Sarah Lady Garribardine said to her nephew, Gerard Strobridge, who had
been lunching with her on that Saturday:
"You must go now, G. I am expecting a new secretary."
"How will you get on without Miss Arnott, Seraphim? I thought she was
irreplaceable."
"So she is--I am interviewing quite a new type--she has been a
moneylender's shorthand typist."
Mr. Strobridge raised his eyebrows--and smiled his whimsical smile. His
Aunt Sarah always was original.
"Then I'll leave you--Beatrice has at last made up her mind not to chuck
the Arberrys, so we motor down at three o'clock."
"Has Beatrice been unusually tiresome?"
"N-no--she has been writing odes all the morning."
"You ought never to have married, G.--You would not have if Alice
Southerwood had not become a widow--a man can't always face his obvious
obligations."
Gerard Strobridge laughed.
"Then I shall kiss your hand and say farewell until next week--wisest of
aunts!"
He suited the action to the word, and left the room just as the butler
was about to open the door and announce:
"Miss Bush, Your Ladyship."
He glanced quickly at Katherine--this was the young person who would
take the estimable Miss Arnott's place, he supposed. She was quite
ordinary looking.--He went on down the stairs.
"Come and sit here in the light, please," Lady Garribardine said, as
Katherine Bush came towards her.
It was a very well-arranged Katherine, in the best blue serge--and a new
hat--not of Gladys' choosing. The mop of hair was twisted tight
without the least pretension to express "the look,"--some grey suede
gloves--bought in Paris by Lord Algy--were on the wonderful hands which
remained perfectly still in their owner's lap.
"How old are you?" asked Lady Garribardine by way of a beginning.
"I was twenty-two last September." There was not a trace of nervousness
in Katherine Bush's deep voice--indeed she felt none.
"And what does your family consist of--what is your status in life?"
Lady Garribardine felt perhaps she ought to ascertain this before going
further.
"We are just middle class. My father was an auctioneer at Bindon's Green
where we live. He and my mother are both dead. I have a sister who is a
saleswoman at Madame Ermantine's, the others are at home. My eldest
brother has taken father's place, the younger one is in a bank."
"And how long have you been at this business?"
"Since I was nineteen--before that I kept the accounts at a pork
butcher's."
"Indeed!----And what makes you think you would be capable of filling my
situation?"
"It is not very easy to be a competent moneylender's secretary and a
shorthand writer."
"No--perhaps not."
"Mr. Livingston and Mr. Devereux will tell you that I did not make a
failure of it."
"Really?"
Katherine was silent.
"_Really_," Lady Garribardine repeated again. "You mean that you think
you can pick up things quickly."
"Yes."
"It is certainly an advantage. I hoped to find something exceptional
when I advertised."
"Yes, I noticed that--and it was because your advertisement was unusual
that I applied for the post."
She rather wondered if she ought to have put in any "Ladyships"; she
remembered Hanson, Lord Algy's valet, was very prodigal of such marks of
respect--that is what had deterred her. Liv and Dev often used them,
too--to new and prosperously connected clients--but she did not wish to
be subservient more than was necessary. She would watch and listen--as
she had watched about the oysters.
"Can you read aloud?"
Lady Garribardine was fixing her with her flashing brown eyes, which
contrasted so unfavourably with the bronze-gold wig she wore so bravely.
"I have never tried. If I did it wrong the first time and you corrected
me, I expect I wouldn't do it twice."
"That is something--and your voice is refined--you did not acquire that
at the--er--pork butcher's?"
"No, I acquired it by listening to members of the upper classes who came
to borrow money--I had a cockney twang like my sisters, I daresay, in
the beginning."
"That shows you can learn things."
"Yes, it is only stupid people who can't."
"You are not stupid, then?"
"No, but Mr. Livingston or Mr. Devereux can tell you; either will speak
for me."
Lady Garribardine was amused; she digressed a little from her
cross-examination.
"You found Jews agreeable to work with?"
"Very. You know where you are with them. They do not pretend, and they
are very generous."
"In-deed!"
"Yes--people have a preconceived notion of Jews, I find--quite faulty as
a rule--they know what to pay for--they are far less fools than other
races. I respect them."
"That is most interesting."
Katherine was silent again.
"Why did you leave them?"--after a pause in which Lady Garribardine was
pitilessly scrutinising her possible secretary.
"Because I had learned all that I could there, and I wanted a new
vista----"
"And you think you would find it with me?"
"With any lady in your world--you can learn things wherever you go, if
you wish to."
"Very true. And how about French--you speak that?"
Katherine Bush reddened a little. A memory came to her of the profound
shock that the French of Paris had been to her ear.
"I can write it quite correctly--but I have discovered that my
pronunciation is ridiculous." She confessed it quite frankly.
"How did that happen?"
"I taught it to myself--mostly--and then I heard it spoken--and I knew
mine would sound wrong."
"Do you think you could overcome that?"
"Yes, if I were in France long enough."
"Have you travelled?"
"No--not really. I have been to Paris for a holiday once--I have only
learnt about places."
