"What would we do without you Leitzels to keep us interested, not to say excited?" Mrs. Ocksreider remarked to Margaret one day when she met her on the street. "I never knew they had a step-mother."
"She has always lived out in the country at their old home," said Margaret, "but we all thought she ought to be nearer to us now that she is getting so feeble and helpless; so we brought her in town."
"You mean you brought her in?"
"Mr. Leitzel and I, of course."
"Did she tell you I had called on her?" Mrs. Ocksreider inquired rather defiantly6, not wholly free from an uncomfortable sense of embarrassment7 at the blatant8 curiosity that had taken her there.
"No, but I saw your card there with a number of others," said Margaret.
"You are with the old lady a great deal, aren't you? It is so nice of you!"
"I am very fond of Mrs. Leitzel," Margaret replied.
"Well, she is a dear," said Mrs. Ocksreider heartily9; "one of the sweetest little women I ever met. How prettily10 and cozily you have fixed11 up her house! She told me you had done it all!"
"I did enjoy getting her settled near me," Margaret smiled. "She's the greatest comfort and blessing12 to me—to any one who has the good fortune to come into contact with her. I have known few people in my life so guileless, so kindly14 disposed toward every one! The world needs more of such souls, doesn't it, as a little leaven15 in the hardness and sordidness16 all about us?"
"Indeed we do!" Mrs. Ocksreider piously17 agreed. "And the dear old lady is equally fond of you, my dear," she assured Margaret, patting her arm. "She seems so grateful to you," she added, putting out a feeler.
"Yes?" said Margaret noncommittally.
"I see Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie going in to see her very often, too," said Mrs. Ocksreider tentatively.
"Oh, yes, every day. They are very attentive18 to their mother," Margaret replied quite soberly.
"Are they so fond of her, too?" Mrs. Ocksreider asked, curiosity fairly radiating from her ample countenance19. "I had never in all these years of my acquaintance with them heard them so much as refer to their step-mother."
"But you were never more than very formally acquainted with them," Margaret returned in a tone of dismissing the discussion. "Has Miss Ocksreider got back from New York?"
"No, I expect her to-night. Come in to see her, Mrs. Leitzel—she adores you! And so few of us see anything of you at all since your babies came. You don't go anywhere any more, do you? Society certainly does miss you."
"You are very kind to say that. I am very much tied down, of course."
"If you could get a good, capable nurse," suggested Mrs. Ocksreider, again tentatively. Margaret did not know that the town was agog20 at the fact, that, rich as Danny Leitzel was, his wife kept no child's nurse for her babies.
"I am trying to get one, Mrs. Ocksreider."
"If I hear of one, I'll send her to you. Of course you were at the luncheon21 yesterday, however? Every one was at that."
"What luncheon?" asked Margaret vaguely22.
"What luncheon? She asks what luncheon!" exclaimed Mrs. Ocksreider, casting up her eyes in horror. "The Missionary23 Jubilee24 Luncheon of course!"
"Oh!" cried Margaret, blushing, for this Missionary Jubilee Luncheon had been an orgy of religious sentimentality in which the entire town had united and nothing else had been talked of for weeks. "I had forgotten all about it. I wasn't out of the house yesterday," she added apologetically.
"But didn't Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie tell you? I remember seeing them in the throngs25."
"They didn't speak of it," replied Margaret, not adding the information for which Mrs. Ocksreider yearned26, that they did not, these days, tell her anything, since they "did not speak as they passed by."
"But Mrs. Leitzel," pursued Mrs. Ocksreider, "how could you 'forget' a thing like our Missionary Jubilee, unless you were deaf, dumb, and blind?"
"Miss Hamilton never spoke27 of it to me, and I don't see many other people. The truth is," Margaret owned up, "she and I were not specially28 interested in it."
"Oh! Why not?"
"Well, I'm inclined to think that the so-called 'heathen' religions are, in most cases, as good as, or better than, the substitute offered by the half-educated missionaries29."
"'Half-educated!' Oh, but our missionaries are not half-educated, Mrs. Leitzel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ocksreider, shocked. "Do you know, sometimes I think you are not religious! And one of the women missionaries said yesterday that a woman without religion was like a flower without fragrance30, or a landscape without atmosphere."
"Epigrammatic," nodded Margaret, undisturbed. "I doubt whether she thought that up herself."
"Oh, but she was a beautiful speaker! I only just wish you had heard her! You believe at least in a Supreme31 Being, don't you, Mrs. Leitzel?"
The absurdity32 of such discussion on the sidewalk was too much for Margaret's gravity and she helplessly laughed. But Mrs. Ocksreider looked so grieved over her that she sobered up and answered, "I hope I have a religion."
"What is your religion, Mrs. Leitzel?"
"Well, I have ideals. Any one with ideals is religious."
"Is that all the religion you have?"
"It's more than I can manage to live up to, and we'd better not have very much more religion than we can live out, do you think so?"
