by Carolyn Wells, originally begun January 1899
MAKING PLANS
Betty went back to Warren Street, walking slowly and thinking hard. Occasionally she remembered Ellen and the potatoes, and quickened her steps; then other thoughts swarmed in her brain, and her pace slackened again.
She was not dazed by the sudden good fortune that had come to her; on the contrary, her mind was stirred to especial activity, and she was making plans with eager delight.
She would have a home, that was certain; with bright flowers and cows and a strawberry-bed. And then she would have a new feather—a long, curling one—and a red sash of real silk! And then, if there was any money left, she would buy books and learn things.
And she had generous thoughts, too. She decided to buy Lame Jack a new crutch, for he had really outgrown the one he was using. And she would buy something very nice for Ellen—a jewel-box, perhaps. And Pete should have a gift, and Mrs. Tucker, too. In her happiness, Betty quite forgot all Mrs. Tucker's harsh treatment of her, and studied seriously over an appropriate present for her tyrant. She remembered having heard her say she wished she could afford to have a dumb-waiter; and as Betty had firmly determined to have a home and live in it, of course a new servant would be needed in Betty's place.
Why Mrs. Tucker wanted a dumb one was a mystery to the child, but she shrewdly suspected it was so he could not answer back to his mistress's frequent tirades. And anyway, if that was the kind Mrs. Tucker wanted, that was the kind for her to have; and doubtless one could be procured at a deaf-and-dumb asylum, so Betty decided to hire one.
She had dawdled so, as she thought over all these things, that it was growing dusk when she neared the house.
In spite of her changed circumstances, she felt all her accustomed fear of Mrs. Tucker's wrath, and tremblingly hurried around to the back door.
Finding only Ellen in the kitchen, her spirits rose, and she announced grandly:
"Ellen, I 've come into me fortune!"
"Bad luck to it, thin, for comin' to ye of a Monday! Here I 'm druv to death, and that botherin' washerwoman clutterin' about, and no one to help me a ha'p'orth. Come and hold this shtrainer, now, while I pour the soup through it—if yer forchin has n't turned ye clean daft!"
Good-natured Ellen was so seldom cross that Betty felt like a guilty wretch, and, taking the strainer, she showed such a repentant face that Ellen softened and said:
"Don't moind me, Betty dear. I 'm that worrited wid me wurk, and wid the missus's sharp tongue, that it riles me. Whisht! she 's comin'."
Mrs. Tucker came into the kitchen, and seeing Betty, exclaimed:
"My dear child, what are you doing 1 Your place is not here any more. Go into my room, and sit down and rest yourself."
Ellen nearly dropped the soup-kettle when she heard this surprising speech, and began to realize that something had happened indeed.
Betty smiled slyly at the amazed cook, and replied:
"No, ma'am; I ain't tired,—no more than I was yesterday,—and I 'll be helpin' me friend Ellen."
Neither could Mrs. Tucker induce Betty to eat at the table with the boarders. She preferred to take her dinner in the kitchen with Ellen, as she was in the habit of doing; and as they sat eating, she told the wonderful news.
"What 's this about yer forchin, me dear?" inquired Ellen.
"Oh, Ellen, it 's just wonderful! I can't believe it at all, no matter how hard I try, when I 'm here in this house; but I went up to Miss Van Court's to-day, an' she says I 'm to have all me grandfather's money, him havin' died in Australia, where the gold comes from."
"An' is it much money, sure ?"
"Yes, heaps! A million dollars, the gentleman said; but Miss Grace explained that I 'd only get a bit of it each year."
"She means interist, child; but if it's r'ally the interist of a million dollars, which I can't belave, you 're a rich lady, an' the likes o' me ain't fit to associate wid yez. An', by the same token, Mrs. Tucker ain't fit, neither!"
"Ellen, you 're far more fit nor she is, for you 've always been kind to me; and, Ellen, I 'm going to give you a present when I get my money; and when I buy my home, you shall come and live with me and be my cook."
