Her bright, eager eyes were fixed upon him for his approval, which he gave unqualifiedly.
“He was glad, and to-morrow, after dinner, he would go and see it,” he said; and then as his services were needed for the heavy bureau, he lifted his hat to Gertie, and walked away.
“For pity’s sake, what are you doing?” Julia asked of Godfrey, when, after her nap and toilet, she came from her room and found the rear of the hall blockaded with furniture, and mattress, and bed-clothes, and Godfrey, very red in the face as he assisted Mrs. Tiffe, who was also anxious and excited.
“Cooking some ‘potted sprats’ I guess, though I’m not quite sure,” was Godfrey’s reply; and when Julia, who was not very conversant with Mrs. Opie, demanded what he meant, he explained that as Aunt Christine was so grieved about the things sent to the cottage, and expressed herself as so desirous to have them back, especially the bedstead, he had decided to give her a pleasant surprise on her return that night from the Ridge. “Won’t she be delighted though!” And Godfrey’s face was very expressive as he tugged away at the heavy furniture. “There, she is sure to like that,” he said, when at last his work was finished, and the old fashioned, massive bedstead stood in the place the lighter one of oak had occupied, while the bureau was pushed into a corner as the only available spot.
“I am glad you are so well satisfied,” Julia said; “but I doubt if you get any thanks for your trouble. Auntie will never sleep a night on that bedstead; she is the biggest coward in the world.”
“Then I’ll take it down Monday. Anyway, she cannot say I have not tried to please her,” was Godfrey’s reply, as he walked away, whistling cheerily, and wondering why women were so queer, and always went back on a fellow when he was doing his best.
Meantime Alice had had her pet out in a good cry, which made her nose very red, and did not add at all to the beauty of her face when she came down to dinner, gracious and smiling, and ready to forgive Godfrey, if he wished to be forgiven. But he gave no sign that he did, though he was very polite to her, and peeled her orange, and gave her his bunch of Malaga grapes, because he knew she had a weakness for them, and asked her slyly how she had burned her nose so badly, and suggested a very small poultice of flaxseed when she went to bed at night! And Alice laughed, and thought him altogether charming and delightful.
“I mean to show him that I am improving in what he calls snobbishness,” she thought, and after dinner was over, she said to him in her most insinuating voice:
“Godfrey, I want to see Mrs. Rogers again. I’ve changed my mind about the tucks. I heard you say you were going to the village, and would you mind walking round that way for me when you come home?”