Oh, I say, Renny, that wasnt fair. That was a kick.
No, it wasnt. It is merely a little French touch. I learned it in Paris. They do kick there, you know; and it is good to know how to use your feet as well as your fists if you are set on by three, as I was one night in the Latin Quarter.
Yates sat up.
Look here, Renmark; when were you in Paris?
Several times.
Yates gazed at him for a few moments, then said:
Renny, you improve on acquaintance. I never saw a Bool-var in my life. You must teach me that little kick.
With pleasure, said Renmark, sitting down, while the other sprawled at full length. Teaching is my business, and I shall be glad to exercise any talents I may have in that line. In endeavoring to instruct a New York man the first step is to convince him that he doesnt know everything. That is the difficult point. Afterward everything is easy.
Mr. Stillson Renmark, you are pleased to be severe. Know that you are forgiven. This delicious sylvan retreat does not lend itself to acrimonious dispute, or, in plain English, quarreling. Let dogs delight, if they want to; I refuse to be goaded by your querulous nature into giving anything but the soft answer. Now to business. Nothing is so conducive to friendship, when two people are camping out, as a definition of the duties of each at the beginning. Do you follow me?
Perfectly. What do you propose?
I propose that you do the cooking and I wash the dishes. We will forage for food alternate days.
Very well. I agree to that.
Richard Yates sat suddenly upright, looking at his friend with reproach in his eyes. See here, Renmark; are you resolved to force on an international complication the very first day? Thats no fair show to give a man.
What isnt?
Why, agreeing with him. There are depths of meanness in your character, Renny, that I never suspected. You know that people who camp out always object to the part assigned them by their fellow-campers. I counted on that. Ill do anything but wash dishes.
Then why didnt you say so?
Because any sane man would have said no when I suggested cooking, merely because I suggested it. There is no diplomacy about you, Renmark. A man doesnt know where to find you when you act like that. When you refused to do the cooking, I would have said: Very well, then, Ill do it, and everything would have been lovely; but now
Yates lay down again in disgust. There are moments in life when language fails a man.
Then its settled that you do the cooking and I wash the dishes? said the professor.
Settled? Oh yes, if you say so; but all the pleasure of getting ones own way by the use of ones brains is gone. I hate to be agreed with in that objectionably civil manner.
Well, that point being arranged, who begins the foragingyou or I?
Both, Herr Professor, both. I propose to go to the house of the Howards, and I need an excuse for the first visit; therefore I shall forage to a limited extent. I go ostensibly for bread. As I may not get any, you perhaps should bring some from whatever farmhouse you choose as the scene of your operations. Bread is always handy in the camp, fresh or stale. When in doubt, buy more bread. You can never go wrong, and the bread wont.
What else should I get? Milk, I suppose?
Certainly; eggs, butteranything. Mrs. Bartlett will give you hints on what to get that will be more valuable than mine.
Have you all the cooking utensils you need?
I think so. The villain from whom I hired the outfit said it was complete. Doubtless he lied; but well manage, I think.
Very well. If you wait until I change my clothes, Ill go with you as far as the road.
My dear fellow, be advised, and dont change. Youll get everything twenty per cent. cheaper in that rig-out. Besides, you are so much more picturesque. Your costume may save us from starvation if we run short of cash. You can get enough for both of us as a professional tramp. Oh, well, if you insist, Ill wait. Good advice is thrown away on a man like you.
CHAPTER VI
Margaret Howard stood at the kitchen table kneading dough. The room was called the kitchen, which it was not, except in winter. The stove was moved out in spring to a lean-to, easily reached through the open door leading to the kitchen veranda.
When the stove went out or came in, it marked the approach or the departure of summer. It was the heavy pendulum whose swing this way or that indicated the two great changes of the year. No job about the farm was so much disliked by the farmer and his boys as the semiannual removal of the stove. Soot came down, stovepipes gratingly grudged to go together again; the stove was heavy and cumbersome, and many a pain in a rural back dated from the journey of the stove from outhouse to kitchen.
The kitchen itself was a one-story building, which projected back from the two-story farmhouse, giving the whole a T-shape. There was a veranda on each side of the kitchen, as well as one along the front of the house itself.
Margarets sleeves were turned back nearly to her elbows, showing a pair of white and shapely arms. Now and then she deftly dusted the kneading board with flour to prevent the dough sticking, and as she pressed her open palms into the smooth, white, spongy mass, the table groaned protestingly. She cut the roll with a knife into lumps that were patted into shape, and placed side by side, like hillocks of snow, in the sheet-iron pan.
At this moment there was a rap at the open kitchen door, and Margaret turned round, startled, for visitors were rare at that hour of the day; besides, neighbors seldom made such a concession to formality as to knock. The young girl flushed as she recognized the man who had spoken to her the day before. He stood smiling in the doorway, with his hat in his hand. She uttered no word of greeting or welcome, but stood looking at him, with her hand on the floury table.
Good-morning, Miss Howard, said Yates blithely; may I come in? I have been knocking for some time fruitlessly at the front door, so I took the liberty of coming around.
I did not hear you knock, answered Margaret. She neglected to invite him in, but he took the permission for granted and entered, seating himself as one who had come to stay. You must excuse me for going on with my work, she added; bread at this stage will not wait.
Certainly, certainly. Please do not let me interrupt you. I have made my own bread for years, but not in that way. I am glad that you are making bread, for I have come to see if I can buy some.
Really? Perhaps I can sell you some butter and eggs as well.
Yates laughed in that joyous, free-hearted manner of his which had much to do with his getting on in the world. It was difficult to remain long angry with so buoyant a nature.
Ah, Miss Howard, I see you havent forgiven me for that remark. You surely could not have thought I meant it. I really intended it for a joke, but I am willing to admit, now that I look back on it, that the joke was rather poor; but, then, most of my jokes are rather shopworn.
I am afraid I lack a sense of humor.
All women do, said Yates with easy confidence. At least, all Ive ever met.
Yates was sitting in a wooden chair, which he now placed at the end of the table, tilting it back until his shoulders rested against the wall. His feet were upon the rung, and he waved his hat back and forth, fanning himself, for it was warm. In this position he could look up at the face of the pretty girl before him, whose smooth brow was touched with just the slightest indication of a faint frown. She did not even glance at the self-confident young man, but kept her eyes fixed resolutely on her work. In the silence the table creaked as Margaret kneaded the dough. Yates felt an unaccustomed sensation of embarrassment creeping over him, and realized that he would have to re-erect the conversation on a new basis. It was manifestly absurd that a resourceful New Yorker, who had conversed unabashed with presidents, senators, generals, and other great people of a great nation, should be put out of countenance by the unaccountable coldness of a country girl in the wilds of Canada.