"Indade an' I will, if ye 'll have me; an' it 'll be a happy day fer me whin I lave the ould lady an' her shcoldin'!"
"Now, I must go and tell Mrs. Tucker about it, as she 'll be havin' to replace my vallyble services with a substitute."
When Betty opened the door, she nearly tumbled over Mrs. Tucker; and it may be that she was not above eavesdropping when such upheavals were taking place in her household, for she rightly suspected that Betty would confide in Ellen before she told the story to her mistress.
"I was just coming for you," said the lady, blandly, "and I suppose you were just looking for me. Come into my room and tell me all about it."
Betty obeyed from force of habit, and seated herself primly on the edge of a chair.
Although Mrs. Tucker was apparently able to change her demeanor toward her young drudge all at once, yet the child could not so easily alter her behavior to the tyrannical woman. And so she said, almost apologetically:
"I 'm thinkin' I must be leavin', ma'am. They told me that I have come into my grandfather's fortune."
"Oh, don't talk of leaving, Betty! Of course you 'll stay with me, though in a very different position. You can board here, and you may have the best room in the house, and I 'll look after your clothes and things, and be your legal guardian. I always was fond of you, my dear," said the landlady.
Mrs. Tucker was a woman who believed in the wormcatching powers of the early bird, and she had already determined that she would force as strongly as possible her claim to control Betty's affairs.
This prospect dismayed the child, and so accustomed was she to accepting Mrs. Tucker's word as law that she seemed to see her anticipated home slipping from her grasp.
When Betty became excited her speech grew more Irish, both in accent and diction, and now she responded to Mrs. Tucker's last remark in a real brogue:
"It's a queer way you have of showin' it, then, ma'am, an' if that's fondness, I 'll not be carin' for the likes of it from you."
"There, there, Betty, you don't realize what you 're saying. You 're nervous to-night, and no wonder. Tell me all about it, my dear."
"There is n't much to tell, ma'am. I don't understand it all myself. Only, a gentleman came from Australia to look for the heirs of Dennis McGuire, and somehow he found me. And so all the money will be mine; and tomorrow morning Miss Van Court is coming to take me out to buy a parasol to make up for the one I spoiled for her that day."
"Well, then, I will have a talk with Miss Van Court when she comes. And now do you go to bed, Betty, for you need rest after all this excitement. You may have the large blue room next to mine, for the room you have been occupying is not suited to your present position."
She went with Betty to the blue room, and after she had left her for the night, the little girl crept into the pretty white bed, and felt that it at least was real, even if the fortune never came true.
She fell asleep in a moment, and dreamed that she had a hundred sashes, each of a different color, and a hundred long, curling feathers; that she was running to her new home with them, and Mrs. Tucker was running after her. And she thought she ran inside and locked the door. And then Mrs. Tucker seemed to set fire to the house, and just then, of course, Betty woke up, and found it was morning, and she was still in the blue room, and all kinds of beautiful things might happen before the day was over.
She hopped out of bed, and enjoyed, for the first time in her life, the luxury of making an unhurried toilet.
But her old faded frock seemed more distasteful to her than ever, and she looked longingly at the blue ribbons that held back the window-curtains. At last she decided to borrow them; for if the fortune-story was true, she could pay Mrs. Tucker for them, and if not, she could give them back.
So she converted them into a very becoming collar and belt, and stepped out into the hall feeling half afraid that she was still dreaming.
But she was n't, and Mrs. Tucker at once took her in charge, and, leading her to the dining-room, gave her a breakfast such as she had seen, indeed, but never before eaten.
Soon after this Miss Van Court came, and, as she had planned, Mrs. Tucker received her and had an interview with her alone. But it could not have been very satisfactory to the landlady, for it was with a decidedly crestfallen air that she went to summon Betty.
When the child came in, Miss Van Court said only: "Good morning, Betty. Get your hat at once, and come with me for a drive."
And then Betty McGuire went down the steps and out the gate of No. 27 Warren Street for the last time, and seating herself in Miss Van Court's carriage, she rolled away to begin her new life as a young heiress.
...to be continued
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