“O, Tessa,” she cried in her loud, laughing voice. “I haven’t seen you in an age.”
Miss Jewett’s greeting was a hand-clasp; among all her girls (and all the girls in Dunellen were hers) Tessa Wadsworth was the elected one.
“Mrs. Towne has every thing so delicious,” Sue was rattling on; “such perfumes and such silks and such jewels. Oh, how Old Place makes my mouth water! I wish you could go over the place, Tessa; you were never even through the grounds, were you? Mr. Ralph takes great pride in keeping it nice; of course, it is really his. I’d marry any body to live there and have plenty of money and do just as I please; not that Mr. Ralph isn’t something out of the common, though. People say that he never means any thing by his attentions; Dr. Lake says—”
“I hear that you are going to St. Louis,” interrupted Miss Jewett.
“No, I’m not. And I’m as provoked as I can be and live! Something has happened; Mr. Ralph is an uneasy mortal; he never knows what he will do next, and he has changed his mind about taking me. My cake is all dough about my winter’s fun. How I cried the night she told me! The last night of the year, too, when I ought to have been full of fun. Mrs. Towne wants me to write to her, but I’d never dare, unless you would help me, Tessa, about the spelling and punctuation. Mr. Ralph would laugh until he died over my letters.
“I don’t write to Stacey now, Miss Jewett. I wrote him a letter one Sunday from Old Place and told him that he might as well cease. Mr. Ralph and I had been walking through the wood and he asked me if I were engaged to Stacey! I thought it was about time to stop that.”
“Perhaps if you had been home you wouldn’t have written that letter. Stacey is a fine fellow.”
“Oh, I had thought of it, but that day I decided! Stacey can hardly support one, let alone two. Father says that I was born to have a rich husband because I have such luxurious tastes! I know that I shall die cooped up at home. I have to go out to see the sons and daughters of the land. Tessa, I don’t see how you live.”
“I do, nevertheless,” said Tessa, selecting her spool of silk.
“I shall have Dr. Lake this winter or I couldn’t exist. He says that he will take me everywhere if father will only give him the time. He is great fun, only he does get so moody and serious; sits for two hours in the office with his head in his hands. Mr. Ralph doesn’t have moods; he is always pleasant. I am going to stay these last few days at Old Place. Tessa, I am coming to stay all night with you and have a long talk.”