"I won't take any step about sending her away, if you feel so about it—for a little while, at least."
"Very well; thank you! Then it is settled. Good night." And Missy went away, not exactly, it must be owned, as if she had received a favor, but as if hardly-wrung justice had been obtained for Gabrielle and Gabrielle's dead mother. That, at least, was how she felt—and Mr. Andrews wasn't altogether stupid. He sighed as he bent over Jay's crib, and smoothed the hair back on his pillow, screening the light from his eyes, and turning down the lamp; but he did not go near the bed of the offending Gabrielle, and left the room without another glance in her direction.
CHAPTER XIV.
YELLOWCOATS CALLS TO INQUIRE.
The next morning, Missy managed to get away without encountering any one more formidable than Jay and the servants. Mr. Andrews probably made an intentionally late breakfast, and Gabrielle was more than willing to keep out of sight. Matters at the house she found in worse confusion than ever. The only plumber in the village was more eminent for good-nature than for skill. He doctored furnaces and ranges, cooking stoves and "air-tights," but it must be said he was more successful with the latter. Water-backs, and traps, and reservoirs had grown up since he learned his trade, but, like a good-natured creature, he put his hand to whatever was asked of him, and sometimes succeeded in patching up leaks, and sometimes didn't. He was the worst berated man in Yellowcoats, but in the greatest demand. No one's wrath lasted out the first glance of his good-humored face. He never thought of keeping his word; indeed, it would have needed a great deal of principle to do it. The one that was first, got him, whether prince or peasant, and generally found it necessary to mount guard over him till the job was finished. He was willing to work all day, and all night, irrespective of meals or sleep. Such good-nature could not fail to be rewarded, and so every one "put up" with him, and he was not supplanted.
His yesterday's work at the Varians', however, had not been a success. He had left the range in a lamentable condition; something very distressing was the matter with the water-back, and the fire could not be made. The house-cleaners were all at a loss for hot water; trusting in his promise to be on hand the first thing in the morning, they had all waited for him, without sending in to Miss Rothermel. Upon inquiry, it was found that a magnate in the horse-and-cow business, some miles distant, had come to grief in the matter of his tin roof, and had captured Mike at an early hour, and was probably even now mounting guard over him, and it was believed that no threats or entreaties would induce him to give him up till the roof was water-tight. As it was a very bad roof, and had been in Mike's hands for years, it seemed probable that nothing short of a day or two would answer for its repair. Still, several hours of Peters' time was taken up in going over to appeal to the sense of honor of the horse-and-cow man. In the meanwhile, it was deplorable to see what a motive power hot water was, and how difficult it was to get it, when once one has come to depend upon a boiler. Very little could be done except in the small matter of putting drawers and closets in order. The women sat about the kitchen and berated Mike, unable even to get a bit of dinner cooked.
At three o'clock, Peters returned to say that there was no hope. The horse-and-cow man had taken the ladder away from the roof, and declared Mike shouldn't come down till the leaks were stopped, if it took him till November. Of course the house could not be habitable till the range was in order. Missy with a groan acknowledged her fate, and decided it was meant by destiny, that she should stay at Mr. Andrews' till everybody in the village was saturated with the intelligence.
She had been away from her mother all day, and Ann had reported her as was not feeling quite so well, so at half past three o'clock, she had turned her back upon the desolation, and leaving the servants to do what little they could or would, went back to sit with her mother for the rest of the afternoon, which had turned out fine and sunny.