Who Would Have Thought It?. María Ruiz de Burton
spiritual adviser."
"I wish I could, Ham; but she doesn't want any advice; she isn't that sort of a female."
"I tell you, Hack, you are mistaken. She does want a friend and a confidant; and, as she thinks you are next to perfection, I say, old boy, there is your chance,-jump at it." "What do you mean? Speak plain."
I mean that from the hints she has thrown out in my presence (and no doubt she has given many more to you) about the Mexican child, and how she ought to be educated, and all that sort of thing, it is quite clear that there is a contest going on between the madam and the doctor about the child and about money matters; and if her mind is perplexed, she is no woman if she isn't longing for moral support and all that sort of thing, which you can give her."
Mr. Hackwell blushed. Mrs. Norval had said a good deal to him in the shape of hints, and regrets that she had not "spoken frankly to Mr. Hackwell." If Dr. Norval had not taken his gold boxes away so very soon, Mrs. Norval would have asked Mr. Hackwell's "moral support". in extracting a few lumps. Now that couldn't be done; but Mrs. Norval felt confident that if Mr. Hackwell was practicing law, she then could have managed to put Lola's money in his hands. She had hinted that much, only she did not say that the money was Lola's: oh, no; she wanted people to think it was theirs.
Mr. Hackwell blushed, as I said, because, on hearing Mrs. Norval's hints, the very thoughts expressed by Hammerhard had also crossed and recrossed his active brain. Hammerhard continued:
"You see, you being her pastor, there will be no impropriety in offering advice, and you can suggest, mildly, that, having been a lawyer, you understand money transactions, etc."
Mr. Hackwell studied for awhile, then exclaimed, tapping his forehead with his pipe-stem,
"I have it!"
But just at this moment Mrs. Hackwell tapped at the door too, saying that all the Cackles were in the parlor, having come to pay their respects to their dear pastor Mr. Hackwell, and thank and congratulate him for his edifying sermons of that day.
The two reverend gentlemen, with exclamations not at all edifying, washed their mouths to banish all odor of whisky, and went into the parlor, where about a dozen Cackles awaited them.
CHAPTER X.
HOW A VIRTUOUS MÅTRON WAS KEPT AWAKE.
Mrs. CACKLE certainly brought startling news from Mrs. Norval's, whom she had just left. The Norvals were to have not only another carriage, another pair of horses, another man-servant, but another house. The doctor was going to buy Esquire Nugent's house, with its splendid gardens and greenhouses, where grapes were raised in profusion. The company were speechless with astonishment. Mr. Hammerhard was the first to break the silence by saying to Mrs. Cackle,
"But, with all your sagacity to find out things which no one else can find out, you haven't got hold of the source or the amount of their gold."
"That is not so easily ascertained, as neither Lavvy nor the girls seem to know anything about it; and Mrs. Norval evidently don't want to speak a word on that point. But with all that, one thing we can guess easy enough."
And what is that?" several voices asked. "That the little black child is in some way connected with the money. My son Beau, who is certainly very smart at guessing, thinks that the child's mother must have been some Indian woman who told the doctor where he could find rich gold-diggings, and that the doctor, out of gratitude,—for he has such funny notions -wants to educate the child and bring her up like a white girl."
"The doctor is a truthful man, and he says that the child has neither African nor Indian blood in her veins," observed Mr. Hackwell.
"If she had, Mrs. Norval would not take the girl in her carriage. Mrs. N. ain't that sort of person," said old Mr. Cackle.
"Mrs. Norval is a great abolitionist, and doesn't mind negroes. Besides, doesn't Lavvy take her poodle too?" Mrs. Hammerhard remarked.
"Mrs. Norval is a good abolitionist in talk," replied Miss Lucretia Cackle, with a sneer; "but she ain't so in practice. Polly, the cook, told our cook that the night the doctor arrived with Lola, Mrs. Norval insisted that the child should sleep with Hannah, or with the cook; but as she, the cook, despises niggers, she plainly told Mrs. Norval that she 'wouldn't have sich a catteypillar' in her bed; and as Hannah wouldn't have the black thing neither, Lola had to sleep on the floor in the hall. But when the doctor found it out next morning, he 'kicked up such a rumpus' and carried on so that Mrs. Norval was afraid he would 'bust a blood vessel.' And when he was very angry, he told Mrs. Norval that if she didn't treat Lola just the same as her own daughters, he would take her and the gold to New York, and put her under the care of Mr. William Sinclair, the banker, and Mrs. Norval should not have half an ounce of gold. Then a room was fixed up for Lola by Mrs. Noryal herself."
The party at Mr. Hackwell's were not the only friends busily engaged in guessing the origin, amount, and present destination of Dr. Norval's gold. All the village was similarly occupied. If the boxes had not been so heavy and so large, the guessers could have approached nearer the truth. But how could well-balanced Yankee minds ever lose their poise to the degree of imagining such fairy-tale balderdash as that enormous amount of gold? The truth of the thing was what baffled their wise calculations, for certain minds are impervious to certain truths.
The fact of Mrs. Norval tolerating Lola in her carriage, at her table, in her parlor, was also very astonishing. They all knew that "Mrs. Norval had never been known to give a poor nigger a penny;" and plenty of the poor wretches had been about the village, trying to raise subscriptions to buy the freedom of their children or their parents. The doctor was the one to give to the poor darkies; he always gave more than any other, though he never would put his name down, because, he said, he was "a good-for-nothing Democrat."
Whilst the village was guessing, the doctor invested all the money well. The rough pebbles had been sent to Europe to be made into jewelry, and had been pronounced first-class gems.
After awhile the sets ordered came. The remaining stones not used came all ready cut for setting.
The doctor remembered that Lola's mother had told him to take half of the stones, if he wished, so he thought he could conscientiously take a few of the smallest and have some pins and ear-rings made for his girls. He would also have a handsome breastpin and ear-rings for his wife, though he knew she would not wear diamonds.
Ruth's set was made of emeralds and diamonds, Mattie's of opals and diamonds, and that of Mrs. Norval of diamonds alone.
None of the ladies at Dr. Norval's slept the night the jewelry arrived. Ruth and Mattie kept awake with pleasure, Mrs. Norval with rage, and Lavinia with mortification. Poor Lavvy's eyes and nose were red next morning, and the doctor felt sorry to have forgotten his sister-in-law. In a few days, however, Lavvy's birthday came, and then she received a beautiful topaz set and a lovely diamond ring. When the doctor had thus, as he believed, propitiated all the ladies, he bought a coral pin and ear-rings for Lola, and thought they ought to be satisfied. But Mrs. Norval, as usual, thought differently. That night, when they retired to their bedroom, after she had read the Bible a long, long time, so that the doctor had nearly gone to sleep, she said, tying her night-cap,
"And are these things which you brought to us all that came out of your magnificent diamonds, and emeralds, and opals, and rubies?"
"Bless you, no! They are made out of the smallest stones, and the diamonds in those of the girls are the cuttings of the large diamonds in Lola's sets," answered the doctor, ingenuously.
Mrs. Norval felt as if she would smother or choke with rage. Her husband continued:
"If it wasn't for the risk, I would bring up, for you all to see, the beautiful sets made for Lola. Certainly, those French people do make splendid jewelry! There are six full sets of different stones: all have diamonds, and all are very handsome. There are several pins and crosses and aigrettes, besides