STELLA'S SURPRISING REQUEST.
'I shall breakfast a little earlier than usual to-morrow morning, Vava,'
said Stella when they were going to bed that night.
'Doreen says she catches the 8.40, so we shall be in plenty of time if
we have breakfast at eight o'clock,' objected Vava.
'You can go with Doreen by that train, but I shall take the 8.20,'
replied her sister.
Vava coloured up, for she remembered in a flash that it was to secure
that unlucky letter of hers that her sister was going up to town so
early. 'Oh that letter!' she said, in such dejected tones that Stella
was sorry for her.
'Never mind, Vava; I will not let Mr. Jones have that letter, so you
need not worry,' she said.
'Don't you think I had better come with you?' suggested Vava.
'No! What for? I shall know your handwriting; there is no need for you
to be there, and I should think it would be rather uncomfortable for
you,' said Stella, lifting her eyebrows.
'I sha'n't feel uncomfortable. I feel quite at home with Mr. Jones, and
I think I could ask for the letter back much better than you,' persisted
Vava.
'Why?' inquired Stella, getting annoyed at her sister's persistence.
'Because it is my letter, and one has more right to ask for one's own
letter than for other people's. Perhaps he'll refuse to give it to you;
he'll think it will get me into a row,' suggested Vava.
'In that case I shall walk straight out of his office,' declared Stella,
very angry at this last suggestion of Vava's.
'For goodness' sake don't do that, Stella! Leave the letter alone. Mr.
Jones is much too gentlemanly to take any notice of what I said;
besides, he knew it all before,' said Vava.
But Stella, who had calmed down, ignored this advice. 'You did not mean
any harm, Vava, and it must be very difficult for an impulsive girl like
you to think before you say or do things; you will know better when you
are older,' was all she said.
But Vava saw her sister start off with many misgivings, which she
imparted to the housekeeper. 'Mr. Jones won't like Stella going and
looking over his private correspondence. You know City men don't like
their lady-clerks taking liberties of that kind,' she declared.
'Miss Stella is not one to take a liberty,' affirmed the housekeeper.
'She may not think it a liberty, but it is one, and I should not be
surprised if they quarrelled over it, because she really is rather
disagreeable to him; and I don't see why she need have made all that
fuss, nor why she would not let me go myself,' argued Vava.
'Miss Vava, my bairn, you think too much of yourself and your wits. I
know you are quicker than your elder sister, but that's not to say you
have more brains; and, even if you had, you have not as much knowledge
as she has,' Mrs. Morrison admonished her.
Vava was just going to say that she had more sense about some things,
but happily she abstained; and having finished her breakfast she went to
the window to look out for Doreen, who had promised to call for her.
The other two girls went to town by a later train; so Vava, seeing
Doreen coming out of her gate, called out good-bye to Amy and Eva, and
went to meet her friend.
'Isn't Miss Wharton coming with us?' Doreen inquired, rather
disappointed, for she admired Stella greatly.
'She has gone; she had some business to do at the office, so she went
early,' explained Vava.
'She does work hard, and so do you. Miss Courteney said the other day
that we might take an example from you in that; you do what you have to
do with all your might, and so quickly too, and yet you are not a bit
serious by nature,' commented Doreen.
Vava was very pleased at this praise; but, remembering nursie's lecture
on not thinking too much of herself, she replied, 'I can't do things by
halves, I suppose because I have too much energy. I wish sometimes I did
not go at things so hard. I don't take time to think, and so I make a
lot of mistakes.'
'We all make mistakes; I've made some mistake in this problem, and I
can't get it right,' said Doreen, taking out her algebra.
'I can tell you how to do that,' said Vava, for it was one Mr. Jones had
helped her with; and the two were soon deep in algebra, which lasted
them until they got to the City.
'What a short journey!' said Vava as they alighted at the City station.
And yet that morning Stella had said to herself what a long journey it
was. All the same, when she got out at that City station she wished she
were just leaving home. To the proud, sensitive girl the business before
her was very unpleasant, and she had magnified its importance till she
felt as if she must get that letter or leave the office.
Mrs. Ryan was dusting the office when she arrived, and was surprised to
see her. 'Mr. Jones did not expect you to-day, miss. He stopped late on
Saturday answering a lot of letters himself, and said he should not be
here till late this morning, as you would not be coming,' she told
Stella.
'There was no need for me to stay at home, as we got the house nearly
straight on Saturday. We had a delightful surprise; our old nurse and
housekeeper was there. She is going to keep house for us, so we shall be
very comfortable,' said Stella, smiling.
'I am glad to hear that; she will look after you, and it's much better
to have some older person with you, for you are all very young to be
householders,' said the old woman, going on with her dusting.
'Have the letters come, Mrs. Ryan?' inquired Stella anxiously.
'Yes, they get here by eight o'clock; they are in the letter-box,'
replied the housekeeper.
'Where is the letter-box?' asked Stella.
Mrs. Ryan looked a little surprised at the question as she replied, 'On
the door.'
Stella looked at the door, but saw none.
'Not that door; the door of the outside office,' explained Mrs. Ryan.
Stella was a little uncomfortable, but she felt she must get Vava's
letter before any one came in, and she went to the letter-box, which, of
course, was locked, as she might have expected if she had but thought a
little. But Stella Wharton was not easily turned from a purpose she had
formed; and, coming back to the housekeeper, she asked the woman if she
had the key or knew where it was kept.
