Keziah Coffin Read online

preach she would never hear him.

  "Has this Captain Hammond no children of his own?" he asked.

  Keziah's answer was short for her.

  "Yes," she said. "One."

  "Ah! another daughter?"

  "No, a son. Name's Nathaniel, and he's a sea captain. He's on his wayfrom Surinam to New York now. They expect him to make port most anytime, I believe. Now, Mr. Ellery, I s'pose we've got to arrange for yoursupper and stayin' overnight; and with this house the way 'tis and all,I don't see--"

  But the minister was still interested in the Hammond household.

  "This Nathaniel Hammond?" he asked. "You don't seem enthusiastic overhim. Is he a black sheep?"

  This reply also was short, but emphatic.

  "No," said Keziah. "He's a fine man."

  Then she resumed her semisoliloquy concerning her companion'sentertainment.

  "I guess," she said, "that the best thing for you to do will be to go toCap'n Elkanah's. They'll be real glad to see you, I know, and you'llbe in time for supper, for Elkanah and Annabel have been to Denboro andthey'll be late home. They can keep you overnight, too, for it's a bighouse with lots of rooms. Then, after breakfast to-morrow you come righthere. I'll have things somewhere near shipshape by then, I guess, thoughthe cleanin'll have to be mainly a lick and a promise until I can reallyget at it. Your trunk'll be here on the coach, I s'pose, and that'll bethrough early in the forenoon. Get on your hat and coat and I'll go withyou to Elkanah's."

  The young man demurred a little at thrusting himself upon thehospitality of the Daniels's home, but Keziah assured him that hisunexpected coming would cause no trouble. So he entered the now darkstudy and came out wearing his coat and carrying his hat and valise inhis hand.

  "I'm sure I'm ever so much obliged to you," he said. "And, as we aregoing to be more or less together--or at least I guess as much from whatyou say--would you mind if I suggest a mutual introduction. I'm JohnEllery; you know that already. And you--"

  Keziah stopped short on her way to the door.

  "Well, I declare!" she exclaimed. "If I ain't the very worst! Fact is,you dropped in so ahead of time and in such a irregular sort of way,that I never once thought of introducin' anybody; and I'm sure Gracedidn't. I'm Keziah Coffin, and Cap'n Elkanah and I signed articles, soto speak, this mornin', and I'm goin' to keep house for you."

  She explained the reason upsetting the former arrangement by whichLurania Phelps was to have had the position.

  "So I'm to keep house for you," she concluded. Adding: "For a spell,anyhow."

  "Why do you say that?" asked the minister.

  "Well, you might not like me. You may be particular, you know."

  "I think I can run that risk."

  "Yes; well, you can't tell. Or I might not like you. You see, I'm prettyparticular myself," she added with a laugh.

  At the Daniels's door Keziah turned her new charge over to Matilda Snow,the hired girl. It was an indication of the family's social positionthat they kept "hired help." This was unusual in Trumet in those days,even among the well to do.

  "Good night," said the young man, extending his hand. "Good night,Miss--or is it Mrs.--Coffin?"

  "Mrs. Good night."

  "She's a widow," explained Matilda. "Husband died 'fore she come backhere to live. Guess he didn't amount to much; she never mentions hisname."

  "There was one thing I meant to tell her," mused the minister,hesitating on the threshold. "I meant to tell her not to attempt anycleaning up at the parsonage to-night. To-morrow will do just as well."

  "Heavens to Betsy!" sniffed the "hired help," speaking from the depthsof personal conviction, "nobody but a born fool would clean house in thenight, 'specially after the cleanin' she's been doin' at her own place.I guess you needn't worry."

  So Mr. Ellery did not worry. And yet, until three o'clock of thefollowing morning, the dull light of a whale-oil lantern illuminated therooms of the parsonage as Keziah scrubbed and swept and washed, givingto the musty place the "lick and promise" she had prophesied. If thespiders had prepared those ascension robes, they could have used themthat night.

