A Touch of Sun, and Other StoriesFoote, Mary Hallock
General
A Touch of Sun, and Other Stories
Foote, Mary Hallock
United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
"He's an awfully grand old fellow, you know. I could never talk to him as I
do to the boys. If he thinks it his duty to marry me, I don't know if I can
help myself. Poor Uncle George! I've always called him 'uncle' like his own
nieces, who are all my friends. I never thought that I should be 'poor-ing'
Uncle George! But he can't have heard yet of Micky's marriage. Fancy his
going down to the ranch to stay with Micky and that woman! And then for a
girl like me to toss him aside, after such a journey and such kindness! I
don't know how I shall ever have courage to do it. There are fine women in
London who would jump at the chance of being Mrs. Harshaw--not Mrs. Micky,
nor Mrs. Stephen, nor Mrs. Sidney, but _Mrs. Harshaw_, you understand?" I
understood.
"And now," she said, producing the second letter, "you _will_ laugh! And
you may!"
The envelope contained a notification, in due form, of the arrival from New
York, charges not paid, of some five hundred pounds of second-class freight
consigned to Mrs. Harshaw, Harshaw's ranch, Glenn's Ferry (via Bisuka).
"These things belong to me," said Kitty. "They cost me the last bit of
money I had that was my own. Mrs. Percifer, who is so clever at managing,
persuaded me I should need them directly on the ranch--curtains and rugs
and china, and heaven knows what! She nearly killed me, dragging me about
those enormous New York shops. She said it would be far and away cheaper
and better to buy them there. I didn't mind about anything, I was so scared
and homesick; I did whatever she said. She saw to getting them off, I
suppose. That must have been her idea, directing them to Mrs. Harshaw. She
thought there would be no Kitty Comyn, no _me_, when these got here. And
there isn't; _this_ is not the Kitty Comyn who left England--six weeks, is
it?--or six years ago!"
"How did the letter reach you?" I asked. We examined the envelope. It bore
the postmark, not of Bisuka, but of Glenn's Ferry, which is the nearest
post-office to the Harshaw ranch. Micky's wife had doubtless opened the
letter, and Micky, perceiving where the error lay, had reinclosed, but some
one else had directed it--the postmaster, probably, at his request--to
Kitty, at our camp. That was rather a nice little touch in Micky, that last
about the direction.
"Come, he is honest, at the least," I said, "whether Mrs. Micky would have
scrupled or not. She could claim the things if she chose."
"She is quite welcome," said Kitty. "I don't know what in the world I shall
do with them. There'll be boxes and bales and barrels--enough to bury me
and all my troubles. I might build me a funeral pyre!"
We fell into each other's arms and screamed with laughter.
"Kitty, we'll have an auction," I cried. "There's nothing succeeds like
an auction out here. We'll sell the things at boom prices--we'll sell
everything."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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