The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 27 May 1915, Page 3

The Storyteller

THE IMPOSSIBLE MANNERS OF COUSIN BECKY One mild, hazy morning in May the postman worked slowly back and forth across Stuyvesant place—the shady street, only a block long, that is tucked 'away in a corner of Washington. Presently, arriving at the front door of Billy Keenan's house, he delivered into the hands of Mrs. Billy a letter postmarked ■' Haverly, 'Oh!' cried Mrs. Billy Keenan, with a smile flashing across her flushed face. ' It's from Cousin Becky. Whatever can she be up to?' The postman had no information to give on that subject, and departed with a genial grin. Mrs. Billy carried the letter into the kitchen, where for some time she had been wrestling with a refractory peach cobbler for dinner. When she had read the brief letter she laughed, and exclaimed aloud, ' The very thing 1 I wish Billy would come right away to hear it!' But it so happened that at the moment Billy .was standing in a group of Mrs. Billy's ' inlaws,' in their sumptuous house in Dupont Circle, he was listening to a plot against Mrs. Billy. ' There's no reason under the sun,' Billy's mother declared energetically, ' why your wife shouldn't come with us this year to the coast of Maine,, instead of staying in this hot, hot city.' Billy, a rising and enthusiastic member of the Forest Service, stared uneasily at his mother. ' No reason under the sun,' he murmured, ' except the 40 dollars a week for her board, when our house isn't paid for yet.' Thereupon, Billy's sister Belle, who had married 20,000 dollars a year, entered the argument with a broadside. Belle never missed an opportunity to deliver an adverse opinion in Billy's presence or a complimentary one behind his back. 'What if you do miss one payment on that little cooped-up house of yours! The very idea, anyway, of buying a house off there in such a very commonplace neighborhood ! If you insist on your wife's coming with us she'll meet some of the best people in Washington.' Billy stuck out his chest and said, ' Shucks !' And then he democratically added, ' The very best people live in our neighborhood !' ' When Senator Brown's wife met her here last week,' said Mrs. Keenan, ' she said that your wife was one of the dearest girls she had ever met. And the Senator and his wife are to occupy rooms on the same floor with us.'Billy's chest fell and his chin'dropped meditatively. Half an hour later he walked away from the neighborhood of Dupont Circle, where dwelt the other members of the Keenan family, toward Stuyvesant Place, in which children played noisily and real neighbors sat out in their little dooryards and called cheerily to each other. And as he walked, his jaw was set for an argument with Mrs. Billy. From their front steps she saw him coming, and hastened to meet him with an open letter in her hand. Billy, being engaged in mustering the points of his argument, did not see that her eyes were glowing with joyful news. He even failed to notice the open letter. The moment they met he launched forth upon his argument. ' Well, your fate for the summer has been decided,' he began, with an effort to be jocular.. '„ It's you for the hotel piazza and the cool surf and association with the first families of the land, while I'm grubbing round among the pines of Wyoming.' By the time he was ready to make the telling points of his argument, they had reached the tiny living-room of the house on which a payment was almost due. ' You know, dear,' he went on, ' that when the matter of the year's appropriations comes up in Congress, Senator Brown always tries to cut down on the Forest Service. He shows that, he has never given our work the study it deserves.' Billy always became en-

