The Storyteller THE RATING OF MISS BOND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 27, 2 July 1903, Page 23

The Storyteller THE RATING OF MISS BOND

The current belief m Belford "s innermost circle that Miss Bond was a good woman was shared by Miss Bond herself. Swl that .she c\cr said she was good •on the contrary, she called heiself a gi eat sinner, and would expatiate at length to a patient listener on her faults which somehow, m her nai ration of them, were made to appear as virtues in disguise. Father Cudahy, her pastor, may ha\e doubted her qualifications for immediate canonisation, but he carefully kept his doubts to himself. The lapid succession of servants who . served her for periods more or less short were not -diffident. They said there was no standing her temper, and spoke of her ecomonies with contempt and with allusions to misers and their habits.

When Miss Bond heard how her character was aspersed, she did not lly into a passion. All she did was to sigh and say that she knew her faults, and that stinginess and temper were not among them. If anv r thing, she was too meek and patient ; and, though not a spendthrilt, her heart was open to give. One set \ ant had remained with her ten years, and great renown she ga\e her mistress. The women of her bet said it was peifectly lovely in dear Miss Bond to put up with Margaret fallahnn Margaret was so stupid. She ne\er did seem to learn, and the mistakes she made were enough to try the patience of a saint But. then, Elizabeth Bond is a saint, if ever there was one.'

On a certain Wednesday, the e\e of the Ascension Miss Bond was instructing Margaret in duties appertaining to a lluncheon she was about to give and that was to eclipse anything of the kind ever before given in Belford.

You will bring the dishes to the door only. 1/iella will hand them round. Under no circumstances are you to enter the room,' she said, piemptonly.' ' And what, ma'am, if you's be pleased to toll me is a green and white luncheon '> ' asked Margaret, with visions ol dear knows what in her mind. For she was very patriotic; and, ha\ ing nothing else to give gave her quota of prayers to the ' cherished country '' Miss Bond's countenance assumed a look that forebode trouble. ' I wish you would pay attention, Margaret,' she reproved ' You will bring nothing to Luella but what cook gives you to bring.' ' And if she be short of a knife or a fork— it might be a spoon — ' b ' Pshaw ' T mean the eatables. You are to bring them in the oi der cook hands them to you J)o you understand 9 ' J

Indeed I do ma am,' said Margaret, and shook her head wisely And I i emember now,' she continued bo-ird— * n t>S ai!d iO ' kS ari> 3 * th ° cu P board by the side- . ' And there's another thing,' hurried on Miss Bond, lntenupting- • Luella's hands will be full of things toil ought to attend to' < Mar Sa i et's countenance fell) You will haio to answer the bell I give you credit lor neatness , be jour neatest on Monday ' Margaret was all smiles now With' a com tesv she had learned at home, she exclaimed, with assured connuence

Tiust me for that, ma'am ' ' Miss Bond nodded her head, and adding, 'That's all ior the piescnt,' dismissed Maigaiet, and 'turnod her attention to the wntmc:-tablf helo.e her, which was littered with notc-pa[)er of \anous st/es and clivers tints. I should ha\e a secretary. All these notes to wnte, my coriespondence ; and that upstart Symthe woman, uhon, I'll h; u ,. to umte. has ore! ' she grumbled to hi-isfli as she rummaged throuijh a heap of en\ elopes, pausnm to extiact one with a icrk rh,,.vi, a • i ( " (la , h \' s everlasting collections for the church ' she said, half aloud, and glanced over the punted matter on the e.nelope's face. 'We had one at tn !'i : ' S ' V11"1^V 11 " 1^ pp "^ lc htlVo ""thing else to do with their mone\ but hand it over to him—' «nrt A th S i la<VP i kr ° Ck :il I thl ;, door ' lts fl^ in ff open suddenly, and the entra.u-o oi Luella w.th cap strings streaming brought Miss r.ond's soliloquy to ail abrupt conc-b.siSS' rlw) J° w , lsh - VV'\ : 1 ' ;' ou uou!d Olltor a rooi « without cieat ing <v draught ' she eiaculated, testily Not noticinc: the ropi oof otherwise than by a sharpening of Mum- chin, the girl handed her a lletteri r „. i' 4lt ?? UKU X d l' ( '^ m^ k \'t "s bill . she left it herself. This makes the third time she's left it.' said Luella, in a voice without sentiment, and nasally phonographic Miss Pond's lace g.ew n cry ied 'Sure but very slow was whal the people sud of her payments said sVowl'v KnUW " laL '" >U lUe ACry ""Pertinent ? ' she

