The Princess and Joe Potter Part 15

Plums failed to see that he had soiled the floor to any extent, but both he and Joe obeyed the command instantly, and while they were engaged in what seemed to them useless labour, the small woman wiped carefully, with a damp cloth, the dusty imprints of their shoes from the floor.

"I never had any experience in my own family with boys," the odd-looking little woman said, half to herself, "and perhaps that's why I don't understand 'em any better; but I never could make out why they should be so reckless with dirt."

"I didn't think my shoes were so dusty when I come in, else I'd taken them off," Joe said, apologetically. "You see, ma'am, we never saw a floor as clean as this one."

This compliment was evidently pleasing, for the small woman looked up kindly at her guests, and said, in a friendly tone:

"Don't call me 'ma'am,' child. I've been 'aunt Dorcas' to all the children in this neighbourhood ever since I can remember, and anything else doesn't sound natural."

"Do you want us to call you 'aunt Dorcas'?" Joe asked, in surprise, and Plums winked gravely at his companion.

"Of course I do. Now, if your feet are clean, sit down, and I'll get the pie."

The boys tiptoed their way to the table, as if by such method they would be less liable to soil the floor, and aunt Dorcas, taking the lamp with her, disappeared through a door which evidently led to the cellar, leaving them in the darkness.

"Say, ain't this the greatest snap you ever struck?" Plums whispered.

"I'll bet aunt Dorcas is a dandy, an' if Dan Fernald knew what he's missin', he'd jest about kick hisself black an' blue."

Master Plummer was still better satisfied with the situation when their hostess returned with a large custard pie, which she placed on the table, and immediately afterwards disappeared within the cellar-way again.

"She's gone for more stuff!" Plums said, in a tone of delight. "If there ain't too much work to be done 'round this place, I'd like to stay here a year."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "SHE HAD A PLATE HEAPED HIGH WITH COOKIES."]

When aunt Dorcas entered the kitchen again, she had a plate heaped high with cookies, on the top of which were three generous slices of cheese.

This collection was placed by the side of the pie; the odd little woman brought plates, knives, and forks, and two napkins from the pantry, and, having arranged everything in proper order, said, as she stood facing the boys, with her head slightly inclined to one side, until to Joe she presented much the appearance of a sparrow:

"If you can eat all there is here, I'll bring more, an' willingly.

Afterwards, we will talk about what is to be done for the night."

"I can eat an' talk, too, jest as well as not," Plums said, as he drew the pie towards him.

Perhaps aunt Dorcas thought he intended to appropriate the whole to himself, for she hurriedly cut it into four pieces, one of which she placed on his plate.

From Plums's manner of beginning the feast, there was good reason to believe he had told the truth when he said he was starving, and, as she watched him, an expression of deepest sympathy came over aunt Dorcas's face.

"It's too bad I haven't some meat to give you, child, for you must be famis.h.i.+ng."

"I'd rather have this," Plums replied, speaking with difficulty, because of the fullness of his mouth, and it appeared to his hostess as if he had no sooner begun on a quarter of the pie than it disappeared.

She gave the fat boy another section of the yellow dainty, watching him like one fascinated, as he devoured it. Then Plums began an onslaught on the cookies, after casting a wistful glance at the remaining quarter of the pie.

Joe was ashamed because his companion ate so greedily, and kicked him, under the table, as a warning that he restrain his appet.i.te; but Master Plummer failed to understand the signal, and ate all the more greedily, because he believed Joe thought it time to bring the feast to a close.

"You mustn't think anything of his stuffin' hisself like this, ma'am,--I mean, aunt Dorcas," Joe said, apologetically. "Plums always was the biggest eater in New York, an' I guess he always will be."

"What did you call him?" aunt Dorcas asked.

"Plums was what I said. That ain't exactly his name, but it comes mighty near to it. George H. Plummer is what he calls hisself when he wants to be swell."

"I think 'George' sounds much better than 'Plums,'" aunt Dorcas said, thoughtfully.

"Perhaps it does; but it don't fit him half so well."

Meanwhile, the subject of this conversation was industriously engaged devouring the cookies, and one would have said that he had no interest in anything else.

Aunt Dorcas stood looking questioningly at Joe, and, thinking he understood that which was in her mind, he said:

"My name is Joe Potter. I used to keep a fruit-stand down on West Street, in New York, till I busted up, an' then I found the princess, but--"

Joe checked himself in time to preserve his secret. An instant later he wished he had explained to aunt Dorcas why he was there, because of the sympathy he read in her face.

The little woman waited a few seconds for him to continue, but, since he remained silent, she asked, with mild curiosity:

"Who is the princess?"

"She's a swell little girl what's lost her folks, an' I'm takin' care of her for a spell. Say, ma'am,--I mean, aunt Dorcas,--is there any work Plums an' I can do to pay for a chance of stoppin' here over to-morrow?"

"I suppose I might find enough, Joseph, for there's always plenty to be done around a place, no matter how small it is; but I'm not certain you'd be strong enough to spade up the garden, and clear the drain, even if you knew how. They say city boys are dreadful unhandy when it comes to outdoor work."

"Jest you try us an' see!" Joe cried, with animation. "We ain't sich chumps but that we know how to do most anything, after we've studied over it a spell. Will you let us stay if we do work enough?"

"I surely ought to be willing to do that much for my fellow creatures, Joseph, even though I get nothing in return; but I can't say it won't be a trial for me to have two boys around the house after I've lived alone so long. Martha, Mary, and I took care of this place, with the help of a man in summer, a good many years after our parents died, and I suppose we got fussy and old-maidish-like in our ways," aunt Dorcas said, growing reminiscent. "Martha went home to heaven seven years ago in September, and Mary followed her the next January. Since then I've been alone, and it stands to reason I'm more old-maidish than ever; but I hope I could keep two homeless boys twenty-four hours without fretting."

Then aunt Dorcas crossed the room to the mantel, in order to light another lamp, and Plums whispered, hoa.r.s.ely:

"Say, Joe, what do you s'pose she put this clean towel here for? I've got custard on it, an' I'm afraid that'll make her mad."

Joe unfolded his napkin inquisitively, and looked at it an instant before he understood for what purpose it must have been intended.

Then, his cheeks reddening, he replied, in a low tone:

"She must have counted on our bein' willin' to wash our faces, but didn't want to say so right out, so put the towels here to remind us, an' I'm as ashamed as I can be 'cause I didn't think of it before."

The meal had come to an end, for the very good reason that there was nothing more on the table to be eaten.

While aunt Dorcas was talking with Joe, Plums had slyly taken the last remaining section of pie, having previously devoured the cookies and cheese, and, with a long-drawn sigh of content, he replied to his friend's remark by saying:

"I guess I couldn't eat any more if I'd washed my face a dozen times, so it don't make much difference."

Joe arose from the table, and seated himself in one of the chairs which were ranged precisely against the wall, Master Plummer following his example.

Aunt Dorcas, having lighted the second lamp, said:

"I'll leave you boys here alone while I attend to making up a bed. You could sleep in the spare-room, I suppose; but my best sheets are there, and I don't just like to--Why, you didn't use the napkins!"

Joe's face was of a deep crimson hue, as he replied: