Hamilton Morris was a very promising2 young man, of some thirty summers. He had been an "orphan3" for a dozen years; and the wonder was that he should so long have lived alone in the big, square-built house his father left him. At all events, Miranda Kinzer was just the wife for him.
Miranda's mother had seen that at a glance, the moment her mind was settled about the house. As to that and his great, spreading, half-cultivated farm, all either of them needed was ready money and management.
These were blessings4 Ham was now made reasonably sure of, on his return from his wedding-trip, and he was likely to appreciate them.
As for Dabney Kinzer, he was in no respect overcome by the novelty and excitement of the wedding-day. All the rest of it, after the departure of Ham Morris and the bride, he devoted5 himself to such duties as were assigned him, with a new and grand idea steadily6 taking shape in his mind. He felt as if his brains too, like his body, were growing. Some of his mother's older and more intimate friends remained with her all day, probably to comfort her for the loss of Miranda; and two or three of them, Dab knew, would stay to tea, so that his services would be in demand to see them safely home.
All day long, moreover, Samantha and Keziah and Pamela seemed to find themselves wonderfully busy, one way and another, so that they paid even less attention than usual to any of the ins and outs of their brother.
Dabney was therefore able, with little difficulty, to take for himself whatever of odd time he might require for putting his new idea into execution.
Mrs. Kinzer herself noticed the rare good sense with which her son hurried through with his dinner, and slipped away, leaving her in undisturbed possession of the table and her lady guests, and neither she nor either of the girls had a thought of following him.
If they had done so, they might have seen him draw a good-sized bundle out from under the lilac-thicket in the back yard, and hurry down through the garden.
A few moments more, and Dabney had appeared on the fence of the old cross-road leading down to the shore. There he sat, eying one passer-by after another, till he suddenly sprang from his perch8, exclaiming,—
"That's just the chap! Why, they'll fit him, and that's more'n they ever did for me."
Dab would probably have had to search along the coast for miles before he could have found a human being better suited to his present charitable purposes than the boy who now came so lazily down the road.
There was no doubt about his color, or that he was all over of about the same shade of black. His old tow trowsers and calico shirt revealed the shining fact in too many places to leave room for a question, and shoes he had none.
"Dick," said Dabney, "was you ever married?"
"Married!" exclaimed Dick, with a peal9 of very musical laughter, "is I married? No. Is you?"
"No," replied Dabney; "but I was very near it, this morning."
"Dat so?" asked Dick, with another show of his white teeth. "Done ye good, den7; nebber seen ye I look so nice afore."
"You'd look nicer'n I do if you were only dressed up," said Dab. "Just you put on these."
"Golly!" exclaimed the black boy. But he seized the bundle Dab threw him, and he had it open in a twinkling.
"Any t'ing in de pockets?" he asked.
"Guess not," said Dab; "but there's lots of room."
"Say dar was," exclaimed Dick. "But won't dese t'ings be warm?"
It was quite likely; for the day was not a cool one, and Dick never seemed to think of getting off what he had on, before getting into his unexpected present. Coat, vest, and trousers, they were all pulled on with more quickness than Dab had ever seen the young African display before.
"I's much obleeged to ye, Mr. Kinzer," said Dick very proudly, as he strutted10 across the road. "On'y I dasn't go back fru de village."
"What'll you do, then?" asked Dab.
"S'pose I'd better go a-fishin'," said Dick. "Will de fish bite?"
"Oh! the clothes won't make any odds11 to them," said Dabney. "I must go back to the house."
And so he did: while Dick, on whom the cast-off garments of his white friend were really a pretty good fit, marched on down the road, feeling grander than he ever had before in all his life.
"That'll be a good thing to tell Ham Morris, when he and Miranda get home again," muttered Dab, as he re-entered the house.
Late that evening, when Dabney returned from his final duties as escort to his mother's guests, she rewarded him with more than he could remember ever receiving of motherly commendation.
"I've been really quite proud of you, Dabney," she said, as she laid her plump hand on the collar of his new coat, and kissed him. "You've behaved like a perfect little gentleman."
