Not long afterwards Seth Miller arrived with his lantern which he turned down to a proper height and left in the porch. Miller was earning a good income as janitor of the schools in the South Hollow, including, of course, the academy, and as sexton of the church, besides having all the carpentry he could do during the school vacation. He had moved his family into a warm, comfortable house and was the head or at least the source of supply of a comfortable, well-dressed, happy household. Despite his anxiety, he could not but feel himself to be a substantial citizen and freeholder as he went forth over the new-fallen snow to consult with his neighbours.
Miss Penny asked anxiously for the baby. He replied that little Joe was prime but that Anna had felt wretchedly all day and was really ill to-night. While her mother was getting her to bed he had come over to see if they had any suggestions.
“The worst of it is, we can’t consult Mr. Langley,” said Miss Penny in her fluttered way. “He always knows just what to do, but—there’s his wife, you see. What I mean is—of course, I am as pleased as anyone—and that alone wouldn’t hurt Anna—nor perhaps the other alone—I am not sure—but racing home to little Joe—and all her school work—and standing all day when she was clerking in the city. And as you say, Seth, it was unfortunate, his crying the first time. But we mustn’t blame the little fellow. Anna says she looks like Red Riding-Hood’s grandmother—no, I believe it was like the wolf dressed up in the grandmother’s night gown, though I don’t suppose he’s heard that story or would understand it if he had.”
“No’m, you’re right. Not yet, Miss Penny,” Miller assured her politely.
“What does Anna’s mother think?” asked Mrs. Lorraine.
“Jenny lays it all to the baby, mostly. She never took to him as the rest of us do, Mrs. Lorraine, and she frets more ’n I ever knew her to over Anna’s having the care of him. And all the time, you know, he ain’t much trouble.”
“We might take him over here for a while, Mrs. Lorraine?” Miss Penny suggested.
“You’d only shift the trouble, Miss Penny,” Miller declared. “Anna’d come along, too, and you’d be all wore out with the excitement and Jenny would be all the more worried. She thinks, too, Anna hadn’t ought to go to Mrs. Langley’s so often.”
“After all, why should she go at all?” demanded Mrs. Lorraine with sudden spirit. “Why don’t you put your foot down, Mr. Miller, that she sha’n’t go there except in vacation?”
Seth Miller was flattered by the implication of her demand. But he knew as well as any that he wasn’t one to set his foot down in any firm way in his own family.