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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4211-h.zip b/4211-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3dc5ffe --- /dev/null +++ b/4211-h.zip diff --git a/4211-h/4211-h.htm b/4211-h/4211-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bafbcf --- /dev/null +++ b/4211-h/4211-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4786 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Treasure, by Kathleen Norris +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure, by Kathleen Norris + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Treasure + +Author: Kathleen Norris + +Posting Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #4211] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 11, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE TREASURE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +KATHLEEN NORRIS +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A><BR> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A><BR> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A><BR> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A><BR> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A><BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +Lizzie, who happened to be the Salisbury's one servant at the time, was +wasteful. It was almost her only fault, in Mrs. Salisbury's eyes, for +such trifles as her habit of becoming excited and "saucy," in moments +of domestic stress, or to ask boldly for other holidays than her +alternate Sunday and Thursday afternoons, or to resent at all times the +intrusion of any person, even her mistress, into her immaculate +kitchen, might have been overlooked. Mrs. Salisbury had been keeping +house in a suburban town for twenty years; she was not considered an +exacting mistress. She was perfectly willing to forgive Lizzie what was +said in the hurried hours before the company dinner or impromptu lunch, +and to let Lizzie slip out for a walk with her sister in the evening, +and to keep out of the kitchen herself as much as was possible. So much +might be conceded to a girl who was honest and clean, industrious, +respectable, and a fair cook. +</P> + +<P> +But the wastefulness was a serious matter. Mrs. Salisbury was a careful +and an experienced manager; she resented waste; indeed, she could not +afford to tolerate it. She liked to go into the kitchen herself every +morning, to eye the contents of icebox and pantry, and decide upon +needed stores. Enough butter, enough cold meat for dinner, enough milk +for a nourishing soup, eggs and salad for luncheon—what about potatoes? +</P> + +<P> +Lizzie deliberately frustrated this house-wifely ambition. She flounced +and muttered when other hands than her own were laid upon her icebox. +She turned on rushing faucets, rattled dishes in her pan. Yet Mrs. +Salisbury felt that she must personally superintend these matters, +because Lizzie was so wasteful. The girl had not been three months in +the Salisbury family before all bills for supplies soared alarmingly. +</P> + +<P> +This was all wrong. Mrs. Salisbury fretted over it a few weeks, then +confided her concern to her husband. But Kane Salisbury would not +listen to the details. He scowled at the introduction of the topic, +glanced restlessly at his paper, murmured that Lizzie might be "fired"; +and, when Mrs. Salisbury had resolutely bottled up her seething +discontent inside of herself, she sometimes heard him murmuring, +"Bad—bad—management" as he sat chewing his pipe-stem on the dark +porch or beside the fire. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the house, was equally +incurious and unreasonable about domestic details. +</P> + +<P> +"But, honestly, Mother, you know you're afraid of Lizzie, and she knows +it," Alexandra would declare gaily; "I can't tell you how I'd manage +her, because she's not my servant, but I know I would do something!" +</P> + +<P> +Beauty and intelligence gave Alexandra, even at eighteen, a certain +serene poise and self-reliance that lifted her above the old-fashioned +topics of "trouble with girls," and housekeeping, and marketing. +Alexandra touched these subjects under the titles of "budgets," +"domestic science," and "efficiency." Neither she nor her mother +recognized the old, homely subjects under their new names, and so the +daughter felt a lack of interest, and the mother a lack of sympathy, +that kept them from understanding each other. Alexandra, ready to meet +and conquer all the troubles of a badly managed world, felt that one +small home did not present a very terrible problem. Poor Mrs. Salisbury +only knew that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep a general +servant at all in a family of five, and that her husband's salary, of +something a little less than four thousand dollars a year, did not at +all seem the princely sum that they would have thought it when they +were married on twenty dollars a week. +</P> + +<P> +From the younger members of the family, Fred, who was fifteen, and +Stanford, three years younger, she expected, and got, no sympathy. The +three young Salisburys found money interesting only when they needed it +for new gowns, or matinee tickets, or tennis rackets, or some kindred +purchase. They needed it desperately, asked for it, got it, spent it, +and gave it no further thought. It meant nothing to them that Lizzie +was wasteful. It was only to their mother that the girl's slipshod ways +were becoming an absolute trial. +</P> + +<P> +Lizzie, very neat and respectful, would interfere with Mrs. Salisbury's +plan of a visit to the kitchen by appearing to ask for instructions +before breakfast was fairly over. When the man of the house had gone, +and before the children appeared, Lizzie would inquire: +</P> + +<P> +"Just yourselves for dinner, Mrs. Salisbury?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just ourselves. Let—me—see—" Mrs. Salisbury would lay down her +newspaper, stir her cooling coffee. The memory of last night's +vegetables would rise before her; there must be baked onions left, and +some of the corn. +</P> + +<P> +"There was some lamb left, wasn't there?" she might ask. +</P> + +<P> +Amazement on Lizzie's part. +</P> + +<P> +"That wasn't such an awful big leg, Mrs. Salisbury. And the boys had +Perry White in, you know. There's just a little plateful left. I gave +Sam the bones." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury could imagine the plateful: small, neat, cold. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes I think that if you left the joint on the platter, Lizzie, +there are scrapings, you know—" she might suggest. +</P> + +<P> +"I scraped it," Lizzie would answer briefly, conclusively. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that for lunch, then, for Miss Sandy and me," Mrs. Salisbury +would decide hastily. "I'll order something fresh for dinner. Were +there any vegetables left?" +</P> + +<P> +"There were a few potatoes, enough for lunch," Lizzie would admit +guardedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll order vegetables, too, then!" And Mrs. Salisbury would sigh. +Every housekeeper knows that there is no economy in ordering afresh for +every meal. +</P> + +<P> +"And we need butter—" +</P> + +<P> +"Butter again! Those two pounds gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's a little piece left, not enough, though. And I'm on my last +cake of soap, and we need crackers, and vanilla, and sugar, unless +you're not going to have a dessert, and salad oil—" +</P> + +<P> +"Just get me a pencil, will you?" This was as usual. Mrs. Salisbury +would pencil a long list, would bite her lips thoughtfully, and sigh as +she read it over. +</P> + +<P> +"Asparagus to-night, then. And, Lizzie, don't serve so much melted +butter with it as you did last time; there must have been a cupful of +melted butter. And, another time, save what little scraps of vegetables +there are left; they help out so at lunch—" +</P> + +<P> +"There wasn't a saucerful of onions left last night," Lizzie would +assert, "and two cobs of corn, after I'd had my dinner. You couldn't do +much with those. And, as for butter on the asparagus"—Lizzie was very +respectful, but her tone would rise aggrievedly—"it was every bit +eaten, Mrs. Salisbury!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know. But we mustn't let these young vandals eat us out of +house and home, you know," the mistress would say, feeling as if she +were doing something contemptibly small. And, worsted, she would return +to her paper. "But I don't care, we cannot afford it!" Mrs. Salisbury +would say to herself, when Lizzie had gone, and very thoughtfully she +would write out a check payable to "cash." "I used to use up little +odds and ends so deliciously, years ago!" she sometimes reflected +disconsolately. "And Kane always says we never live as well now as we +did then! He always praised my dinners." +</P> + +<P> +Nowadays Mr. Salisbury was not so well satisfied. Lizzie rang the +changes upon roasted and fried meats, boiled and creamed vegetables, +baked puddings and canned fruits contentedly enough. She made cup cake +and sponge cake, sponge cake and cup cake all the year round. Nothing +was ever changed, no unexpected flavor ever surprised the palates of +the Salisbury family. May brought strawberry shortcake, December +cottage puddings, cold beef always made a stew; creamed codfish was +never served without baked potatoes. The Salisbury table was a +duplicate of some millions of other tables, scattered the length and +breadth of the land. +</P> + +<P> +"And still the bills go up!" fretted Mrs. Salisbury. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, why don't you fire her, Sally?" her husband asked, as he had +asked of almost every maid they had ever had—of lazy Annies, and +untidy Selmas, and ignorant Katies. And, as always, Mrs. Salisbury +answered patiently: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Kane, what's the use? It simply means my going to Miss Crosby's +again, and facing that awful row of them, and beginning that I have +three grown children, and no other help—" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, have you ever had a perfect maid?" Sandy had asked earnestly +years before. Her mother spent a moment in reflection, arresting the +hand with which she was polishing silver. Alexandra was only sixteen +then, and mother and daughter were bridging a gap when there was no +maid at all in the Salisbury kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there was Libby," the mother answered at length, "the colored +girl I had when you were born. She really was perfect, in a way. She +was a clean darky, and such a cook! Daddy talks still of her fried +chicken and blueberry pies! And she loved company, too. But, you see, +Grandma Salisbury was with us then, and she paid a little girl to look +after you, so Libby had really nothing but the kitchen and dining-room +to care for. Afterward, just before Fred came, she got lazy and ugly, +and I had to let her go. Canadian Annie was a wonderful girl, too," +pursued Mrs. Salisbury, "but we only had her two months. Then she got a +place where there were no children, and left on two days' notice. And +when I think of the others!—the Hungarian girl who boiled two pairs of +Fred's little brown socks and darkened the entire wash, sheets and +napkins and all! And the colored girl who drank, and the girl who gave +us boiled rice for dessert whenever I forgot to tell her anything else! +And then Dad and I never will forget the woman who put pudding sauce on +his mutton—dear me, dear me!" And Mrs. Salisbury laughed out at the +memory. "Between her not knowing one thing, and not understanding a +word we said, she was pretty trying all around!" she presently added. +"And, of course, the instant you have them really trained they leave; +and that's the end of that! One left me the day Stan was born, and +another—and she was a nice girl, too—simply departed when you three +were all down with scarlet fever, and left her bed unmade, and the tea +cup and saucer from her breakfast on the end of the kitchen table! +Luckily we had a wonderful nurse, and she simply took hold and saved +the day." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a wonder that there isn't a training school for house +servants?" Sandy had inquired, youthful interest in her eye. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no such thing," her mother assured her positively, "as getting +one who knows her business! And why? Why, because all the smart girls +prefer to go into factories, and slave away for three or four dollars a +week, instead of coming into good homes! Do Pearsall and Thompson ever +have any difficulty in getting girls for the glove factory? Never! +There's a line of them waiting, a block long, every time they +advertise. But you may make up your mind to it, dear, if you get a good +cook, she's wasteful or she's lazy, or she's irritable, or dirty, or +she won't wait on table, or she slips out at night, and laughs under +street lamps with some man or other! She's always on your mind, and +she's always an irritation." +</P> + +<P> +"It just shows what a hopelessly stupid class you have to deal with, +Mother," the younger Sandy had said. But at eighteen, she was not so +sure. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra frankly hated housework, and she did not know how to cook. +She did not think it strange that it was hard to find a clever and +well-trained young woman who would gladly spend all her time in +housework and cooking for something less than three hundred dollars a +year. Her eyes were beginning to be opened to the immense moral and +social questions that lie behind the simple preference of American +girls to work for men rather than for women. Household work was women's +sphere, Sandy reasoned, and they had made it a sphere insufferable to +other women. Something was wrong. +</P> + +<P> +Sandy was too young, and too mentally independent, to enter very +sympathetically into her mother's side of the matter. The younger +woman's attitude was tinged with affectionate contempt, and when the +stupidity of the maid, or the inconvenience of having no maid at all, +interfered with the smooth current of her life, or her busy comings and +goings, she became impatient and intolerant. +</P> + +<P> +"Other people manage!" said Alexandra. +</P> + +<P> +"Who, for instance?" demanded her mother, in calm exasperation. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, everyone—the Bernards, the Watermans! Doilies and finger bowls, +and Elsie in a cap and apron!" +</P> + +<P> +"But Doctor and Mrs. Bernard are old people, dear, and the Watermans +are three business women—no lunch, no children, very little company!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Grace Elliot, then!" +</P> + +<P> +"With two maids, Sandy. That's a very different matter!" +</P> + +<P> +"And is there any reason why we shouldn't have two?" asked Sandy, with +youthful logic. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well, there you come to the question of expense, dear!" And Mrs. +Salisbury dismissed the subject with a quiet air of triumph. +</P> + +<P> +But of course the topic came up again. It is the one household ghost +that is never laid in such a family. Sometimes Kane Salisbury himself +took a part in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me," he once demanded, in the days of the +dreadfully incompetent maids who preceded Lizzie, "that it is becoming +practically impossible to get a good general servant?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I wish you'd try it yourself," his wife answered, grimly quiet. +"It's just about wearing me out! I don't know what has become of the +good old maid-of-all-work," she presently pursued, with a sigh, "but +she has simply vanished from the face of the earth. Even the greenest +girls fresh from the other side begin to talk about having the washing +put out, and to have extra help come in to wash windows and beat rugs! +I don't know what we're coming to—you teach them to tell a blanket +from a sheet, and how to boil coffee, and set a table, and then away +they go to get more money somewhere. Dear me! Your father's mother used +to have girls who had the wash on the line before eight o'clock—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but then Grandma's house was simpler," Sandy contributed, a +little doubtfully. "You know, Grandma never put on any style, Mother—" +</P> + +<P> +"Her house was always one of the most comfortable, most hospitable—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know, Mother!" Alexandra persisted eagerly. "But Fanny never +had to answer the door, and Grandma used to let her leave the +tablecloth on between meals—Grandma told me so herself!