he 'd invent somethin' in bed some night as would surely blow the house up. Seems he was so ahead at ten years old that he wanted to study to be a chemist, 'n' so behind that he spelt it 'kemst,' 'n' him all of ten years old.

"Gran'ma Mullins said she used to be clean beside herself; he was the show-boy whenever the board came, 'n' never got his lessons between times. She says she always knowed he 'd turn out _some way_, but Tilda Ann never had no opinion of him a _tall_. Not as Tilda Ann's opinion mattered much, 'cause she climbed into the well just about then, 'n'

Rufus looked out a verse for her tombstone in the Bible. It was a very good motto for her too,--it was, 'Well done, thou good 'n' faithful servant'; it made a lot o' talk, 'cause she really never was paid nothin', but the sentiment about the well was very pretty, 'n' every one thought Tilda Ann herself would have liked it if she 'd stayed up 'n' so had any say in the matter.

"Gran'ma Mullins went on to say as she got married soon after, so she run out of talk, an' Mrs. Macy 'n' me was so tired listenin' to her anyway that we was all more 'n' content jus' to stand aroun' 'n' wait till the Jilkinses come drivin' up. Then we all had to up 'n' in somehow, 'n' I will say, Mrs. Lathrop, as wedgin' Mrs. Macy an' Gran'ma Mullins was certainly a sight to see. They was for puttin' me in the middle, but I was flat for a outside so 's I could breathe, 'n' in the end Mrs. Jilkins set between me 'n' Gran'ma Mullins, 'n' Mrs. Macy set with Mr. Jilkins--what of her did n't hang over outside."

"What did--" began Mrs. Lathrop.

"There was n't no other way to get 'em both there--that's why," said Susan; "there was them as went on the cars, but that was n't no great success, for they was so late that Rufus had his lid all on afore they got there, so they really had very little for their money. 'N' besides, if we 'd all gone on the cars, how was we to get to the grave? Rufus was well this side o' Meadville, 'n' the cemetery's some further this way, 'n' whatever your views may be I hope you don't mind my sayin' right out as other folks' views is always more sensible. You can't be expected to know much, Mrs. Lathrop, with your few church privileges 'n' your parlor too small for the sewin' society; but if you was less inclined to talk 'n' more inclined to listen to me I may in confidence remark as you _might_ learn about the funeral--even if you never learned nothin' else in this world."

Mrs. Lathrop was again silent forthwith.

"Drivin' over we all talked about Rufus. We had really a very pleasant ride, for we was all disposed to view him kindly goin' over. Mrs. Macy told over again what a superior baby he was, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins told over again what a superior boy he was, 'n' Mrs. Macy said as Mrs. Kitts said as he was the talk o' the town when he was twenty-one. Gran'ma Mullins did n't remember much about him then, 'cause she got married along about that time, 'n' she 's always said that them who gets married don't need nothin' else to do for one while; but Mrs. Macy said Rufus was one o' the most superior young men as Mrs. Kitts ever see. She said as old Mr. Tilley took him right into the heart 'n' soul o' his drug-store jus' because his mother was his cousin, 'n' even then the general feelin' was as he was way above the business. Mrs. Macy said as Mrs. Kitts said she 'd never forget goin' in one day for some salts 'n'

finding Rufus all alone. Why, she said she never had known he was so head 'n' shoulders above other people! She says she 's told the story a million times 'n' it 's still fresh in her mind. She said she asked for simple salts, 'n' he begun right off about a comet. She felt awful uncomfortable to have to say as she had n't seen no comet, 'n' then it turned out no wonder, 'cause you could only see it from China an'