The Girl at Cobhurst

by Frank Richard Stockton

  CHAPTER XV

  MISS PANNEY IS AROUSED TO HELP AND HINDER

  When Dr. Tolbridge returned from the visit to the patient who livedbeyond Cobhurst, he did not drive into the latter place, for seeingMike by the gate near the barn, he gave the cushions and whip to himand went on.

  As it was yet early in the evening, and bright moonlight, he concludedto go around by the Wittons'. It was not far out of his way, and hewanted to see Miss Panney. What he wanted to say to the old lady was notexactly evident to his own mind, but in a general way he wished her toknow that Dora was at Cobhurst.

  Dora was a great favorite with the doctor. He had known her all her life,and considered that he knew, not only her good points, of which therewere many, but also those that were not altogether desirable, and, ofwhich, he believed, there were few. One of the latter was her dispositionto sometimes do as she pleased, without reference to tradition orordinary custom. He had seen her acting the part of cook, disguised by apink sunbonnet and an old-fashioned calico gown. And what pranks she andthe Haverleys--two estimable young people, but also lively andindependent--might play, no one could tell. The duration of Dora's visitwould depend on her brother Herbert, and he was a man of business, whosetime was not at all at his own disposal, and so, the doctor thought, itwould not be a bad thing if Miss Panney would call at Cobhurst the nextday, and see what those three youngsters were about.

  The Wittons had gone to bed, but Miss Panney was in the parlor, reading."Early to bed and early to rise," was not one of her rules.

  "Well, really!" she exclaimed, as she rose to greet her visitor, "this isamazing. How many years has it been since you came to see me withoutbeing sent for?"

  "I do not keep account of years," said the doctor, "and if I choose tostop in and have a chat with you, I shall do it without reference toprecedent. This is a purely social call, and I shall not even ask youhow you are."

  "I beg you will not," said the old lady, "and that will give me a goodreason for sending for you when you ought to be informed on that point."

  "This is not my first social call this evening," said he. "I took supperat Cobhurst, where Dora Bannister waited on the table."

  "What do you mean?" exclaimed Miss Panney, and then the doctor told histale. As the old lady listened, her spirits rose higher and higher. Whatextraordinary good luck! She had never planned a match that moved withsuch smoothness, such celerity, such astonishing directness as this. Shedid not look upon Dora's disregard of tradition and ordinary custom as anundesirable point in her character. She liked that sort of thing. It wasone of the points in her own character.

  "I wish I could have seen her!" she exclaimed. "She must have beencharming."

  "Don't you think there is danger that she may be too charming?" thedoctor asked.

  "No, I don't," promptly answered Miss Panney.

  The doctor looked at her in some surprise.

  "We should remember," said he, "that Dora is a girl of wealth; thatone-third of the Bannister estate belongs to her, besides the sixtythousand dollars that came to her from her mother."

  "That does not hurt her," said Miss Panney.

  "And Ralph Haverley was a poor young man when he came here, and Cobhurstwill probably make him a good deal poorer."

  "I do not doubt it," said Miss Panney.

  "Do you believe," said the doctor, after a moment's pause, "that it iswise or right in a girl like Dora Bannister, accustomed to fine living,good society, and an atmosphere of opulence, to allow a poor man likeRalph Haverley to fall in love with her? And he will do it, just as sureas the world turns round."

  "Well, let him do it," replied the old lady. "I did not intend to give myopinion on this subject, because, as you know, I am not fond of obtrudingmy ideas into other people's affairs, but I will say, now, that DoraBannister will have to travel a long distance before she finds a betterman for a husband than Ralph Haverley, or a better estate on which tospend her money than Cobhurst. I believe that money that is made in aneighborhood like this ought to be spent here, and Thomas Bannister'smoney could not be better spent than in making Cobhurst the fine estateit used to be. I do not believe in a girl like Dora going off andmarrying some city fellow, and perhaps spending the rest of her life atthe watering-places and Paris. I want her here; don't you?"

  "I certainly do, but you forget Mr. Ames."

  "I do, and I intend to forget him," she replied, "and so does Dora."

  The doctor shook his head. "I do not like it," he said; "young Haverleymay be all very well,--I have a high opinion of him, already, but he isnot the man for Dora. If he had any money at all, it would be different,but he has not. Now she would not be content to live at Cobhurst as itis, and he ought not to be content to have her do everything to make itwhat she would have it."

  "Doctor," said Miss Panney, "if there is anything about all this in yourmedicine books, perhaps you know more than I do, and you can go on andtalk; but you know there is not, and you know, too, that I was a verysensible middle-aged woman when you were toddling around in frocks andrunning against people. I believe you are trying to run against somebodynow. Who is it?"

