THE JUNIOR PARTNER.
Some months later it would have seemed impossible to Stella that she had
worked herself into a state about such a trifle as a foolish letter from
Vava to the junior partner, which, as she owned to herself, said nothing
but the truth, for she knew she was stiff and proud, and that poverty
made her stiffer and prouder, and that Mr. Jones knew it, and was far
too friendly with Vava to resent her familiarity. But this morning the
one thought that possessed her was that she must get that letter
whatever happened. She could never face Mr. Jones after he had been
asked by her younger sister to put up with her stiffness because she was
poor and could not help it. So when his step was heard she just waited
until he was in his office and had time to take off his hat and coat,
and then she knocked at the door.
There was a murmur of voices within, and then the head-clerk opened the
door, and said to Mr. Jones, 'Miss Wharton, sir.'
'Oh come in, Miss Wharton. I am late this morning, and your letters are
not ready for you yet,' he replied.
'I should like to speak to you before you open them, if you please,' she
said.
'Certainly, come in and sit down.--I'll see you in a few minutes,
Leighton,' he added to the head-clerk.
'Excuse me, sir, but I want to speak to you too, and perhaps my
twenty-five years' service may give me the right of precedence,' said
Mr. Leighton, who was not very tactful.
'Not of a lady, Leighton. I expect your business can wait,' said Mr.
Jones, turning civilly to Stella.
'I'm afraid it can't, sir; it has to do with Miss Wharton'----he began.
Stella had always thought the junior partner one of the easiest-going
and most good-tempered of men, and she was startled by the look of anger
that came into his face and his stern voice as he replied, 'You can have
nothing to do with this lady. I thought I made that understood.--I hope
you have not been annoyed in any way?' he continued to Stella.
But Stella, though she was annoyed with the senior clerk for his
persistence, and rather angry that he should be there to complain of
her, was too just not to know that it was her own fault, and she said in
her proud way, 'Not in the least, thank you. On the contrary, I am
afraid I annoyed your clerk by asking for your letters. I did not know
it was against the rules.'
'So it is, Mr. Jones, without your authority,' began Mr. Leighton,
anxious to defend himself.
But Mr. Jones cut him short. 'It's all right, Leighton; I quite
understand how the mistake arose. Miss Wharton wished to get on with her
letters; and, knowing she has our complete confidence, she thought she
could ask for such a simple thing. If she ever makes any request in
future, remember she has my authority,' he said.
Mr. Leighton left the room with a 'Very good, sir.' But he was far from
thinking that it was very good, and might have been heard muttering in
his own room about a 'pretty face' being the very mischief in a City
office, and a nice thing for them all if she was to be allowed to ask
for what she liked, and have it too. 'A proud minx!' he wound up
viciously.
Meanwhile, Stella, being left with the junior partner, began to explain.
'It was not your business correspondence I wished to see, Mr. Jones, but
a private letter.' She stopped, for really it sounded very odd; and then
she continued, 'May I just look at the addresses of the letters,
please?'
'Certainly,' said Mr. Jones, handing her his letters, with a perfectly
grave and business-like face. Not a sign of surprise nor annoyance at
this truly extraordinary request was to be seen on his face, nor even a
gleam of amusement in his eyes.
Stella took the letters and looked them through; but in vain! Vava's
letter was not amongst them! She looked a second time, and then handed
them back, with a worried air, to Mr. Jones, who apparently waited for
an explanation, which Stella did not find easy to give. She could not
understand the non-arrival of the letter, unless, indeed, Vava had
addressed it wrongly. Then it occurred to her that it might have been
delayed and come by the next post; and even as the thought passed
through her mind a clerk brought in some more letters.
'You might open those to save time, as we are late to-day, while I go
through these,' said the junior partner, seeing that Stella was not
ready with an explanation.
But neither among this pile was there one with Vava's childish
handwriting. If Stella had not herself seen the letters delivered she
would have thought that Mr. Jones might have received the letter and
hidden it from her; but she saw them in the head-clerk's hands when she
came in, and watched him lay them on the desk before the junior partner.
