“Indeed!” said she, coldly.
“Yes, indeed!” replied Mrs. Bennett, provoked by the cool indifference of the school teacher.
“Please explain,” said Mabel quietly.
“You promoted two girls in my Flora’s class, and let her stay where, she was.”
“I would have promoted her if she had been competent.”
“Why ain’t she competent?” Mrs. Bennett went on.
“Of course there can be only one answer to that question, Mrs. Bennett. She is not sufficiently advanced in her studies.”
She knows as much as Julia Fletcher or Mary Ferris, any day,” retorted Mrs. Bennett.
Suppose we defer our discussion till we leave the table,” said Mabel,” finding it difficult to conceal her disdain for her assailant’s unmannerly exhibition.
Mrs. Bennett did not reply, but she remarked audibly to the woman who sat next to her; “The school teacher’s rather uppish. ‘Pears to me she’s carryin’ things with a high hand.”
“You see a school teacher has her trials, Mrs. Wilson,” said Mabel, turning to her neighbor with a rather faint smile.
“I feel for you,” said the minister’s wife sympathetically.
“Thank you, but don’t suppose I mind it at all. I shall exercise my own discretion, subject only to the committee. I am wholly independent.”
“I wish I could be,” sighed Mrs. Wilson; “but no one can be less so than a minister’s wife.”
“Is your husband to be here this evening?” asked Mabel.
“He has a bad headache and was unable to come. I shall go home early, as I may be needed.”
In fact, about half an hour later, Mrs. Wilson made an apology and took her leave.
“Mrs. Wilson is looking pale and careworn,” said Mrs. Kent. “Don’t you think so, Mrs. Hadley?”
“She hasn’t much energy about her,” replied the Squire’s wife. “If she had, the minister would get along better.”
“I think she’s no sort of manager,” said Mrs. Bennett. “She runs her husband into debt by her shiftless ways.”
“I think you’re mistaken,” said Mrs. Pratt quietly. “I know her well, and I consider her an admirable manager. She makes a little go as far as she can, and as far as any one else could.”
“I only know my husband can’t get his bill paid,” Mrs. Bennett went on. “He presented it this morning — twenty five dollars — and only got two dollars and a half. Seems to me there must be poor management somewhere.”
It would be unfair to the femininity of Granville to say that Mrs. Bennett was a fair specimen of it. Except Mrs. Hadley, there was not one who did not look disgusted at her coarseness and bad breeding.
“You must excuse me, Mrs. Bennett,” said Mrs. Kent, “but I don’t think that follows, by any means, from what you say.”
“Then how do you explain it?” asked the butcher’s wife.
“The trouble is that Mr. Wilson’s salary is too small.”
“He ought to live on five hundred dollars a year, I think,” said Mrs. Hadley; “especially when he gets his rent so cheap.”
“Is five hundred dollars actually the amount of his salary?” asked Mabel, amazed.
“Yes.”
“How do you expect him to support his family on such an amount as that?” she exclaimed almost indignantly.
“It is very small, Miss Frost,” said Mrs. Pratt, “but I am afraid we couldn’t pay much more. None of us are rich. Still I think something ought to be done to help Mr. Wilson. What do you say, ladies, to a donation visit?”
“It’s just the thing,” said Clarissa Bassett enthusiastically.
It may be better than nothing,” said Mrs. Kent; “but I am afraid donation visits don’t amount to as much as we think they do.”
The proposal, however, was generally approved, and before the meeting closed it was decided to give the minister a donation visit a fortnight later.
“Shall you be present, Miss Frost?” asked Mrs. Pratt.
“Oh, yes, I won’t fail to attend.”
“Your colleague, Miss Bassett, always carries a large pincushion on such occasions. The minister must have at least five of her manufacture.”
“In that case,” said Mabel, smiling, “I think I will choose a different gift.”
Chapter 7
A few evenings later, at Mrs. Pratt’s house, Mabel met an individual of whom she had frequently heard since her arrival in Granville. This was Mr. Randolph Chester, a bachelor from New York, who generally passed part of the summer in the village. He was reputed to be rich, and, though his wealth was exaggerated, he actually had enough to support a single man in comfort and even luxury. Though a bachelor, he allowed it to be understood that he was in the matrimonial market, and thus received no little attention from maneuvering mothers, single ladies of uncertain age, and blooming maidens who were willing to overlook disparity in age for the sake of the wealth and position which it was understood Mr. Chester would be able to give them.