Luella's dim was lifted higher, and theie was a warning , n the meeK tones of her ie])lv to speak °t he *! nil h' nCM ' r lllW ll WaS nn ""^rhnenee IhP hn? S J J T ll < V ?. lllri . hSl ',° llkt ' fl tO ° rdOr tlK^ >irl Ollt "f ion v.'i '.' ' th r lllnihl '<>» '» mew. she contented herseli wuh orcleniiM her out of the room ' woiilri 01 ol\riT C sll^ hl1 .V l0 ' :: \ toei ' Luolla retorted that she iTpav^'heP'wai'eV 1101 ' PlllC " ' f MiM B ° nd would killri- ' Why, Luella ! ' gasped the mistress.

ilk* JJ' • * el a ! mimic ked the girl. ' What you.d ike to do is to box my ears ; and 1 don't blame you for that lor you re thinking about your Puncheon But un° ? t Mar S aret do lor the green part of it ? For, dear w?. th\ t° * g^ n> « to PP in g on here all these years, and 101 thanks nothing but nag, nag Irom morning to night ed aliS y v P n,f h °A H alt , yy ° U USe reck oned up !nd coSSU cd again you. And it is mean keeping a lady waiting for ab.ll as you've kept Miss Haydon, and she a menfi „n • your .. 1 haven't a word to say aga n ; lor that poor, patient Margaret of yours has hc a s weT I!?"* tO ° V a '\ T . But J>d hate jt if all OathS hut hJ \ tv „hVth U - f A ?K I m A sorr y to have to speak so. -1 ca«nit * And * ™ n>t 9tand ** loQ Ber

into^rll^^'tlars^^ ** lMt W ° ldS ' and then burSt vneak ISS rVnt Im.S upvi^ h \ in v h j>r chair, too stunned to rudeness she had received from servants, but ne\er had she been so berated to her face A close ir.hM.fr ™T 7 : how , sh 1 "ad taken to goingTo MaX Sr^m fc s gr a a i d tog«& teri ° ratiOn to inß °— ■ vos^r^n^yX^uX? St yßondy Bond had com- ,, ' J , f y° u roa "y . wish to leave me I cannot keep you. but suppose you give me another trial? We both miffht do something to restrain ourselves. lam not thinS you s!,v Un , C ; heOn: V m thinkin & of Mar£rS who a you say, is a good woman. It is true, thoujrh that you serve beautifully in the dining-room ' tn ° Ußft ' that Luella gazed at her mistress in astonishment you LSS&n^VSJSb that * was not * ivin * h, tVf ela 1 s^r ice ' when jt occurred to her that J dK herseli had olten lound fault with it, and had never till to-day given it a word of commendation never till Ihen, Miss' said Luella, sheepishly, 'if you'll pardon my words, I'd be glad to stop ; for indeed I'd ue sorry to part with Margaret.' maeea I a nnri 1 ?^ g "" l>s k PW ; el l struck h er as unintentionally rude, v hon t ,, W u S abo !- t tO . say so with considerable asperity when Luella continued : ,-q il l^ o"'*0 "'* think Miss, ydu know half the good there hU • fl'?*l^f I '?* l^- Sic 1S s , low in her w& y« and hard to of her' wa U ges goes V yy ° U "° W WherG aIm ° St eVery pennyi ' No,' Miss Bond replied, ' I do not.' ' To her old mother in Boston ; and she hasn't seen hei since she s been heie— not having the time or the money to pay her Way, though its a trifle of three dollars going and coming. Her mother is often very sick • and L\e sometimes thought, Miss, the trouble of it' and not seeing her is what makes her seem stupid '■ though stupid she isn't about her religion, as JI well

