Read Online Mistress Pat by L. M. Montgomery - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: L. M. Montgomery
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odors, everybody dressed up except Judy.
âIâm not putting on me dress-up dress till me dinner is out of the way. Iâm not wanting spots on it. Whin the last dish is washed Iâll slip up and put it on in time for supper. Theyâll see me in all my grandeur thin. Yer table do be looking lovely, Patsy, but Iâm thinking it wud look better if that cherry thing didnât be sitting in the middle av it.â
âI thought it would please Tillytuck. Heâs sensitive, you know. And if it is going to bring us bad luck it will anyhow, so what matter where it sits?â
âSez she, laughing in her slave at the foolish ould woman. Oh, oh, weâll be seeing, Patsy. Joe hasnât come after all and Iâve me own opinion as to what previnted him.â
Pat looked about happily. Everything was just right. She must run and tie Sidâs necktie for him. She loved to do thatâ¦nobody else at Silver Bush could suit him. What matter if a cold rain were falling outside? Here it was snug and warm, the smiling rooms full of Christmas magic. Then the old brass knocker on the front door began to go tap-a-tap. The first guests had arrivedâ¦Uncle Brian and Aunt Jessie, who hadnât been asked at all but had just decided to run down in the free and easy clan fashion and bring rich old Cousin Nicholas Gardiner from New Brunswick, who was visiting them and wanted to see his relatives at Silver Bush. Pat, as she let them in, cast one wild glance through the dining room door to see if three more places could be crowded into the table without spoiling it and knew they couldnât. The Jerusalem cherry had begun its dire work.
Soon everybody had comeâ¦Frank and Winnie, Aunt Hazel and Uncle Robert Madison and all the little Madisons, the two stately Great-aunts, Frances and Honor from the Bay Shore farm, Uncle Tom and Aunt Barbara and Aunt Edithâ¦the latter looking as disapproving as usual.
âRaisin gravy,â she sniffed, as she went upstairs. âJudy Plum made that on purpose. She knows I canât eat raisin gravy. It always gives me dyspepsia.â
But nobody seemed to have dyspepsia at that Christmas table. At first all went very well. A dear, gentle lady, with golden-brown eyes and silvery hair, sat at the head and her smile made everyone feel welcome. Pat had elected to help Judy wait on the table but everyone else sat down. The children sat at a special table in the Little Parlor as was the custom of the caste, and the cocktail course passed off without a hitchâ¦three extra cocktails having been hurriedly concocted by Cuddles who, however, forgot to put a maraschino cherry on them. Of course Aunt Edith got one of the cherryless ones and blamed Judy Plum for it, and Great-aunt Frances got another and felt slighted. Old Cousin Nicholas got the third and didnât care. He never et the durn things anyhow. Uncle Tom ate his, although Aunt Edith reminded him that maraschino cherries were apt to give old people indigestion. âIâm not so aged yet,â said Uncle Tom stiffly. Uncle Tom did look surprisingly young, as Pat and Judy were quick to note. The once flowing, wavy black beard, which had been growing smaller all summer, was by now clipped to quite a smart little point and he had got gold-rimmed eyeglasses in place of the old spectacles. Pat thought of those California letters but put the thought resolutely away. Nothing must mar this Christmas dinnerâ¦though Winnie was telling a story that would have been much better left untold. Judy almost froze in her tracks with horror as Winnieâs clear voice drifted out to the kitchen.
âIt was just after Frank and I were married, you know. I hadnât really got settled down. Unexpected company came to supper one night and I sent Frank off to the store to get some sliced ham for an emergency dish. I thought it seemed rather pink when I was arranging it on the plate⦠so nicely, with curly little
âIâm not putting on me dress-up dress till me dinner is out of the way. Iâm not wanting spots on it. Whin the last dish is washed Iâll slip up and put it on in time for supper. Theyâll see me in all my grandeur thin. Yer table do be looking lovely, Patsy, but Iâm thinking it wud look better if that cherry thing didnât be sitting in the middle av it.â
âI thought it would please Tillytuck. Heâs sensitive, you know. And if it is going to bring us bad luck it will anyhow, so what matter where it sits?â
âSez she, laughing in her slave at the foolish ould woman. Oh, oh, weâll be seeing, Patsy. Joe hasnât come after all and Iâve me own opinion as to what previnted him.â
Pat looked about happily. Everything was just right. She must run and tie Sidâs necktie for him. She loved to do thatâ¦nobody else at Silver Bush could suit him. What matter if a cold rain were falling outside? Here it was snug and warm, the smiling rooms full of Christmas magic. Then the old brass knocker on the front door began to go tap-a-tap. The first guests had arrivedâ¦Uncle Brian and Aunt Jessie, who hadnât been asked at all but had just decided to run down in the free and easy clan fashion and bring rich old Cousin Nicholas Gardiner from New Brunswick, who was visiting them and wanted to see his relatives at Silver Bush. Pat, as she let them in, cast one wild glance through the dining room door to see if three more places could be crowded into the table without spoiling it and knew they couldnât. The Jerusalem cherry had begun its dire work.
Soon everybody had comeâ¦Frank and Winnie, Aunt Hazel and Uncle Robert Madison and all the little Madisons, the two stately Great-aunts, Frances and Honor from the Bay Shore farm, Uncle Tom and Aunt Barbara and Aunt Edithâ¦the latter looking as disapproving as usual.
âRaisin gravy,â she sniffed, as she went upstairs. âJudy Plum made that on purpose. She knows I canât eat raisin gravy. It always gives me dyspepsia.â
But nobody seemed to have dyspepsia at that Christmas table. At first all went very well. A dear, gentle lady, with golden-brown eyes and silvery hair, sat at the head and her smile made everyone feel welcome. Pat had elected to help Judy wait on the table but everyone else sat down. The children sat at a special table in the Little Parlor as was the custom of the caste, and the cocktail course passed off without a hitchâ¦three extra cocktails having been hurriedly concocted by Cuddles who, however, forgot to put a maraschino cherry on them. Of course Aunt Edith got one of the cherryless ones and blamed Judy Plum for it, and Great-aunt Frances got another and felt slighted. Old Cousin Nicholas got the third and didnât care. He never et the durn things anyhow. Uncle Tom ate his, although Aunt Edith reminded him that maraschino cherries were apt to give old people indigestion. âIâm not so aged yet,â said Uncle Tom stiffly. Uncle Tom did look surprisingly young, as Pat and Judy were quick to note. The once flowing, wavy black beard, which had been growing smaller all summer, was by now clipped to quite a smart little point and he had got gold-rimmed eyeglasses in place of the old spectacles. Pat thought of those California letters but put the thought resolutely away. Nothing must mar this Christmas dinnerâ¦though Winnie was telling a story that would have been much better left untold. Judy almost froze in her tracks with horror as Winnieâs clear voice drifted out to the kitchen.
âIt was just after Frank and I were married, you know. I hadnât really got settled down. Unexpected company came to supper one night and I sent Frank off to the store to get some sliced ham for an emergency dish. I thought it seemed rather pink when I was arranging it on the plate⦠so nicely, with curly little
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