"Now what can I do?" demanded Dum.
"You must sit still and tell us what next, and after we get things under way if you want the other girls to help, I'll call them."
"The breakfast table must be set,—but, my dears, I can't bear to have guests working! Such a thing has never been known at Maxton!"
Dum hastened to the dining-room where she exercised her own sweet will in the setting of the table. First she had the joy of cutting a bowl of roses for the center. She found mats and napkins in the great old Sheraton sideboard, and Canton china that Miss Price told her was the kind to use. The silver was still in the master's chamber where it was taken every night by the butler and brought out every morning by that dignified functionary. I think the non-appearance of the butler was almost as great a blow to Miss Price as the defection of the cook.
"Jasper has been with us since before the war and the idea of his behaving this way!" she moaned. "I did not expect anything more from these flighty maids and the yard boy,—they have only been here five or six years,—but Milly and Jasper!"
"But maybe they are ill," I said, trying to soothe her hurt feelings.
"I don't believe a word of it! How could five of them get ill at once? More than likely that trifling Willie, the yard boy, has got religion. Milly told me he was 'seeking' and I have known there was something the matter with him lately, he has been so utterly worthless," and our hostess heaved a sigh with which I could thoroughly sympathize. I well knew that a "seeking" servant was but a poor excuse.
"How well you do those rolls, my child! Who taught you?"
Then I told Miss Maria of my old mammy who had been mother and teacher and nurse for me since I was born.
I shaped pan after pan of turnovers and clover-leaves and put them aside for the second rising.