An hour, sometimes two, the colonel’s horse stood in the wind and weather awaiting his agreeable master, but if, as rarely happened, the latter limit was transgressed, a loud neighing brought the gentleman to his feet. “Ladies, I have had a most entertaining morning; duty alone calls me from your side. Allow me to wish you good-day.”
In the afternoon as the sisters sat by the front window knitting socks for the poor, or daintily stitching some fine muslin for a baby’s outfit, they discussed the Colonel’s visit.
“Letitia, I am sorry brother does not like the Colonel.”
They never disagreed, and from a constant desire to emphasize, each the opinion of the other, there had grown a habit of repetition.
“Yes, Honora, I wish brother did incline toward the Colonel.”
“I cannot understand his objection. Colonel Grey is a gentleman, and an excellent provider.”
This term embraced a multitude of small virtues, chiefly that of generosity toward his immediate family, and to Mrs. Mountain and Mrs. Plum, the man who failed in this respect had better not be alluded to.
It was a little strange that they knew the Colonel’s household habits, for he lived alone with an aged housekeeper and her husband, and it was only at long intervals that he opened his doors to his friends, albeit he was justly proud of the frequent honor he enjoyed of “drinking a dish of tea” at the Mountain Place, and on these occasions he never forgot to be strictly impartial in his attentions, and addressed his conversation first to one, then to the other of the sisters.
Like the entire village population, he was well aware that to these ladies everyone looked for advice, and indeed for intelligent nursing. So frequent were the midnight calls for services that one of the servant’s regular duties was the disposition at nightfall of their hoods, cloaks, and lantern conveniently near the front door.
A reference to this formed a staple joke between the friends, and Letitia frequently asserted (and it was repeated by Honora) that in case of illness at “Moss Farm,” they would consider themselves engaged.