Still, there was just a chance that it had been taken before she came
in, being a very unbusiness-like letter, and likely to have been noticed
and put on the top, and she felt she must put her mind to rest; so she
asked, 'Excuse me, Mr. Jones, but are these all the letters that have
arrived this morning?'
'To the best of my knowledge, yes; at least, they are all that I have
received,' he replied; but still he did not ask why.
And, for the life of her, Stella could not get herself to tell him why,
but began mechanically opening the letters and reading them without
taking in what they were about, until, with a start, it dawned upon her
that she was reading a private letter of invitation from some people she
knew. She gave an exclamation of surprise and annoyance at her
carelessness, which made Mr. Jones look up.
'I beg your pardon, I did not think of what I was doing,' she said,
handing him the letter.
'Oh that's all right; there's nothing private in that. Rothery often
writes to me here; he says he has a better chance of being answered,' he
observed.
Lord Rothery was a neighbour, and had been a great admirer of Stella,
and he was a friend of the junior partner. Wonders would never cease!
Stella was perturbed at the information, for the letter said that he
should be up in town that day, and was coming to see Mr. Jones in his
office to fix up dates for their yachting.
'I know--I knew Lord Rothery,' she said at last in desperation, for she
felt that she could not meet him in Mr. Jones's office.
'Ah, yes, of course, he was a neighbour of yours. I am sure he will be
delighted to meet you again, Miss Wharton,' said the junior partner
politely.
'But I don't want to meet him!' Stella exclaimed impulsively, and then
stopped. This morning was going all wrong; she had meant to be very
polite, but more reserved than ever, and here she was, on the contrary,
having more conversation with her employer than she had had all the time
she had been with him.
Mr. Jones seemed to understand at once; and, in spite of herself, Stella
could not help being grateful to him. 'In that case I had better come
and dictate my letters to you in your room, for Rothery has a
light-hearted way of bursting in upon me without waiting to be
announced; he won't take my business seriously, and persists that I come
here for amusement, as I can't want to make more money,' he says.
But when they were in her room, and she had taken down all her notes,
and Mr. Jones got up to go, she summoned up all her courage and said, 'I
wish to explain to you that my little sister wrote you a foolish letter
on Saturday, and that I would rather you did not read it.'
'So you meant to abstract it from my letters?' he said, looking at her
very straight.
But Stella lifted her head, and looked back just as straight as she
replied, 'I meant to do no such thing. I simply meant to give you the
letter, which I should know by the handwriting, and ask you as a
gentleman not to read it.'
A gleam came into James Jones's eyes as she said this; but he replied
quietly, 'I think you might trust me, Miss Wharton, as a gentleman, not
to take any notice of what a child like Vava said. You know, or rather
you don't know, that business men can behave honourably and be gentlemen
as well as the bluest-blooded among you.'
'I hope I have not implied the contrary, and I do not suppose you would
pay any attention to what Vava said; but I should be very much obliged,
all the same, if you would give me the letter unopened,' remarked
Stella.
'I am afraid that is impossible,' he said gravely.
'Impossible!' said Stella, and then her pride and anger got the better
of her. 'I fail to see why it is impossible, nor why you should persist
in wishing to read a letter which I tell you I did not wish my sister to
write to you. If it is some mistaken sense of loyalty to Vava, I may as
well tell you that she has told me what was in it, and knows that I am
asking for it back unread,' she said.
Mr. Jones looked undecided for a moment, and then he observed, 'I am
sorry that she told you the nonsense she wrote, and I am very sorry that
you have taken it so seriously. I would not refuse a request of yours
for the world, Miss Wharton, and I only wish I could make your life here
less distasteful to you'----he began.
Stella interrupted him. 'Then why not promise to give me the letter when
it comes, without reading it?' she said eagerly.