  "Well," said the doctor, "if it is anybody, it is young Haverley."

  Miss Panney smiled. "You may think so," she said, "but I want you to knowthat you are also running against me, and I say to you, confidentially,and with as much trust in you as I used to have that you would not tellwho it was who spread your bread with forbidden jam, that I have planneda match between these two; and if they marry, I intend to make pecuniarymatters more nearly even between them, than they are now."

  The doctor looked at her earnestly.

  "Do you suppose," said he, "that he would take money from you?"

  "What I should do for him," she answered, "could not be prevented by himor any one else."

  "But there is no reason," urged the other.

  The old lady smiled, took off her glasses, wiped them with herhandkerchief, and put them on again.

  "There is so little in medicine books," she said. "His grandfather wasmy cousin."

  "The one--?" asked the startled doctor.

  "Yes, that very one," she answered quickly; "but he does not know it,and now we will drop the subject. I will try to get to Cobhurstto-morrow before Dora leaves, and I will see if I cannot help mattersalong a little."

  The doctor laughed. "I was going to ask you to interfere with matters."

  "Well, don't," she said. "And now tell me about your cook. Is she asgood as ever?"

  "As good?" said the doctor. "She is better. The more she learns about ourtastes, the more perfectly she gratifies them. Mrs. Tolbridge and I lookupon her as a household blessing, for she gives us three perfect meals aday, and would give us more if we wanted them; the butcher reverencesher, for she knows more about meat and how to cut it than he does. Ourman and our maid either tremble at her nod or regard her with the deepestaffection, for I am told that they spend a great deal of their timehelping her, when they should be attending to their own duties. She has,in fact, become so necessary to our domestic felicity, and I may say, toour health, that I do not know what will become of us if we lose her."

  "Is there any chance of that?" eagerly asked the old lady.

  "I fear there is," was the answer.

  Miss Panney sprang to her feet, her eyes flashing.

  "Now look here, Dr. Tolbridge," she said, "don't tell me that that womanis going to leave you because she wants higher wages and you will not paythem. I beg you to remember that I got you that woman. I saw she was whatyou needed, and I worked matters so that she came to you. She has provedto be everything that I expected. You are looking better now than I haveseen you look for five years. You have been eating food that you like,and food that agrees with you, and a chance to do that comes to very fewpeople in your circumstances. There is no way in which you could spendyour money better than--"

  The doctor raised his hand deprecatingly.

  "There is no question of money," he said. "She has not asked for h
igherwages, and if she had, I should pay anything in reason. The trouble ismore serious. You may remember that when she first came to this country,she lived with the Dranes, and she left them because they could no longerafford to employ her. She has the greatest regard for that family, andhas lately heard that they are becoming poorer and poorer. There are onlytwo of them,--mother and daughter,--and on account of some sort of unwiseinvestment they are getting into a pretty bad way. I used to know CaptainDrane, and was slightly acquainted with his family. I heard of theirmisfortune through a friend in Pennsylvania, and as I knew that La Fleurtook such an interest in the family, I mentioned it to her. The resultwas disastrous; she has been in a doleful mood ever since, and yesterdayassured Mrs. Tolbridge that if it should prove that Mrs. Drane and herdaughter, who had been so good to her, had become so poor that theycould not afford to employ a servant, she must leave us and go to them.She would ask no wages and would take no denial. She would stay with themand serve them for the love she bore them, as long as they needed her. Iknow she is in earnest, for she immediately wrote to Mrs. Drane, andasked me to put the letter in the post-office; and, by the way, shewrites a great deal better hand than I do."

  Miss Panney, who had reseated herself, gazed earnestly at the floor.

  "Doctor," she said, "this is very serious. I have not yet met La Fleur,but I very much want to. I am convinced that she is a woman of character,and when she says she intends to do a thing, she will do it. That is,unless somebody else of character, and of pretty strong character too,gets in her way. I do not know what advice to give you just now, but shemust not leave you. That must be considered as settled. I am coming toyour house to-morrow afternoon, and please ask Mrs. Tolbridge to be athome. We shall then see what is to be done."

  "There is nothing to be done," said the doctor, rising. "We cannotimprove the circumstances of the Dranes, and we cannot prevent La Fleurfrom going to them if her feelings prompt her to do it."

  "Stuff!" said the old lady. "There is always something to be done. Thetrouble is, there is not always some one to do it; but, fortunately forsome of my friends, I am alive yet."