Miss Gibbie Gault

Kate Langley Bosher

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• Publié par: vagaj
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 43
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Gibbie
Gault, by Kate Langley Bosher
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Title: Miss Gibbie GaultAuthor: Kate Langley Bosher
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6075] [Yes, we
are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This
file was first posted on November 3, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK MISS GIBBIE GAULT ***
This etext was produced by Julie A. Irizarry. email
at jairizarry(at)adelphia.net
Miss Gibbie Gault
by Kate Langley Bosher
Author of "Mary Cary," etc.
With Frontispiece
By Harriet Roosevelt Richards
To My HusbandContents
Chap.
I. The Guild of Gossips
II. The Views of Miss Gibbie
III. Apple-Blossom Land
IV. The Council Chamber
V. In Which Mary Cary Speaks
VI. Midnight
VII. Peggy
VIII. Peggy's Party
IX. John Maxwell and Mary Cary
X. The Forgotten Engagement
XI. A Day of Entertainment
XII. The Bargain
XIII. A Grateful Convalescent
XIV. A Morning Talk
XV. Buzzie
XVI. Men and Husbands
XVII. In Which Mary Cary is Puzzled
XVIII. Pictures in the Fire
XIX. The Testimony Party
XX. A Sudden Change
XXI. The Release
XXII. The News
XXIII. The Guild Again
XXIV. The Piece of Paper
XXV. The Conclusion of a Matter
XXVI. The Surrender
XXVII. A Tie That BindsMISS GIBBIE GAULT
Chapter I
THE GUILD OF GOSSIPS
The Needlework Guild, which met every Thursday
at eleven o'clock, on this particular Thursday was
meeting with Mrs. Tate. It was the last meeting
before adjournment for the summer, and though
Mrs. Pryor, the president, had personally
requested a large attendance, the attendance was
small. In consequence, Mrs. Pryor was displeased.
"Mercy, but it's warm in here," said Mrs. Tate,
going to a window and opening wide its shutters. "I
had no idea it would be as hot as this to-day,
though you can nearly always look for heat in
May." She slapped her hands together in an
attempt to kill a fly that was following her, then
stood a moment at the window looking up and
down the street.
"Wish to goodness I could have one of those
electric fans like Miss Gibbie Gault's got," she went
on, coming back to her seat and wiping her face
with Mrs. Webb's handkerchief, which happened to
be closest to her; "but wishing and getting are not
on speaking terms in our house. Have any of you
seen Miss Gibbie's new hat?""I have." Mrs. Moon took up the large braidbound
palm-leaf fan lying on the chair next to her and
began to use it in leisurely, rhythmic strokes. "She
has five others exactly like it. She says she would
have ordered ten, but when a person has passed
the sixty-fifth birthday the chances are against ten
being used, and six years ahead are sufficient
provision for hats. Five of them are put away in
camphor."
"Imagine ordering hats for years ahead just to save
trouble! I'm thankful to have one for immediate
use." Mrs. Corbin put down the work on which she
had not been sewing and folded her arms. "Miss
Gibbie may be queer, but there's a lot of sense in
deciding on a certain style and sticking to it.
Fashions come and fashions go, but never is she
bothered. Just think of the peace of mind sacrificed
to clothes!"
"Who but Miss Gibbie would wear the same kind
year after year, year after year?" said Mrs. Pryor,
who alone was industriously sewing. "But that's
Gibbie Gault. From the time she was born she has
snapped her fingers at other people, and, if it's
possible to do a thing differently from the way
others do it, she will do it that way or—"
"Make them do it. I never will forget the day she
marched Beth's boys through the streets and
locked them up in her house." Mrs. Tate pointed
her needle, which had been unthreaded all the
morning, at Mrs. Moon. "Funniest thing I ever saw.
Remember it, Beth?""Remember? I should think I did." Mrs. Moon
smiled quietly. "I have long seen the funny side,
but it took me long to see it. Nobody but Miss
Gibbie would have done it."
"Please tell me about it, Mrs. Moon," said Mrs.
Burnham, who was still something of a stranger in
Yorkburg. "Every now and then I hear references
to Miss Gibbie Gault's graveyard, and to the way
she once got ahead of your boys, and I've often
wanted to ask about it. Is there really a graveyard
at Tree Hill, and is the gate bricked up so that no
one can get in?"
"It certainly is." Mrs. Moon laughed. There isn't
very much to tell. Everybody knows about the old
Bloodgood graveyard at Tree Hill in which Miss
Gibbie's parents and grandparents and great-
grandparents are buried. Her mother was a
Bloodgood; and everybody knows, also, that since
the Yankee soldier, who died during the war at
Judge Gault's house, was buried there the gate
has been bricked up and nobody has ever been
inside but Miss Gibbie and Jackson who cuts the
grass."
"But how does she get in?" Mrs. Burnham's voice
was puzzled inquiry.
"If there's no gate, how—
"She climbs up a ladder on the outside of the wall,
which is eight feet high and two feet thick, and
down another which is inside," interrupted Mrs.
Tate, to whom the question had not been asked. "Iwish to goodness I had been there the day she
nabbed your boys, Beth. I don't wonder they were
scared."
"They were certainly scared." Mrs. Moon wiped her
lips and smiled reminiscently. "My boys followed
her one day, Mrs. Burnham, and the result was
one of the most ridiculous sights ever seen in
Yorkburg.
"After finishing what she had to do that day, Miss
Gibbie climbed up the ladder she keeps inside and
started to get on the one outside, and there was
none to get on. The boys had taken her ladder and
hidden it, and they themselves were hiding behind
an oak-tree some little distance off.
"At first they doubled up with laughter when they
saw Miss Gibbie straddling the top of the wall,
unable to get down either way; but suddenly,
Richard said, she balanced herself on the top of
the wall and sat there with her feet hanging over as
if going to spend the day, and then in a flash she
was down on the ground.
"Half a minute later she had each of them by the
arm. Dick said his feet were dead feet, he couldn't
budge. Neither could Frederick. The sudden jump
had paralyzed them.
"'Moon boys!' she said—'Moon boys! Fine fun,
wasn't it? Well, let's go home and have some more
fun,' and down the hill she marched them and on
into town. All the length of King Street they went,
then into St. Mary's Road, then Fitzhugh Street,then into St. Mary's Road, then Fitzhugh Street,
and back into King, and finally into her home in
Pelham Place.
"All the time nothing had been said. Everybody who
had seen them had stopped and stared, and some
of the boys had started to follow, but Miss Gibbie
had nodded her head backward, and a nod was
enough. When they got in the house she took them
up-stairs to a big bedroom and told them to sit
down and cool off; then she locked the door and
left them.
"Five hours later the door was opened and dinner
was brought in. It was a good dinner, and the boys
ate it, every bit of it, and, feeling better, were
beginning to look around for means of escape,
when in walked Miss Gibbie with two white things in
her hand.
"'Didn't we have lots of fun this morning?' she said.
'Awful lot of fun to see a lady play Humpty-Dumpty.
Pity nobody else could see. When people look
funny everybody ought to see.' And Frederick said,
as she didn't seem mad a bit, he thought she was
going to tell them to run on home, when she turned
to the dining-room servant, who had come in with
her, and flung out two big old-fashioned
nightgowns of her own. 'Here, Hampton, help these
boys take off their hot clothes and put on
something cool,' she said, and she made Hampton
undress them and put on her gowns, and then sent
them flying home."
Miss Matoaca Brockenborough threw back herhead and laughed heartily. "I can see them now, as
they came running down the street. They were