Mr. Jones thought if Stella had been pretty before she had never looked
so beautiful as she did at this moment, as she laid aside her pride for
a moment, to plead for the unlucky letter. He would have given a good
deal to have been able to gratify her. 'Miss Wharton,' he said, 'you
really are exaggerating this matter, and, if you will excuse my speaking
plainly, you are not very just or polite to myself in objecting to my
receiving a friendly letter from your little sister. After all, I am not
a cad or such an objectionable person that you need mind her writing
foolish confidences to me. I hope you will believe that I shall in no
way take advantage of them?'
'That is not the point; but as you refuse to return me the letter I have
only one course open to me, and that is to resign my post in your
office,' said Stella, looking very white and angry.
'I have no wish to keep you here against your will, and as I am so
obnoxious to you perhaps you will be happier in another office; and, as
it happens, I know of a post that is vacant, and that you can have on my
recommendation. You will allow me to say that we shall regret your
departure very much, for it will be difficult to replace you,' he
observed, and left the room.
Stella sat for a moment doing nothing; then she took up her letters and
began transcribing them, and so the morning passed away, and she thought
she had never passed such a miserable one. On her way to lunch she took
her letters to the junior partner's room and knocked at his door; but
instead of his usual cheery, 'Come in!' he came hastily to the door,
and, only opening it a few inches, took the letters with a polite 'Thank
you.'
And as she turned away, Stella heard Lord Rothery's hearty laugh, and
she understood Mr. Jones's thought for her, and felt a little ashamed of
herself; but stay there after his refusal of her request she could not,
and she thought sadly of having to face strangers again in a new office,
and wondered whether she would receive as much consideration there as
she had done at Baines, Jones & Co.'s, and she could not help thinking
that it had been very kind of the junior partner to assure her of
another berth immediately on leaving him. 'He knows I should miss the
money,' she said bitterly to herself.
However, that afternoon when she went to his room he was as civil as
ever, though very grave. He said nothing about Lord Rothery, nor about
her leaving until she was going out of the room, and then he observed,
'I would rather you had not known this, Miss Wharton, and I am sorry
your sister told you what she had written. Of course I should have
returned the letter if it had been possible; I certainly wouldn't have
read it if I had known what you feel about it.'
'I really don't understand. I made it clear this morning; but since you
have read it there is no more to be said,' she replied in tones of
scorn.
'It is very easy to understand; the letter arrived on Saturday
afternoon, and I happened to be here and opened it. I only laughed, and
liked the child better for her openness. I have it here; you can take it
and read it if you like, unless you will do me the honour to believe
that there is nothing in it which makes me respect either of you less,
and to let me keep the letter.'
Stella struggled with many emotions during this speech, and then she
said in a subdued voice, 'Pray, keep it,' and turned to leave the room.
'And may we consider your resignation withdrawn?' he asked.
'Certainly,' said Stella, and she could not help feeling somehow that
she had made herself very ridiculous, and it gave her an unwonted
feeling of humility as she went home, which Vava's conversation did not
help to allay.
'Well,' was her greeting, 'what did Mr. Jones say?'
'He got the letter on Saturday afternoon, so I was too late to prevent
his opening it,' Stella replied.
'O-oh! But you needn't really mind, Stella; he would not think any the
less of you for it,' she observed.
'He was very polite about it,' said Stella in a reserved tone.
Vava looked inquiringly at her sister. 'I hope you were polite, because
he's a most awfully nice man to be with, and you don't half-appreciate
it,' she said with her usual candour.
And then Doreen, who was buying a book at the bookstall, joined them,
and the subject was dropped, to Stella's relief; and Vava, who would
have liked to know what Mr. Jones said, finding her curiosity was not to
be gratified by Stella, privately made up her mind to ask Mr. Jones on
Saturday when he helped her with her algebra.
What satisfaction she got out of him will be told later on; but, though
the storm had blown over this time, it was not the last quarrel between
Stella and her employer, and Vava declared to Mrs. Morrison that it was
'no good, for Stella would never get on with Mr. James Jones, who really
was the nicest man she had ever met, and quite a gentleman.' Whether
this was a true prophecy time will show.