WANTED, A WAITRESS
Such a supper as that had been. Etta’s expression had so completely
changed that Grandma Sue decided that she was almost pretty with her
corn-colored hair and china blue eyes. It was the first time that Jenny
had seen her smile and she found herself wishing that Miss O’Hara could
see it also. They made their plans. Etta was to remain with them all
night. Then early in the morning Granddad would drive both of the girls
to Santa Barbara and take the money from the bank, then they would go to
the railway station and buy a ticket, both for the train and the steamer.
Jenny was sure that there were such tickets because she had heard her
teacher, Miss Dearborn, tell about one that she purchased all the way
through to Liverpool. Then there would be no fear that Etta would lose
the money. When she reached Belgium, Etta promised, oh, so faithfully,
that each month she would send back part of the hundred. She was so
strong. She would work the farm again. The women over there all worked in
the fields. She knew she would have money to send. Every time she thought
of the great joy in store for the old couple, she began to cry and laugh
at the same time. But once she had a thought which brought only
frightened tears. What if this voyage should be like the other? What if
her loved ones would be dead?
But Jenny had said that she must not think of that, though they all knew
that she would, poor girl, till the very moment that she reached the farm
and saw her grandparents.
“You’ll write us all about it, won’t you, dearie?” Grandma Sue said.
The chocolate pudding was eaten, but no one seemed conscious of it. They
were all thinking the same thing and yet with wide variations. Grandma
and Grandpa were being so thankful because they had Jenny, and that
little maid was deciding how she would tell Miss O’Hara when Etta was
gone.
Everything happened just as they had planned. The next day dawned in the
silvery mist that so often veils the seaside mornings in California, but
later it burst into a glory of sunshine, as golden as the oranges, and
sweetly, spicily fragrant with the breath of the lemon groves they passed
as they drove to Santa Barbara. The money was drawn from the bank, the
ticket, a very long ticket, was procured. Etta, hardly able to believe
that she was really awake, had expressed her thanks in all the ways that
she knew, and the train at last bore her away.
It was not until Jenny was back in her own farm home that she told what
she planned doing next. “I must drive right over to the seminary and tell
Miss O’Hara what has become of Etta. Of course she hasn’t worried yet,
because she knew that Etta was with us over here, but she’ll be getting
impatient if there’s no one to pare the vegetables and help her get
lunch.”
Grandmother Sue’s eyes were opened wide. “But, dearie, this is your very
own Saturday. The one that’s for you to do with as you please. I thought
you and Miss Dearborn were goin’ to drive way up into the foothills.
Wasn’t that what you’d planned?”
The girl nodded brightly. “Yes, it was,” she said, “and maybe there’ll be
time for that later, but first, I must tell Miss O’Hara about Etta’s
having gone back to Belgium. I suppose she’ll send up to the orphanage
for another helper, but that will take a day or two, maybe more.”
Granny Sue said no more and as Dobbin was not needed on the farm, Jenny
again drove up the winding tree-shaded lane to the crest of the low hill
on the broad top of which stood the picturesque buildings and grounds of
the fashionable school for girls. This time Jenny drew rein before she
entered the gate and gazed far across the valley to the range of circling
mountains, gray and rugged near the peaks, but green and tree-clad lower
down. Jenny always felt, when she gazed at those majestic mountains, the
same awe that others do in a great cathedral, as though she were in the
real presence of the Creator. “Father, God,” she whispered, “I thank Thee
that at last Etta is really going home.” Then she turned in at the gate.
As Jenny had feared, Miss O’Hara was becoming very wrathful because of
the delayed return of her helper, and when the kitchen door opened, she
whirled about, a carving knife in her hand and a most threatening
expression on her plain Irish face. When she saw who had entered, the
expression changed, but her sharp blue eyes were gazing back of the girl
as though to find one whom she believed was purposely lingering outside
until a just wrath were somewhat appeased. But when Jenny turned and
closed the door, Miss O’Hara demanded: “Where’s that wench? Are you
tryin’ to shield her? You can’t do it! She’d ought to’ve been here two
hours back. Me with all the silver to clean and the vegetables to pare.”
