Samuel Cleever, a tall, thin dyspeptic with a pince-nez and English
intonation, was moved from Newark, N.J., to succeed the old man.
His first conference with Georgia was brief. "Good morning, Miss
Ah-ah-"
"Connor."
"Quite so. Do you understand the Singer cross-filing reference system?"
"I understand cross-indexing and card-catalogues."
"The Singer system specifically, do you know that?"
"No, sir."
"So I feared."
"But I could learn quickly."
"Quite so. But to be frank," said Mr. Cleever, "I have brought my
private secretary with me from Newark." New kings make new courts.
"Yes, sir," said Georgia in a low voice.
"I will assign you to the auditing department for the present."
"Yes, sir."
She felt many eyes upon her and her cheeks were burning as she walked
down the long room carrying her business belongings to a narrow
flat-top which the young auditor pointed out to her. It was next the
inside wall.
The color came to her face in waves as she passed Miss Gerson's desk
and she had a furious sensation that her habit of blushing was
damnable. Why, she asked herself angrily, couldn't she at least appear
calm in unpleasant situations!
Her new work was less interesting, more mechanical. There were rows on
rows of figures in it, and much technical accounting jargon. She
ceased to throw in overtime to the company, quitting sharply each night
on the dot of five thirty. On pay night she found, as she had feared,
that her salary had been standardized. She received the regular class
A stenographer's $15 instead of the private secretary's $20.
On Tuesday of her second week in the auditing department, Mr. Cleever
sent for her. Hoping devoutly that the new secretary had sprained his
wrist (Mr. Cleever's secretary was a young man, Mrs. Cleever having
been a stenographer herself), Georgia took her notebook.
But Mr. Cleever wanted instead to inform her that the system of
bookkeeping whereof she was the apparent beneficiary disaccorded with
his notions of system.
Since that remark seemed to leave her in the dark, he tossed across his
table to her a report from the auditor's department which showed that
in the past seven weeks she had been credited with $140 which had been
debited to Mason Stevens, also that Columbus Hospital bills for $129.60
(including extras) had been paid by the company and charged to Stevens,
and that a doctor's statement for $300 had been settled by the company
and charged to Mr. Silverman's private fund. As to the last item, Mr.
Cleever explained he, of course, had nothing to say, but as to the
other two, although he had neither the desire nor the right to inquire
into her personal affairs or her conduct out of the office, he must
henceforth make it an undeviating rule not to permit the use of the
company's books to facilitate private financial transactions between
employes.
As Mr. Cleever's precise syllables clicked on, she looked from him to
the two page report in her hand, and back again to him. Her lips were
partly open and she breathed through them.
When he spoke of his desire not to inquire into her conduct out of the
office, she thought she distinguished a discreet sneer in his modulated
voice.
She knew instantly that it was out of the question for her to remain in
the place. The report she held had been typewritten by a woman in her
own department. It would spread from her to the other women and then
to the men. Her engagement to marry Stevens could never now be
announced in explanation. She would be construed as she herself had
construed the tall, red-headed girl with the abundant figure.
She felt a flood rush over her face, suffusing it to the roots of her
hair. She saw that Cleever saw it, and that he took it for
confirmation of his suspicions.
"Mr. Cleever, I assure you I never knew anything of this until this
moment."
"Of course, Miss Connor," he responded drily. "Please understand I
make no criticism of the method of my predecessor. But in future--"
"It will stop, Mr. Cleever. I wish to hand in my resignation."
"We are sorry to lose you, Miss Connor, but of course if that is your
decision--"
"Yes, sir, it is."