University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.
A NEW FURNACE AND A NEW COOK.

A difficulty now arose, not at all connected
with the much-talked-of party. Mrs.
Hopkins protested that she was never in so
cold a house; that it took Dorcas full half the
time to go to the door, and carry up coal for
the nursery and parlour; she must have a furnace.
It was enough for Dorcas, or any other
girl, to take care of that mischievous little
rogue Johnny, and it was a man's work to
make fires, run on errands, &c.

“Now,” said she, “I believe I heard you talking
of giving a party yesterday afternoon. It
will be just the thing to get a coloured man,
for he can carry the invitations, and attend to
the door when the company arrives; and it
will give quite an air of gentility to the establishment.”

She forgot, when she spoke of having heard
about the party, that she exposed herself to
the suspicion of being a listener at the door, a

thing she was quite in the habit of doing, that
she might, by means of what she overheard,
adapt herself to circumstances.

Poor Mrs. Harley again felt a sinking of the
heart. It appeared to her that no woman was
ever tried like her before. Mr. Harley's reluctance
to comply with her wishes rose before
her, together with the housekeeper's continual
demands for more help; and an intimation
that Abigail would leave unless her wages
were increased, tormented her extremely. In
addition to all these things, Dorcas began to
put on airs, and to answer with great impertinence,
while she grew heedless, dirty, and
careless of Johnny. Still, she dared not breathe
her complaints to Mr. Harley until the party
was over; that was the first and last thought
about which time and money were alike expended.
It so happened that Mr. Harley was
engaged to a whist-party that evening, and as
he never returned till she was asleep, she made
no advance in any of her new plans till the
next day.

Early the next morning she interrogated
her husband respecting the expediency of setting
a furnace, alleging as a principal reason

that their little boy was kept so cold creeping
about the house, and it took Dorcas so much
of the time to bring up the coal, that she should
be thankful to have a uniform temperature
with so little trouble.

“I suppose,” said Mr. Harley, “this too is
the wise instigation of the housekeeper.” But
he had before thought that he must adopt some
expedient to economize in coal, for during the
past winter they had consumed double the
quantity they did the last, yet they had been
kept hardly comfortable; a fact which was
undoubtedly to be attributed to Dorcas, who
always left the doors open, unless when explicitly
and at the time told to do otherwise.
It therefore required no forcible argument to
procure a furnace in the house.

“I have been thinking, too,” said Mrs. Harley,
“that we had better send out our invitations
soon. Let us set a time, and shape our
purposes accordingly: suppose we say the
twenty-sixth of March? and the next thing is,
whom shall we invite? and how many will
our rooms hold? though we may venture to
invite twice the number our house will accommodate,
since not more than half the number

will come. But whom shall we despatch
with the invitations?”

“Why not let Robert, our youngest boy at
the store, take them? he knows all about the
city,” said Mr. Harley.

“Oh! dear husband, don't spoil the very beginning.
There is Jethro Moody, who will
take them all for a trifle; besides, we shall
want him several days before and after the
party. You know there is always a great deal
of hurry before the time, and a great many
calls after. We will keep him to go to the
door.”

“Somehow or other,” said Mr. Harley, “you
seem to be growing amazingly stylish lately;
who would know whether Jethro or Robert
left the notes?”

“Why, my dear, I heard Mrs. Gerrish ask
yesterday, when an invitation came, who
brought it? People think more of these little
things than you are aware.”

“It only shows that they have no large affairs
to busy their heads about,” said Mr. Harley;
“however, you may have Jethro, if you
like; Robert is always employed at the store.”

About ten on the same morning Mrs. Hopkins

came up, delighted at having carried her
purposes into effect, and informing Mrs. Harley
that the man had come to see about the
furnace, added, “It will make a great deal of
dust and dirt, and whoever lives here while it
is going on deserves higher wages than usual.”

“Don't trouble me,” said Mrs. Harley; “go
on just as you like. You know you are at
perfect liberty to act as if the house were your
own.”

This liberty the worthy housekeeper had
long ago assumed.

While the confusion was so great in the
house, Mrs. Harley thought it would be a favourable
time to go out and select a dress for
the party. She accordingly procured a pattern
of every shade of velvet and satin, and
teased the dressmakers, and racked her own
brains to discover which would be the most
becoming.