Then, noting a happiness like a morning glow in the face of the girl, the
woman concluded: “Well, say it out, whatever ’tis! But first let me tell
you, I’m _through_ with that ne’er-do-well. I set myself down right in
the middle of the mornin’ and wrote to that orphanage place tellin’ ’em
they’d have to find work elsewhere for Etta Heldt, and I’d be obliged to
’em if they’d send me another girl as soon as they could. An’ what’s
more, I made it plain that I didn’t want any sour face this time. I want
someone who’s willin’ and agreeable, that’s what! So, if that minx is
waitin’ to hear what I’m sayin’, you might as well fetch her in and let’s
have it out.”
To the amazement of the irate woman, Jenny clapped her hands girlishly
and then, skipping forward, gave Miss O’Hara an impulsive hug as she
cried: “Oh, oh, I’m so glad you feel that way about it! Then you won’t
mind so terribly because Etta Heldt is gone—gone for good, I mean?”
Miss O’Hara stared blankly. “Gone?” she repeated. “Where’s she gone to?”
Jenny glanced at the clock. It was nearing noon and she knew that the
cook had little time for idle visiting, and so she said briskly: “I’ve
come over to help. I’ll put on Etta’s apron and do anything you want
done, and while we’re working, I’ll tell you the whole sad story,
because, Miss O’Hara, it is awfully sad, and I do believe if you had
known it, you would have been sorrier for Etta, and maybe, a little more
patient.” Then, fearing that this might offend her listener, the tactful
girl hurried on with: “I know how kind you can be. No one knows better.”
The cook, who had turned back to the slicing of cold meat, which had been
the reason for the carving knife, merely grunted at this. She was not
sure but that a little of her own native blarney was being applied to
her. But she answered in a pleasanter voice to the girl’s repeated
inquiry: “What shall I do to help?”
“Well, you might be fixin’ the salad. You’ll find the mixin’s for it all
in the icebox up top.”
“Oh, goodie!” Jenny skipped to the box as she spoke: “I adore making
things pretty, and salads give one a chance more than most anything else,
don’t you think so, Miss O’Hara?” She had lifted the cover and was
peering in where, close to the ice, lay the cheesecloth bag of crisped
lettuce and a bowl of tiny cooked beets. These she carried to the long
white table as she asked: “May I prepare it just as I want to, Miss
O’Hara, or have you some special way of doing it?”
“Fix it to suit yourself,” was the ungrudgingly given response. “You’ll
find all sort of bowls for it in the pantry, you’ll need four, there
being four tables.”
Jenny chose pretty glass bowls and set about making as artistic a salad
as she could, and, while she worked, she told the whole story to a
listener who at first was merely curious, but who gradually became
interested and finally sympathetic. “Well, I sure certain wish I’d known
about her comin’ to this country and findin’ her mother dead. Like as not
I’d have tried some to cheer her up. As I look back on it now, I wasn’t
any too patient with her. It’ll be a lesson to me, that’s what it will.
When the next orphan comes to this kitchen, I’ll try to make it as
home-like for her as I can.” Then the cook recalled her own troubles.
“How-some-ever, I wish Etta Heldt had given me notice. Here I’ll be
without a helper for no one knows how long, a week maybe.”
Jenny, having heaped a glass bowl with a most appetizing salad, stepped
back to admire it. Then she revealed her plan. “Miss O’Hara, if you’ll
let me, I’ll come right over after school every day and do Etta’s work
until you can get another helper.”
Miss O’Hara again turned, another knife in her hand, as she had been
cutting bread. “Jenny Warner, are you meaning that? Will you help out for
a few days? Well, the Saints bless the purty face of you as they’ve done
already. I only wish I could have a helper all the time as cheery as you
are. I could get on with after-school help. I’m thinkin’, on a scratch.”
Then, glancing at the clock, she continued: “Well, if ’tisn’t
eleven-thirty all ready. Here, cut the bread, will you, Jenny, while I go
upstairs and see if one of the maids won’t help with the servin’ today? I
can’t be in the kitchen dishin’ up, an’ in the dinin’ room at the same
time.”
