Dawn
Copyright© 2024 by Eleanor H. Porter
Chapter 10: And Nettie Colebrook Speaks Hers
Mrs. Colebrook had been a member of the Burton household a day less than two weeks when she confronted her brother in the studio with this terse statement:
“Daniel, either Susan or I leave this house tomorrow morning. You can choose between us.”
“Nonsense, Nettie, don’t be a fool,” frowned the man. “You know very well that we need both you and Susan. Susan’s a trial, I’ll admit, in a good many ways; but I’ll wager you’d find it more of a trial to get along without her, and try to do her work and yours, too.”
“Nobody thought of getting along without SOMEBODY,” returned Mrs.
Colebrook, with some dignity. “I merely am asking you to dismiss Susan
and hire somebody else—that is, of course, if you wish me to stay.
Change maids, that’s all.”
The man made an impatient gesture.
“All, indeed! Very simple, the way you put it. But—see here, Nettie, this thing you ask is utterly out of the question. You don’t understand matters at all.”
“You mean that you don’t intend to dismiss Susan?”
“Yes, if you will have it put that way—just that.”
“Very well. Since that is your decision I shall have to govern myself accordingly, of course. I will see you in the morning to say good-bye.” And she turned coldly away.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Why, that I am going home, of course—since you think more of having that impossible, outrageously impertinent servant girl here than you do me.” Mrs. Colebrook was nearing the door how.
“Shucks! You know better than that! Come, come, if you’re having any trouble with Susan, settle it with the girl herself, won’t you? Don’t come to me with it. You KNOW how I dislike anything like this.”
At the door Mrs. Colebrook turned back suddenly with aggressive determination.
“Yes, I do know. You dislike anything that’s disagreeable. You always have, from the time when you used to run upstairs to the attic and let us make all the explanations to pa and ma when something got lost or broken. But, see here, Daniel Burton, you’ve GOT to pay attention to this. It’s your son, and your house, and your maid. And you shall listen to me.”
“Well, well, all right, go ahead,” sighed the man despairingly, throwing himself back in his chair. “What is the trouble? What is it that Susan does that annoys you so?”
“What does she do? What doesn’t she do?” retorted Mrs. Colebrook, dropping herself wearily into a chair facing her brother. “In the first place, she’s the most wretchedly impertinent creature I ever dreamed of. It’s always ‘Keith’ instead of ‘Master Keith,’ and I expect every day it’ll be ‘Daniel’ and ‘Nettie’ for you and me. She shows no sort of respect or deference in her manner or language, and—well, what are you looking like that for?” she interrupted herself aggrievedly.
“I was only thinking—or rather I was TRYING to think of Susan—and deference,” murmured the man dryly.
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Mrs. Colebrook reproved him severely. “You’re laughing. You’ve always laughed, I suspect, at her outrageous behavior, and that’s why she’s so impossible in every way. Why, Daniel Burton, I’ve actually heard her refuse—REFUSE to serve you with something to eat that you’d ordered.”
“Oh, well, well, what if she has? Very likely there was something we had to eat up instead, to keep it from spoiling. Susan is very economical, Nettie.”
“I dare say—at times, when it suits her to be so, especially if she can assert her authority over you. Why, Daniel, she’s a perfect tyrant to you, and you know it. She not only tells you what to eat, but what to wear, and when to wear it—your socks, your underclothes. Why, Daniel, she actually bosses you!”
“Yes, yes; well, never mind,” shrugged the man, a bit irritably.
“We’re talking about how she annoys YOU, not me, remember.”
“Well, don’t you suppose it annoys me to see my own brother so completely under the sway of this serving-maid? And such a maid! Daniel, will you tell me where she gets those long words of hers that she mixes up so absurdly?”
Daniel Burton laughed.
“Susan lived with Professor Hinkley for ten years before she came to me. The Hinkleys never used words of one or two syllables when they could find one of five or six that would do just as well. Susan loves long words.”
“So I should judge. And those ridiculous rhymes of hers—did she learn those, also, from Professor Hinkley?” queried Mrs. Colebrook. “And as for that atrocious dinner-call of hers, it’s a disgrace to any family—a positive disgrace!”
“Well, well, why don’t you stop her doing it, then?” demanded Daniel
Burton, still more irritably. “Go to HER, not me. Tell her not to.”
“I have.”
The tone of her voice was so fraught with meaning that the man looked up sharply.
“Well?”
“She said she wouldn’t do it—when she worked for me.”
Daniel Burton gave a sudden chuckle.
“I can imagine just how she’d say that,” he murmured appreciatively.
“Daniel Burton, are you actually going to abet that girl in her wretched impertinence?” demanded Mrs. Colebrook angrily. “I tell you I will not stand it! Something has got to be done. Why, she even tries to interfere with the way I take care of your son—presumes to give me counsel and advice on the subject, if you please. Dares to criticize me—ME! Daniel Burton, I tell you I will not stand it. You MUST give that woman her walking papers. Why, Daniel, I shall begin to think she has hypnotized you—that you’re actually afraid of her!”
Was it the scorn in her voice? Or was it that Daniel Burton’s endurance had snapped at this last straw? Whatever it was, the man leaped to his feet, threw back his shoulders, and thrust his hands into his pockets.
“Nettie, look here. Once for all let us settle this matter. I tell you I cannot dismiss Susan; and I mean what I say when I use the words ‘can not.’ I literally CAN NOT. To begin with, she’s the kindest-hearted creature in the world, and she’s been devotion itself all these years since—since Keith and I have been alone. But even if I could set that aside, there’s something else I can’t overlook. I—I owe Susan considerable money.”
“You owe her—MONEY?”
“Yes, her wages. She has not had them for some time. I must owe her something like fifty or sixty dollars. You see, we—we have had some very unusual and very heavy expenses, and I have overdrawn my annuity—borrowed on it. Susan knew this and insisted on my letting her wages go on, for the present. More than that, she has refused a better position with higher wages—I know that. The pictures I had hoped to sell—”He stopped, tried to go on, failed obviously to control his voice; then turned away with a gesture more eloquent than any words could have been.
Mrs. Colebrook stared, frowned, and bit her lip. Nervously she tapped her foot on the floor as she watched with annoyed eyes her brother tramping up and down, up and down, the long, narrow room. Then suddenly her face cleared.
“Oh, well, that’s easily remedied, after all.” She sprang to her feet and hurried from the room. Almost immediately she was back—a roll of bills in her hand. “There, I thought I had enough money to do it,” she announced briskly as she came in. “Now, Daniel, I’LL pay Susan her back wages.”
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