Susan Clegg and a Man in the House | Page 8

one way, for he come an' asked me
while I was washin' up if I knowed any way to open a locked box
without a key, for he could n't find the key to his flute box nowhere, an'
when he was a little nervous nights he always wore it off practisin' on
his flute. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, you can maybe imagine as learnin' as
there was a flute in that box an' the key lost, an' him in the habit of
playin' that flute nights, altered my views more 'n a little, an' I can tell
you that I had to think pretty fast afore answerin' him. While I was
thinkin' he said he had n't played since he was here, an' he was gettin'
so wild to play he thought the best way would be to maybe pry the lock
open. I see then as I'd got to come out firm an' I said I'd never consent
to no young man in my house, spoilin' a good box like that an' maybe a
fine flute too, just because he had n't got a little patience. He said I was
right about its being a fine flute, an' he was just achin' to hear it an'
blow it. I told him to let me hunt an' maybe I'd find the key, an' so he
went off some soothed, an' now the Lord have mercy on you an' me, for
Elijah Doxey never will from this day on. Will you only think of him
bein' nervous an' playin' nights! It'll be worse than a tree-toad an' you
know what a tree-toad is, Mrs. Lathrop,--I declare to goodness if Elijah
acts like a tree-toad he'll drive me stark, ravin' mad."
"Ca--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop.
"I don't see how I can," said Miss Clegg, dubiously. "I shall do my best,
but, oh my, a young man as is a editor an' has red hair an' a flute is
awful uncertain to count on. I almost wish I had n't took him."
"Why--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.
"I can't now," said Miss Clegg, "the arrangements of this world is
dreadful hard on women. It's very easy to take a man into your house
but once a woman has done it an' the man's settled, nobody but a
undertaker can get him out in any way as is respectable accordin' to my

order of thinkin'."
"But you--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop, comfortingly.
"I know, but even three months is a long time," said Miss Clegg, "an'
he's begun to leave his soap uncovered already, an' oh my heavens alive,
how am I ever goin' to stand that flute!"
CHAPTER III
THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE NEWSPAPER
"I'll tell you what, Mrs. Lathrop," said Miss Clegg the next Monday
afternoon, "I ain't goin' to stay here so late but what I go home in time
to make Elijah something hot an' comfortin' for supper to-night. I ain't
any one to take sides, but I will say that my heart has gone out to that
poor young man ever since I was down in the square this mornin'. I felt
to be real glad as he'd took to-day to go up to the city, for I must say I'd
of felt more'n a little sorry for him if he'd heard folks expressin' their
opinion about his first paper."
"Did he--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.
"Yes, he went to-day," said Miss Clegg. "He went on the early train an'
one of the joys of havin' a man in the house was as I had to be up bright
an' early to get him his breakfast. I must say I never thought about his
wantin' early breakfast when I agreed to take him, but I'm not one to
refuse to feed even a editor, so I cooked him cakes just the same as I
would any one else."
"Why--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.
"Well, I guess maybe he heard things yesterday as made him feel as it'd
be just as well to let folks have time to sizzle down some afore they
looked on his bright an' shinin' face again. I tell you what, Mrs. Lathrop,
I can see as runnin' a newspaper ain't an easy thing an' the town is
really so up in arms to-day, that I really would of made waffles for
Elijah to eat instead of just plain cakes, if I'd knowed when he got up

how mad every one was at him. I can see since I've been down town
to-day as the square was n't likely to have been no bed of roses for him
yesterday. The whole community is mad as hornets over the paper.
Why, I never see folks so mad over nothin' before. Nobody likes his
puttin' his own name right under the paper's, an'