It so happened that while the furnace was
setting, and the bricks and mortar carried to
the cellar, that the air of the house was colder
than usual; and Dorcas, wishing to see all
that was going on (being in favour with the
housekeeper because she told no secrets), took

Johnny into the kitchen. The consequence
was, that, being predisposed to the croup, a violent
cold brought on a severe attack of it, so
that the succeeding night it assumed an alarming
aspect, and, had not medical aid afforded
a quick relief, the child could not have survived.
In this critical season, we may say
with truth that Mrs. Harley forgot entirely
her dress and her party for the first time for
many days. As soon, however, as the child
appeared out of danger, she recommenced her
perambulations, though not without charging
Mrs. Hopkins to see that Dorcas did her duty
and kept the doors shut.

In a few days the furnace was completed,
and answered its purpose admirably. But,
doomed to perpetual change, as those must be
who intrust the management of their affairs to
others, Mrs. Harley was interrupted one morning
by Abigail, who appeared, bundle in hand,
demanding her wages.

“Why, what has happened?” asked Mrs.
Harley.

“Happened! why, enough to provoke a saint,
ma'am: that old jade of a housekeeper has stolen
money from my trunk; and if you knew

one half about her that I do, you would not
give up your whole house to her in this way.
If you miss anything, you need not accuse me
of stealing! I could tell things enough, if I
chose, about false keys, and going to your
drawers when you are out, but I wont.”

Abigail, having raised her voice above its
natural tone, was overheard by Mrs. Hopkins,
who stood listening in the entry. Fired with
indignation, she burst into the room, and they
criminated and recriminated each other, until
Mrs. Harley was obliged to order them both
out of the room, telling them she “did wish
they would settle their own difficulties, as she
had enough to do to write the invitations to
her party.”

“But if you will only pay me, I will be off,”
said Abigail, “for I will not stay to the party
with such a mistress as Mrs. Hopkins over me,
I can assure you. If you will allow me to tell
you a piece of my mind, I should think you had
better look after your accounts at the grocer's,
and find out who it is that puts Dorcas up to
her impudence.”

Do, Abigail, try and compose yourself,” said
Mrs. Harley, “and stay till the first of April.

Your work will be lighter now, since Jethro is
coming to assist in the family.”

“Oh la! I wouldn't live with a negro if I
didn't hate that old Mrs. Hopkins. `Birds of
a feather may flock together;”' and then she
commenced another tirade full of insinuations
about the housekeeper's trunks. At length,
finding that she could not get her money till
Mr. Harley came from the store, she laid her
bonnet and bundle on the kitchen table, awaiting
his return.

“What can be done to keep things quiet till
after the party,” thought Mrs. Harley. “Can
Mrs. Hopkins be what Abigail says she is?”
And then a vague suspicion came over her
that an embroidered handkerchief which she
had missed could not have dropped from her
muff. Other things, too, had disappeared
strangely; and what did the account-book
mean? She hoped everything would not be
disclosed by Abigail when Mr. Harley paid
her. Then the thought struck her that she
could go to the store and obtain money, and
dismiss Abigail directly. But who would take
her place? She resolved to let Mrs. Hopkins
go and find some one for herself at the intelligence

office, where she kept a yearly account,
for convenience' sake, as she was obliged to
change so often. She related her plans to her
confidential, trusty housekeeper, who, congratulating
herself that she was likely to get off
so easily, readily fell in with the proposal, and
even offered to take upon herself the office of
cook till one could be obtained. She had an
eye to the party, and, moreover, was aware
that in no other place could she so effectually
cheat and blind the eyes of her employer.

Mrs. Hopkins repaired immediately to the
intelligence office, as she resolved that she
would not lower herself by doing the drudgery
of the family a single day, if she could
help it. Not being very particular in her
choice, she begged the keeper of the office to
send a cook of some description that very day.
Now a really good servant could not be easily
induced to go to Mrs. Harley's, because they
had acquired the reputation of being difficult
to please, and of making frequent changes,
while affairs were very badly managed.

Mrs. Hopkins waited till the last moment
before she went about preparing dinner. She
had but a very simple one, because, as she alleged

in the morning, she could not burn herself
to death over the fire; but it was nearly
completed, when, with paper in hand, giving
proof that she was fresh from the office, a dejected,
poorly-clad woman entered. Upon inquiry,
she gave no very flattering account of
herself. She had a bad husband, and two or
three young children at board, and she wished
to obtain the situation of cook, because she
could command more wages in this department.
As this latter clause did not trouble
Mrs. Hopkins, and having perfect liberty delegated
to her, she immediately agreed to give
the new cook two dollars a week.

Mrs. Harley returned to dinner with her
husband, and Mrs. Hopkins explained to them
that wages were rising, and knowing that there
must be some extra work about the time of
the party, she thought it best to pay liberally,
and make them work freely. This satisfied
Mrs. Harley far better than her husband. He
inwardly detested Mrs. Hopkins, and resolved
that, before long, her dismissal should make
one of the many changes in his household.