Читать книгу Bitsy Finds the Clue: A Mystery of Williamsburg Old and New - Augusta Huiell Seaman - Страница 8
ОглавлениеTROUBLE IN THE HOUSE OF ROMNEY
Miss Abby was “on the rampage”! She got that way every once in a while, so Celeste informed Bitsy, when Bitsy had come into her room one evening and found Celeste in tears. When the old lady was laboring with one of these unfortunate spells, the family, one and all, suffered.
“She can be the most infuriating!” muttered Celeste, wiping away the furtive tears. “She’s so exasperating—so unreasonable!”
“But—what’s the matter? What caused it?” queried Bitsy, who had been aware for the last twenty-four hours of a singular tensity in the atmosphere at old Romney House.
“Several things!” vouchsafed Celeste. “I might as well tell you—you’re almost one of the family now.” She settled herself in the old and slightly decrepit winged-chair by the window, while Bitsy threw herself across the bed, and went on:
“This particular ‘rampage’ got started on account of the old Middlebury house across the street. You see, they’ve suddenly decided to go in for the ‘Restoration’! They’re sort of cousins of our family, and old Grandfather Middlebury was like Aunt Abby—had no use for this restoration business and wouldn’t hear of allowing their place to be ‘desecrated by Yankee millions’, as he called it. Didn’t matter to him if the roof leaked and the chimneys were falling to pieces and the house hadn’t been painted since before the flood. But he died about six months ago, and now his daughter has decided to turn the house over to the ‘Restoration’ and have it put in proper shape. She’ll be allowed to live in it all the rest of her life, so she thinks she may as well be comfortable and happy while she can. She’s awfully interested in it anyway and helped quite a bit looking up old records and plans for the Restoration Committee, when they were working on some of the other buildings.
“But was Aunt Abby wild when she heard the news! I thought she’d have an apoplectic fit. She says she’ll never enter the Middlebury house again or even speak to Cousin Eustacia Middlebury! Which is a great pity, because Cousin Stacia’s awfully nice. I always enjoy having her come over here—but I doubt if she ever will again—while Aunt Abby’s in the house! But that’s only part of the trouble. I wouldn’t care so much about that, except for the effect it has on other things.
“Yesterday the family learned that some holdings they’ve had for a long time, the income from which they’ve always depended on mainly for support, have just stopped paying dividends—indefinitely. And that was a blow! It’s been a miserable little pittance anyway, of late years, but they managed to scrape along on it. But this depression has done for it, I reckon. And they’ve scarcely anything else. Now see how sensible it would be if they’d just sell this place to the ‘Restoration’, get a good, fair price for it, have it all put in proper repair (and the Restoration does a thorough job!) and then be allowed to go back and live in it all the rest of their lives in peace and comfort. Can you think of anything more like a fairy-story? But will they do it?—They will not—at least Aunt Abby and Uncle Drew won’t, and they have the main say in the matter. Aunt Eva and I spent all last evening arguing with them about it. I reckon you must have heard us.”
“Yes, I did,” admitted Bitsy, “at least I heard you all talking hard about something—I couldn’t tell what. I didn’t want to listen and I was awfully busy in my room on an essay for my English class. How did you come out with it?”
“Complete deadlock!” admitted Celeste. “Got nowhere and the only result is that Aunt Abby isn’t on speaking terms with anyone except Uncle Drew.” She sighed heavily and twisted her damp handkerchief into a ball.
“But that isn’t all of it, either. She’s so annoyed at me now that she’s forbidden me to have Duff come here to the house. She never did like him, anyway, and she doesn’t approve of my being interested in him. But she’s never done anything active about that—till now! It’s the reward I got for taking sides against her in the other matter. So, you see, just about everything’s gone wrong!”
“But—but what about the others?” queried Bitsy. “Don’t they have anything to say about these things?”
“Precious little—it seems,” averred Celeste. “The property’s in Aunt Abby’s name—legally—and the others are right under her thumb. I’ve reason to think that Uncle Drew isn’t entirely in sympathy with her—always. I even believe he wouldn’t mind the Restoration business, for himself. But there’s some other reason I’ve never been able to fathom, for their not wanting it, outside of just the tosh about ‘Yankee millions’. I’ve come to the conclusion—and this is a dead secret, Bitsy, just between us two—that there’s something about this house they don’t want discovered by having it restored. Don’t ask me why I think so. I’ve only been forced to that conclusion by strange little things that happen, curious ways in which they act once in a while, and a general air of secrecy they maintain, for no apparent reason. You can’t put your finger on any one thing and say it’s this or that—just the impression you get. Queer, isn’t it!”
Bitsy privately thought it exceedingly “queer”, but she saw too that Celeste was in a very depressed mood and ought to be lured out of it in some way. So she proposed that they forget it all for the present, and, as the evening was yet young, that she would “treat” to the movies if Celeste would go. Celeste agreed, and they even gathered in Aunt Eva, too, who also plainly needed some diversion. And the three of them went out and saw an uproarious comedy, had sodas afterward in the Coffee Shoppe, and came back mentally refreshed.
Two days later, the atmosphere still being tense, Miss Eva announced that she was going on a visit to some cousins in Richmond and disappeared from the scene for an indefinite stay.
“She usually does that when Aunt Abby gets too difficult,” Celeste confided to Bitsy, after the two had escorted Miss Eva to the station and seen her off on the train. “It makes her terribly nervous when Aunt Abby gets into one of these spells, and she generally gets sick herself unless she can get out of the way and have a rest from it. But something always happens while she’s gone to bring her back in a hurry. You’ll see! It’ll be the same this time, no doubt. Meanwhile I’ve promised to help her out by sticking closer to the house and keeping an eye on the others. Aunt Abby’s so feeble about getting around, and Eliza gets careless about the meals, and Uncle Drew loses his appetite and won’t eat. I’ve promised to try to keep them all up to the mark and free Aunt Eva from worry. Poor dear—she needs a vacation badly! Hasn’t had one since last spring. Will you help me, Bits?”
Bitsy promised wholeheartedly that Celeste would have her entire coöperation. But neither of them, that sunny afternoon, suspected the surprising complications that were to ensue before Miss Eva Romney’s return to Williamsburg.
