CHAPTER XXIV.
A COMBINATION OF EVENTS.
Four weeks had passed away and Mrs. Montgomery still presided at "Sunnybank." The days were spent in a variety of ways that tended to one grand end and that for the best.
Lottie Lawson was blithe as a bee, humming little snatches of song and often cheering the rooms by her presence.
An important functionary among the domestics was Melindy Jane
Thrasher, the happy fiancee of Mr. Moses Spriggins.
Melindy Jane took much pride in informing her fellow-laborers that "she had been engaged to work with the Verneses all through the Montgomeryses, for she had seen the first Miss Verne along with her intended up to the upper neighborhood at church, and she and a hull lot of the young folks came out from Mill Crossin' to go, and when they seed the grand folks, they'd inquired and found out all about him. Then, what do you think? dad saw an advertisement in the paper, and he rit right away and got this situation; and here I am ever since, and s'pose will be for a leetle longer" and with a knowing look Melindy Jane would draw her hearers' attention to Mr. Spriggins, and by a series of phases expatiate on her lover's manly form and weighty principles, not forgetting his importance among the good folks of Mill Crossing.
Marguerite Verne had often listened to these speeches, and stimulated Melindy Jane's eloquence by her earnest attention, and for such kindness she was eulogized in the presence of Mr. Spriggins, until the latter vowed that "that 'ere Miss Verne hadn't an equal in the Dominion."
It so happened that Melindy Jane one evening asked for an hour or two out, and the request being granted a few minutes later the happy rubicund face of Moses, beaming with smiles, illuminated the gateway as he passed through, hand-in-hand with his fiancee.
Mrs. Montgomery was a lover of fun, and she enjoyed the sight with evident relish. Mr. Lawson's voice soon after interrupted her thoughts.
"I came near being run down by one of your family, and an old friend of mine," cried he, his manner bright and cheerful, "I did not know that Mr. Spriggins was paying his addresses to anyone in this house."