—and no +fussing with doilies, or service plates under the soup plates, or glass +saucers for dessert. And Grandma herself used to help wipe dishes, or +sometimes set the table, and make the beds, if there was company—" +</P> + +<P> +"That may be," Mrs. Salisbury had the satisfaction of answering coldly. +"Perhaps she did, although <I>I</I> never remember hearing her say so. But +my mother always had colored servants, and I never saw her so much as +dust the piano!" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose we couldn't simplify things, Sally? Cut out some of the +extra touches?" suggested the head of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury merely shook her head, compressing her lips firmly. It +was quite difficult enough to keep things "nice," with two growing boys +in the family, without encountering such opposition as this. A day or +two later she went into New Troy, the nearest big city, and came back +triumphantly with Lizzie. +</P> + +<P> +And at first Lizzie really did seem perfection. It was some weeks +before Mrs. Salisbury realized that Lizzie was not truthful; absolutely +reliable in money matters, yet Lizzie could not be believed in the +simplest statement. Tasteless oatmeal, Lizzie glibly asseverated, had +been well salted; weak coffee, or coffee as strong as brown paint, were +the fault of the pot. Lizzie, rushing through dinner so that she might +get out; Lizzie throwing out cold vegetables that "weren't worth +saving"; Lizzie growing snappy and noisy at the first hint of +criticism, somehow seemed worse sometimes than no servant at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder—if we moved into New Troy, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury mused, "and +got one of those wonderful modern apartments, with a gas stove, and a +dumbwaiter, and hardwood floors, if Sandy and I couldn't manage +everything? With a woman to clean and dinners downtown now and then, +and a waitress in for occasions." +</P> + +<P> +"And me jumping up to change the salad plates, Mother!" Alexandra put +in briskly. "And a pile of dishes to do every night!" +</P> + +<P> +"Gosh, let's not move into the city—" protested Stanford. "No tennis, +no canoe, no baseball!" +</P> + +<P> +"And we know everyone in River Falls, we'd have to keep coming out here +for parties!" Sandy added. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, "I admit that it is too much of a +problem for me!" she said. "I know that I married your father on twenty +dollars a week," she told the children severely, "and we lived in a +dear little cottage, only eighteen dollars a month, and I did all my +own work! And never in our lives have we lived so well. But the minute +you get inexperienced help, your bills simply double, and inexperienced +help means simply one annoyance after another. I give it up!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll tell you, Mother," Alexandra offered innocently; "perhaps +we don't systematize enough ourselves. It ought to be all so well +arranged and regulated that a girl would know what she was expected to +do, and know that you had a perfect right to call her down for wasting +or slighting things. Why couldn't women—a bunch of women, say—" +</P> + +<P> +"Why couldn't they form a set of household rules and regulations?" her +mother intercepted smoothly. "Because—it's just one of the things that +you young, inexperienced people can talk very easily about," she +interrupted herself to say with feeling, "but it never seems to occur +to any one of you that every household has its different demands and +regulations. The market fluctuates, the size of a family changes—fixed +laws are impossible! No. Lizzie is no worse than lots of others, better +than the average. I shall hold on to her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Sargent says that all these unnecessary demands have been +instituted and insisted upon by women," said Alexandra. "She says that +the secret of the whole trouble is that women try to live above their +class, and make one servant appear to do the work of three—" +</P> + +<P> +The introduction of Mrs. Sargent's name was not a happy one. +</P> + +<P> +"Ellen Sargent," said Mrs. Salisbury icily, "is not a lady herself, in +the true sense of the word, and she does very well to talk about class +distinctions! She was his stenographer when Cyrus Sargent married her, +and the daughter of a tannery hand. Now, just because she has millions, +I am not going to be impressed by anything Ellen Sargent does or says!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, I don't think she meant quality by 'class,'" Sandy protested. +"Everyone knows that Grandfather was General Stanford, and all that! +But I think she meant, in a way, the money side of it, the financial +division of people into classes!" +</P> + +<P> +"We won't discuss her," decided Mrs. Salisbury majestically. "The money +standard is one I am not anxious to judge my friends by!" +</P> + +<P> +Still, with the rest of the family, Mrs. Salisbury was relieved when +Lizzie, shortly after this, decided of her own accord to accept a +better-paid position. "Unless, Mama says, you'd care to raise me to +seven a week," said Lizzie, in parting. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, I cannot pay that," Mrs. Salisbury said firmly and Lizzie +accordingly left. +</P> + +<P> +Her place was taken by a middle-aged French woman, and whipped cream +and the subtle flavor of sherry began to appear in the Salisbury bills +of fare. Germaine had no idea whatever of time, and Sandy perforce must +set the table whenever there was a company dinner afoot, and lend a +hand with the last preparations as well. The kitchen was never really +in order in these days, but Germaine cooked deliciously, and Mrs. +Salisbury gave eight dinners and a club luncheon during the month of +her reign. Then the French woman grew more and more irregular as to +hours, and more utterly unreliable as to meals; sometimes the family +fared delightfully, sometimes there was almost nothing for dinner. +Germaine seemed to fade from sight, not entirely of her own volition, +not really discharged; simply she was gone. A Norwegian girl came next, +a good-natured, blundering creature whose English was just enough to +utterly confuse herself and everyone else. Freda's mistakes were not +half so funny in the making as Alexandra made them in anecdotes +afterward; and Freda was given to weird chanting, accompanying herself +with a banjo, throughout the evenings. Finally a blonde giant known as +"Freda's cousin" came to see her, and Kane Salisbury, followed by his +elated and excited boys, had to eject Freda's cousin early in the +evening, while Freda wept and chattered to the ladies of the house. +After that the cousin called often to ask for her, but Freda had +vanished the day after this event, and the Salisburys never heard of +her again. +</P> + +<P> +They tried another Norwegian, then a Polack, then a Scandinavian. Then +they had a German man and wife for a week, a couple who asserted that +they would work, without pay, for a good home. This was a most +uncomfortable experience, unsuccessful from the first instant. Then +came a low-voiced, good-natured South American negress, Marthe, not +much of a cook, but willing and strong. +</P> + +<P> +July was mercilessly hot that year, thirty-one burning days of +sunshine. Mrs. Salisbury was not a very strong woman, and she had a +great many visitors to entertain. She kept Marthe, because the colored +woman did not resent constant supervision, and an almost hourly change +of plans. Mrs. Salisbury did almost all of the cooking herself, fussing +for hours in the hot kitchen over the cold meats and salads and ices +that formed the little informal cold suppers to which the Salisburys +loved to ask their friends on Saturday and Sunday nights. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra helped fitfully. She would put her pretty head into the +kitchen doorway, perhaps to find her mother icing cake. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Mother; I'm going over to Con's. She's got that new serve down +to a fine point! And I've done the boys' room and the guest room; it's +all ready for the Cutters. And I put towels and soap in the bathroom, +only you'll have to have Marthe wipe up the floor and the tub." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a darling child," the mother would say gratefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Darling nothing!" And Sandy, with her protest, would lay a cool cheek +against her mother's hot one. "Do you have to stay out here, Mother?" +she would ask resentfully. "Can't the Culled Lady do this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I left her to watch it, and it burned," Mrs. Salisbury would +say, "so now it has to be pared and frosted. Such a bother! But this is +the very last thing, dear. You run along; I'll be out of here in two +minutes!" +</P> + +<P> +But it was always something more than two minutes. Sometimes even Kane +Salisbury was led to protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we eat less, dear? Or differently? Isn't there some simple way +of managing this week-end supper business? Now, Brewer—Brewer manages +it awfully well. He has his man set out a big cold roast or two, +cheese, and coffee, and a bowlful of salad, and beer. He'll get a fruit +pie from the club sometimes, or pastries, or a pot of marmalade—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, we must try to simplify," Mrs. Salisbury would agree +brightly. But after such a conversation as this she would go over her +accounts very soberly indeed. "Roasts—cheeses—fruit pies!" she would +say bitterly to herself. "Why is it that a man will spend as much on a +single lunch for his friends as a woman is supposed to spend on her +table for a whole week, and then ask her what on earth she has done +with her money!" +</P> + +<P> +"Kane, I wish you would go over my accounts," she said one evening, in +desperation. "Just suggest where you would cut down!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Salisbury ran his eye carelessly over the pages of the little +ledger. +</P> + +<P> +"Roast beef, two-forty?" he presently read aloud, questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-two cents a pound," his wife answered simply. But the man's +slight frown deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"Too much—too much!" he said, shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury let him read on a moment, turn a page or two. Then she +said, in a dead calm: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think my roasts are too big, Kane?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too big? On the contrary," her husband answered briskly, "I like a big +roast. Sometimes ours are skimpy-looking before they're even cut!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" Mrs. Salisbury said triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +Her smile apprised her husband that he was trapped, and he put down the +account book in natural irritation. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear, it's your problem!" he said unsympathetically, +returning to his newspaper. "I run my business, I expect you to run +yours! If we can't live on our income, we'll have to move to a cheaper +house, that's all, or take Stanford out of school and put him to work. +Dickens says somewhere—and he never said a truer thing!" pursued the +man of the house comfortably, "that, if you spend a sixpence less than +your income every week, you are rich. If you spend a sixpence more, you +never may expect to be anything but poor!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury did not answer. She took up her embroidery, whose bright +colors blurred and swam together through the tears that came to her +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Never expect to feel anything but poor!" she echoed sadly to herself. +"I am sure I never do! Things just seem to run away with me; I can't +seem to get hold of them. I don't see where it's going to end!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," said Alexandra, coming in from the kitchen, "Marthe says that +all that delicious chicken soup is spoiled. The idiot, she says that +you left it in the pantry to cool, and she forgot to put it on the ice! +Now, what shall we do, just skip soup, or get some beef extract and +season it up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Skip soup," said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't very well, dear," said his wife patiently, "because the +dinner is just soup and a fish salad, and one needs the hot start in a +perfectly cold supper. No. I'll go out." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you just tell me what to do?" asked Alexandra impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +But her mother had gone. The girl sat on the arm of the deserted chair, +swinging an idle foot. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could cook!" she fretted. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you, Sandy?" her father asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, some things! Rabbits and fudge and walnut wafers! But I mean that +I wish I understood sauces and vegetables and seasoning, and getting +things cooked all at the same moment! I don't mean that I'd like to do +it, but I would like to know how. Now, Mother'll scare up some +perfectly delicious soup for dinner, cream of something or other, and I +could do it perfectly well, if only I knew how!" +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I paid you a regular salary, Sandy—" her father was +beginning, with the untiring hopefulness of the American father. But +the girl interrupted vivaciously: +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, darling, that isn't practical! I'd love it for about two days. +Then we'd settle right down to washing dishes, and setting tables, and +dusting and sweeping, and wiping up floors—horrors, horrors, horrors!" +</P> + +<P> +She left her perch to take in turn an arm of her father's chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what's the solution, pussy?" asked Kane Salisbury, keenly +appreciative of the nearness of her youth and beauty. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't that," said Sandy decidedly. "Of course," she pursued, "the +Gregorys get along without a maid, and use a fireless cooker, and drink +cereal coffee, but admit, darling, that you'd rather have me useless +and frivolous as I am!—than Gertrude or Florence or Winifred Gregory! +Why, when Floss was married, Dad, Gertrude played the piano, for music, +and for refreshments they had raspberry ice-cream and chocolate layer +cake!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I like chocolate layer cake," observed her father mildly. "I +thought that was a very pretty wedding; the sisters in their light +dresses—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dimity dresses at a wedding!" Alexandra reproached him, round-eyed. +"And they are so boisterously proud of the fact that they live on their +father's salary," she went on, arranging her own father's hair +fastidiously; "it's positively offensive the way they bounce up to +change plates and tell you how to make the neck of mutton appetizing, +or the heart of a cow, or whatever it is! And their father pushes the +chairs back, Dad, and helps roll up the napkins—I'd die if you ever +tried it!" +</P> + +<P> +"But they all work, too, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Work? Of course they work! And every cent of it goes into the bank. +Winnie and Florence are buying gas shares, and Gertrude means to have a +year's study in Europe, if you please!" +</P> + +<P> +"That doesn't sound very terrible," said Kane Salisbury, smiling. But +some related thought darkened his eyes a moment later. "You wouldn't +have much gas stock if I was taken, Pussy," said he. +</P> + +<P> +"No, darling, and let that be a lesson to you not to die!" his daughter +said blithely. "But I could work, Dad," she added more seriously, "if +Mother didn't mind so awfully. Not in the kitchen, but somewhere. I'd +love to work in a settlement house." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, there you modern girls are," her father said. "Can't bear to +clear away the dinner plates in your own houses, yet you'll cheerfully +suggest going to live in the filthiest parts of the city, working, as +no servant is ever expected to work, for people you don't know!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know it's absurd," Sandy agreed, smiling. Her answer was ready +somewhere in her mind, but she could not quite find it. "But, you see, +that's a new problem," she presently offered, "that's ours to-day, just +as managing your house was Mother's when she married you. Circumstances +have changed. I couldn't ever take up the kitchen question just as it +presents itself to Mother. I—people my age don't believe in a servant +class. They just believe in a division of labor, all dignified. If some +girl I knew, Grace or Betty, say, came into our kitchen—and that +reminds me!" she broke off suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of something Owen—Owen Sargent was saying a few days ago. His +mother's quite daffy about establishing social centers and clubs for +servant girls, you know, and she's gotten into this new thing, a sort +of college for servants. Now I'll ask Owen about it. I'll do that +to-morrow. That's just what I'll do!