Ruth’s laughter could no longer be restrained. “Oh, Graham, she borrowed it.”
“Borrowed it!” repeated the amazed Graham. “Well, I like that.”
“She rushed down here the morning after you came and said she had an extra bed to make, and would we lend her a little bedding. Of course we didn’t have any bedding to spare. We’d only brought enough for ourselves and hardly that, for it’s cooler here than we expected. But the steamer rug was lying around and we thought we could let her take that.”
“But she must have bedding of her own,” insisted Graham. “What does she do in the winter time?”
“That’s the funny thing about Mrs. Snooks. She borrows dust-pans, and flat-irons and all sorts of necessary things and you feel sure that she hasn’t been doing without them all her life. And the queerest part of all is that she acts so aggrieved if we refuse. If we tell her that we’re out of sugar, she seems as indignant as if we kept a store, and it was our business to have sugar for everybody.”
Peggy came out on the porch at that moment, and listened with interest, not unmixed with indignation, to Graham’s account of his discovery. “Sometimes I think the trouble with that woman is that she’s formed an appetite for borrowing, just like an appetite for drugs, you know.” Peggy laughed as she added, “Perhaps I ought not to say a great deal just now, as long as I’m going borrowing myself. I’ve just discovered that we haven’t any ginger in the house, and I’ve set my heart on gingerbread for dinner.”
“Why don’t you borrow it of Mrs. Snooks?” cried Ruth. “It’s time we were getting a little return for what we’ve lent her.”
Peggy hesitated. “I don’t know why I shouldn’t,” she acknowledged frankly. “If it isn’t very convenient for her to lend it, perhaps she’ll realize that her borrowing may inconvenience other people sometimes.”
It was while Peggy was absent on this errand that the plot was formed. Gradually the group on the piazza had increased till only Peggy and Dorothy were missing. Not unnaturally the conversation concerned itself with Mrs. Snooks’ peculiarities, and the undeniable disadvantages of having her for a neighbor. Graham’s story of the steamer rug was matched by equally harrowing tales of useful articles borrowed with the promise of an immediate return, and missed when wanted most.
“Peggy imagines that she’s going to teach Mrs. Snooks a lesson by borrowing a little ginger of her,” Ruth said with a shake of her head. “It’s my opinion it’ll take a good deal more than that to teach Mrs. Snooks anything.”