osure.
"I suppose you would quite as lief be called Parthenia?"
"Ruther," replied the relict, laconically.
And Mrs. Parthenia Battis was forthwith installed--_pro tem_.--in the
Cross Corners kitchen.
"She's got considerable gumption," was the opinion Luther volunteered,
of his own previous knowledge--for Mrs. Battis was an old schoolmate and
neighbor--"but she's powerful slow."
CHAPTER XV.
NEW DUTIES.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."--Ecc. 9:10.
"A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;--
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine."
GEORGE HERBERT.
Mis' Battis's "gumption" was a relief--conjoined, even, as it was, to a
mighty _inertia_--after the experience of Norah McGonegal's utter
incapacity; and her admission, _pro tempore,_ came to be tacitly looked
upon as a permanent adoption, for want of a better alternative. She
continued to seat herself, unabashed, whenever opportunity offered, in
the presence of the family; and invariably did so, when Mrs. Gartney
either sent for, or came to her, to give orders. She always spoke of Mr.
Gartney as "he," addressed her mistress as Miss Gartney, and ignored all
prefix to the gentle name of Faith. Mrs. Gartney at last remedied the
pronominal difficulty by invariably applying all remarks bearing no
other indication, to that other "he" of the household--Luther. Her own
claim to the matronly title she gave up all hope of establishing; for,
if the "relic'" abbreviated her own wifely distinction, how should she
be expected to dignify other people?
As to Faith, her mother ventured one day, sensitively and timidly, to
speak directly to the point.
"My daughter has always been accustomed to be called _Miss_ Faith," she
said, gently, in reply to an observation of Parthenia's, in which the
ungarnished name had twice been used. "It isn't a _very_ important
matter--still, it would be pleasanter to us, and I dare say you won't
mind trying to remember it?"
"'M! No--I ain't partic'ler. Faith ain't a long name, and 'twon't be
much trouble to put a handle on, if that's what you want. It's English
fashion, ain't it?"
Parthenia's coolness enabled Mrs. Gartney to assert, somewhat more
confidently, her own dignity.
"It is a fashion of respect and courtesy, everywhere, I believe."
"'M!" reejaculated the relict.
Thereafter, Faith was "Miss," with a slight pressure of emphasi
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