“He has eaten a mouse,” said Miss Burke, “or tried to eat one; I don’t know which.”
Plautus did not leave her ignorant. He abandoned himself to necessity and laid the result at her feet, with a suggestion of rendering her her due.
“He is repaying you for what you give him,” said Emma. “How much better he is than we are! We are known to resent kindness, and he rewards it.”
“He ate what the could of the mouse,” said Miss Burke. “He thought of himself first.”
“Well, we say he might be a human being.”
Rosebery went into mirth.
“What are we to do with the mouse?” said Miss Burke.
“Can you not throw it away?” said Miranda.
“No, not without touching it,” said Miss Burke, as if Miranda might have seen this.
“What about using the tongs?”
“And feel it soft between them?”
“Everyone has to do an unpleasant thing sometimes.”
“No one else is offering to do this one.”
“It is not everyone’s place to do so,” said Miranda, not looking at anyone in particular.
“Ring the bell and ask Adela,” said Hester.
Miss Burke rang the bell, and Miranda regarded the action without expression.
The maid appeared with a faintly incredulous air.
“Do you want me for anything, ma’am?”
“Only the mouse,” said Emma, keeping her eyes from her face. “Nothing else at all, Adela. And only part of it. It is not a whole one. It is on the floor.”
“Oh, I could not touch it, ma’am,” said Adela, suggesting her relation to the rest of mankind. “I could never lay a finger on anything dead. And it is in a mangled state.”
“What do you do, when you have to touch meat or fish?”
“Oh, food is different, ma’am. And it comes prepared. Mother never looks at her fish, before it leaves the hands of the fishmonger.”
“Get up and deal with it, my son,” said Miranda.
“I suggest the use of the shovel,” said Rosebery, rising slowly to his feet. “If we insert it in this way under the mouse, it should simplify Adela’s task.”
“Oh, I could not even look at it, sir,” said the latter, not accepting this interpretation of Miranda’s words.
“There is another fire-iron,” said Emma. “But I forget what it is.”
“The poker will not help us, Miss Greatheart,” said Rosebery, coldly.
Plautus snatched the mouse from the shovel and took it from the room.
“He has settled the matter,” said Hester. “He thought it was only fair. One can see into his mind.”
“He would not let Mr. Hume have it,” said Emma, seeing further into it. “He did not feel he had earned it as Miss Burke had.”
“I do not want to exceed my due in the matter, Miss Greatheart.”
“What do you generally do, when he catches a mouse?” said Miranda.
“He seldom does,” said Miss Burke. “He catches a bird sometimes, but they are different.”
“It occurs to me, Mother,” said Rosebery, “to wonder what happens when our cat at home behaves in a similarly cat-like manner.”
“Someone would deal with it. I should not expect to be troubled. This is an indulged household.”
“Is it?” said Emma. “I am so pleased and proud.”
“It is true that Adela is rather spoilt,” said Miss Burke.
Miranda met her eyes.
“Well, shall we all go to the other room?” said Emma.
“Miss Greatheart,” said Rosebery, “I am grateful for the word, ‘all’. So I am not to be condemned to solitary confinement, which is a situation that does not appeal to me.”
“I will go and see about the coffee,” said Miss Burke. “It will soon be ready.”
Rosebery, who had paused for her to precede him, smiled at her and passed on.
“Miss Burke seems to suit you very well, Miss Greatheart,” said Miranda.
“Yes, she does indeed. And I suit her as well as I can. No one can really suit a person who serves her.”
“I am sure she has nothing to complain of.”
“Well, only her life. And she does not complain of that. I have heard her complain about Plautus.”
“Does Plautus complain about her?” said Hester, with a touch of anxiety.
“No, not now he has accepted things. He knows he is dependent on her.”
“How can a cat complain?” said Miranda.
“Oh, Plautus knows how,” said Hester, “and we both of us understand him.”
“He is coming in with the coffee,” said Rosebery.
“There is no need to pander to us, Mr. Hume,” said Emma.
“I mean at the same time as the coffee,” said Rosebery, smiling. “I do not credit him with human capacities, though it seems to be the favoured course.”
“Oh, I see you are not pandering to us.”
“Miss Greatheart, no criticism was intended,” said Rosebery, rising and taking the tray from Miss Burke in time to set it on the table.
“This is excellent coffee,” said Miranda. “I must congratulate Miss Burke again. Does she have much practice in making it?”
“We have it after luncheon,” said Emma, answering the thought; “but not after dinner, now Hester is not at home.”
“Do you miss it after dinner, when you are with us, Miss Wolsey?”
“I did at first, but it is better not to be dependent on such things.”
“Not on those extra things. There are many on which we are dependent, of course,” said Miranda, suggesting the scope of the provision.
“Everything we have, makes work for someone,” said Emma. “People ought to be like Adam and Eve, who for a long time did not even put on aprons.”
Rosebery laughed, controlled himself and looked at his mother.
“Have I done something without trying?” said Emma.
“You have betrayed a confused knowledge of the scriptures, Miss Greatheart.”
“Oh, I remember now about it. But I know they had to work after they had them.”
“I think you were trying that time, Miss Greatheart,” said Miranda.
“What I really feel about these Biblical jests,” said Rosebery, keeping his eyes from the company, “is that we ought to be chary of indulging in them, as the Bible lends itself so readily to their success.”
“So that we gain easy credit,” said Emma, “which is trying for other people.”
“Miss Greatheart, you do not misunderstand my bearing witness? You would think less of me, if I had failed to do so. Nothing was further from my thoughts than to belittle your performance.”
“A performance is belittling enough in itself.”
“You used the wrong word, my son,” said Miranda.
“Well, Mother, provide me with the right one.”
“I think you mean ‘achievement’.”
“Then I substitute it willingly.”
“These things must depend on our beliefs,” said Hester.
“We will not pursue that line,” said Miranda, with a note of authority. “We either have the same ones, or we owe respect to other people’s.”
“Ought we to respect what we feel to be untrue?” said Emma. “Yes, of course we ought, when it is believed by other people and not by us.”
“It is surely paying it the truest respect to try to refute it,” said Hester. “Nothing else is taking it seriously.”
“Miss Wolsey, it sounds very plausible,” said Rosebery just shaking his head.
“You are confusing personal opinions with the truth,” said Miranda.
“But our own opinions are the truth to us. Well, Plautus, what do you say about it?”
Rosebery looked incredulous and shocked.
“I feel that animals are as much involved in these matters as we are,” said Hester. “They will have their share in any future life there is.”
“Miss Wolsey, it has not been so revealed to us.”