This was rather too deep water for Mrs. Ocksreider and she changed the subject. "Oh, well, every one has to settle these questions her own way. I should think," she quickly added, evidently not willing to miss her chance of clearing up a matter that was in her mind, "that Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie would be rather jealous of their mother's devotion to you. She talks so much of you and she never speaks of them."
"I'm new, you see," said Margaret, starting to move on as she felt the ice getting thin. How these New Munich women could pry33! "Good-bye," she nodded as she hurried away before she could be further sounded.
"I don't wonder, though," she thought on her way home, "that people are curious and suspicious. How Jennie and Sadie can have the face, after years of cruel neglect of their mother, to lavish34 upon her, now that she has a fortune to will away, such obsequious35 and constant attention and devotion—oh, it's nauseating36! And their mother isn't a fool; she is not taken in by it for one minute, I can see that."
It was only that morning that, when she had run in to see Mrs. Leitzel for a minute, she had found her just concluding a strictly37 private interview with her New Mennonite preacher and a young lawyer of the town whom Margaret knew by sight.
"Don't tell Danny what you seen here, my dear, will you?" the old woman nervously38 asked when they were alone. "Danny would take it hard that I got another lawyer to tend to my business. But you see, Margaret, I have afraid Danny would lawyer my money all off of me if he got at it."
"I'll not say a word to him," Margaret had reassured39 her.
"Jennie and Sadie, and Hiram when he comes to see me, now, once a week, worries me so to make my will," she continued in a distressed40 voice. "Hiram he tells me Danny's got so much more'n what he has and you got more'n what his Lizzie has, so I had ought to leave what I got to his children. And Jennie and Sadie says they can't hardly get along since they had to give up so much to me and I had ought to leave it to them when I die, because Danny's got a-plenty to do with a'ready and a rich wife yet, and Hiram lives so tight he don't need more'n what he's got. 'And, anyway,' Jennie says to me, 'of course I and Sadie would will all we had to Danny's and Hiram's children. You could even make your will so's we'd have to, Mom.' And then Danny he comes in and he says, 'You know, mother, it was my wife that has been so kind and generous to you, persuading us all that even if the coal lands did belong, in the first place, to my own mother, we ought to give you your share. It was Margaret that wouldn't leave us put you in a home, where Hiram and Jennie and Sadie were all for puttin' you. And I listened on Margaret, mother, and wouldn't do it; so I don't think it would be more'n right for you to leave your share of my mother's estate to me, seeing that it was through my wife that you got any of it.' Well, Margaret, they all kep' worryin' me so that now to-day I did make my will oncet. Now I can say to 'em when they ast me about it, that my will is made a'ready."
"It is too bad that you should be worried about it so!" said Margaret sympathetically.
"Even Hiram's Lizzie comes to see me and asks me about my will, for all I think it's Hiram puts her up to it; she don't want to do it. I took notice a'ready, my dear, you are the only one of 'em all that never spoke nothin' to me yet how I was a-goin' to will away my money.
"We have more interesting things to talk about, haven't we? I've run in this morning to tell you that Mary Louise has beat Sonny cutting teeth—she has two, and he hasn't one, the lazy fellow! I'll wager41, grossmutter, she'll keep ahead of him straight through life!"
"But Sonny's anyhow fatter'n sister," maintained the proud grandmother, between whom and Margaret there was kept up a constant play of favouritism as to the babies.
"Jennie says I'm letting Sonny get too fat and that it's dreadfully unwholesome."
"Sonny ain't too fat!" the jealous grandmother retorted indignantly; "he's wery neat!"
"If he would only draw the line at being 'neat,' but he's getting a tummy like an alderman's!" Margaret anxiously declared.
They laughed together over the joke and the old woman looked up fondly into the bright, sweet face at her side.
"You always cheer me up, dearie, when you come. The others never talk to me about nothin' except how I'm a-goin' to make my will, and how I'm spendin' so much of my income, and how extravagant42 you fitted up this house for me with money that was rightly theirn; and oh, my dear, I got so tired of hearin' about the money off of 'em! The only other thing they ever want to talk about——"
She stopped short and closed her lips.
"Is the wicked, designing Jezebel that Danny has for a wife! Oh, yes, I know. It's too bad, my dear, that they should fret43 you so! But perhaps now that you can tell them your will is made, they'll stop teasing you. I'm going to bring the babies in to see you this afternoon. I must run along now; I have to go downtown and get Sonny some new booties; he chewed up the last pair and they didn't agree with him."
Again the old woman laughed delightedly. Margaret could not realize what a refreshment44 and comfort she was to her.
"But before you go, Margaret, I want to ast you what Hiram means by this here postal45 card I got off of him this morning in the mail."
Margaret took the card offered to her and read:
"D. V. will come to see you Saturday to read the Scriptures46 with you and have prayer with you.
"In haste, your affectionate son,
"REV47. HIRAM LEITZEL."
"I don't know who this D. V. is that's coming," said Mrs. Leitzel anxiously. "Do you, my dear? And I haven't the dare to hear religious services with a world's preacher; it's against the rules of meeting."