thusiastic on the subject of his department. ' Now' it - seems K to me that what's needed most i ; is for the fellows who fdo * the . actual work to get i into touch with the men who .. handle the ~ nation's -.money « and ; show 'em what's being done for the nation's : good with that ; >money. If you were a friend of Senator and Mrs. ? . Brown there's, every likelihood; that one worker could ■ r get the" needs of the department before the Senator.' : Here Billy smote his broad chest vigorously. : '. Mrs. Billy sat still, with ' the open letter in her ~ hands, and listened attentively. As she looked at Billy a curious little smile hoveled about her red, " curved lips; in her big dark eyes was an expression of love, and Mrs. Brown there's every likelihood knew well that her in-laws, in asking her to come with them, were not thinking particularly of the good-of the Forest Service. ;.-.-. Her in-laws were fond of Mrs. Billy, and were determined to draw her socially nearer to Bupont Circle. ; ' Where Billy's salary would never support us,' Mrs. Billy said to herself. And live within that salary we snail ! Nor shall I pay 40 dollars a week for the doubtful chance of becoming a friend of the wife of a man who has a voice in congressional committees and miss a payment on this house Not much But of all that she said not a word aloud. Her news was a sufficient bomb in -itself. 'Billy, Cousin Becky has invited herself to spend the summer with me here.' She held up the letter. /Billy sat down on the couch so hard that he bounced. The dickens she has! Cousin Becky! I thought she was wedded to Haverly, Pennsylvania, winter and summer. You write her that your summer .is otherwise spoken for.' Mrs. Billy looked straight at Billy. ' You know, that I can't, dear. It's the first time she has ever asked anything of me in all my lifeand, Billy, you know that I wouldn't be here if it were not for Cousin Becky.' Billy knew, and his eyes wavered; then he rumpled his hair savagely; then he groaned. Cousin Becky had brought Mrs. Billy up as far as three feet and ten years. And it had been a struggle, for Mrs. Billy had been a frail child. The next morning, however, Billy had a bright idea. ' Why not take her to Maine with you ? She can afford it and she'd like to go. Tell her that Washington is insufferably hot in summer, and ' Mrs. Billy shook her head. ' That wouldn't do, Billy. Cousin Becky would never fit into a4O dollar-a-week hotel. Ask your mother.' After an interview with his relatives, Billy saw clearly that Mrs. Billy was right. ' What !' his sister Belle ejaculated. ' Her Cousin Becky! She has the most impossible manners of any one I ever saw. Why must she appear and spoil our plans V But appear she did. She arrived in the middle of June, when the thermometer had shot up to a hundred in the shade. It hung there while the in-laws were languidly preparing to leave for the Maine coast. She arrived the day after Congress had adjourned, and Senator Brown had made a speech on the wastefulness of-, the management of the Forest Service. An hour before she arrived at the Union Station Billy left it, departing westward for his summer's work in the national forest preserves of Wyoming. She carried a telescope bag strapped together with wool twine; she at once asked Mrs. Billy to point out to her a real live chief justice ! Mrs. Billy, on whose cheeks were still glistening the tears caused by Billy's departure, laughed and clung A half hysterically to her straight, sharp-eyed, tireless W cousin. The Supreme Court has adjourned, Cousin Becky, and the justices have scattered.' - - Cousin Becky set the bag down in the pathway of a stream of hurrying travellers. ' And Congress V she demanded, with her bonnet hunched over one ear. . Adjourned yesterday.' ir - ' And the President?' Cousin Becky's voice soared. ■ C■■•• -'-•• Mrs. Billy tugged, at the corded bag. He leaves to-morrow for his summer home, the papers say.' ■

=; Cousin Becky thumped her bonnet vindictively, and sent it - over the /other.; ear ;'; then, as she '•. swooped - down on 'her bag, she hurled one. last •; question: ; .< Do the . stores have bargain 'days in summer V \ '■. 'X f'< ""• ~~" v . " ! J.T o-:: ; .,;- : Ui . 'Oh, any number of them !' cried Mrs Billy eagerly. ' Friday- is always bargain day, and to-morrow is Friday!' ::' ; _.>.', £-;;■:;$* '. : "'/". ..■-•'■.■■'■'.•-;'.■■:;'-■ *•-.- •. ... : - -?_,■.- Then,' said Cousin Becky, setting, out at a rapid pace, ' let's get home and rested as soon as ■we can. Next to seeing people who amount to something, I like bargain hunting. I haven't bought anything for a year, just looking forward to being here this summer.' Mrs. Billy's heart sank as she thought of the heat and the crowded stores bargain day but she thought also of the first ten years of her _life, and did not falter. - . ■ --- , A hot June faded into July. The in-laws invaded Stuyvesant Place, and shook hands with the impossiblemannered Cousin Becky. They also kissed Mrs. Billy good-bye, and remarked with peculiar emphasis that Senator Thomas Brown and his wife were already on the Maine coast. Mrs. Billy looked guilty, and Cousin Becky abruptly asked whether-Senator Brown had tow hair and was cross-eyed. The in-laws hastened to inform her that his hair was a mixture of brown and grey, and that his eyes were not crossed. ' I should admire to see a real live Senator,' she announced in a loud voice, Cousin Becky, being slightly deaf, was determined to hear at least one voice distinctly, and that was her own. The in-laws departed, shuddering, ' Such awful manners!' murmured Belle, as they climbed into her automobile. 'lt's a shame that Billy allowed such a person to interfere with our plans to promote his wife socially !' The following day the in-laws departed with much baggage for Maine. As they travelled north in the intense heat, a cold wave hastened south to meet them. It struck the coast of Maine, and sent people shivering indoors. It reached New York, and millions breathed in relief. It continued south, and made bargain hunting delightful to Cousin Becky and tolerable to Mrs. Billy. And having come, the cold wave, to everyone's surprise, remained. On July 20th Mrs. Billy received a letter from her in-laws, imploring her to go to their closed houses and send them their winter wraps. On August Ist the elder Mrs. Keenan sent a request for her furs, and on the first Friday in the month Cousin Becky decided to include a coat among her day's bargains. ' I declare,' she exclaimed from the bay window," where she sat scanning the advertisements in the daily papers, ' I never saw such weather iu all my born days! It seems just made for us. I've got round this capital comfortably and seen all there is to see, I guess, except the men who do things. I should admire to see some real live —■' Here she came to a sudden stop, for her eye had caught a news item sandwiched between a notice of patent leather belts reduced in price to forty-nine cents, and another of shoes sold at a dollar less than the original price. ' Huh !' she commented as she read. ' Came back to Washington to get warm, did he ? Can't stand the rigors of a Maine summer ! Bathed once in the ocean, and hasn't been able to speak out loud since ! Huh ! Now I wonder did he ever have a tow head and squint eyes! ' She glanced thoughtfully at Mrs. Billy, who was clearing away the breakfast dishes. Once she opened her lips to ask a question, and closed them again with a chuckle. ' Some things are best done first and talked about afterward !' she muttered. ' But I should admire to see—' She rose, and set her straight, strong old figure down in front of the desk. The following afternoon Mrs. Billy invited her cousin to take a long electric car ride up the Potomac to the Cabin John Bridge, and to her surprise met with a refusal. Cousin Becky; it seemed, wished to stay at home that afternoon. She did not-even want to read instead, she sat silently! in the bay window and watched the broad, short street.