If Mrs. Ryan had been surprised before she was doubly surprised now, and
said in rather shocked accents, 'No, I have not the key, nor do I know
where Mr. Jones keeps his; and, if you'll excuse my saying so, Miss
Wharton, I should not tell you if I did know, for City gentlemen don't
care to have their correspondence meddled with. I know you only want to
get to your work; but I know more about City ways than you, and I advise
you not to do more than is your work. The head-clerk always unlocks the
letter-box, and brings the letters into Mr. Jones when he arrives.'
Stella listened to this speech in silence. She did think of taking the
good woman into her confidence; but a dislike of talking about her
private concerns prevented her, so she said nothing. Going to her room,
she took off her hat and coat, and sat down to wait until the head-clerk
should appear and she should hear him unlocking the letter-box, a noise
she remembered hearing about ten o'clock every morning. The half-hour
seemed very long, and she grew so nervous that she gave a great start
when she heard a step, and presently two or three more, and then the
sound of the letter-box being opened.
She waited a moment, and then, summoning up her courage, she went up to
the head-clerk, to whom, as it happened, she had never spoken, and asked
him politely if she might have Mr. James Jones's letters.
The man, who had been in the employment of the firm for twenty-five
years, stood, his hands full of letters, and stared at her. In all his
years of service such a request had never been made to him. He had been
rather flattered by Stella speaking to him at all, for she appeared, as
a rule, not to be aware of the existence of any of them; but this
request was so unusual that the man did not answer at once.
'Did Mr. James give you orders to open his correspondence?' he then
asked; for every one in the office had such a high opinion of Stella
that they would not have been surprised at any token of trust, and this
occurred to the head-clerk as the possible explanation.
'Oh no, I do not want to open them,' said Stella, colouring and looking
embarrassed.
They were standing just within the door of the large general office; but
the head-clerk, after glancing at the other clerks, several of whom had
arrived and were listening with curiosity, stepped outside the door,
and, leading the way to Stella's office, said, 'May I speak to you for a
moment, Miss Wharton?'
Stella, with her proudest and coldest manner, said, 'Yes.'
The man entered and shut the door. He still had the packet of letters in
his hand as he said, 'Excuse me, Miss Wharton, but I do not quite
understand what you want.'
'I wanted Mr. Jones's letters; the letters addressed to Mr. James Jones,
the junior partner,' replied Stella.
'By whose authority do you ask? I am sorry to appear rude; but, you see,
this is a serious matter. I should not like to refuse a request of
yours, as the firm have a very high opinion of you, and, I know, trust
you implicitly; but it is against all rules and regulations to give the
letters of the partners into any hands but their own. Trade secrets, you
know, Miss Wharton,' he wound up, with a smile.
Stella wished she had never asked for the letters, and replied in her
coldest voice, 'I did not know it was against the rules. I have not Mr.
James Jones's authority to ask for his correspondence, and of course I
do not wish you to give it to me. I will wait till he comes, thank you;'
and, so saying, she uncovered her typewriter as a sign that the
conversation was at an end.
But the head-clerk stood there perplexed. Why had she asked for the
letters? Ought he to give them? Would Mr. James be annoyed if he refused
them? 'If you think Mr. James would wish you to have them'----he began
doubtfully.
But Stella cut him short. 'It is of no consequence, thank you,' she
said.
The head-clerk still lingered. 'Is it some special letter'----he began.
Stella interrupted him. 'That is my business,' she said curtly.
'I only thought you might have some letter that you were expecting which
wanted answering,' he said, half-offended, for Stella's manner was not
conciliatory.
'No, thank you; I will wait until Mr. James comes,' she repeated.
It was evidently no good talking to Stella, whom the head-clerk
designated to himself a haughty young woman. And, vexed that this first
encounter with her should have been such an unfortunate one, he went
away, but decided to take counsel with one of the other heads of the
firm if he should arrive first; or, if not, to see Mr. James and make
his peace with him, if necessary, before Stella made any complaint.
As fortune would have it, the senior partner, Mr. Baines, arrived soon
after, and to him the head-clerk took his tale.
Mr. Baines heard him in silence. 'Mr. James says she's a very good
clerk, and I should imagine she is trustworthy; but one never knows.
I've never seen the young lady myself. They say she is good-looking and
very proud,' he remarked at last.
'She is both, sir; in fact, she's the prettiest young lady I've ever
seen in my life. But proud!--proud isn't the word for it; she positively
freezes you up. She looked so odd when I asked her why she wanted the
letters that, upon my word, I didn't half like it; one never knows with
women, not the best of them, sir,' said the head-clerk.
Mr. Baines laughed. 'Anyway, I should not worry about it; you did quite
right not to give the letters to her, and if Mr. James says anything to
me about it I shall take your part. If he had wished her to open his
correspondence he should have given her his written authority; it would
never do if any clerk who liked could ask for our letters, and so I
shall tell him,' he declared.
The head-clerk went away, and hoped that he had done right. And Stella
waited, with what patience she could, for Mr. James Jones's arrival,
which was not until half-past ten, when she heard his step along the
passage--there was no mistaking it, because it was so light and springy,
the step of a man who loved and lived as much as was possible in the
country. In fact, Stella had owned to herself that if she had met him in
society she should have taken him for a country gentleman or a sailor,
certainly not for a business man, which he clearly was from choice,
since Mrs. Ryan said that he was very rich, and that he could retire
from business to-morrow.