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me about it," her father said. But Alexandra shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't honestly know anything about it, Dad. But Owen had a lot of +papers and a sort of prospectus. His mother was wishing that she could +try one of the graduates, but she keeps six or seven house servants, +and it wouldn't be practicable. But I'll see. I never thought of us! +And I'll bring Owen home to dinner to-morrow. Is that all right, +Mother?" she asked, as her mother came back into the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Owen? Certainly, dear; we're always glad to see him," Mrs. Salisbury +said, a shade too casually, in a tone well calculated neither to alarm +nor encourage, balanced to keep events uninterruptedly in their natural +course. But Alexandra was too deep in thought to notice a tone. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll see—this is something entirely new, and just what we need!" +she said gaily. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<P> +The constant visits of Owen Sargent, had he been but a few years older, +and had Sandy been a few years older, would have filled Mrs. +Salisbury's heart with a wild maternal hope. As it was, with Sandy +barely nineteen, and Owen not quite twenty-two, she felt more +tantalizing discomfort in their friendship than satisfaction. Owen was +a dear boy, queer, of course, but fine in every way, and Sandy was +quite the prettiest girl in River Falls; but it was far too soon to +begin to hope that they would do the entirely suitable and acceptable +thing of falling in love with each other. "That would be quite too +perfect!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, watching them together. +</P> + +<P> +No; Owen was too rich to be overlooked by all sorts of other girls, +scrupulous and unscrupulous. Every time he went with his mother for a +week to Atlantic City or New York, Mrs. Salisbury writhed in +apprehension of the thousand lures that must be spread on all sides +about his lumbering feet. He was just the sweet, big, simple sort to be +trapped by some little empty-headed girl, some little marplot clever +enough to pretend an interest in the prison problem, or the free-milk +problem, or some other industrial problem in which Owen had seen fit to +interest himself. And her lovely, dignified Sandy, reflected the +mother, a match for him in every way, beautiful, good, clever, just the +woman to win him, by her own charm and the charms of children and home, +away from the somewhat unnatural interests with which he had surrounded +himself, must sit silent and watch him throw himself away. +</P> + +<P> +Sandy, of course, had never had any idea of Owen in this light, of that +her mother was quite sure. Sandy treated him as she did her own +brothers, frankly, despotically, delightfully. And perhaps it was +wiser, after all, not to give the child a hint, for it was evident that +the shy, gentle Owen was absolutely at home and happy in the Salisbury +home; nothing would be gained by making Sandy feel self-conscious and +responsible now. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury really did not like Owen Sargent very well, although his +money made her honestly think she did. He had a wide, pleasant, but +homely face, and an aureole of upstanding yellow hair, and a manner as +unaffected as might have been expected from the child of his plain old +genial father, and his mother, the daughter of a tanner. He lived +alone, with his widowed mother, in a pleasant, old-fashioned house, set +in park-like grounds that were the pride of River Falls. His mother +often asked waitresses' unions and fresh-air homes to make use of these +grounds for picnics, but Mrs. Salisbury knew that the house belonged to +Owen, and she liked to dream of a day when Sandy's babies should tumble +on those smooth lawns, and Sandy, erect and beautifully furred, should +bring her own smart little motor car through that tall iron gateway. +</P> + +<P> +These dreams made her almost effusive in her manner to Owen, and Owen, +who was no fool, understood perfectly what she was thinking of him; he +understood his own energetic, busy mother; and he understood Sandy's +mother, too. He knew that his money made him well worth any mother's +attention. +</P> + +<P> +But, like her mother, he believed Sandy too young to have taken any +cognizance of it. He thought the girl liked him as she liked anyone +else, for his own value, and he sometimes dreamed shyly of her pleasure +in suddenly realizing that Mrs. Owen Sargent would be a rich woman, the +mistress of a lovely home, the owner of beautiful jewels. +</P> + +<P> +Both, however, were mistaken in Sandy. Her blue, blue eyes, so oddly +effective under the silky fall of her straight, mouse-colored hair, +were very keen. She knew exactly why her mother suggested that Owen +should bring her here or there in the car, "Daddy and the boys and I +will go in our old trap, just behind you!" She knew that Owen thought +that her quick hand over his, in a game of hearts, the thoughtful stare +of her demure eyes, across the dinner table, the help she accepted so +casually, climbing into his big car—were all evidences that she was as +unconscious of his presence as Stan was. But in reality the future for +herself of which Sandy confidently dreamed was one in which, in all +innocent complacency, she took her place beside Owen as his wife. +Clumsy, wild-haired, bashful he might be at twenty-two, but the +farsighted Sandy saw him ten years, twenty years later, well groomed, +assured of manner, devotedly happy in his home life. She considered him +entirely unable to take care of himself, he needed a good wife. And a +good, true, devoted wife Sandy knew she would be, fulfilling to her +utmost power all his lonely, little-boy dreams of birthday parties and +Christmas revels. +</P> + +<P> +To do her justice, she really and deeply cared for him. Not with +passion, for of that as yet she knew nothing, but with a real and +absorbing affection. Sandy read "Love in a Valley" and the "Sonnets +from the Portuguese" in these days, and thought of Owen. Now and then +her well-disciplined little heart surprised her by an unexpected +flutter in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +She duly brought him home with her to dinner on the evening after her +little talk with her parents. Owen was usually to be found browsing +about the region where Sandy played marches twice a week for sewing +classes in a neighborhood house. They often met, and Sandy sometimes +went to have tea with his mother, and sometimes, as to-day, brought him +home with her. +</P> + +<P> +Owen had with him the letters, pamphlets and booklet issued by the +American School of Domestic Science, and after dinner, while the +Salisbury boys wrestled with their lessons, the three others and Owen +gathered about the drawing-room table, in the late daylight, and +thoroughly investigated the new institution and its claims. Sandy +wedged her slender little person in between the two men. Mrs. Salisbury +sat near by, reading what was handed to her. The older woman's attitude +was one of dispassionate unbelief; she smiled a benign indulgence upon +these newfangled ideas. But in her heart she felt the stirring of +feminine uneasiness and resentment. It was HER sacred region, after +all, into which these young people were probing so light-heartedly. +These were her secrets that they were exploiting; her methods were to +be disparaged, tossed aside. +</P> + +<P> +The booklet, with its imposing A.S.D.S. set out fair and plain upon a +brown cover, was exhaustive. Its frontispiece was a portrait of one +Eliza Slocumb Holley, founder of the school, and on its back cover it +bore the vignetted photograph of a very pretty graduate, in apron and +cap, with her broom and feather duster. In between these two pictures +were pages and pages of information, dozens of pictures. There were +delightful long perspectives of model kitchens, of vegetable gardens, +orchards, and dairies. There were pictures of girls making jam, and +sterilizing bottles, and arranging trays for the sick. There were girls +amusing children and making beds. There were glimpses of the model +flats, built into the college buildings, with gas stoves and +dumb-waiters. And there were the usual pictures of libraries, and +playgrounds, and tennis courts. +</P> + +<P> +"Such nice-looking girls!" said Sandy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mother says that they are splendid girls," Owen said, bashfully +eager, "just the kind that go in for trained nursing, you know, or +stenography, or bookkeeping." +</P> + +<P> +"They must be a solid comfort, those girls," said Mrs. Salisbury, +leaning over to read certain pages with the others. "'First year,'" she +read aloud. "'Care of kitchen, pantry, and +utensils—fire-making—disposal of refuse—table-setting—service—care +of furniture—cooking with gas—patent +sweepers—sweeping—dusting—care of +silver—bread—vegetables—puddings—'" +</P> + +<P> +"Help!" said Sandy. "It sounds like the essence of a thousand Mondays! +No one could possibly learn all that in one year." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long term, eleven months," her father said, deeply interested. +"That's not all of the first year, either. But it's all practical +enough." +</P> + +<P> +"What do they do the last year, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury adjusted her glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"'Third year,'" she read obligingly. "'All soups, sauces, salads, ices +and meats. Infant and invalid diet. Formal dinners, arranged by season. +Budgets. Arrangement of work for one maid. Arrangement of work for two +maids. Menus, with reference to expense, with reference to nourishment, +with reference to attractiveness. Chart of suitable meals for children, +from two years up. Table manners for children. Classic stories for +children at bedtime. Flowers, their significance upon the table. +Picnics—'" +</P> + +<P> +"But, no; there's something beyond that," Owen said. Mrs. Salisbury +turned a page. +</P> + +<P> +"'Fourth Year. Post-graduate, not obligatory,'" she read. "'Unusual +German, Italian, Russian and Spanish dishes. Translation of menus. +Management of laundries, hotels and institutions. Work of a chef. Work +of subordinate cooks. Ordinary poisons. Common dangers of canning. +Canning for the market. Professional candy-making—'" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you beat it!" said Owen. +</P> + +<P> +"It's extraordinary!" Mrs. Salisbury conceded. Her husband asked the +all-important question: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you have to pay for one of these paragons?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's all here," Mrs. Salisbury said. But she was distracted in her +search of a scale of prices by the headlines of the various pages. +"'Rules Governing Employers,'" she read, with amusement. "Isn't this +too absurd? 'Employers of graduates of the A.S.D.S. will kindly respect +the conditions upon which, and only upon which, contracts are based.'" +She glanced down the long list of items. "'A comfortably furnished +room,'" she read at random, "'weekly half holiday-access to nearest +public library or family library—opportunity for hot bath at least +twice weekly—two hours if possible for church attendance on +Sunday—annual two weeks' holiday, or two holidays of one week +each—full payment of salary in advance, on the first day of every +month'—what a preposterous idea!" Mrs. Salisbury broke off to say. +"How is one to know that she wouldn't skip off on the second?" +</P> + +<P> +"In that case the school supplies you with another maid for the +unfinished term," explained Sandy, from the booklet. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—" the lady was still a little unsatisfied. "As if they didn't +have privileges enough now!" she said. "It's the same old story: we are +supposed to be pleasing them, not they us!" +</P> + +<P> +"'In a family where no other maid is kept,'" read Alexandra, "'a +graduate will take entire charge of kitchen and dining room, go to +market if required, do ordinary family washing and ironing, will clean +bathroom daily, and will clean and sweep every other room in the house, +and the halls, once thoroughly every week. She will be on hand to +answer the door only one afternoon every week, besides Sunday—'" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" ejaculated Mrs. Salisbury. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to know who does it on other days!" Alexandra added +amazedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think that's ridiculous, Kane?" his wife asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"We-el," the man of the house said temperately, "I don't know that I +do. You see, otherwise the girl has a string tied on her all the time. +People in our position, after all, needn't assume that we're too good +to open our own door—" +</P> + +<P> +"That's exactly it, sir," Owen agreed eagerly; "Mother says that that's +one of the things that have upset the whole system for so long! Just +the convention that a lady can't open her own door—" +</P> + +<P> +"But we haven't found the scale of wages yet—" Mrs. Salisbury +interrupted sweetly but firmly. Alexandra, however, resumed the recital +of the duties of one maid. +</P> + +<P> +"'She will not be expected to assume the care of young children,'" she +read, "nor to sleep in the room with them. She will not be expected to +act as chaperone or escort at night. She—'" +</P> + +<P> +"It DOESN'T say that, Sandy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, it does! And, listen! 'NOTE. Employers are respectfully +requested to maintain as formal an attitude as possible toward the +maid. Any intimacy, or exchange of confidences, is especially to be +avoided'"—Alexandra broke off to laugh, and her mother laughed with +her, but indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Insulting!" she said lightly. "Does anyone suppose for an instant that +this is a serious experiment?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, that doesn't sound very ridiculous to me," her husband said. +"Plenty of women do become confidential with their maids, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, how much you do know about women!" Alexandra said, kissing +the top of her father's head. "Aren't you the bad old man!" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but one might hope that an institution of this kind would put the +American servant in her place," Mrs. Salisbury said seriously, "instead +of flattering her and spoiling her beyond all reason. I take my maid's +receipt for salary in advance; I show her the bathroom and the +library—that's the idea, is it? Why, she might be a boarder! Next, +they'll be asking for a place at the table and an hour's practice on +the piano." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the original American servant, the 'neighbor's girl,' who came +in to help during the haying season, and to put up the preserves, +probably did have a place at the table," Mr. Salisbury submitted mildly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother thinks that America never will have a real servant class," Owen +added uncertainly; "that is, until domestic service is elevated to +the—the dignity of office work, don't you know? Until it attracts the +nicer class of women, don't you know? Mother says that many a good +man's fear of old age would be lightened, don't you know?—if he felt +that, in case he lost his job, or died, his daughters could go into +good homes, and grow up under the eye of good women, don't you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very nice, Owen, but not very practical!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with +her indulgent, motherly smile. "Oh, dear me, for the good old days of +black servants, and plenty of them!" she sighed. For though Mrs. +Salisbury had been born some years after the days of plenty known to +her mother on her grandfather's plantation, before the war, she was +accustomed to detailed recitals of its grandeurs. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are!" said Alexandra, finding a particular page that was +boldly headed "Terms." +</P> + +<P> +"'For a cook and general worker, no other help,'" she read, "'thirty +dollars per month—'" +</P> + +<P> +"Not so dreadful," her father said, pleasantly surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"But, listen, Dad! Thirty dollars for a family of two, and an +additional two dollars and a half monthly for each other member of the +family. That would make ours thirty-seven dollars and a half, wouldn't +it?" she computed swiftly. +</P> + +<P> +"Awful! Impossible!" Mrs. Salisbury said instantly, almost in relief. +The discussion made her vaguely uneasy. What did these casual amateurs +know about the domestic problem, anyway? Kane, who was always anxious +to avoid details; Sandy, all youthful enthusiasm and ignorance, and +Owen Sargent, quoting his insufferable mother? For some moments she had +been fighting an impulse to soothe them all with generalities. "Never +mind; it's always been a problem, and it always will be! These new +schemes are all very well, but don't trouble your dear heads about it +any longer!" +</P> + +<P> +Now she sank back, satisfied. The whole thing was but a mad, Utopian +dream. Thirty-seven dollars indeed! "Why, one could get two good +servants for that!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, with the same sublime faith +with which she had told her husband, in poorer days, years ago, that, +if they could but afford her, she knew they could get a "fine girl" for +three dollars a week. The fact that the "fine girl" did not apparently +exist did not at all shake Mrs. Salisbury's confidence that she could +get two "good girls." Her hope in the untried solution rose with every +failure. +</P> + +<P> +"Thirty-seven is steep," said Kane Salisbury slowly. "However! What do +we pay now, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Five a week," said that lady inflexibly. +</P> + +<P> +"But we paid Germaine more," said Alexandra eagerly. "And didn't you +pay Lizzie six and a half?" +</P> + +<P> +"The last two months I did, yes," her mother agreed unwillingly. "But +that comes only to twenty-six or seven," she added. +</P> + +<P> +"But, look here," said Owen, reading. "Here it says: 'NOTE. Where a +graduate is required to manage on a budget, it is computed that she +saves the average family from two to seven dollars weekly on food and +fuel bills.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Now that begins to sound like horse sense," Mr. Salisbury began. But +the mistress of the house merely smiled, and shook a dubious head, and +the younger members of the family here created a diversion by reminding +their sister's guest, with animation, that he had half-asked them to go +out for a short ride in his car. Alexandra accordingly ran for a veil, +and the young quartette departed with much noise, Owen stuffing his +pamphlets and booklet into his pocket before he went. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury settled down contentedly to double Canfield, the +woman crushing out the last flicker of the late topic with a placid +shake of the head, when the man asked her for her honest opinion of the +American School of Domestic Science. "I don't truly think it's at all +practical, dear," said Mrs. Salisbury regretfully. "But we might watch +it for a year or two and go into the question again some time, if you +like. Especially if some one else has tried one of these maids, and we +have had a chance to see how it goes!" +</P> + +<P> +The very next morning Mrs. Salisbury awakened with a dull headache. Hot +sunlight was streaming into the bedroom, an odor of coffee, drifting +upstairs, made her feel suddenly sick. Her first thought was that she +COULD not have Sandy's two friends to luncheon, and she COULD not keep +a shopping and tea engagement with a friend of her own! She might creep +through the day somehow, but no more. +</P> + +<P> +She dressed slowly, fighting dizziness, and went slowly downstairs, +sighing at the sight of disordered music and dust in the dining-room, +the sticky chafing-dish and piled plates in the pantry. In the kitchen +was a litter of milk bottles, saucepans, bread and crumbs and bread +knife encroaching upon a basket of spilled berries, egg shells and +melting bacon. The blue sides of the coffee-pot were stained where the +liquid and grounds had bubbled over it. Marthe was making toast, the +long fork jammed into a plate hole of the range. Mrs. Salisbury thought +that she had never seen sunlight so mercilessly hot and bright before— +</P> + +<P> +"Rotten coffee!" said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully, when his wife took her +place at the table. +</P> + +<P> +"And she NEVER uses the poacher!" Alexandra added reproachfully. "And +she says that the cream is sour because the man leaves it at half-past +four, right there in the sunniest corner of the porch—can't he have a +box or something, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gosh, I wouldn't care what she did if she'd get a move on," said +Stanford frankly. "She's probably asleep out there, with her head in +the frying pan!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury went into the kitchen again. She had to pause in the +pantry because the bright squares of the linoleum, and the brassy +faucets, and the glare of the geraniums outside the window seemed to +rush together for a second. +</P> + +<P> +Marthe was on the porch, exchanging a few gay remarks with the garbage +man before shutting the side door after him. The big stove was roaring +hot, a thick odor of boiling clothes showed that Marthe was ready for +her cousin Nancy, the laundress, who came once a week. A saucepan +deeply gummed with cereal was soaking beside the hissing and smoking +frying pan Mrs. Salisbury moved the frying pan, and the quick heat of +the coal fire rushed up at her face— +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she whispered, opening anxious eyes after what seemed a long +time, "who fainted?" +</P> + +<P> +A wheeling and rocking mass of light and shadow resolved itself into +the dining-room walls, settled and was still. She felt the soft +substance of a sofa pillow under her head, the hard lump that was her +husband's arm supporting her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it—now she's all right!" said Kane Salisbury, his kind, +concerned face just above her own. Mrs. Salisbury shifted heavy, +languid eyes, and found Sandy. +</P> + +<P> +"Darling, you fell!" the daughter whispered. White-lipped, pitiful, +with tears still on her round cheeks, Sandy was fanning her mother with +a folded newspaper. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how silly of me!" Mrs. Salisbury said weakly. She sighed, tried +too quickly to sit up, and fainted quietly away again. +</P> + +<P> +This time she opened her eyes in her own bed, and was made to drink +something sharp and stinging, and directed not to talk. While her +husband and daughter were hanging up things, and reducing the tumbled +room to order, the doctor arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Hollister, I call this an imposition!" protested the invalid +smilingly. "I have been doing a little too much, that's all! But don't +you dare say the word rest-cure to me again!" +</P> + +<P> +But Doctor Hollister did not smile; there was no smiling in the house +that day. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother may have to go away," Alexandra told anxious friends, very +sober, but composed. "Mother may have to take a rest-cure," she said a +day or two later. +</P> + +<P> +"But you won't let them send me to a hospital again, Kane?" pleaded his +wife one evening. "I almost die of lonesomeness, wondering what you and +the children are doing! Couldn't I just lie here? Marthe and Sandy can +manage somehow, and I promise you I truly won't worry, just lie here +like a queen!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps we'll give you a trial," smiled Kane Salisbury, very +much enjoying an hour of quiet, at his wife's bedside. "But don't count +on Marthe. She's going." +</P> + +<P> +"Marthe is?" Mrs. Salisbury only leaned a little more heavily on the +strong arm that held her, and laughed comfortably. "I refuse to concern +myself with such sordid matters," she said. "But why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I've got a new girl, hon." +</P> + +<P> +"You have!" She shifted about to stare at him, aroused by his tone. +Light came. "You've not gotten one of those college cooks, have you, +Kane?" she demanded. "Oh, Kane! Not at thirty-seven dollars a month! +Oh, you have, you wicked, extravagant boy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cheaper than a trained nurse, petty!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury was still shaking a scandalized head, but he could see +the pleasure and interest in her eyes. She sank back in her pillows, +but kept her thin fingers gripped tightly over his. +</P> + +<P> +"How you do spoil me, Tip!" The name took him back across many years to +the little eighteen-dollar cottage and the days before Sandy came. He +looked at his wife's frail little figure, the ruffled frills that +showed under her loose wrapper, at throat and elbows. There was +something girlish still about her hanging dark braid, her big eyes half +visible in the summer twilight. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you may depend upon it, you're in for a good long course of +spoiling now, Miss Sally!" said he. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<P> +Justine Harrison, graduate servant of the American School of Domestic +Science, arrived the next day. If Mrs. Salisbury was half consciously +cherishing an expectation of some one as crisp and cheerful as a +trained nurse might have been, she was disappointed. Justine was simply +a nice, honest-looking American country girl, in a cheap, neat, brown +suit and a dreadful hat. She smiled appreciatively when Alexandra +showed her her attractive little room, unlocked what Sandy saw to be a +very orderly trunk, changed her hot suit at once for the gray gingham +uniform, and went to Mrs. Salisbury's room with great composure, for +instructions. In passing, Alexandra—feeling the situation to be a +little odd, yet bravely, showed her the back stairway and the bathroom, +and murmured something about books being in the little room off the +drawing-room downstairs. Justine smiled brightly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I brought several books with me," she said, "and I subscribe to +two weekly magazines and one monthly. So usually I have enough to read." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do? You look very cool and comfortable, Justine. Now, +you'll have to find your own way about downstairs. You'll see the +coffee next to the bread box, and the brooms are in the laundry closet. +Just do the best you can. Mr. Salisbury likes dry toast in the +morning—eggs in some way. We get eggs from the milkman; they seem +fresher. But you have to tell him the day before. And I understood that +you'll do most of the washing? Yes. My old Nancy was here day before +yesterday, so there's not much this week." It was in some such +disconnected strain as this that Mrs. Salisbury welcomed and initiated +the new maid. +</P> + +<P> +Justine bowed reassuringly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll find everything, Madam. And do you wish me to manage and to +market for awhile until you are about again?" +</P> + +<P> +The invalid sent a pleading glance to Sandy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think my daughter will do that," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, now, why, Mother?" Sandy asked, in affectionate impatience. "I +don't begin to know as much about it as Justine probably does. Why not +let her?" +</P> + +<P> +"If Madam will simply tell me what sum she usually spends on the +table," said Justine, "I will take the matter in hand." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury hesitated. This was the very stronghold of her +authority. It seemed terrible to her, indelicate, to admit a stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it varies a little," she said restlessly. "I am not accustomed +to spending a set sum." She addressed her daughter. "You see, I've been +paying Nancy every week, dear," said she, "and the other laundry. And +little things come up—" +</P> + +<P> +"What sum would be customary, in a family this size?" Alexandra asked +briskly of the graduate servant. +</P> + +<P> +Justine was business-like. +</P> + +<P> +"Seven dollars for two persons is the smallest sum we are allowed to +handle," she said promptly. "After that each additional person calls +for three dollars weekly in our minimum scale. Four or five dollars a +week per person, not including the maid, is the usual allowance." +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy! Would that be twenty dollars for table alone?" the mistress +asked. "It is never that now, I think. Perhaps twice a week," she said, +turning to Alexandra, "your father gives me five dollars at the +breakfast table—" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mother, you telephone and charge at the market, and Lewis & Sons, +too, don't you?" Sandy asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, that's true. Yes, I suppose it comes to fully twenty-five +dollars a week, when you think of it. Yes, it probably comes to more. +But it never seems so much, somehow. Well, suppose we say twenty-five—" +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-five, I'll tell Dad." Alexandra confirmed it briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"I used to keep accounts, years ago," Mrs. Salisbury said plaintively. +"Your father—" and again she turned to her daughter, as if to make +this revelation of her private affairs less distressing by so excluding +the stranger. "Your father has always been the most generous of men," +she said; "he always gives me more money if I need it, and I try to do +the best I can." And a little annoyed, in her weakness and helplessness +by this business talk, she lay back on her pillow, and closed her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-five a week, then!" Alexandra said, closing the talk by jumping +up from a seat on her mother's bed, and kissing the invalid's eyes in +parting. Justine, who had remained standing, followed her down to the +kitchen, where, with cheering promptitude, the new maid fell upon +preparations for dinner. Alexandra rather bashfully suggested what she +had vaguely planned for dinner; Justine nodded intelligently at each +item; presently Alexandra left her, busily making butter-balls, and +went upstairs to report. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing sensational about her," said Sandy to her mother, "but she +takes hold! She's got some bleaching preparation of soda or something +drying on the sink-board; she took the shelf out of the icebox the +instant she opened it, and began to scour it while she talked. She's +got a big blue apron on, and she's hung a nice clean white one on the +pantry door." +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing sensational about the tray which Justine carried up +to the sick room that evening—nothing sensational in the dinner which +was served to the diminished family. But the Salisbury family began +that night to speak of Justine as the "Treasure." +</P> + +<P> +"Everything hot and well seasoned and nicely served," said the man of +the house in high satisfaction, "and the woman looks like a servant, +and acts like one. Sandy says she's turning the kitchen upside down, +but, I say, give her her head!" +</P> + +<P> +The Treasure, more by accident than design, was indeed given her head +in the weeks that followed, for Mrs. Salisbury steadily declined into a +real illness, and the worried family was only too glad to delegate all +the domestic problems to Justine. The invalid's condition, from +"nervous breakdown" became "nervous prostration," and August was made +terrible for the loving little group that watched her by the cruel +fight with typhoid fever into which Mrs. Salisbury's exhausted little +body was drawn. Weak as she was physically, her spirit never failed +her; she met the overwhelming charges bravely, rallied, sank, rallied +again and lived. Alexandra grew thin, if prettier than ever, and Owen +Sargent grew bold and big and protecting to meet her need. The boys +were "angels," their sister said, helpful, awed and obedient, but the +children's father began to stoop a little and to show gray in the thick +black hair at his temples. +</P> + +<P> +Soberly, sympathetically, Justine steered her own craft through all the +storm and confusion of the domestic crisis. Trays appeared and +disappeared without apparent effort. Hot and delicious meals were ready +at the appointed hours, whether the pulse upstairs went up or down. +Tradespeople were paid; there was always ice; there was always hot +water. The muffled telephone never went unanswered, the doctor never +had to ring twice for admittance. If fruit was sent up to the invalid, +it was icy cold; if soup was needed, it appeared, smoking hot, and +guiltless of even one floating pinpoint of fat. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra and the trained nurse always found the kitchen the same: +orderly, aired, silent, with Justine, a picture of domestic efficiency, +sitting by the open window, or on the shady side porch, shelling peas +or peeling apples, or perhaps wiping immaculate glasses with an +immaculate cloth at the sink. The ticking clock, the shining range, the +sunlight lying in clean-cut oblongs upon the bright linoleum, Justine's +smoothly braided hair and crisp percales, all helped to form a picture +wonderfully restful and reassuring in troubled days. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra, tired with a long vigil in the sick room, liked to slip down +late at night, to find Justine putting the last touches to the day's +good work. A clean checked towel would be laid over the rising, snowy +mound of dough; the bubbling oatmeal was locked in the fireless cooker, +doors were bolted, window shades drawn. There was an admirable +precision about every move the girl made. +</P> + +<P> +The two young women liked to chat together, and sometimes, when some +important message took her to Justine's door in the evening, Alexandra +would linger, pleasantly affected by the trim little apartment, the +roses in a glass vase, Justine's book lying open-faced on the bed, or +her unfinished letter waiting on the table. For all exterior signs, at +these times, she might have been a guest in the house. +</P> + +<P> +Promptly, on every Saturday evening, the Treasure presented her account +book to Mr. Salisbury. There was always a small balance, sometimes five +dollars, sometimes one, but Justine evidently had well digested +Dickens' famous formula for peace of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"You're certainly a wonder, Justine!" said the man of the house more +than once. "How do you manage it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I cut down in dozens of ways," the girl returned, with her grave +smile. "You don't notice it, but I know. You have kidney stews, and +onion soups, and cherry pies, instead of melons and steaks and +ice-cream, that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +"And everyone just as well pleased," he said, in real admiration. "I +congratulate you." +</P> + +<P> +"It's only what we are all taught at college," Justine assured him. +"I'm just doing what they told me to! It's my business." +</P> + +<P> +"It's pretty big business, and it's been waiting a long while," said +Kane Salisbury. +</P> + +<P> +When Mrs. Salisbury began to get well, she began to get very hungry. +This was plain sailing for Justine, and she put her whole heart into +the dainty trays that went upstairs three times a day. While she was +enjoying them, Mrs. Salisbury liked to draw out her clever maid, and +the older woman and the young one had many a pleasant talk together. +Justine told her mistress that she had been country-born and bred, and +had grown up with a country girl's longing for nice surroundings and +education of the better sort. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is not Justine at all," she said smilingly, "nor Harrison, +either, although I chose it because I have cousins of that name. We are +all given names when we go to college and take them with us. Until the +work is recognized, as it must be some day, as dignified and even +artistic, we are advised to sink our own identities in this way." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that Harrison isn't your name?" Mrs. Salisbury felt this to +be really a little alarming, in some vague way. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no! And Justine was given me as a number might have been." +</P> + +<P> +"But what is your name?" The question fell from Mrs. Salisbury as +naturally as an "Ouch!" would have fallen had somebody dropped a +lighted match on her hand. "I had no idea of that!" she went on +artlessly. "But I suppose you told Mr. Salisbury?" +</P> + +<P> +The luncheon was finished, and now Justine stood up, and picked up the +tray. +</P> + +<P> +"No. That's the very point. We use our college names," she reiterated +simply. "Will you let me bring you up a little more custard, Madam?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you," Mrs. Salisbury said, after a second's pause. She +looked a little thoughtful as Justine walked away. There is no real +reason why one's maid should not wear an assumed name, of course. +Still— +</P> + +<P> +"What a ridiculous thing that college must be!" said Mrs. Salisbury, +turning comfortably in her pillows. "But she certainly is a splendid +cook!" +</P> + +<P> +About this point, at least, there was no argument. Justine did not need +cream or sherry, chopped nuts or mushroom sauces to make simple food +delicious. She knew endless ways in which to serve food; potatoes +became a nightly surprise, macaroni was never the same, rice had a +dozen delightful roles. Because the family enjoyed her maple custard or +almond cake, she did not, as is the habit with cooks, abandon every +other flavoring for maple or almond. She was following a broader +schedule than that supplied by the personal tastes of the Salisburys, +and she went her way serenely. +</P> + +<P> +Not so much as a teaspoonful of cold spinach was wasted in these days. +Justine's "left-over" dishes were quite as good as anything else she +cooked; her artful combinations, her garnishes of pastry, her illusive +seasoning, her enveloping and varied sauces disguised and transformed +last night's dinner into a real feast to-night. +</P> + +<P> +The Treasure went to market only twice a week, on Saturdays and +Tuesdays. She planned her meals long beforehand, with the aid of charts +brought from college, and paid cash for everything she bought. She +always carried a large market basket on her arm on these trips, and +something in her trim, strong figure and clean gray gown, as she +started off, appealed to a long-slumbering sense of house-holder's +pride in Mr. Salisbury. It seemed good to him that a person who worked +so hard for him and for his should be so bright and contented looking, +should like her life so well. +</P> + +<P> +Late in September Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs again to a spotless +drawing-room and a dining-room gay with flowers. Dinner was a little +triumph, and after dinner she was escorted to a deep chair, and called +upon to admire new papers and hangings, cleaned rugs and a newly +polished floor. +</P> + +<P> +"You are wonderful, wonderful people, every one of you!" said the +convalescent, smiling eyes roving about her. "Grass paper, Kane, and +such a dear border!" she said. "And everything feeling so clean! And my +darling girl writing letters and seeing people all these weeks! And my +boys so good! And dear old Daddy carrying the real burden for +everyone—what a dreadfully spoiled woman I am! And Justine—come here +a minute, Justine—" +</P> + +<P> +The Treasure, who was clearing the dining-room table, came in, and +smiled at the pretty group, mother and father, daughter and sons, all +rejoicing in being well and together again. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how I am ever going to thank you, Justine," said Mrs. +Salisbury, with a little emotion. She took the girl's hand in both her +transparent white ones. "Do believe that I appreciate it," she said. +"It has been a comfort to me, even when I was sickest, even when I +apparently didn't know anything, to know that you were here, that +everything was running smoothly and comfortably, thanks to you. We +could not have managed without you!" +</P> + +<P> +Justine returned the finger pressure warmly, also a little stirred. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's been a real pleasure," she said a little huskily. She had to +accept a little chorus of thanks from the other members of the family +before, blushing very much and smiling, too, she went back to her work. +</P> + +<P> +"She really has managed everything," Kane Salisbury told his wife +later. "She handles all the little monthly bills, telephone and gas and +so on; seems to take it as a matter of course that she should." +</P> + +<P> +"And what shall I do now, Kane? Go on that way, for a while anyway?" +asked his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by all means, dear! You must take things easy for a while. By +degrees you can take just as much or as little as you want, with the +managing." +</P> + +<P> +"You dear old idiot," the lady said tenderly, "don't worry about that! +It will all come about quite naturally and pleasantly." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, it was still a relief to depend heavily upon Justine. Mrs. +Salisbury was quite bewildered by the duties that rose up on every side +of her; Sandy's frocks for the fall, the boys' school suits, calls that +must be made, friends who must be entertained, and the opening +festivities of several clubs to which she belonged. +</P> + +<P> +She found things running very smoothly downstairs, there seemed to be +not even the tiniest flaw for a critical mistress to detect, and the +children had added a bewildering number of new names to their lists of +favorite dishes. Justine was asked over and over again for her Manila +curry, her beef and kidney pie, her scones and German fruit tarts, and +for a brown and crisp and savory dish in which the mistress of the +house recognized, under the title of chou farci, an ordinary cabbage as +a foundation. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let's not have just chickens or beef," Sandy would plead when a +company dinner was under discussion. "Let's have one of Justine's fussy +dishes. Leave it to Justine!" +</P> + +<P> +For the Treasure obviously enjoyed company dinner parties, and it was +fascinating to Sandy to see how methodically, and with what delightful +leisure, she prepared for them. Two or three days beforehand her +cake-making, silver-polishing, sweeping and cleaning were well under +way, and the day of the event itself was no busier than any other day. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it was on one of these occasions that Mrs. Salisbury first had what +she felt was good reason to criticize Justine. During a brief absence +from home of both boys, their mother planned a rather formal dinner. +Four of her closest friends, two couples, were asked, and Owen Sargent +was invited by Sandy to make the group an even eight. This was as many +as the family table accommodated comfortably, and seemed quite an +event. Ordinarily the mistress of the house would have been fussing for +some days beforehand, in her anxiety to have everything go well, but +now, with Justine's brain and Justine's hands in command of the kitchen +end of affairs, she went to the other extreme, and did not give her own +and Sandy's share of the preparations a thought until the actual day of +the dinner. +</P> + +<P> +For, as was stipulated in her bond, except for a general cleaning once +a week, the Treasure did no work downstairs outside of the dining-room +and kitchen, and made no beds at any time. This meant that the daughter +of the house must spend at least an hour every morning in bed-making, +and perhaps another fifteen minutes in that mysteriously absorbing +business known as "straightening" the living room. Usually Sandy was +very faithful to these duties; more, she whisked through them +cheerfully, in her enthusiastic eagerness that the new domestic +experiment should prove a success. +</P> + +<P> +But for a morning or two before this particular dinner she had shirked +her work. Perhaps the novelty of it was wearing off a little. There was +a tennis tournament in progress at the Burning Woods Country Club, two +miles away from River Falls, and Sandy, who was rather proud of her +membership in this very smart organization, did not want to miss a +moment of it. Breakfast was barely over before somebody's car was at +the door to pick up Miss Salisbury, who departed in a whirl of laughter +and a flutter of bright veils, to be gone, sometimes, for the entire +day. +</P> + +<P> +She had gone in just this way on the morning of the dinner, and her +mother, who had quite a full program of her own for the morning, had +had breakfast in bed. Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs at about ten +o'clock to find the dining-room airing after a sweeping; curtains +pinned back, small articles covered with a dust cloth, chairs at all +angles. She went on to the kitchen, where Justine was beating +mayonnaise. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget chopped ice for the shaker, the last thing," Mrs. +Salisbury said, adding, with a little self-conscious rush, "And, oh, by +the way, Justine, I see that Miss Alexandra has gone off again, without +touching the living room. Yesterday I straightened it a little bit, but +I have two club meetings this morning, and I'm afraid I must fly. +If—if she comes in for lunch, will you remind her of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will she be back for lunch? I thought she said she would not," Justine +said, in honest surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"No; come to think of it, she won't," her mother admitted, a little +flatly. "She put her room and her brothers' room in order," she added +inconsequently. +</P> + +<P> +Justine did not answer, and Mrs. Salisbury went slowly out of the +kitchen, annoyance rising in her heart. It was all very well for Sandy +to help out about the house, but this inflexible idea of holding her to +it was nonsense! +</P> + +<P> +Ruffled, she went up to her room. Justine had carried away the +breakfast tray, but there were towels and bath slippers lying about, a +litter of mail on the bed, and Mr. Salisbury's discarded linen strewn +here and there. The dressers were in disorder, window curtains were +pinned back for more air, and the coverings of the twin beds thrown +back and trailing on the floor. Fifteen minutes' brisk work would have +straightened the whole, but Mrs. Salisbury could not spare the time +just then. The morning was running away with alarming speed; she must +be dressed for a meeting at eleven o'clock, and, like most women of her +age, she found dressing a slow and troublesome matter; she did not like +to be hurried with her brushes and cold creams, her ruffles and veil. +</P> + +<P> +The thought of the unmade beds did not really trouble her when, trim +and dainty, she went off in a friend's car to the club at eleven +o'clock, but when she came back, nearly two hours later, it was +distinctly an annoyance to find her bedroom still untouched. She was +tired then, and wanted her lunch; but instead she replaced her street +dress with a loose house gown, and went resolutely to work. +</P> + +<P> +Musing over her solitary luncheon, she found the whole thing a little +absurd. There was still the drawing-room to be put in order, and no +reason in the world why Justine should not do it. The girl was not +overworked, and she was being paid thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents +every month! Justine was big and strong, she could toss the little +extra work off without any effort at all. +</P> + +<P> +She wondered why it is almost a physical impossibility for a nice woman +to ask a maid the simplest thing in the world, if she is fairly certain +that that maid will be ungracious about it. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, eating her chop and salad, her hot +muffin and tart without much heart to appreciate these delicacies, "How +much time I have spent in my life, going through imaginary +conversations with maids! Why couldn't I just step to the pantry door +and say, in a matter-of-fact tone, 'I'm afraid I must ask you to put +the sitting-room in order, Justine. Miss Sandy has apparently forgotten +all about it. I'll see that it doesn't occur again.' And I could +add—now that I think of it—'I will pay you for your extra time, if +you like, and if you will remind me at the end of the month.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she may not like it, but she can't refuse," was her final +summing up. She went out to the kitchen with a deceptive air of +composure. +</P> + +<P> +Justine's occupation, when Mrs. Salisbury found her, strengthened the +older woman's resolutions. The maid, in a silent and spotless kitchen, +was writing a letter. Sheets of paper were strewn on the scoured white +wood of the kitchen table; the writer, her chin cupped in her hand, was +staring dreamily out of the kitchen window. She gave her mistress an +absent smile, then laid down her pen and stood up. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm writing here," she explained, "so that I can catch the milkman for +the cream." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury knew that it was useless to ask if everything was in +readiness for the evening's event. From where she stood she could see +piles of plates already neatly ranged in the warming oven, peeled +potatoes were soaking in ice water in a yellow bowl, and the parsley +that would garnish the big platter was ready, crisp and fresh in a +glass of water. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you look nice and peaceful," smiled the mistress. "I am just +going to dress for a little tea, and I may have to look in at the +opening of the Athenaeum Club," she went on, fussing with a frill at +her wrist, "so I may be as late as five. But I'll bring some flowers +when I come. Miss Alexandra will probably be at home by that time, but +if she isn't—if she isn't, perhaps you would just go in and straighten +the living room, Justine? I put things somewhat in order yesterday, and +dusted a little, but, of course, things get scattered about, and it +needs a little attention. She may of course be back in time to do it—" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice drifted away into casual silence. She looked at Justine +expectantly, confidently. The maid flushed uncomfortably. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry," she said frankly. "But that's against one of our rules, +you know. I am not supposed to—" +</P> + +<P> +"Not ordinarily, I understand that," Mrs. Salisbury agreed quickly. +"But in an emergency—" +</P> + +<P> +Again she hesitated. And Justine, with the maddening gentleness of the +person prepared to carry a point at all costs, answered again: +</P> + +<P> +"It's the rule. I'm sorry; but I am not supposed to." +</P> + +<P> +"I should suppose that you were in my house to make yourself useful to +me," Mrs. Salisbury said coldly. She used a tone of quiet dignity; but +she knew that she had had the worst of the encounter. She was really a +little dazed by the firmness of the rebuff. +</P> + +<P> +"They make a point of our keeping to the letter of the law," Justine +explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Not knowing what my particular needs are, nor how I like my house to +be run, is that it?" the other woman asked shrewdly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—" Justine hung upon an embarrassed assent. "But perhaps they +won't be so firm about it as soon as the school is really established," +she added eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"No; I think they will not!" Mrs. Salisbury agreed with a short laugh, +"inasmuch as they CANNOT, if they ever hope to get any foothold at all!" +</P> + +<P> +And she left the kitchen, feeling that in the last remark at least she +had scored, yet very angry at Justine, who made this sort of warfare +necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"If this sort of thing keeps up, I shall simply have to let her GO!" +she said. +</P> + +<P> +But she was trembling, and she came to a full stop in the front hall. +It was maddening; it was unbelievable; but that neglected half hour of +work threatened to wreck her entire day. With every fiber of her being +in revolt, she went into the sitting-room. +</P> + +<P> +This was Alexandra's responsibility, after all, she said to herself. +And, after a moment's indecision, she decided to telephone her daughter +at the Burning Woods Club. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Mother," said Alexandra, when a page had duly informed her that +she was wanted at the telephone. Her voice sounded a little tired, +faintly impatient. "What is it, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I ought to go to Mary Bell's tea, dearie, and I wanted just to +look in at the Athenaeum—" Mrs. Salisbury began, a little +inconsequently. "How soon do you expect to be home?" she broke off to +ask. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Sandy lifelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you coming back with Owen?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Sandy said, in the same tone. "I'll come back with the Prichards, +I guess, or with one of the girls. Owen and the Brice boy are taking +Miss Satterlee for a little spin up around Feather Rock." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss WHO?" But Mrs. Salisbury knew very well who Miss Satterlee was. A +pretty and pert and rowdyish little dancer, she had managed to +captivate one or two of the prominent matrons of the club, and was much +in evidence there, to the great discomfort of the more conservative +Sandy and her intimates. +</P> + +<P> +Now Sandy's mother ended the conversation with a few very casual +remarks, in not too sympathetic or indignant a vein. Then, with heart +and mind in anything but a hospitable or joyous state, she set about +the task of putting the sitting room in order. She abandoned once and +for all any hope of getting to her club or her tea that afternoon, and +was therefore possessed of three distinct causes of grievance. +</P> + +<P> +With her mother heart aching for the quiet misery betrayed by Sandy's +voice, she could not blame the girl. Nor could she blame herself. So +Justine got the full measure of her disapproval, and, while she worked, +Mrs. Salisbury refreshed her soul with imaginary conversations in which +she kindly but firmly informed Justine that her services were no longer +needed— +</P> + +<P> +However, the dinner was perfect. Course smoothly followed course; there +was no hesitating, no hitch; the service was swift, noiseless, +unobtrusive. The head of the house was obviously delighted, and the +guests enthusiastic. +</P> + +<P> +Best of all, Owen arrived early, irreproachably dressed, if a little +uncomfortable in his evening clothes, and confided to Sandy that he had +had a "rotten time" with Miss Satterlee. +</P> + +<P> +"But she's just the sort of little cat that catches a dear, great big +idiot like Owen," said Sandy to her mother, when the older woman had +come in to watch the younger slip into her gown for the evening's +affair. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out, dear, or I will begin to suspect you of a tendresse in that +direction!" the mother said archly. +</P> + +<P> +"For Owen?" Sandy raised surprised brows. "I'm mad about him, I'd marry +him to-night!" she went on calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you really cared, dear, you couldn't use that tone," her mother +said uncomfortably. "Love comes only once, REAL love, that is—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mother! There's no such thing as real love," Sandy said +impatiently. "I know ten good, nice men I would marry, and I'll bet you +did, too, years ago, only you weren't brought up to admit it! But I +like Owen best, and it makes me sick to see a person like Rose +Satterlee annexing him. She'll make him utterly wretched; she's that +sort. Whereas I am really decent, don't you know; I'd be the sort of +wife he'd go crazier and crazier about. He's one of those unfortunate +men who really don't know what they want until they get something they +don't want. They—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, dear. It distresses me to hear you talk this way," Mrs. +Salisbury said, with dignity. "I don't know whether modern girls +realize how dreadful they are," she went on, "but at least I needn't +have my own daughter show such a lack of—of delicacy and of +refinement." And in the dead silence that followed she cast about for +some effective way of changing the subject, and finally decided to tell +Sandy what she thought of Justine. +</P> + +<P> +But here, too, Sandy was unsympathetic. Scowling as she hooked the +filmy pink and silver of her evening gown, Sandy took up Justine's +defense. +</P> + +<P> +"All up to me, Mother, every bit of it! And, honestly now, you had no +right to ask her to do—" +</P> + +<P> +"No right!" Exasperated beyond all words, Mrs. Salisbury picked up her +fan, gathered her dragging skirts together, and made a dignified +departure from the room. "No right!" she echoed, more in pity than +anger. "Well, really, I wonder sometimes what we are coming to! No +right to ask my servant, whom I pay thirty-seven and a half dollars a +month, to stop writing letters long enough to clean my sitting room! +Well, right or wrong, we'll see!" +</P> + +<P> +But the cryptic threat contained in the last words was never carried +out. The dinner was perfect, and Owen was back in his old position as +something between a brother and a lover, full of admiring great laughs +for Sandy and boyish confidences. There was not a cloud on the evening +for Mrs. Salisbury. And the question of Justine's conduct was laid on +the shelf. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<P> +After the dinner party domestic matters seemed to run even more +smoothly than before, but there was a difference, far below the +surface, in Mrs. Salisbury's attitude toward the new maid. The mistress +found herself incessantly looking for flaws in Justine's perfectness; +for things that Justine might easily have done, but would not do. +</P> + +<P> +In this Mrs. Salisbury was unconsciously aided and abetted by her +sister, Mrs. Otis, a large, magnificent woman of forty-five, who had a +masterful and assured manner, as became a very rich and influential +widow. Mrs. Otis had domineered Mrs. Salisbury throughout their +childhood; she had brought up a number of sons and daughters in a +highly successful manner, and finally she kept a houseful of servants, +whom she managed with a firm hand, and managed, it must be admitted, +very well. She had seen the Treasure many times before, but it was +while spending a day in November with her sister that she first +expressed her disapproval of Justine. +</P> + +<P> +"You spoil her, Sarah," said Mrs. Otis. "She's a splendid cook, of +course, and a nice-mannered girl. But you spoil her." +</P> + +<P> +"I? I have nothing to do with it," Mrs. Salisbury asserted promptly. +"She does exactly what the college permits; no more and no less." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" Mrs. Otis said largely, genially. And she exchanged an +amused look with Sandy. +</P> + +<P> +The three ladies were in the little library, after luncheon, enjoying a +coal fire. The sisters, both with sewing, were in big armchairs. Sandy, +idly turning the pages of a new magazine, sat at her mother's feet. The +first heavy rain of the season battered at the windows. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, that darning, Sally," Mrs. Otis said, glancing at her sister's +sewing. "Why don't you simply call the girl and ask her to do it? +There's no earthly reason why she shouldn't be useful. She's got +absolutely nothing to do. The girl would probably be happier with some +work in her hands. Don't encourage her to think that she can whisk +through her lunch dishes and then rush off somewhere. They have no +conscience about it, my dear. You're the mistress, and you are supposed +to arrange things exactly to suit yourself, no matter if nobody else +has ever done things your way from the beginning of time!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's a lovely theory, Auntie," said Alexandra, "but this is an +entirely different situation." +</P> + +<P> +For answer Mrs. Otis merely compressed her lips, and flung the pink +yarn that she was knitting into a baby's sacque steadily over her +flashing needles. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Justine now?" she asked, after a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"In her room," Mrs. Salisbury answered. +</P> + +<P> +"No; she's gone for a walk, Mother," Sandy said. "She loves to walk in +the rain, and she wanted to change her library book, and send a +telegram or something—" +</P> + +<P> +"Just like a guest in the house!" Mrs. Otis observed, with fine scorn. +"Surely she asked you if she might go, Sally?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Her—her work is done. She—comes and goes that way." +</P> + +<P> +"Without saying a word? And who answers the door?" Mrs. Otis was +unaffectedly astonished now. +</P> + +<P> +"She does if she's in the house, Mattie, just as she answers the +telephone. But she's only actually on duty one afternoon a week." +</P> + +<P> +"You see, the theory is, Auntie," Sandy supplied, "that persons on our +income—I won't say of our position, for Mother hates that—but on our +income, aren't supposed to require formal door-answering very often." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Otis, her knitting suspended, moved her round eyes from mother to +daughter and back again. She did not say a word, but words were not +needed. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it seems outrageous, in some ways, Mattie," Mrs. Salisbury +presently said, with a little nervous laugh. "But what is one to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do?" echoed her sister roundly. "DO? Well, I know I keep six house +servants, and have always kept at least three, and I never heard the +equal of THIS in all my days! Do?—I'd show you what I'd do fast +enough! Do you suppose I'd pay a maid thirty-seven dollars a month to +go tramping off to the library in the rain, and to tell me what my +social status was? Why, Evelyn keeps two, and pays one eighteen and one +fifteen, and do you suppose she'd allow either such liberties? Not at +all. The downstairs girl wears a nice little cap and apron—'Madam, +dinner is served,' she says—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but Evelyn's had seven cooks since she was married," Sandy, who +was not a great admirer of her young married cousin, put in here, "and +Arthur said that she actually cried because she could not give a decent +dinner!" +</P> + +<P> +"Evelyn's only a beginner, dear," said Evelyn's mother sharply, "but +she has the right spirit. No nonsense, regular holidays, and hard work +when they are working is the only way to impress maids. Mary +Underwood," she went on, turning to her sister, "says that, when she +and Fred are to be away for a meal, she deliberately lays out extra +work for the maid; she says it keeps her from getting ideas. No, +Sally," Mrs. Otis concluded, with the older-sister manner she had worn +years ago, "no, dear; you are all wrong about this, and sooner or later +this girl will simply walk over you, and you'll see it as I do. +Changing her book at the library, indeed! How did she know that you +mightn't want tea served this afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +"She wouldn't serve it, if we did, Aunt Martha," Sandy said, dimpling. +"She never serves tea! That's one of the regulations." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we simply won't discuss it," Mrs. Otis said, firm lines forming +themselves at the corners of her capable mouth. "If you like that sort +of thing, you like it, that's all! I don't. We'll talk of something +else." +</P> + +<P> +But she could not talk of anything else. Presently she burst out afresh. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, when I think of the way Ma used to manage 'em! No nonsense +there; it was walk a chalk line in Ma's house! Your grandmother," she +said to Alexandra, with stern relish, "had had a pack of slaves about +her in HER young days. But, of course, Sally," she added charitably, +"you've been ill, and things do have to run themselves when one's ill—" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't get the idea, Auntie," Sandy said blithely. "Mother pays for +efficiency. Justine isn't a mere extra pair of hands; she's a trained +professional worker. She's just like a stenographer, except that what +she does is ten times harder to learn than stenography. We can no more +ask her to get tea than Dad could ask his head bookkeeper to—well, to +drop in here some Sunday and O.K. Mother's household accounts. It's an +age of specialization, Aunt Martha." +</P> + +<P> +"It's an age of utter nonsense," Mrs. Otis said forcibly. "But if your +mother and father like to waste their money that way—" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't much waste of money to it," Mrs. Salisbury put in neatly, +"for Justine manages on less than I ever did. I think there's been only +one week this fall when she hasn't had a balance." +</P> + +<P> +"A balance of what?" +</P> + +<P> +"A surplus, I mean. A margin left from her allowance." +</P> + +<P> +The pink wool fell heavily into Mrs. Otis's broad lap. "She handles +your money for you, does she, Sally?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes. She seems eminently fitted for it. And she does it for a +third less, Mattie, truly. She more than saves the difference in her +wages." +</P> + +<P> +"You let her buy things and pay tradesmen, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Auntie, why not?" Alexandra asked, amused but impatient. "Why +shouldn't Mother let her do that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's not my idea of good housekeeping, that's all," Mrs. Otis +said staidly. "Managing is the most important part of housekeeping. In +giving such a girl financial responsibilities, you not only let go of +the control of your household, but you put temptation in her way. No; +let the girl try making some beds, and serving tea, now and then; and +do your own marketing and paying, Sally. It's the only way." +</P> + +<P> +"Justine tempted—why, she's not that sort of girl at all!" Alexandra +laughed gaily. