BADLY BEGUN AND MADLY ENDED.
Looking back on that examination week, Vava declared afterwards that it
was the longest week and the most eventful of her whole life--it 'began
badly and ended madly,' was how she put it, talking about it to nursie,
her confidante and comforter during this trying time.
She went home, feeling rather depressed, with an inward conviction that
her sister's leaving Messrs Baines, Jones & Co. was her fault in the
first instance, and she made a mental resolution to be more careful in
the future what she said. However, Stella met her with no reproachful
looks, but was calmly darning a tablecloth as if she had not just thrown
up thirty-five shillings, or rather two pounds, a week, which meant a
good deal to them at the present moment.
'You never told me you were not going to town at all,' was Vava's
greeting.
'It is none of your business,' said Stella, who, though she imagined she
had told Vava, did not wish to be questioned on the subject.
'All the same, you might have told me, for I went to your little room as
usual to fetch you, and there was Mr. Jones typing his own letters,'
retorted Vava with an injured air.
As it happened, she was getting the best of it, for Stella, who was not
at all pleased at this news, could not scold her for going there;
besides, it made the elder sister rather uncomfortable to know how her
sudden departure had inconvenienced her late employer. But not yet would
she own herself to be in the wrong. 'I hope you did not stop and talk,'
she remarked.
'I asked where you were, and Mr. Jones told me you had left; but he
would not keep me, he said, as he knew you disliked him'----replied
Vava.
'Vava, what do you mean?' interrupted her sister.
'If you had let me finish I was going to say, "being friends with me,"'
said Vava.
'Then you should talk grammatically; it is not "him being friends" but
"his being friends."'
'Well, he isn't either, so it does not matter,' replied Vava testily,
for she was very sorry about it all, and this made her cross.
The next morning's post brought Stella three letters. One was from the
junior partner, which she opened first, though why it should have
interested her does not seem clear, as she had finished with him and
would not return to him on any account; perhaps she wished to be asked
at least.
If so, she was disappointed. Mr. Jones's note was short and formal.
Stella had begun her letter of resignation 'Dear Sir;' but Mr. Jones
replied:
'DEAR MISS WHARTON,--I beg to acknowledge your letter tendering
your resignation as secretary, which I accept in the name of the
firm; also the five shillings, which you return under some
misapprehension. I regret your departure, and shall find it
difficult to supply the place you have so admirably filled. I also
regret that you should hold the opinion of me that you do, and
trust you will some day modify your views. I shall be glad to
answer any one you refer to me.--Yours faithfully,
'JAMES JONES.'
Stella felt a distinct sensation of disappointment as she laid this
letter down. The next pleased her no better. 'What have my movements in
the City got to do with them?' she exclaimed involuntarily.
'With whom?' asked Vava.
'The Montague Joneses,' replied Stella, handing over to her sister the
note, in which Mrs. Jones hoped that her change of employment would not
interfere with her promise to dine with them next Friday, as it made no
difference to them. 'Of course it does not,' was Stella's comment.
The third letter was a still greater surprise, and she gave an
exclamation of pleasure as she said, 'I will come up with you this
morning, Vava. I have been offered an appointment in the City not far
from--my late office.'
'How quick! How did they know you wanted one, or your address? I suppose
that is Mr. Jones, and I call it rather decent of him,' observed Vava,
in a significant tone.
'As it happens, it was not Mr. Jones; it was that good Mrs. Ryan,' said
Stella with satisfaction.
'How on earth did she manage it?' inquired Vava, who thought privately
that if the housekeeper had got Stella this post she had done so by Mr.
Jones's orders, and as it happens (to quote Stella) Vava was quite
right; but fortunately Stella did not suspect this, or, as Vava well
knew, she was capable of throwing it over, and the younger sister wisely
kept her thoughts to herself.