Something like shame sent the color to Miss Bond's cheeks She had ne\er been gentle with Margaret, had consideied heisell a model of forbearance in keeping her m her employ and now came this story of hidden sacri-ii'--e and a lull knowledge that, after all was said that could be said to the contiary, the girl was a treasure m net household '-1 am glad jou have told me this, Luella; and now that jou have concluded to give me another trial ' she said, toying with the papers before her, 'I'll go on with niv correspondence' • ■ I'm sorry I spoke to you as I did, Miss ; and if I had the chances you have, I'd go to confession ior it ' said .Luella, and she slipped noiselessly out of the room Confession ! She had gone last Easter. She thought lor a long while, and the end of her thoughts was to ask herseh if she was not a wicked woman And as she asked herselt this question, her eyes fell on the en\oloio containing the dressmaker's bill. Mechanically she picked it up, mechanically she opened it. The bill she knew by heart, not so the pitiful letter that accompanied it— a letter in which many sores were exposed If the well-to-do knew one-half the pain it causes the independent poor to expose their individual sores, surely they would ieel sorry for them. Miss Haydon begged for what was her own; and to get it she felt herself obliged to tell ot a brother maintained at the seminary mainly by the. fruits of her toil, and of a gi-indinc: po\erty at home. b H

Miss Bond folded the letter, carefully replaced it in its envelope, and locked it in a drawer of her writingtable. Then she took up the bill and went over its items, every one of which she had, to use a vulgar phi use. ' jewed down.' Not without a sigh— for people do not instantly overcome bad habits, least of all penurious people— she altered the sum total of the bill to Uio figure her awakened conscience told her it should be Ihis done, she wrote a short note, in which she said she had or rod in her previous calculations, and that she would cull in a day or so about some work she contemplated for Miss Havdon ; and she hoped her delay m settling a \ery mst claim would be overlooked The note she enclosed, with the, bill and its amount, in an envelope, and touched an electric button twice that being- Margaret's signal. ' Margaret hurried to the room, her face smiling, her eyes red. Miss Bond had often noticed those red eyes

before, with a half contemptuous thought that Margaret's hay fever was perennial. ' Margaret '—she spoke so gently that the girl flushed with pleasu.ce — ' I wish you would take this note to Miss Haydon with my compliments. It is only a step, you know ; and when you return come directly to me. 1 have something to say to you.' ' Luella has been instructing me about the luncheon——' ' Bother the lunchebn ! ' interrupted Miss Bond ; and she continued, in a milder tone : ' What 1 ha\e to say is of more importance than green and white luncheons.' Again alone, her mind reverted to those words of Luella that, more than ought else the girl uttered v had brought her roughly to. a true knowledge ot herseli. Poor, despised Margaret had mad© Liuella love the Church, and ' if all Catholics were like >you I'd hate it.' In a way she had considered herself a missionary of the faith. For this reason, she had schooled herself to believe, she had cultivated the St. Jude set— St. Jude's being the fashionable Protestant church of Belford. If she did not make converts — and she did not— at least she removed prejudices, she 'had taught herself to believe. She had even taken credit to herself that Luella went to Mass instead of to the particular meeting-house she had been wont to frequent. ' The girl must think to herself that if I, who am, socially, head and shoulders above any one else in Bedford, am a Catholic, it must be tho true religion.' She thought of this now with a bitter laugh at herself, and told herself that she was a &nob. The girl, too, had spoken of confession as one of her mistress' privileges. How often did she enter the trilbuneil of mercy? It could not be, said, she wiae a Catholic who altogether neglected the practice of her religion. About three times a year she knelt at the altar rail ; and, though a slight indisposition had been made to stand in the way, she was quite regular in her attendance at Mass. Neither could it be said she was indifferent to the faith. She was simply a woman who had permitted weeds to flourish in her soul ; a woman who had no true knowledge of herself till rudely awakened to a consciousness of her defects by the insolences of a servant. And it" was a proof of the innate goodness of her heart that, far from feeling angry with Luella, she approved of her, and felt she could beg tho girl's pardon for the scandal she had given— a thing she never did, unless a changed demeanor be a way of begging pardon. It must not be supposed that this new manner she cultivated was without lapses ; for lapses there were, but they became more and more infrequent as time went on. Her fumbling meditations were interrupted by the return of Margaret, breathless from rapid walking. ' Miss Haydon was very pleased, ma'am, and she bade me give you this,' she baid— handing her mistress a sealed envelope. Miss Bond made a motion with her hand for Margaret to remain, and proceeded to read the letter the dressmaker had enclosed with the receipted bill The letter in a manner was a postscript to Luella \s rating. It thanked her for the payment of the bill, and apologised with evident sincerity and simplicity for ha\ing misjudged Miss Bond. ' I thought you niggardly and hard-hearted, Elizabeth— l may call you so again— and I have sinned by mv rash judgment.' Miss Bond's mind flashed back to her convent school days, when she and Julia Haydon had been bosom friewds and classmates. Reverses of fortune came to tho Haydons, and Julia was left with a little brother to care for as biest she could. ' Stfie is better horn than any of the St. Jude set, and she has been hut my dressmaker to me all these years ! God forgive me ' ' she said. For the second time that day she sighed , this lime for her sins. ' Margaret, sit down,' she said. ' Ma'am ? ' stammered Margaret Sit down. I wish to talk to you.' Margaret looked about for the least comfortable chair in her proximity ; and having found it, seated herself on its edge, and smoothed her long white apron on her knees, with nervous hands. ' Margaret,' said Miss Bond, thoughtfully, ' I heard to-day that you have an old and sick mother.' 'I have, 'ma'am,' said Margaret, in alarm; ' but indeed she'll never trouble you, ma'am — not in tho least.' Miss Bond started in her chair. These reiterated confirmations of the character Luella gave her had somewhat the same effect on her consciousness as that which is produced by a blow on the nape of the neck , and for a moment or two she stared before her in a dazed manner ere she said : ' You think me a hard mistress ' ' No, no, ma'am ; indeed and indeed I do not ! ' interrupted Margaret. ' But fault-finding, very hard to please, Margaret,' she persisted. ' And who wouldn't be with a green-horn hko myself ? And I doubt that's what I'll always be And then, the weather is sometimes trying to a lady like you.' ' But your mother— why did yofu never speak to mo of her "> ' ' But sure, ma'am, why would T be troubling you "> And I'd a mind for my place,' faltered Margaret. ' You thought that I would send you away if I learned your mother depended on you "> ' Her voice sounded hard and unsympathetic, not that she was either at the present juncture. She was only striving to repress her feelings. ' You see, ma'am, it was this way,' hesitated Margaret. ' I wanted to keep my place, for my mother

