She was just as dissatisfied after scanning all the submitted scenarios as Mr. Hammond seemed to be with the day’s work when the company came back from Herringport in the late afternoon.
“I suppose it is a sanguine disposition that keeps me at this game, Miss Ruth,” he sighed. “I always expect much more than I can possibly get out of a situation; and when I fail I go on hoping just the same.”
“I am sure that is a commendable disposition to possess,” she laughed. “What has gone so wrong?”
“It is the old story of leading the horse to water, and the inability of making him drink. This is a balky horse, and no mistake!”
“Do tell me what you mean, Mr. Hammond?”
“Why, I told you we had got what the ladies call ‘perfectly lovely’ types for that scene to-day. You ought to see them, Miss Ruth! You would be charmed. Just what the dear public expects a back-country sewing circle should look like.”
“Oh!”
“And they all promised to be on hand at the location—and they were. I have had my experiences with amateurs before. I had begged the ladies to dress just as they would were they going to an actual meeting of their sewing society——”
“And they all dressed up?” laughed Ruth, clasping her hands.
“Well, that I expected to contend with. And most of them even in their best bib and tucker were not out of the picture. Not at all! That was not the main difficulty and the one that has spoiled our day’s work.”