The two sisters accordingly went up to the City together as usual, and
it was only when they were nearing their destination that Stella began
to look a little nervous at the thought of again facing strangers, and
to think with regret of the comfortable little room she had had all to
herself. For one short moment she had half a mind to return to Messrs
Baines, Jones & Co., the junior partner of which firm she knew would
welcome her back; but pride forbade such a step.
Vava, who knew her sister's face well, guessed at her nervousness, and
said in a pleading voice, 'Stella, please let me come with you; I shall
feel much happier, and as if you had forgiven me for causing all this
bother.'
Partly to please Vava, and partly because she dreaded facing a room full
of young men who stared at her in too open admiration, she accepted
Vava's offer, and went up the steps of Murchison Limited protected by
her sister.
Mr. Murchison had not arrived, and Stella was requested to take a seat
on a bench in the passage by a young clerk to whom she told her
business. Up and down the passage passed a countless number of men, as
it seemed to the two girls.
'Vava, you must go; you will be late for school,' said Stella, as the
minutes passed and no Mr. Murchison arrived.
'I simply couldn't go away and leave you alone in this horrid place!'
cried Vava.
Stella smiled at her younger sister's protective tone, as she said, 'But
your examinations?'
'I don't care if I miss fifty exams; you are more important than they
are!' exclaimed Vava.
An elderly gentleman coming in at the moment noticed the two girls in
mourning, the elder smiling as the younger looked eagerly up into her
face, and thought he had never seen a prettier picture. He came hastily
forward, and holding out his hand said, 'Miss Wharton, I am sure, and
this is the City schoolgirl? I am so sorry to have been late, but my car
broke down, as usual with these machines when one has an appointment;
but you should not have waited here. Come into my office.' He had such a
kind, fatherly way, and spoke in such refined accents, that Stella was
reassured; and the boy who had asked her to go outside wished he had
been more polite when he saw the courtesy his master was showing to the
two young clerks, as he had imagined them to be.
'You had better go now, Vava,' said Stella, as they entered Mr.
Murchison's private office.
'Are you sure you are all right?--You will see that she is comfortable,
won't you?' said Vava, turning to the old man.
A twinkle came into his eye, but he answered gravely and courteously,
'You may safely leave your sister with us; we will see that she is quite
comfortable and happy.'
'Thank you,' said Vava, and ran off happy too.
A short interview sufficed to tell Stella what was required of her, and
then she was shown into a small room by Mr. Murchison himself, who said
apologetically, 'I am afraid it is rather dark and dingy, but we have
not required it hitherto, and I am sure you will prefer this to being in
a room with the other clerks?'
'Oh yes, and it will do very nicely, thank you,' said Stella with
relief. Little did she or Vava dream that there was anything surprising
in her falling into a second berth so easily, or in the treatment and
consideration she received. Not that she would not have been kindly and
civilly treated; but, as a rule, Mr. Murchison did not interview his
clerks himself, nor did he hurry to the City to keep appointments with
them.
If Stella had been in the chief's office later on she would have been
enlightened about many things. As it was, she only wondered that she was
needed at all; it seemed to her that the small amount of work she did
might very easily have been distributed among the young men-clerks.
Mr. Murchison had just sent her in some papers to typewrite, and was
leaning back in his chair deep in thought when Lord Rothery was
announced.
'I hope I am not intruding, Mr. Murchison?' he began.
But the City magnate greeted him with a laugh. 'I believe you always say
that on entering a City office,' he answered.
'Well, I feel I'm the idle butterfly among the bees, don't you know; but
I was sent here this morning,' explained the young man.
'Not for a clerk's place, I sincerely hope, for I really can't find work
for another superfluous person!' protested Mr. Murchison with a look of
amusement.
'No, no; it's the last one I've come about,' observed his visitor.
'What! are you an admirer too? This promises to become complicated, not
to say a nuisance,' said the old man; but he still looked amused, for he
was a very kindly man, and Stella's quiet, ladylike manners, as well as
her beauty, had won him.