Jenny, glad to assist in any way, finished the task, and then wandered to
a window near to await further orders. She heard a gong ringing somewhere
in the big school. Then a side door opened and a bevy of girls, about her
own age, trooped out on the lawn for a half hour of recreation before
lunch. How pretty they were, nearly all of them, the watcher thought. By
their care-free, laughing faces she concluded that they had none of them
known a sorrow or felt a feather weight of responsibility. They had come
from homes of wealth, Jenny knew, where they had had every pleasure and
luxury their hearts could desire. But she did not envy them. Where in all
the wide world was there a home more picturesque than her very own old
adobe farmhouse, overgrown with blossoming vines, with the ever-changing
ocean and the rocky point in front, and at the back the orchard, which,
all the year round, was such a delight. And who could they have in their
rich homes more lovable than Granny Sue and Grandpa Si? There couldn’t be
any one more lovable in all the land. Then the watcher wondered which one
of the girls was Harold P-J’s sister. “Proud and domineering,” Miss
O’Hara had said that she was. Maybe she was that tall girl who had drawn
apart from the rest with two companions. She carried herself haughtily
and there was a smile on her face that Jenny did not like. It was as
though she were accompanying it with sarcastic comment about the other
girls. The two who were with her glanced in the direction which their
leader had indicated. Jenny did also and saw a shy-looking girl dressed
far simpler than the others, whose light brown hair hung straight down,
fastened at her neck by a plain brown ribbon. “She must be a new pupil,
too,” Jenny decided, “for she doesn’t seem to be acquainted with any of
the girls.”
At that moment Miss O’Hara returned, more flustered than she had been an
hour earlier, if that were possible. “The de’il himself is tryin’ to fret
me, I’m thinkin’,” she announced. “That silly Peg Hanson’s had a letter
and there’s somethin’ in it that upset her so, she took a fit of cryin’
and now she’s got one of her blind headaches and can’t stand. The other
maid’s in the middle of the upstairs cleanin’, being as she had to do
Peg’s work and her own. Now, I’d like to know _who_ is to wait on that
parcel of gigglin’ girls this noon? That’s what!”
“O, Miss O’Hara, won’t you let me? I’m just wild to have a chance to be
near enough to them to hear what they say. It would be awfully
interesting to me. Please say that I may?”
The cook stared her amazement. “Well, now, what do _you_ know about
waitin’?” she inquired.
“Nothing at all,” was the merry reply, “but my teacher has often said
that I have a good intelligence, and I do believe, if you’d tell me what
ought to be done, I could remember enough to get through.”
The cook’s troubled face broke into a pleased smile. “Jenny Warner,” she
commented, “you’re as good as a pinch of soda in sour milk. Somehow
mountain-sized troubles dwindle down to less’n nothin’ when you take a
hand in them.” She glanced at the clock.
“Lunch is served at twelve-thirty,” she continued. “We’ll have to both
pitch in and get things on the table, and, while we’re doin’ it, I’ll
tell you what you’ll have to know about servin’.”
* * * * * * * *
Jenny was in a flutter of excitement half an hour later as she donned the
white cap and apron of the waitress uniform. They were really very
becoming, and soft brown ringlets peeped out from under the dainty
band-like cap which was tied about her head.
“There’s very little waitin’-on to be done at noon, thanks for that,”
Miss O’Hara said. “Most things are on the table, but you’ll have to go
around and pour the chocolate and do the things as I told you. There now!
The bell’s ringing and I hear those silly girls laughing, so they’re all
in the dining room. Here’s the chocolate pot. I haven’t filled it full,
fearin’ it might be too heavy. You’ll have to come back and get more when
that’s gone.”
With cheeks flushed and eyes shining, as though she were about to do
something which pleased her extremely, Jenny entered the dining room,
where four tables, surrounded by girls, stood along the walls. Few there
were who even noticed her as she went from place to place filling the
dainty cups with steaming liquid.
