A NEW FRIEND
At that early hour there were no customers in the shop, but Roberta saw
three young women of widely varying ages who were dusting and putting
things in order for the business of the day. Mr. Queerwitz went at once
to a tall, spare woman of about fifty whose light, reddish hair suggested
that the color had been applied from without.
"Miss Peerwinkle," he said rather abruptly, "here's the new clerk I was
telling you about. You'd better show her the lay of things before it gets
busy."
Miss Peerwinkle turned, and her washed-out blue eyes seemed to look down
at Roberta from the great height where, at least, she believed that her
position as head saleslady at the Queerwitz antique shop had placed her.
"Your name, Miss?" she inquired when the proprietor had departed toward a
rear door labeled "No admittance."
Bobs had been so amused by all that she had seen that she hardly heard
the inquiry, and when at last she did become conscious of it, for one
wild moment she couldn't recall her new name, and so she actually
hesitated. Luckily just then one of the girls called to Miss Peerwinkle
to ask her about a tag, and in that brief moment Bobs remembered.
When the haughty "head lady" turned her coldly inquiring eyes again
toward the new clerk, Roberta was able to calmly reply, "Dora Dolittle."
Miss Peerwinkle sniffed. Perhaps she was thinking it a poor name for an
efficient clerk to possess. Bobs' sense of humor almost made her exclaim:
"I ought to have chosen Dora Domuch." Then she laughingly assured herself
that _that_ wouldn't have done at all, as she did not believe that there
_was_ such a name and surely she _had_ heard of Dolittle.
Bobs' soliloquy was broken in upon by a strident voice calling: "Miss
Dolittle, you're not paying any attention to what I am saying. Right here
and now, let me tell you day-dreaming isn't permitted in this shop. I was
telling you to go with Nell Wiggin to the cloakroom, and don't be gone
more'n five minutes. Mr. Queerwitz don't pay salaries for prinking."
Bobs was desperately afraid that she wouldn't be able to get through the
morning without laughing, and yet there was something tragic about the
haughtiness of this poor Miss Peerwinkle.
Meekly she followed a thin, pale girl of perhaps twenty-three. The two
who were left in the shop at once began to express their indignation
because a new clerk had been brought in for them to train.
"If ever anybody looked the greenhorn, it's her," Miss Peerwinkle
exclaimed disdainfully, and Miss Harriet Dingley agreed.
They said no more, for the new clerk, returning, said, "What am I to do
first?" Unfortunately Roberta asked this of the one nearest, who happened
to be Miss Harriet Dingley. That woman actually looked frightened as she
said, nodding toward her companion, "Don't ask me. I'm not head lady. She
is."
Again Bobs found it hard not to laugh, for Miss Peerwinkle perceptibly
stiffened and her manner seemed to say, "You evidently aren't used to
class if you can't tell which folks are head and which aren't." But what
she really said was: "Nell Wiggin will show you around, and do be careful
you don't knock anything over. If you do, your salary's docked."
"I'll be very careful, Miss Peerwinkle," the new clerk said, but she was
thinking, "Docked! My salary docked. I know what it is to dock a coal
barge, for I have one in front of my home, but----"
"Oh, Miss Dolittle, please do watch where you go. You almost ran into
that Venetian vase." There was real kindness and concern in the voice of
the pale, very weary-looking young girl at her side, and in that moment
Bobs knew that she was going to like her. "Poor little thing," Bobs
thought. "She looks as though some unkind Fate had put out the light that
ought to be shining in her heart. I wish that I might find a way to
rekindle it."
Very patiently Miss Nell Wiggin explained the different departments in
the antique shop. Suddenly she began to cough and sent a frightened
glance toward the closed door that bore the sign "No Admittance," then
stifled the sound in her handkerchief. Nothing was said, but Roberta
understood.
The old furniture greatly interested Bobs. In her own home there were
many beautiful antiques. Casually she inquired, "How does Mr. Queerwitz
manage to obtain so much rare old furniture?"
To her surprise, Nell Wiggin looked quickly around to be sure that no one
was near, then she said: "I'd ought not to tell you, but I will if you'll
keep it dark."
"Dark as the deepest dungeon," Roberta replied, much puzzled by her
comrade's mysterious manner. The slight girl drew close. "He makes it
behind that door that nobody's allowed to go through," she said in a low
voice; then added, evidently wishing to be fair, "but that's nothing
unusual. Lots of dealers make their antiques and the public goes on
buying them knowing they may not be as old as the tags say. Here, now,
are the old books, and at least they are honest."