'I admire her all right--I don't see how one could help it. But it's no
go; she didn't admire me, and it seems Jones has no better luck. But
he's a dogged beggar, and won't give up hope, and he has sent me to see
that she is comfortable and all that,' he said.
'Oh yes, she's comfortable--at least, as comfortable as I could make her
at a day's notice. And if you are going back to that happy young man you
may tell him that it is more than I am, for I can't find anything for
her to do, and I think he'd better send her work along too to keep her
occupied,' replied Mr. Murchison.
'Oh that would never do; she'd spot something, and he says she must on
no account guess that he has got her this place,' said Lord Rothery
hastily.
Mr. Murchison put back his head and laughed. 'A City conspiracy to save
the pride of a most wrong-headed young woman, who, as a matter of fact,
does not deserve such consideration, after treating Jones so badly,
leaving him at a moment's notice. It's really great nonsense, if you
come to think of it. He wants her services, and I do not; but because
she gets into a rage about nothing he must find her a comfortable
sinecure. What am I to do with a lady-clerk? I don't want one at all,'
he wound up.
'Jamie knows that, and told me to tell you he's sure it won't be for
long. He's awfully sorry to ask such a favour, but it's a matter of life
and death to him.'
'Life and death fiddlesticks!' ejaculated Mr. Murchison.
'I'm only quoting his words. He really looks very bad this morning; I
feel quite sorry for him, and I'm awfully sorry for her too. Poor
Stella! it's an awful come down for her,' said his lordship.
'I don't think it is any hardship to earn your own living, though
perhaps she is too pretty; anyway, it's being made easier for her than
for many a girl who is just as good,' objected Mr. Murchison.
'It's worse for her, because she's so beastly proud--always was as a
child; but she's a good sort, and I only hope Jones will get his way,
though I "ha'e ma douts," as we say up north. He daren't come and see
you, he says,' said Lord Rothery.
But Stella knew nothing of all this, and only found the day drag, as she
had so little to do.
Vava too found the day long. She was half-an-hour late for school, and
as she brought no written excuse, and her own was not considered
satisfactory, she was not allowed to go in to the examination at all;
and although she had said Stella was more important than fifty
examinations, she was very disappointed to miss this one, which was
history, in which she hoped to do well, as it was her strong point.
However, she said nothing about this to Stella, who seemed depressed, on
the way home. Although they had only been in the new house a month,
things did not seem to be going very smoothly. Eva was like a
thundercloud all dinner-time, and snapped at any one who spoke to her,
until in desperation they left her severely alone.
'Everything's downright horrid, nursie,' said Vava, going into the
kitchen after dinner to pour out her woes into the housekeeper's
sympathetic ear.
'When night's blackest, dawn's nearest--not that I think it's a very
black night; we must all pay for our experience, and you are paying at
this minute,' replied the old woman.
'But I don't see why I should pay to-day! I had not done anything wrong.
I couldn't have left Stella sitting on that horrid bench all alone,
could I?' protested Vava.
'You are too fond of that word "horrid." I don't expect there was
anything the matter with the bench; it's no good being too high and
mighty in this world, and there's no disgrace or degradation in honest
labour,' said the old housekeeper; for however much she might regret the
necessity of her 'young leddies' earning their living, she was not going
to tell them so, or put foolish notions into their heads; moreover, she
thought they both needed a lesson in humility.
'It was not a pleasant place for a girl to sit alone, anyway, and you
would have said the same yourself, and it was horrid, for sitting there
made me miss my best exam, which was a horrid bore--well, a shame,' said
Vava.
'It was no shame if it was the rules of the school, and it was that
tongue of yours that took you both there to the new office, in the first
place; but I hope it will be a lesson to you. And now, my bairn, just
try on these stockings; they will be cooler for spring, and I don't know
if they are long enough or not,' she wound up.
Vava tried on the stockings, which she declared fitted, as nursie's
knitted stockings always did. But next another unpleasant event took
place, making this week the 'baddest and maddest' Vava had ever known;
and to understand it the events of the day before at the City school
must be related.