Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/437

Rh offered Mrs. Eddy advice, never interfered with her wishes, never questioned her wisdom or demurred to her projects—as even Mr. Frye was sometimes known to do. He says to-day that he cannot remember ever having crossed his adopted mother in anything. If he had planned to go up to Waterbury Center to visit his father, for instance, and Mrs. Eddy told him to unpack his bag and stay at home, he did so without so much as a question, and preserved a cheerful countenance.

When Foster Eddy settled himself in his new home at 385 Commonwealth Avenue, he found that not all of Mrs. Eddy's friends were so kindly disposed toward him as was his mother. At this time Miss Julia Bartlett, Captain Eastaman, Josephine Woodbury, William B. Johnson, Mrs. Augusta Stetson, Frank Mason, and Marcellus Munroe constituted a kind of executive staff for Mrs. Eddy, and the new son felt confident that several of these persons had attempted to prevent his adoption from motives of self-interest. If Mrs. Eddy were going to adopt any one, why not one of her trusted and tried rather than a comparative stranger? From the day of his installation as the son of the house, Foster Eddy felt that Mrs. Eddy's cabinet was jealous of his influence over her, of her affection for him, of his musical accomplishments and his winning manners, and of his efforts to bring sunshine into his new home.

Mr. Frye went his silent, inscrutable way, keeping a wary eye upon the new favourite. Frye was little about the house in those days. When he was not doing his marketing he was usually to be found in his own room, waiting for orders and working at his accounts. Although he seems to have been scrupulously honest, he was a poor bookkeeper. Mrs. Eddy