DR. PAYSON EMPLOYS MARY LEE
The week of the wedding arrived. It proved a feverish time for them
all. The days flew swiftly. The two preceding weeks had been a mad
rush, so they all thought, and they now decided that these last days
fittingly capped the climax. For the girls, this last week brought the
important--but up to now, neglected--event of school opening strongly
to their attention. It was to take place three days after the wedding.
There was need to plan and prepare for that as well.
It was Mary Lee who found time to be of help to everyone. The
excitement left her untouched. There were things she also had to plan
and do, yet she proved a blessing to the harrassed and distracted
bride who preferred her help to that of anyone else. The girl also was
able to help Mrs. Cameron whose responsibilities as matron and
hostess were great. Ruth, too, usually independent, welcomed her help.
As for Letty, full of the excitement of these days, it required all of
Mary Lee's strength of mind to counteract the desire of the former to
stay up night after night to discuss the coming events. Mary Lee was
the necessary balance for such a nature as Letty's.
With all this, Mary Lee set to work to carry out certain other plans
that had nothing to do with either of the two important events. And,
strangely, too, she was able to enlist the services of Dr. Anderson at
this time.
That poor man, with each day's nearer approach to the event found
himself of less and less importance. There was little opportunity to
see his fiancee who was enmeshed in numberless engagements with
dressmakers and, so it seemed to him, with everybody in town but
himself.
Mary Lee found him in this frame of mind on the morning she called at
his office, only three days before the wedding. She had been surprised
to find that he would be glad to see her at any time, when she called
him on the telephone.
"I didn't dare expect that I could see you so soon," she apologized
after greetings had been exchanged. "All I could do was to hope for
it."
The doctor, however, gave no sign of being very busy. On the contrary,
he seemed to indicate that he had prepared for a long and pleasant
visit with her.
"I haven't a thing to do," he remarked. "I turned over my practice for
the next two months to Dr. Stewart on the presumption that I could be
fairly useful to _her_ and because, so I thought, of the opportunities
I would have to see _her_. Then, too, I had a large number of things
that required attention.
"And," he added with a wry face, "I have found plenty of time to
attend to the things that required attention, for, lo and behold, I
find _her_ without any time for me and the kind of help I can give
_her_, she doesn't need. So you see, Mary Lee, I have lots of time on
my hands and am glad of the chance to see any friends who have time
for me."
"Dr. Anderson," the girl came directly to the subject nearest her
heart, "I wondered if you would not know someone who perhaps would be
in need of the services of a girl like myself for after school hours."
The doctor whistled in amazement.
"Honestly, young lady, you are a creature of surprises. What made you
think of that, when there are so many of your friends who would make
you more than welcome?"
"I know they would," the girl replied, "but I shall never feel content
to live on their bounty and I shall only be happy when I am as
independent as is possible."
"You are right, Mary Lee," he agreed in hearty approval. "It is the
only normal thing to do. Well," and he paused in deep thought. He knew
that Mary Lee would be mortified if he should suggest that he employ
her, for that would make it seem as if she were bidding for a position
in his office in an indirect way. He knew her well enough to be quite
certain that it would be best to place her elsewhere.
"I shall see some of my friends who are likely to need an able
assistant part time. Of course, with the training you desire you
naturally would prefer a doctor's office."
Mary Lee nodded in assent. After a few inquiries as to the hours the
girl would be able to give to the new duties and a friendly warning,
which the doctor decided was almost unnecessary as to the demands of
employers, the subject was changed and the conversation changed to
Aunt Madge. The girl tried hard to give the doctor an idea of how busy
his fiancee was, the many things that needed attention and the
tremendous amount of preparations necessary for it. Even though he had
but a small conception of it all, she felt that she had made him
understand a little more closely.
At the end of a half hour, she departed after thanking him warmly for
his interest.
The doctor was prompt in making inquiries. One of his friends, Dr.
Payson, could use Mary Lee's services after school hours and Saturday
mornings. But he would also need her at ten o'clock for one hour on
two mornings of each week.
Dr. Anderson immediately called her up with the good news.
"Of course, it does not pay much, but Payson will probably find you
useful and give you every opportunity to learn. It will be good
experience and of great help to you later, when you enter training
school. The money it pays is as much as three dollars every week," the
doctor added laughingly and apologetically.
But if that sum did not seem big to him, it did to Mary Lee and she
told him so. It had been more than she had expected. The only hitch
was the question of being free at ten on two school mornings.
She consulted Letty in reference to this and received the welcome
assurance from her that study hours were often arranged so that free
time could be obtained.
She called on Dr. Payson with Dr. Anderson. He proved to be a kindly,
middle aged man and from all appearances seemed satisfied as to her
possible usefulness to him. Mary Lee did not know that Dr. Anderson
had given a full account of her sense of responsibility and likable
qualities and that it was his enthusiastic recommendation that had
persuaded his friend to try Mary Lee instead of employing an older
assistant for full time.
"Well, Mary," he started to say, but Dr. Anderson interrupted him.
"Not Mary, Payson, not Mary. This young lady's name is Mary Lee. Be
sure to remember the Lee. We sometimes think that her mother did not
name her Lee after a loyal Indian, as she would have us believe, but
because she wanted her little girl's name to sound as if it were
Mer-ri-ly. That name fits her."
As Mary Lee blushed, Dr. Payson remarked laughingly, "I am sure I
shall find her very pleasant and agreeable. I shall also be sure to
remember that it is Mary Lee I am to call her, in the future."