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"I'd give anythin' to see him comin' in at that door, Peletiah," she said, "an' he may chase th' hens all he wants to when he comes back"; for Grandma always cherished the conviction that the "Five Little Peppers" were to make life merry again in their "little brown house," and she went on so long in this way that Peletiah, who had glanced up at the clock many times, said at last, in a stolid way, "There's another letter."
There were many other men less eminent than these there was a Peletiah Webster, for instance. Washington viewed the situation as a pessimist. Was it because the high hopes that he had held during the war, that America should be the noblest among the nations, had been disappointed, or was it because he saw farther into the future than his colleagues saw?
"You didn't tell me to," said Peletiah, in a matter-of-fact way. "Well, read it now," said Grandma, quavering with excitement. "There ain't nothin' to read," said Peletiah, unfolding the paper, many times creased. "Hey?" "There ain't nothin' to read," repeated Peletiah; "you can see for yourself." He held it up before her.
"I hain't shook you yet," said Rachel, disclosing her black eyes between her fingers and viewing him with cold disdain. "Well, you ain't going to," repeated Ezekiel, with decision. "Her Gran beat her." Peletiah went over to his brother. "She beat Rachel." He kept repeating it, over and over; meanwhile Ezekiel moved about in confusion, digging the toes of his shoes into the gravel to hide it.
It was therefore much later than the parsonage people expected when the old brougham set Rachel down at their gate, and she walked into the house, supported on either side by Peletiah and Ezekiel, who had been watching there a full hour for her arrival. "I like her," she said, marching up to the minister's wife.
She stopped to snap her fingers at the greasy plates, then ran over to get the big teakettle on the stove in a twinkling. "Let Peletiah carry that for you," said Mrs. Henderson. "He's so slow," said Rachel, but she stopped obediently.
And then I'll take 'em again." David, who would much rather have cracked the whip, said nothing, feeling it bliss enough to be up there on the box and doing something, as Peletiah, a light-haired, serious boy, walked slowly into the kitchen. "You're the passenger," shouted Joel at him, and cracking his whip, "and you're going over to Boxford. Hurry up and get into the stage-coach. I'm Mr.
Peletiah considered so long over this that Joel, drumming with his heels on the dashboard, got tired out, and shouted, "Hurry up and get in th' stage-coach's goin'!" which had the desired effect, to make the passenger skip in much livelier than he intended. "Now we're goin' to Boxford," announced Joel, positively, cracking his whip at its loudest. "Be careful, David; hold the horses up."
"Oh, no, she didn't," contradicted Peletiah; "we are going to Grandma Bascom's." "Well, that's the same thing," said Rachel; "she's your Gran, isn't she?" "She's Grandma Bascom," repeated Peletiah stolidly. "Oh, dear me! of course! But she's your Gran, isn't she?" her tongue fairly aching to call him "ninny" again. "No, she isn't; she isn't any one's Gran she's just Grandma Bascom."
"Rachel, there is one thing" and the parson's wife came over and put her hand on the thin little shoulder "we all help each other in this house, and we never talk against one." "Oh," said Rachel. Peletiah by this time had advanced on the teakettle, and, as soon as he could, he bore it off and solemnly poured a goodly supply of boiling-hot water into the waiting dishpan.
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