"Only, mother," exclaimed Keziah, "he spent too much of his time with that sharp-tongued little Jenny Walters."
"Never mind, Kezi," said Dab: "she didn't know who I was till I told her. I'm going to wear a label with my name on it when I go over to the village to-morrow."
"And then you'll put on your other suit in the morning," said Mrs.
Kinzer. "You must keep this for Sundays and great occasions."
"Any more weddings coming, right away?" said Dab, with a sharp glance around upon what remained of the family; but the girls were all very busy just then, with their books and their sewing, and he did not get any direct reply. Even his mother walked away after something she had left in the dining-room.
When the next morning came, Dabney Kinzer was a more than usually early riser, for he felt that he had waked up to a very important day.
"Dabney," exclaimed his mother, when he came in to breakfast, "did I not tell you to put on your other suit?"
"So I have, mother," replied Dab: this is my other suit."
"That?" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer.
"So it is!" cried Keziah.
"So it isn't," added Samantha. "Mother, that is not what he had on yesterday."
"He's been trading again," mildly suggested Pamela.
"Dabney," said Mrs. Kinzer, "what does this mean?"
"Mean!" replied Dabney. "Why, these are the clothes you told me to buy. The lot I wore yesterday were a present from Ham Morris. He's a splendid fellow. I'm glad he got the best of the girls."
That was a bad thing for Dabney to say just then, for it was vigorously resented by the remaining three. As soon as quiet was restored, however, Mrs. Kinzer remarked,—
"I think Hamilton should have consulted me about it, but it's too late now. Anyhow, you may go and put on your other clothes."
"My wedding suit?" asked Dab.
"No, indeed! I mean your old ones,—those you took off night before last."
"Dunno where they are," slowly responded Dab.
"Don't know where they are?" responded a chorus of four voices.
"No," said Dab. "Bill Lee's black boy had em on all yesterday afternoon, and I reckon he's gone a-fishing again to-day. They fit him a good sight better 'n they ever did me."
If Dabney had expected a storm to come from his mother's end of the table, he was pleasantly mistaken; and his sisters had it all to themselves for a moment. Then, with an admiring glance at her son, the thoughtful matron remarked,—
"Just like his father, for all the world! It's no use, girls: Dabney's a growing boy in more ways than one. Dabney, I shall want you to go over to the Morris house with me after breakfast. Then you may hitch12 up the ponies13, and we'll do some errands around the village."
Dab Kinzer's sisters looked at one another in blank astonishment14, and Samantha would have left the table if she had only finished her breakfast.
Pamela, as being nearest to Dab in age and sympathy, gave a very admiring look at her brother's second "good fit," and said nothing.
Even Keziah finally admitted, in her own mind, that such a change in Dabney's appearance might have its advantages. But Samantha inwardly declared war.
The young hero himself was hardly used to that second suit, as yet, and felt any thing but easy in it.
"I wonder," he said to himself, "what Jenny Walters would say to me now.
Wonder if she'd know me."
Not a doubt of it. But after he had finished his breakfast, and gone out, his mother remarked,—
"It's really all right, girls. I almost fear I have been neglecting
Dabney. He isn't a little boy any more."
"He isn't a man yet," exclaimed Samantha. "And he talks slang dreadfully."
"But then, he does grow so!" remarked Keziah.
"Mother," said Pamela, "couldn't you get Dab to give Dick Lee the slang, along with the old clothes?"
"We'll see about it," replied Mrs. Kinzer.
It was very clear that Dabney's mother had begun to take in a new idea about her son.
It was not the least bit in the world unpleasant to find out that he was "growing in more ways than one," and it was quite likely that she had indeed kept him too long in roundabouts.
At all events, his great idea had been worked out into a triumphant15 success; and, before the evening was over, Pamela replied to a remark of Samantha's,—
"I don't care. He's taller than I am, and I'd ever so much rather have a frock-coat walk beside me to meeting."
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1
dab
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| v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂 | |
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2
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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3
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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4
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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5
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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6
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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7
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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8
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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9
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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10
strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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12
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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13
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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14
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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15
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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