~ .A* f ° Ur o'clock v the purr of an automobile broke the quiet of the block, and Cousin Becky, leaning forward, exclaimed excitedly, 'Ha, of course I was right! It used to Be tow, and." the spectacles have taken out the squint 1' : M oment later, 1 to : little Mrs. Billy's stupefaction, Cousin Becky" was introducing her to a man with a hoarse voice, and spectacled eyes that for the time being had a tendency to water. August and the cold wave passed out together, and September, warm and welcome, arrived. September brought Billy to Washington. He came home. brown, healthy, and overjoyed to, find Mrs. Billy well and contented. Shortly after his arrival, Cousin Becky returned to Haverly, Pennsylvania, happy in innumerable pleasant memories of her visit, and in a vast assortment of bargains. September also brought the in-laws back to Washington, and brought their automobile in the course of time to the door of the Billy Keenans. 'Where's Billy?' asked the elder Mrs. Keenan, as she kissed her daughter-in-law affectionately. Mrs. Billy's eyes twinkled as she looked up at Mrs. Keenan. He's gone to Virginia for the day, to look into the habits of that new moth that's playing havoc with the trees in the Southand Senator Brown has gone with him.' ' What. !' exclaimed M. Keenan. . Senator Brown!' cried Belle. Mrs. Billy nodded, ami her dimples threatened to appear.- 'That's what I said. The Senator came and took Billy in his car this morning. I put up a, Umch for them; they won't be home again till night. They have .grown to be very great friends. The Senator is already immensely interested in tree culture and free preservation and tree value, and tree effect on the climate, and— ' 'Stop!' said Belle. 'Tell us how ever did - that come about.' Mrs. Billy's repressed dimples flashed forth then and her eyes sparkled. ' Through Cousin Becky,' she said, softly. ' Cousin Becky!' cried Mrs. Keenan the eider. ' Through Cousin—' Mrs. Billy opened the desk and took out a sheet of paper. ' Here's a copy of the letter she wrote to him when he came back from Maine.' She held it out to her motherin-law. 'He wouldn't give up the original.' Mrs. Keenan took the sheet and read aloud, in a voice that was a succession of exclamations, a letter duly dated and properly headed and signed by Cousin Becky. ' If,' Mrs. Keenan read, ' you are the tow-haired, "cross-eyed Tommy Brown who stayed in Haverly one summer, and put a mud turtle in my pail of cream to fatten, and got spanked for it, I want you to come and see me, for I want to know if your hair is still of the same color, and if you are as naughty as ever.' — Exchange.