Bobs uttered a cry of joy. "Oh, how I do wish I could have charge of this
department," she said. "I adore old books."
There was a light in the pale face of little Miss Wiggin. "I do, too,"
she said. "That is, I love Dickens; I never read much else." Then, almost
wistfully, she added: "I didn't have much chance to go to school, but
once, where I went to live, I found an old set of Dickens' books that
someone had left, and I've just read them over and over. I never go out
nights and the people living in those books are such a lot of company for
me."
Again Bobs felt a yearning tenderness for this frail girl, who was
saying, "They're all the friends I've ever had, I guess."
Impulsively the new clerk exclaimed, "I'll be your friend, if you'll let
me." Just then a strident voice called, "Miss Wiggin, forward!"
"You stay with the books," Nell said softly, "and I'll do the china."
Bobs watched the slight figure that was hurrying toward the front, and
she sighed, with tears close to the hazel eyes, and in her heart was a
prayer, "May I be forgiven for the selfish, heedless years I have lived.
But perhaps now I can make up for it. Surely I shall try."
Roberta had been told by Mr. Jewett that she must not reveal to anyone
her real reason for being at the antique shop, and, as Mr. Queerwitz had
no faith in the girl's ability to waylay a pilferer, he did not care to
have Miss Nell Wiggin devote more time to teaching her the business of
selling antiques. This information was conveyed by Miss Peerwinkle to
Nell, who was told to stay away from the new clerk, with the added
remark: "If she didn't get on to the ropes with one hour's showing, she's
too stupid for this business, anyhow."
Why the head lady had taken such a very evident dislike to her, Bobs
could not understand, for surely she was willing to do whatever she was
told. Ah, well, she wasn't going to worry. "Worrying is what makes one
old," she thought, as she mounted a small step-ladder on casters that one
could push along the shelves. From the top of it she examined the books
that were highest. Suddenly she uttered an exclamation of delight, then
looked about quickly to be sure that she had not been heard. Customers in
the front part of the store occupied the attention of the three clerks,
so Roberta reached for a volume that had attracted her attention. It was
indeed rare and old, so very old that she wondered that the covers did
not crumble, and it had illumined letters. "Perhaps they were made by
early monks," Bobs was thinking. She sat down on the ladder and began
turning the fascinating pages that were yellow with age. Suddenly she was
conscious that someone stood near her. She looked up to find the accusing
gaze of the head clerk fixed upon her.
Bobs was startled into exclaiming: "Say, Miss Peerwinkle, a cat has
nothing on you when it comes to walking softly, has it?"
The reply was frigidly given: "Miss Do-little," with emphasis, "you are
supposed to dust the books, not read them; and what's more, that
particular book is the rarest one in the whole collection. There's a mate
to it somewhere, and when Mr. Queerwitz finds it, he can sell the two of
them to Mr. Leonel Van Loon for one thousand dollars in cool cash."
Roberta was properly impressed, and replaced the book; then, taking a
duster, she proceeded to tidy her department.
At eleven o'clock Bobs wondered if she ought to wander about the shop and
watch the occasional customer. This she did, and was soon in the
neighborhood of Miss Wiggin. "You're to go out to eat when I do," Nell
told her.
"I'm glad to hear it," was the reply.
Promptly at noon Miss Wiggin beckoned and said: "Come, Miss Dolittle, be
as quick as you can. We only have half an hour nooning, and every minute
counts. I go around to my room. You might buy something, then come with
me and eat it."
Roberta could hardly believe what she had heard. "Only half an hour to
wash, go somewhere, eat your lunch and get back?
"Why the mad rush?" she exclaimed. "Doesn't Mr. Queerwitz know there's
all eternity ahead of us?"
A wan smile was the only answer. Miss Nell Wiggin was not wasting time.
She led the way to the cloakroom, donned her outdoor garments, and then,
taking her new friend by the hand, she said: "Hold fast to me. We'll take
a short cut through the back stockroom. It's black as soot in there when
it isn't lit up. Mr. Queerwitz won't let us burn lights except for
business reasons."
Bobs found herself being led through a room so dark that she could barely
see the two walls of boxes that were piled high on either side, with a
narrow path between.
They soon emerged upon a back alley, where huge cans of refuse stood, and
where trucks were continually passing up and down or standing at the back
entrances of stores loading and unloading.
"Now walk as fast as you can," little Miss Wiggin said, as away she went
toward Fourth Avenue, with Roberta close behind her. If Bobs had known
what was going to happen that noon, she would not have left the shop.