Anne of Windy Poplars - L. M. Montgomery [6]
‘Well, yes, it is, but I ain’t been called “Miss Dew” for so long it gave me quite a turn. You’d better not do it any more, Miss Shirley, me not being used to it.’
‘I’ll remember, Rebecca – Dew,’ I said, trying my hardest to leave off the Dew, but not succeeding.
Mrs Braddock was quite right in saying Aunt Chatty was sensitive. I discovered that at supper-time. Aunt Kate had said something about ‘Chatty’s sixty-sixth birthday’. Happening to glance at Aunt Chatty, I saw that she had – no, not burst into tears. That is entirely too explosive a term for her performance. She just overflowed. The tears welled up in her big brown eyes and brimmed over, effortlessly and silently.
‘What’s the matter, Chatty?’ asked Aunt Kate rather dourly.
‘It – it was only my sixty-fifth birthday,’ said Aunt Chatty.
‘I beg your pardon, Charlotte,’ said Aunt Kate, and all was sunshine again.
The cat is a lovely big tommy cat with golden eyes, an elegant coat of dusty Maltese, and irreproachable linen. Aunts Kate and Chatty call him Dusty Miller, because that is his name, and Rebecca Dew calls him ‘The Cat’, because she resents him and resents the fact that she has to give him a square inch of liver every morning and evening, clear his hairs off the parlour armchair seat with an old toothbrush whenever he has sneaked in, and hunt him up if he is out late at night.
‘Rebecca Dew has always hated cats,’ Aunt Chatty tells me, ‘and she hates Dusty especially. Old Mrs Campbell’s dog – she kept a dog then – brought him here two years ago in his mouth. I suppose he thought it was no use to take him to Mrs Campbell. Such a poor, miserable little kitten, all wet and cold, with its poor little bones almost sticking through its skin. A heart of stone couldn’t have refused it shelter. So Kate and I adopted it, but Rebecca Dew has never really forgiven us. We were not diplomatic that time. We should have refused to take it in. I don’t know if you’ve noticed’ – Aunt Chatty looked cautiously round at the door between the dining-room and the kitchen – ‘how we manage Rebecca Dew.’
I had noticed it, and it was beautiful to behold. Summerside and Rebecca Dew may think she rules the roost, but the widows know differently.
‘We didn’t want to take the banker. A young man would have been so unsettling, and we would have had to worry so much if he didn’t go to church regularly. But we pretended we did, and Rebecca Dew simply wouldn’t hear of it. I’m so glad we have you, dear. I feel sure you’ll be a very nice person to cook for. I hope you’ll like us all. Rebecca Dew has some very fine qualities. She was not so tidy when she came fifteen years ago as she is now. Once Kate had to write her name, “Rebecca Dew”, right across the parlour mirror to show the dust. But she never had to do it again. Rebecca Dew can take a hint. I hope you’ll find your room comfortable, dear. You may have the window open at night. Kate does not approve of night air, but she knows boarders must have privileges. She and I sleep together, and we have arranged it so that one night the window is shut for her and the next it is open for me. One can always work out little problems like that, don’t you think? Where there is a will there is always a way. Don’t be alarmed if you hear Rebecca prowling a good deal in the night. She is always hearing noises and getting up to investigate them. I think that is why she didn’t want the banker. She was afraid she might run into him in her nightgown. I hope you won’t mind Kate not talking much. It’s just her way. And she must have so many things to talk of: she was all over the world with Amasa MacComber in her young days. I wish I had the subjects for conversation she has, but I’ve never been off P.E. Island. I’ve often wondered why things should be arranged so – me loving to talk, and with nothing to talk about, and Kate with everything and hating to talk. But I suppose Providence knows best.’
Although Aunt Chatty is a talker all right she didn’t say all this without a break. I interjected remarks at suitable intervals, but they were