needs the wages ; and I had a dread of being troublesome like. 1 And,' Miss Bond went on, ' you have worried about your mother, and that has made you at times — not careless, but not in sympathy with your She hesitated for a word to express herself ; and now; that it was uttered, she wondered if Margaret would understand. Margaret understood, and her tears fell fast. ' Well, it's true, ma'am,' she replied ; and believing the dreaded expulsion close to come, she added, with heartfelt resignation, ' The Lord be praised ! ' You poor, dear soul ! ' cried Miss Bond, no longer able to control her feelings. ' But I deserve that you .should think me so cruel.' Poor Margaret stared in unfeigned amazement. ' I never said that, ma'am, nor thought it either. Indeed and indeed I did not ! ' she exclaimed. That afternoon Miss Bond went to confession. Intentionally she had never made a bad one — perhaps in reality she never had. But to-day she made the best of all possible good confessions ; the kind in which the motive for contrition is love — love for God our Father, and for His children, all of whom without exception are our brothers and our sisters. WherT Father Cudahy— ' one of those priests we read about in good books,' said the Belford people — opened the envelopes containing the donations for the mjuchneetfedT decorations of his church, one that was anonymojhs contained a sum sufficient of itself to pay for the desired altar. It was not long before he found out that Miss Bond was the donor. Margaret's mother came to Belford to live ; and the invigorating air, as well as the proper food provided by ore who never ceased to be her friend, gave her new life ; and, no longer entirely dependent on Margaret, she helps by plain sewing to support herself. The green and white luncheon was a great success. Luella outdid herself, and was well seconded by the heart-relieved Margaret. An honored guest was a Miss Julia Haydon. at which the St. Jude set would have rebelled had they dared. Miss Bond was too great a power for them to attempt to upset her leadership. When, years after, a new church was erected in Belford for the increasing Catholic population, Father Michael Havdon called it St. Elizabeth's, in remembrance, perhaps, of a woman whose endowments to the seminary made it possible for him to extend his course of studies for the priesthood. * It was in the season of the Epiphany that Miss Bond, passing down a corridor, heard Margaret say to Luella : 'It would be a great honor for you to have the mistress for your godmother. ' ' I know it would. But I'd rather have you, Margaret ; for it was you led me first to think of it,' said Luella. Miss Bond acquiesced with humility to the judgment of her maid ; hut when Luella came to be confirmed, she provided the frock and -veil, and then she was her godmother. — ' Aye Maria.'