  After breakfast the wagons belonging to the Wellmouth furniture dealerdrove in at the gate of the little house opposite Captain Elkanah's, andKeziah saw, with a feeling of homesickness which she hid beneath smilesand a rattle of conversation, the worn household treasures which hadbeen hers, and her brother's before her, carried away out of her life.Then her trunks were loaded on the tailboards of the wagons, to be leftat the parsonage, and with a sigh and a quick brush of her hand acrossher eyes, she locked the door for the last time and walked briskly downthe road. Soon afterwards John Ellery, under the eminently respectableescort of Captain Elkanah and Miss Annabel, emerged from the Daniels'sgate and followed her. Mrs. Didama Rogers, thankful for a clearatmosphere and an unobstructed view, saw them pass and recognized thestranger. And, within a quarter of an hour, she, arrayed in a hurriedcalling costume, was spreading the news along the main road. The "TrumetDaily Advertiser" had, so to speak, issued an extra.

  Thus the new minister came to Trumet and thus Keziah Coffin became hishousekeeper. She entered upon her duties with the whole-hearted energypeculiar to her. She was used to hard work, and, as she would have said,felt lonesome without it. She cleaned that parsonage from top to bottom.Every blind was thrown open and the spring sunshine poured in upon thebraided mats and the rag carpets. Dust flew in clouds for the firstday or two, but it flew out of windows and doors and was not allowed tosettle within. The old black walnut furniture glistened with oil. Themirrors and the crockery sparkled from baths of hot water and soap. EvenSt. Stephen, in the engravings on the dining-room wall, was forced to amartyrdom of the fullest publicity, because the spots and smears on theglass covering his sufferings were violently removed. In the sleepingrooms upstairs the feather beds were beaten and aired, the sheets andblankets and patchwork comforters exposed to the light, and the windowcurtains dragged down and left to flap on the clothesline. The smell ofmusty dampness disappeared from the dining room and the wholesome odorsof outdoors and of good things cooking took its place.

  Keziah, in the midst of her labors, found time to coach her employerand companion in Trumet ways, and particularly in the ways which Trumetexpected its clergymen to travel. On the morning following his firstnight in the parsonage, he expressed himself as feeling the need ofexercise. He thought he should take a walk.

  "Well," said his housekeeper from her station opposite him at thebreakfast table, "if I was you I wouldn't take too long a one. You'dbetter be back here by ten, anyhow. Where was you thinkin' of goin'?"

  Mr. Ellery had no particular destination in mind. He would like to seesomething of the village and, perhaps, if she could give him the namesof a few of his parishioners, he might make a few calls. Keziah shookher head.

  "Gracious goodness!" she exclaimed. "I wouldn't advise you to do that.You ain't been here long enough to make forenoon calls. If you shouldcatch some of the women in this town with aprons and calico on, they'dnever forgive you in this world. Wait till afternoon; they'll beexpectin' you then and they'll be rigged out in their best bibs andtuckers. S'pose you found Annabel Daniels with her hair done up incurl papers; what do you think would happen? Mornin's are no timefor ministers' calls. Even old Mr. Langley never made calls in theforenoon--and he'd been here thirty-odd years."

  "All right, you know best. Much obliged for the advice. Then I'll simplytake my walk and leave the calls until later."

  "I'd be back by ten, though. Folks'll begin callin' on you by thattime."

  "They will? Doesn't the rule work both ways?"

  "Not with new ministers it don't. Cat's foot! You don't s'pose DidamaRogers and Laviny Pepper and their kind'll wait any longer'n they canhelp afore they come to see what you look like, do you?"

  "Well, they must have seen me when I preached here before. I remember--"

  "Mercy on us! that was in meetin'. Meetin's diff'rent. All they couldsay to you then was how much they liked yo
ur sermon. They say that toevery minister that comes, no matter how they may pick him to piecesafterwards. But here they can ask you questions; about how you came tocome here and what you think of it far's you've got, and what your viewsare on certain points in the creed. Likewise, who your folks were andwhether they was well off, and a few things like that. Then they'll