She placed the lettered board in Miss Cornelia's lap with a sigh
of relief. "You can do it yourself! I'll have none of it!" she
said firmly.
"It takes two people and you know it, Lizzie Allen!" Miss Cornelia's
voice was stern but--it was also amused.
Lizzie groaned, but she knew her mistress. She obeyed. She
carefully chose the farthest chair in the room and took a long time
bringing it over to where her mistress sat waiting.
"I've been working for you for twenty years," she muttered. "I've
been your goat for twenty years and I've got a right to speak my
mind--"
Miss Cornelia cut her off. "You haven't got a mind. Sit down," she
commanded.
Lizzie sat--her hands at her sides. With a sigh of tried patience,
Miss Cornelia put her unwilling fingers on the little moving table
that is used to point to the letters on the board itself. Then she
placed her own hands on it, too, the tips of the fingers just
touching Lizzie's.
"Now make your mind a blank!" she commanded her factotum.
"You just said I haven't got any mind," complained the latter.
"Well;" said Miss Cornelia magnificently, "make what you haven't
got a blank."
The repartee silenced Lizzie for the moment, but only for the moment.
As soon as Miss Cornelia had settled herself comfortably and tried
to make her mind a suitable receiving station for ouija messages,
Lizzie began to mumble the sorrows of her heart.
"I've stood by you through thick and thin," she mourned in a low
voice.
Pages:
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68