"And English literature?"
"It is the thing I care most for--I have read a great many books. I read
usually until about one in the morning."
"Have you a good temper? You are not uppish, eh?"
"I suppose it depends--I know that when you take money to do a thing you
have got to do it, and put up with orders and manners that you would not
stand for one second if you were the person paying."
"That is quite a good definition of respectful service."
"It is common sense."
"You appear to have some of that."
Again silence.
"I have not a good temper!" Lady Garribardine laughed--she was greatly
diverted.
"I guessed not."
"How?"
"I had to read characters quickly at Livingston and Devereux's----"
"You are observant?"
"I think so----"
"Can you play the piano?"
"I could once, and I had a queer gift for reading the notes--but I have
never practised since we had a gramophone--I grew to loathe music."
"That is hopeful----"
Then Her Ladyship got up and went to her writing-table, terribly
littered with all sorts of papers. She dived among a conglomerate
mass--and picked up two letters.
"Would you oblige me by answering these, Miss--er--Bush? I could then
better judge of your capabilities."
Katherine took them; on one envelope was written in a spidery hand in
pencil, "Refuse gracefully;" upon the other, "Get out as best can."
She looked for a portion of the blotting pad which was clear enough to
use, then she sat down and selected a pen, while she glanced up with her
steady wise eyes.
"Has Your Ladyship any particular paper for this sort of thing?" Here
was a suitable moment for the use of the honorific she felt.
"Yes, that white paper with the coronet in plain black and the address."
Lady Garribardine sat down by the fire and stared into it. She had not
been so interested in a specimen of humanity for years.
Katherine Bush read the letters through carefully and the first one a
second time, then she began to write:
To the Secretary of the League for Discouraging Polygamy among the
Mohammedans of India:
_Dear Sir_,
I am asked by Sarah Lady Garribardine, to tell you that while
sympathising deeply with the admirable object of your League, she
thinks the field over which it must obviously be spread is too vast
for a small contribution to be of much avail, and therefore, while
thanking you for your interesting papers upon the subject, she is
sorry that she is unable to forward you any more substantial help.
I am, dear sir,
Yours faithfully,
KATHERINE BUSH (Secretary).
The other letter ran:
To the Matron of the Nonconformist Detention and Penitential Hostel
for Lost Women:
_Madam_,
I beg to inform you that Sarah Lady Garribardine is leaving town
shortly and therefore cannot avail herself of the pleasure and
honour of visiting your useful institution. She desires me to
express to you her thanks for your invitation.
I remain, madame,
Yours faithfully,
K. BUSH (Sec.).
She looked carefully to see what style of address was necessary and
wrote out the envelope--and when all was ready she rose and took them to
the young-old lady by the fire.
She stood quite still while they were perused, and then smiled inwardly
when Lady Garribardine gave a cynical chuckle.
"I think you will do very well, Miss Bush! Please find some stamps, and
put them in that basket to be posted--and--er--you can ring the bell--I
shall expect you--bag and baggage--on Wednesday next."
This was abrupt, but Katherine Bush felt it was what it should be.
"You do not require the testimony of Mr. Livingston or Mr. Devereux?"
"No--I can judge for myself--er--Good morning."
The bell had been answered almost instantly and so, bowing, Katherine
Bush followed the servant down the stairs, and soon found herself in the
street, a strange sense of content in her heart.
She knew the West End very well--and walked briskly along Hill Street
and so on past Dorchester House--into the Park. All the leaves were off
the trees. The November day was beautifully fine and bright and movement
was a pleasure.
So the first part of her new game was won at all events.
She reviewed the whole set of impressions she had taken. Firstly, that
the house was a fine one--it had "the look," if houses could be said to
show this quality. That is, it was beautifully kept and filled with what
she guessed from study at the Wallace Collection must be rare and costly
furniture. There were some things she thought ugly--but "the look" was
often ugly, she knew by experience--from Gladys' verbose descriptions to
Ethel and Matilda.
Apart from "the look" it had an air of distinction. It was the abode of
denizens of Lord Algy's world--that was evident. The man she had met on
the threshold of the morning room door was certainly of his class--and
rather nice-looking.
As for her future employer, she was a new specimen to her. Katherine
meant what the French call a _type_, but she did not know this
expression.
"She is certainly over sixty," she said to herself. "She is a dark woman
naturally, and her hair ought to be grey. The whole thing is spoilt by
that silly golden wig--curled tight like Royalty's. She would have quite
a nice figure for her age if she were not all pushed up by those
old-fashioned corsets. Why had she such big ears and such red hands for
so great a lady? Her rings were buried in fat. The circulation was
evidently wrong somewhere. As for her voice--it was one of _the_ voices!
The female counterpart of the echoes from over the glass screen--and the
manner was quite as casual.
"Just as insolent as I shall be when I hold the same sort of place. She
was born to it--I shall have acquired it--we both when we are dead will
be said to have well filled our situations."
Thus mused Katherine Bush on a November day in Hyde Park--and turning
out of Albert Gate suddenly she almost walked into the arms of Lord
Algy.