“Oh, then I’ll put the card up!”
“Do! I wouldn’t lose no time about
it. And listen to this, Mrs. Bubb. Next
time you see your friend Mrs. Clover, you may tell
her that if she wants to know where her precious ’usband
is she’s not to ask me, ’cos I
wouldn’t let her know, not if she was on her
death-bed!”
Having uttered this surprising message, with point
and emphasis worthy of its significance, Polly hastened
from the house. And Mrs. Bubb stood looking after
her in bewilderment.
MR. GAMMON’S RESOLVE
Convinced that his life was blighted, Mr. Gammon sang
and whistled with more than usual vivacity as he dressed
each morning. It was not in his nature to despond;
he had received many a knock-down blow, and always
came up fresher after it. Mrs. Clover’s
veto upon his tender hopes with regard to Minnie had
not only distressed, but greatly surprised him; for
during the last few months he had often said to himself
that, whether Minnie favoured his suit or not, her
mother’s goodwill was a certainty. His advances
had been of the most delicate, no word of distinct
wooing had passed his lips; but he thought of Minnie
a great deal, and came to the decision that in her
the hopes of his life were centred. It might be
that Minnie had no inkling of his intentions; she
was so modest, so unlike the everyday girls who tittered
and ogled with every marriageable man; on that very
account he had made her his ideal. And Mrs. Clover
would help him as a mother best knows how. The
shock of learning that Mrs. Clover would do no such
thing utterly confused his mind. He still longed
for Minnie, yet seemed of a sudden hopelessly remote
from her. He could not determine whether he had
given her up or not; he did not know whether to bow
before Mrs. Clover or to protest and persevere.
He liked Mrs. Clover far too much to be angry with
her; he respected Minnie far too much to annoy her
by an unwelcome courtship; he wished, in fact, that
he had not made a fool of himself that evening, and
wanted things to be as they were before.
In the meantime he occupied himself in looking out
for a new engagement Plenty were to be had, but he
aimed at something better than had satisfied him hitherto.
He must get a “permanency”; at his age
it was time he settled into a life of respect able
routine. But for his foolish habit of living
from hand to mouth, now in this business, now in that,
indulging his taste for variety, Mrs. Clover would
never, he felt sure, have “put her foot down”
in that astonishing way. The best thing he could
do was to show himself in a new light.