"'D. V.' stands for two Latin words, 'Deo volente,' 'God willing.' Hiram means he will be here, God willing. I hope for your sake, God won't be willing!"
"Oh, but ain't you and Hiram got the grand education!" exclaimed Mrs. Leitzel admiringly. "Well, if he does come, I can't leave him have no religious services with me. Us New Mennonites, you know, we darsent listen to no other preachers but our own, though I often did wish a'ready I could hear one of Hiram's grand sermons. They do say he can stand on the pulpit just elegant!"
Margaret kissed her, without comment upon Hiram's greatness as a preacher, and came away.
She was sincerely sorry that Daniel's sisters must, in the nature of things, continue to regard her with bitter antagonism48. She could have borne it with perfect resignation if circumstances had not constantly brought them together, for Jennie and Sadie came almost daily to her home to see after their brother's little comforts and to fondle his precious babies for an hour, though they never in their visits deigned49 to recognize Margaret's existence. They would sail past her in her own front hall, without speaking to her, and go straight to the nursery, or to Daniel in his "den1."
Having been the means of depriving them of some of their income, she was unwilling50 to take from them, also, the pleasure they had in the babies; so beyond a mild suggestion to Daniel that he might tell them they must treat her with decent courtesy in her own home, or else stay away from it, she did not interfere51 with their visits, though she tried to keep out of their way when they did come.
Daniel, on his part, was aghast at the bare suggestion of further endangering his children's inheritance by telling his sisters they must be civil to his wife in her own home or stay away. He considered Margaret's sense of values to be hopelessly distorted.
It was not surprising that Margaret and old Mrs. Leitzel turned with infinite relief from the society of the rest of the Leitzels to find in each other an escape from a materialism52 as deadly to the soul's true life as ashes to the palate. It was of the babies they talked mainly: of their cunning ways; of Margaret's plans and ambitions for them; of the new clothes she was making for them; of Daniel's devotion to and pride in them.
Mrs. Leitzel also heard with delighted interest Margaret's anecdotes53 of her sister's children: how little Walter had called up the family doctor on the telephone to ask whether when you got chicken-pox you got feathers, and the doctor had said, "Not only feathers, but you crow every morning," and now little Walter prayed every night that he might soon have chicken-pox; also, how three-year-old Margaret, after an operation for a swollen54 gland55 in her neck, had informed some visitors, "I had an operation on my neck and the doctors cut it out."
Mrs. Leitzel, in her turn, would relate to her by the hour anecdotes of her past life, some of which proved very illuminating56 to Margaret as to the Leitzel characteristics, and gave her much food for thought.
"I used to have so afraid to be all alone—I can't tell you what it is to me to feel so safe like what I do now, with this here kind Miss Wenreich takin' care of me; and not bein' afraid to take a second cup of tea when I feel fur it; because now when my tea is all, I kin13 buy more; and havin' no fear of freezin' to death if my wood gets all fur me and I not able to go out and chop more; and not being forced any more to eat only just what would keep me alive. To have now full and plenty and to feel safe and at peace—and to have you to love me! And the dear babies!
"One day, my dear, sich a sharper come to my house out there in the country and he says, 'Where's your husband at?' Well, he looked so wicked (fur all, he was nice dressed) that I didn't say to him, 'I'm a widow, my husband ain't livin'!' I had so afraid if he knowed I was alone, he might do me somepin. So I sayed, 'You kin tell me your business, I'm the same as Mister.' 'You run things and handle the money, do you?' he ast me. 'Well, then, I want you to give some fur to buy Bibles fur the poor.' I said I didn't have no money to spare, but I had an exter Bible I could give him. I knowed well enough he was a sharper, but I thought mebby my old Bible might do him some good. So I offered it to him. But he said the Lord didn't want no second-hand57 stuff fur His poor. 'You're not a Christian,' he said, 'if you won't give any to buy new Bibles fur the poor.' And Margaret, he looked so ugly, I had so afraid of him, I shook all over; but I purtended to call Mister, and him dead near twenty years. Well, but at that, the sharper took hisself off! Goodness knows what he might of done at me if I hadn't of purtended to call Mister! Ain't? Well," she drew a long sigh, "them worryin' days is all over now, thanks to you, my dear. It's as Danny says: I'd be in the poorhouse if it hadn't of been fur you."
Margaret often marvelled58, as she found herself deriving59 the keenest pleasure from old Mrs. Leitzel's happiness and deep content, how the Leitzels could so blindly miss, in their selfish materialism, the true sources of joy in life.
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1
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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cozy
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| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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blatant
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| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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leaven
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| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
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sordidness
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| n.肮脏；污秽；卑鄙；可耻 | |
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piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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jubilee
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| n.周年纪念；欢乐 | |
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throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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39
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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40
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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41
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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42
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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43
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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44
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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45
postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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46
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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47
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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48
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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49
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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51
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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52
materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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53
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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54
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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gland
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| n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖 | |
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56
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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57
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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58
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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