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Trapes indignantly. "Mr. Geoffrey, it's been Arthur ever since he was born, an' her scrinchin' an' pinchin' herself for the sake o' that b'y. O' course he likes sparrergrass so do I but I make shift with pertatoes or cabbidge or carrots an' so should he. Come now, Hermy, you take a bunch o' carrots instead; carrots is healthy an' cheap! Come now, is that sparrergrass to be carrots or not?"
"Don't, Hermy, don't so pale an' tired as you are, don't go again!" pleaded Mrs. Trapes, her usual sharpness transfigured into a deep and yearning tenderness; even her voice seemed to lose something of its harshness. "Don't worry, my sweet, the b'y'll find his way home right enough, like he did last time."
"It do tick that musical," she said, "an' I can't sleep this night till I've tried t' thank ye both for for all your goodness to a lonely woman. Ah, Mr. Geoffrey, I guess th' day as you came seekin' lodgin's at my little flat was a good day for Ann Angelina Trapes why, my land, Mr. Geoffrey ain't Hermy here?" "No," answered Ravenslee a little bitterly. "Oh, no, I'm quite alone as usual, Mrs.
"You see, a name like that would worry me, it would shake my nerve; I might cut beef instead of ham, or ham instead of " "Mr. Geoffrey!" quoth Mrs. Trapes, squaring her elbows. "Sober as a judge, Mrs. Trapes and by Jupiter!" "My land! What is it?" "An idea look!" and Ravenslee pointed down into the yard. "Why, it's only Tony!" said Mrs. Trapes, glancing down a vista of riotous garments.
"Oh, shucks!" said his landlady, slapping the ham rasher into the pan. "And she was very angry, was she?" "I should say so!" snorted Mrs. Trapes, "stamped her foot an' got red in the face " "I love to see her flush!" said Ravenslee musingly again. "Said she wondered at you, she did! Said you was a man without any pride or ambition an' that's what I say too peanuts!"
"That ain't no kind o' way t' cheer an invalid." "It's th' truth." "Well, it don't cheer me more, so let's have a lie for a change." Mrs. Trapes snorted and fell to adding and subtracting busily. "Say, Ann," said he after awhile, "if you got any more o' that punkin pie I could do some right now. I'm hungry." "It ain't eatin' time yet." "But Gee! ain't I a invalid?" "Sure!
Trapes, laying before him an envelope addressed in the handwriting he had come to know so well. "Why didn't you give it to me before?" he enquired. "Her orders, Mr. Geoffrey." "Orders?" "Orders!" nodded Mrs. Trapes. "She come in here last night an' give it me after you was gone t' bed. 'Ann dear, she says, 'don't let him have it till half after ten t' morrer, she says.
"Them nightdresses," she sighed, "as is all fluffs an' frills an' openwork, may be all right when you're young, but for true comfort give me flannel, every time." Here Ravenslee, in the act of sipping his brandy and soda, choked; when at last he glanced around, Mrs. Trapes was gone.
Only a fisher or two comes to the Perch, that's the inn at Walton-on-Dove, and they are mostly old gentlemen, pottering with their rods and things. If a young man comes to the inn, I take care to trapes after her through the nasty damp meadows. 'Is the young lady an angler? 'She is most unwomanly I call it. Merton's idea of the young lady rose many degrees.
Trapes!" said he. "But where are ye going?" she demanded. "To my peanuts," he answered gravely. "'Man is born to labour, you, know." "But it's early yet." "But I have much to do and she laughed at me for being a peanut man, did she, Mrs. Trapes she frowned and flushed and stamped her pretty foot at me, did she?" "She did so, Mr. Geoffrey!" "I'm glad!" he answered.
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