At the first table the girls were chattering about a theatre party to
which they were going with Miss Granger, and not one of them gave the
waitress more than a fleeting glance. But at the second table Jenny found
the girl she sought. The sister of Harold P-J, and the daughter of the
proud owner of Rocky Point Farm.
The little waitress knew at once which she was, for a companion spoke her
name. Jenny was disappointed when she heard her speak. There was a
fretful, discontented note in her voice. And why should there be, she
wondered, as she slowly approached the end of the table where Gwynette
Poindexter-Jones sat with an intimate friend from San Francisco at each
side.
Surely she had everything her heart could desire. But evidently this was
not true, for, as Jenny drew nearer, she could hear what was being said.
“Patricia Sullivan, you make me weary! You certainly do!” she addressed
the girl on her right. “How can you say that this is a pleasant place?
When I think of my mother in France luxuriating in the sort of life I
most enjoy, it makes me rebellious. Sometimes I feel that I just can’t
forgive her. What right has a mother to send her daughter to an
out-of-the-way country boarding school if the girl prefers to be educated
abroad?”
The friend who had been called “Patricia” now put in, almost
apologetically: “But I merely said that it is a beautiful country, and I
repeat that it is. I think that it is wonderful to be so high up on a
foothill and have a sweeping view of the ocean from one side of the
school and a view of the mountains from the other side.”
A shrug, accompanied by an utterance of bored impatience, then Gwynette’s
reply: “Scenery isn’t what I want, and if I did, I prefer it in France.”
After glancing critically from one table to another, she continued:
“There isn’t a single girl in this room who belongs to our class, really.
They are all our social inferiors.”
But Beulah Hollingsworth, the friend on Gwynette’s left, leaned forward
to say in a low voice, which was audible to Jenny merely because she had
reached the trio and was filling Patricia’s cup:
“I’ve heard that there is a girl in this school whose father is a younger
son of some titled English family. She ought to be in our class, don’t
you think?”
Patricia, whose back was toward the room, could not turn to look at the
other pupils, but suddenly she recalled one of them, and so, leaning
forward, she also said in a low voice:
“Look at Clare Tasselwood. She’s stiff enough at least to be a somebody.”
Gwynette and Beulah agreed.
They both glanced at a tall blonde girl at the table across the room,
whose manner was neither disagreeable nor pleasant, expressing merely
bored endurance of her present existence. Gwynette’s face brightened. “I
believe you are right. Let’s cultivate her!”
Jenny could hear no more of their conversation as she had to go back to
the kitchen to refill the silver pot, and when she returned she began to
fill cups at a third table, the one at which sat the supposed daughter of
a “younger son.” Clare Tasselwood was so deeply engrossed in her own
thoughts that she seemed scarce aware that the timid girl at her left was
offering her a platter of cold meat. She took it finally with a brief
nod; absently helped herself to a slice and passed it to the neighbor on
her right.
Jenny found herself feeling sorry for the little girl whom she had
noticed at the recreation hour; the one so simply dressed in brown with
whom no one had been talking, and about whom Gwynette and her friends had
evidently been making uncomplimentary comment. When the new waitress
poured that girl’s cup full of chocolate, the little maid smiled up at
her and said, “Thank you.”
More than ever Jenny’s heart warmed toward her. “Poor thing! I’d like to
be friends with her if she were not a pupil of this fashionable school.
She looks more like real folks than some of them do.”
Then, having completed the round with the chocolate pot, the waitress
went out to the kitchen to get the tray on which were to be heaped the
plates after the first course had been finished. Jenny really dreaded
this task, fearing that she would break something, and was relieved to
find that the upstairs maid who had been cleaning had come down and was
ready to assist.
“Here, Jenny,” Miss O’Hara said, “you follow and give each girl her
dessert. Then you come out and eat your own lunch. After that you can go.
Tomorrow, being Sunday, I can get along alone, and probably by Monday the
new helper’ll be here.”
An hour later Jenny drove away, laughing to herself over her amusing
adventure and eager to tell Grandma Sue and Granddad Si all about it.