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, my dear, perhaps she's not, and perhaps you young girls +know everything that is to be known about life," her aunt answered +witheringly. "But when grown business men were cheated as easily as +those men in the First National were," she finished impressively, +alluding to recent occurrences in River Falls, "it seems a little +astonishing to find a girl your age so sure of her own judgment, that's +all." +</P> + +<P> +Sandy's answer, if indirect, was effective. +</P> + +<P> +"How about some tea?" she asked. "Will you have some, either of you? It +only takes me a minute to get it." +</P> + +<P> +"And I wish you could have seen Mattie's expression, Kane," Mrs. +Salisbury said to her husband when telling him of the conversation that +evening, "really, she glared! I suppose she really can't understand +how, with an expensive servant in the house—" Mrs. Salisbury's voice +dropped a little on a note of mild amusement. She sat idly at her +dressing table, her hair loosened, her eyes thoughtful. When she spoke +again, it was with a shade of resentment. "And, really, it is most +inconvenient," she said. "I don't want to impose upon a girl; I never +DID impose upon a girl; but I like to feel that I'm mistress in my own +house. If the work is too hard one day, I will make it easier the next, +and so on. But, as Mat says, it LOOKS so disobliging in a maid to have +her race off; SHE doesn't care whether you get any tea or not; SHE'S +enjoying herself! And after all one's kindness—And then another +thing," she presently roused herself to add, "Mat thinks that it is +very bad management on my part to let Justine handle money. She says—" +</P> + +<P> +"I devoutly wish that Mattie Otis would mind—" Mr. Salisbury did not +finish his sentence. He wound his watch, laid it on his bureau, and +went on, more mildly: "If you can do better than Justine, it may or may +not be worth your while to take that out of her hands; but, if you +can't, it seems to me sheer folly. My Lord, Sally—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know! I know," Mrs. Salisbury said hastily. "But, really, +Kane," she went on slowly, the color coming into her face, "let us +suppose that every family had a graduate cook, who marketed and +managed. And let us suppose the children, like ours, out of the +nursery. Then just what share of her own household responsibility IS a +woman supposed to take? +</P> + +<P> +"You are eternally saying, not about me, but about other men's wives, +that women to-day have too much leisure as it is. But, with a Justine, +why, I could go off to clubs and card parties every day! I'd know that +the house was clean, the meals as good and as nourishing as could be; +I'd know that guests would be well cared for and that bills would be +paid. Isn't a woman, the mistress of a house, supposed to do more than +that? I don't want to be a mere figurehead." +</P> + +<P> +Frowning at her own reflection in the glass, deeply in earnest, she +tried to puzzle it out. +</P> + +<P> +"In the old times, when women had big estates to look after," she +presently pursued, "servants, horses, cows, vegetables and fruit +gardens, soap-making and weaving and chickens and babies, they had real +responsibilities, they had real interests. Housekeeping to-day isn't +interesting. It's confining, and it's monotonous. But take it away, and +what is a woman going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"That," her husband answered seriously, "is the real problem of the +day, I truly believe. That is what you women have to discover. +Delegating your housekeeping, how are you going to use your energies, +and find the work you want to do in the world? How are you going to +manage the questions of being obliged to work at home, and to suit your +hours to yourself, and to really express yourselves, and at the same +time get done some of the work of the world that is waiting for women +to do." +</P> + +<P> +His wife continued to eye him expectantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how?" said she. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I'm asking you!" he answered pointedly. Mrs. Salisbury +sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, I do get so tired of this talk of efficiency, and women's +work in the world!" she said. "I wish one might feel it was enough to +live along quietly, busy with dressmaking, or perhaps now and then +making a fancy dessert for guests, giving little teas and card parties, +and making calls. It—" a yearning admiration rang in her voice, "it +seems such a dignified, pleasant ideal to live up to!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it looks as if we had seen the last of that particular type of +woman," her husband said cheerfully. "Or at least it looks as if that +woman would find her own level, deliberately separate herself from her +more ambitious sisters, who want to develop higher arts than that of +mere housekeeping." +</P> + +<P> +"And how do YOU happen to know so much about it, Kane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I? Oh, it's in the air, I guess," the man admitted. "The whole idea is +changing. A man used to be ashamed of the idea of his wife working. Now +men tell you with pride that their wives paint or write or bind +books—Bates' wife makes loads of money designing toys, and Mrs. +Brewster is consulting physician on a hospital staff. Mary +Shotwell—she was a trained nurse—what was it she did?" +</P> + +<P> +"She gave a series of talks on hygiene for rich people's children," his +wife supplied. "And of course Florence Yeats makes candy, and the +Gerrish girls have opened a tea room in the old garage. But it seems +funny, just the same! It seems funny to me that so many women find it +worth while to hire servants, so that they can rush off to make the +money to pay the servants! It would seem so much more normal to stay at +home and do the housework themselves, and it would LOOK better." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, certain women always will, I suppose. And others will find their +outlets in other ways, and begin to look about for Justines, who will +lift the household load. I believe we'll see the time, Sally," said +Kane Salisbury thoughtfully, "when a young couple, launching into +matrimony, will discuss expenses with a mutual interest; you pay this +and I'll pay that, as it were. A trained woman will step into their +kitchen, and Madame will walk off to business with her husband, as a +matter of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Heaven forbid!" Mrs. Salisbury said piously. "If there is anything +romantic or tender or beautiful about married life under those +circumstances, I fail to see it, that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +It happened, a week or two later, on a sharp, sunshiny morning in early +winter, that Mrs. Salisbury and Alexandra found themselves sauntering +through the nicest shopping district of River Falls. There were various +small things to be bought for the wardrobes of mother and daughter, +prizes for a card party, birthday presents for one of the boys, and a +number of other little things. +</P> + +<P> +They happened to pass the windows of Lewis & Sons' big grocery, one of +the finest shops in town, on their way from one store to another, and, +attracted by a window full of English preserves, Mrs. Salisbury decided +to go in and leave an order. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that you are going to bring your account back to us, Mrs. +Salisbury," said the alert salesman who waited upon them. "We are +always sorry to let an old customer go." +</P> + +<P> +"But I have an account here," said Mrs. Salisbury, startled. +</P> + +<P> +The salesman, smiling, shook his head, and one of the members of the +firm, coming up, confirmed the denial. +</P> + +<P> +"We were very sorry to take your name off our books, Mrs. Salisbury," +said he, with pleasant dignity; "I can remember your coming into the +old store on River Street when this young lady here was only a small +girl." +</P> + +<P> +His hand indicated a spot about three feet from the floor, as the +height of the child Alexandra, and the grown Alexandra dimpled an +appreciation of his memory. +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury said, wrinkling her forehead; +"I had no idea that the account was closed, Mr. Lewis. How long ago was +this?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was while you were ill," said Mr. Lewis soothingly. "You might look +up the exact date, Mr. Laird." +</P> + +<P> +"But why?" Mrs. Salisbury asked, prettily puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"That I don't know," answered Mr. Lewis. "And at the time, of course, +we did not press it. There was no complaint, of that I'm very sure." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury persisted. "I don't see who +could have done it except Mr. Salisbury, and, if he had had any reason, +he would have told me of it. However," she rose to go, "if you'll send +the jams, and the curry, and the chocolate, Mr. Laird, I'll look into +the matter at once." +</P> + +<P> +"And you're quite yourself again?" Mr. Lewis asked solicitously, +accompanying them to the door. "That's the main thing, isn't it? +There's been so much sickness everywhere lately. And your young lady +looks as if she didn't know the meaning of the word. Wonderful morning, +isn't it? Good morning, Mrs. Salisbury!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning!" Mrs. Salisbury responded graciously. But, as soon as +she and Alexandra were out of hearing, her face darkened. "That makes +me WILD!" said she. +</P> + +<P> +"What does, darling?" +</P> + +<P> +"That! Justine having the audacity to change my trade!" +</P> + +<P> +"But why should she want to, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't know. Given it to friends of hers perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mother, she wouldn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll see." Mrs. Salisbury dropped the subject, and brought her +mind back with a visible effort to the morning's work. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after lunch she interrogated Justine. The girl was drying +glasses, each one emerging like a bubble of hot and shining crystal +from her checked glass towel. +</P> + +<P> +"Justine," began the mistress, "have we been getting our groceries from +Lewis & Sons lately?" +</P> + +<P> +Justine placidly referred to an account book which she took from a +drawer under the pantry shelves. +</P> + +<P> +"Our last order was August eleventh," she announced. +</P> + +<P> +Something in her unembarrassed serenity annoyed Mrs. Salisbury. +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask why?" she suggested sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they are a long way from here," Justine said, after a second's +thought, "and they are very expensive grocers, Mrs. Salisbury. Of +course, what they have is of the best, but they cater to the very +richest families, you know—firms like Lewis & Sons aren't very much +interested in the orders they receive from—well, from upper +middle-class homes, people of moderate means. They handle hotels and +the summer colony at Burning Woods." +</P> + +<P> +Justine paused, a little uncertain of her terms, and Mrs. Salisbury +interposed an icy question. +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask where you HAVE transferred my trade?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to any one place," the girl answered readily and mildly. But a +little resentful color had crept into her cheeks. "I pay as I go, and +follow the bargains," she explained. "I go to market twice a week, and +send enough home to make it worth while for the tradesman. You couldn't +market as I do, Mrs. Salisbury, but the tradespeople rather expect it +of a maid. Sometimes I gather an assortment of vegetables into my +basket, and get them to make a price on the whole. Or, if there is a +sale at any store, I go there, and order a dozen cans, or twenty pounds +of whatever they are selling." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury was not enjoying this revelation. The obnoxious term +"upper middle class" was biting like an acid upon her pride. And it was +further humiliating to contemplate her maid as a driver of bargains, as +dickering for baskets of vegetables. +</P> + +<P> +"The best is always the cheapest in the long run, whatever it may cost, +Justine," she said, with dignity. "We may not be among the richest +families in town," she was unable to refrain from adding, "but it is +rather amusing to hear you speak of the family as upper middle class!" +</P> + +<P> +"I only meant the—the sort of ordering we did," Justine hastily +interposed. "I meant from the grocer's point of view." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Lewis sold groceries to my grandmother before I was +married," Mrs. Salisbury said loftily, "and I prefer him to any other +grocer. If he is too far away, the order may be telephoned. Or give me +your list, and I will stop in, as I used to do. Then I can order any +little extra delicacy that I see, something I might not otherwise think +of. Let me know what you need to-morrow morning, and I'll see to it." +</P> + +<P> +To her surprise, Justine did not bow an instant assent. Instead the +girl looked a little troubled. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I give you my accounts and my ledger?" she asked rather +uncertainly. +</P> + +<P> +"No-o, I don't see any necessity for that," the older woman said, after +a second's pause. +</P> + +<P> +"But Lewis & Sons is a very expensive place," Justine pursued; "they +never have sales, never special prices. Their cheapest tomatoes are +fifteen cents a can, and their peaches twenty-five—" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," Mrs. Salisbury interrupted her briskly. "We'll manage +somehow. I always did trade there, and never had any trouble. Begin +with him to-morrow. And, while, of course, I understand that I was ill +and couldn't be bothered in this case, I want to ask you not to make +any more changes without consulting me, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +Justine, still standing, her troubled eyes on her employer, the last +glass, polished to diamond brightness, in her hand, frowned mutinously. +</P> + +<P> +"You understand that if you do any ordering whatever, Mrs. Salisbury, I +will have to give up my budget. You see, in that case, I wouldn't know +where I stood at all." +</P> + +<P> +"You would get the bill at the end of the month," Mrs. Salisbury said, +displeased. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but I don't run bills," the girl persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care to discuss it, Justine," the mistress said pleasantly; +"just do as I ask you, if you please, and we'll settle everything at +the end of the month. You shall not be held responsible, I assure you." +</P> + +<P> +She went out of the kitchen, and the next morning had a pleasant half +hour in the big grocery, and left a large order. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little kitchen misunderstanding," she told the affable Mr. +Lewis, "but when one is ill—However, I am rapidly getting the reins +back into my own hands now." +</P> + +<P> +After that, Mrs. Salisbury ordered in person, or by telephone, every +day, and Justine's responsibilities were confined to the meat market +and greengrocer. Everything went along very smoothly until the end of +the month, when Justine submitted her usual weekly account and a bill +from Lewis & Sons which was some three times larger in amount than was +the margin of money supposed to pay it. +</P> + +<P> +This was annoying. Mrs. Salisbury could not very well rebuke her, nor +could she pay the bill out of her own purse. She determined to put it +aside until her husband seemed in a mood for financial advances, and, +wrapping it firmly about the inadequate notes and silver given her by +Justine, she shut it in a desk drawer. There the bill remained, +although the money was taken out for one thing or another; change that +must be made, a small bill that must be paid at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Another fortnight went by, and Lewis & Sons submitted another bimonthly +bill. Justine also gave her mistress another inadequate sum, what was +left from her week's expenditures. +</P> + +<P> +The two grocery bills were for rather a formidable sum. The thought of +them, in their desk drawer, rather worried Mrs. Salisbury. One evening +she bravely told her husband about them, and laid them before him. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Salisbury was annoyed. He had been free from these petty worries +for some months, and he disliked their introduction again. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought this was Justine's business, Sally?" said he, frowning over +his eyeglasses. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it IS" said his wife, "but she hasn't enough money, apparently, +and she simply handed me these, without saying anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but that doesn't sound like her. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, because I do the ordering, she says. They're queer, you know, +Kane; all servants are. And she seems very touchy about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said the head of the house roundly. "Oh, Justine!" he +shouted, and the maid, after putting an inquiring head in from the +dining-room, duly came in, and stood before him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's struck your budget that you were so proud of, Justine?" asked +Kane Salisbury. "It looks pretty sick." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not keeping on a budget now," answered Justine, with a rather +surprised glance at her mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"Not; but why not?" asked the man good-naturedly. And his wife added +briskly, "Why did you stop, Justine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because Mrs. Salisbury has been ordering all this month," Justine +said. "And that, of course, makes it impossible for me to keep track of +what is spent. These last four weeks I have only been keeping an +account; I haven't attempted to keep within any limit." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you see that's it," Kane Salisbury said triumphantly. "Of course +that's it! Well, Mrs. Salisbury will have to let you go back to the +ordering then. D'ye see, Sally? Naturally, Justine can't do a thing +while you're buying at random—" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear, we have dealt with Lewis & Sons ever since we were married," +Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling with great tolerance, and in a soothing +voice, "Justine, for some reason, doesn't like Lewis & Sons—" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't that," said the maid quickly. "It's just that it's against +the rules of the college for anyone else to do any ordering, unless, of +course, you and I discussed it beforehand and decided just what to +spend." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean, unless I simply went to market for you?" asked the mistress, +in a level tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it amounts to that—yes." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury threw her husband one glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll tell you what we have decided in the morning, Justine," she +said, with dignity. "That's all. You needn't wait." +</P> + +<P> +Justine went back to her kitchen, and Mr. Salisbury, smiling, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Sally, how unreasonable you are! And how you do dislike that girl!" +</P> + +<P> +The outrageous injustice of this scattered to the winds Mrs. +Salisbury's last vestige of calm, and, after one scathing summary of +the case, she refused to discuss it at all, and opened the evening +paper with marked deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +For the next two or three weeks she did all the marketing herself, but +this plan did not work well. Bills doubled in size, and so many things +were forgotten, or were ordered at the last instant by telephone, and +arrived too late, that the whole domestic system was demoralized. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, of her own accord, Mrs. Salisbury reestablished Justine with +her allowance, and with full authority to shop when and how she +pleased, and peace fell again. But, smoldering in Mrs. Salisbury's +bosom was a deep resentment at this peculiar and annoying state of +affairs. She began to resent everything Justine did and said, as one +human being shut up in the same house with another is very apt to do. +</P> + +<P> +No schooling ever made it easy to accept the sight of Justine's leisure +when she herself was busy. It was always exasperating, when perhaps +making beds upstairs, to glance from the window and see Justine +starting for market, her handsome figure well displayed in her long +dark coat, her shining braids half hidden by her simple yet dashing hat. +</P> + +<P> +"I walked home past Perry's," Justine would perhaps say on her return, +"to see their prize chrysanthemums. They really are wonderful! The old +man took me over the greenhouses himself, and showed me everything!" +</P> + +<P> +Or perhaps, unpacking her market basket by the spotless kitchen table, +she would confide innocently: +</P> + +<P> +"Samuels is really having an extraordinary sale of serges this morning. +I went in, and got two dress lengths for my sister's children. If I can +find a good dressmaker, I really believe I'll have one myself. I +think"—Justine would eye her vegetables thoughtfully—"I think I'll go +up now and have my bath, and cook these later." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury could reasonably find no fault with this. But an +indescribable irritation possessed her whenever such a conversation +took place. The coolness!—she would say to herself, as she went +upstairs—wandering about to shops and greenhouses, and quietly +deciding to take a bath before luncheon! Why, Mrs. Salisbury had had +maids who never once asked for the use of the bathroom, although they +had been for months in her employ. +</P> + +<P> +No, she could not attack Justine on this score. But she began to +entertain the girl with enthusiastic accounts of the domestics of +earlier and better days. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother had a girl," she said, "a girl named Norah O'Connor. I +remember her very well. She swept, she cleaned, she did the entire +washing for a family of eight, and she did all the cooking. And such +cookies, and pies, and gingerbread as she made! All for sixteen dollars +a month. We regarded Norah as a member of the family, and, even on her +holidays she would take three or four of us, and walk with us to my +father's grave; that was all she wanted to do. You don't see her like +in these days, dear old Norah!" +</P> + +<P> +Justine listened respectfully, silently. Once, when her mistress was +enlarging upon the advantages of slavery, the girl commented mildly: +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't it seem a pity that the women of the United States didn't +attempt at least to train all those Southern colored people for house +servants? It seems to be their natural element. They love to live in +white families, and they have no caste pride. It would seem to be such +a waste of good material, letting them worry along without much +guidance all these years. It almost seems as if the Union owed it to +them." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, I wish somebody would! I, for one, would love to have dear +old mammies around me again," Mrs. Salisbury said, with fervor. "They +know their place," she added neatly. +</P> + +<P> +"The men could be butlers and gardeners and coachmen," pursued Justine. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and with a lot of finely trained colored women in the market, +where would you girls from the college be?" the other woman asked, not +without a spice of mischievous enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +"We would be a finer type of servant, for more fastidious people," +Justine scored by answering soberly. "You could hardly expect a colored +girl to take the responsibility of much actual managing, I should +suppose. There would always be a certain proportion of people who would +prefer white servants." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps there are," Mrs. Salisbury admitted dubiously. She felt, with +a sense of triumph, that she had given Justine a pretty strong hint +against "uppishness." But Justine was innocently impervious to hints. +As a matter of fact, she was not an exceptionally bright girl; literal, +simple, and from very plain stock, she was merely well trained in her +chosen profession. Sometimes she told her mistress of her +fellow-graduates, taking it for granted that Mrs. Salisbury entirely +approved of all the ways of the American School of Domestic Science. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Mabel Frost," said Justine one day. "She would have graduated +when I did, but she took the fourth year's work. She really is of a +very fine family; her father is a doctor. And she has a position with a +doctor's family now, right near here, in New Troy. There are just two +in family, and both are doctors, and away all day. So Mabel has a +splendid chance to keep up her music." +</P> + +<P> +"Music?" Mrs. Salisbury asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Piano. She's had lessons all her life. She plays very well, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and some day the doctor or his wife will come in and find her at +the piano, and your friend will lose her fine position," Mrs. Salisbury +suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mabel never would have touched the piano without their +permission," Justine said quickly, with a little resentful flush. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that they are perfectly willing to have her use it?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, quite!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have they ADOPTED her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no! No; Mabel is twenty-four or five." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the doctor's name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mitchell. Dr. Quentin Mitchell. He's a member of the Burning Woods +Club." +</P> + +<P> +"A member of the CLUB! And he allows—" Mrs. Salisbury did not finish +her thought. "I don't want to say anything against your friend," she +began again presently, "but for a girl in her position to waste her +time studying music seems rather absurd to me. I thought the very idea +of the college was to content girls with household positions." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she is going to be married next spring," Justine said, "and her +husband is quite musical. He plays a church organ. I am going to dinner +with them on Thursday, and then to the Gadski concert. They're both +quite music mad." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hope he can afford to buy tickets for Gadski, but marriage is +a pretty expensive business," Mrs. Salisbury said pleasantly, "What is +he, a chauffeur—a salesman?" To do her justice, she knew the question +would not offend, for Justine, like any girl from a small town, was not +fastidious as to the position of her friends; was very fond of the +policeman on the corner and his pretty wife, and liked a chat with Mrs. +Sargent's chauffeur when occasion arose. +</P> + +<P> +But the girl's answer, in this case, was a masterly thrust. +</P> + +<P> +"No; he's something in a bank, Mrs. Salisbury. He's paying teller in +that little bank at Burton Corners, beyond Burning Woods. But, of +course, he hopes for promotion; they all do. I believe he is trying to +get into the River Falls Mutual Savings, but I'm not sure." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury felt the blood in her face. Kane Salisbury had been in a +bank when she married him; was cashier of the River Falls Mutual +Savings Bank now. +</P> + +<P> +She carried away the asters she had been arranging, without further +remark. But Justine's attitude rankled. Mrs. Salisbury, absurd as she +felt her own position to be, could not ignore the impertinence of her +maid's point of view. Theoretically, what Justine thought mattered less +than nothing. Actually it really made a great difference to the +mistress of the house. +</P> + +<P> +"I would like to put that girl in her place once!" thought Mrs. +Salisbury. She began to wish that Justine would marry, and to envy +those of her friends who were still struggling with untrained Maggies +and Almas and Chloes. Whatever their faults, these girls were still +SERVANTS, old-fashioned "help"—they drudged away at cooking and beds +and sweeping all day, and rattled dishes far into the night. +</P> + +<P> +The possibility of getting a second little maid occurred to her. She +suggested it, tentatively, to Sandy. +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't, unless I'm mistaken, Mother," Sandy said briskly, eyeing +a sandwich before she bit into it. The ladies were at luncheon. "For a +graduate servant can't work with any but a graduate servant; that's the +rule. At least I THINK it is!" And Sandy, turning toward the pantry, +called: "Oh, Justine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Justine," she asked, when the maid appeared, "isn't it true that you +graduates can't work with untrained girls in the house?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the rule," Justine assented. +</P> + +<P> +"And what does the school expect you to pay a second girl?" pursued the +daughter of the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, where there are no children, twenty dollars a month," said +Justine, "with one dollar each for every person more than two in the +family. Then, in that case, the head servant, as we call the cook, +would get five dollars less a month. That is, I would get thirty-two +dollars, and the assistant twenty-three." +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious!" said Mrs. Salisbury. "Thank you, Justine. We were just +asking. Fifty-five dollars for the two!" she ejaculated under her +breath when the girl was gone. "Why, I could get a fine cook and +waitress for less than that!" +</P> + +<P> +And instantly the idea of two good maids instead of one graduated one +possessed her. A fine cook in the kitchen, paid, say twenty-five, and a +"second girl," paid sixteen. And none of these ridiculous and +inflexible regulations! Ah, the satisfaction of healthily imposing upon +a maid again, of rewarding that maid with the gift of a half-worn gown, +as a peace offering—Mrs. Salisbury drew a long breath. The time had +come for a change. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Salisbury, however, routed the idea with scorn. His wife had no +argument hardy enough to survive the blighting breath of his +astonishment. And Alexandra, casually approached, proved likewise +unfavorable. +</P> + +<P> +"I am certainly not furthering my own comfort alone in this, as you and +Daddy seem inclined to think," Mrs. Salisbury said severely to her +daughter. "I feel that Justine's system is an imposition upon you, +dear. It isn't right for a pretty girl of your age to be caught dusting +the sitting-room, as Owen caught you yesterday. Daddy and I can keep a +nice home, we keep a motor car, we put the boys in good schools, and it +doesn't seem fair—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, fair your grandmother!" Sandy broke in, with a breezy laugh. "If +Owen Sargent doesn't like it, he can just come TO! Look at HIS mother, +eating dinner the other day with four representatives of the +Waitresses' Union! Marching in a parade with dear knows who! Besides—" +</P> + +<P> +"It is very different in Mrs. Sargent's case, dear," said Mrs. +Salisbury simply. "She could afford to do anything, and consequently it +doesn't matter what she does! It doesn't matter what you do, if you can +afford not to. The point is that we can't really afford a second maid." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see what that has to do with it!" said the girl of the coming +generation cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It has EVERYTHING to do with it," the woman of the passing generation +answered seriously. +</P> + +<P> +"As far as Owen goes," Sandy went on thoughtfully, "I'm only too much +afraid he's the other way. What do you suppose he's going to do now? +He's going to establish a little Neighborhood House for boys down on +River Street, 'The Cyrus Sargent Memorial.' And, if you please, he's +going to LIVE there! It's a ducky house; he showed me the blue-prints, +with the darlingest apartment for himself you ever saw, and a plunge, +and a roof gymnasium. It's going to cost, endowment and all, three +hundred thousand dollars—" +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens!" Mrs. Salisbury said, as one stricken. +</P> + +<P> +"And the worst of it is," Alexandra pursued, with a sympathetic laugh +for her mother's concern, "that he'll meet some Madonna-eyed little +factory girl or laundry worker down there and feel that he owes it to +her to—" +</P> + +<P> +"To break your heart, Sandy," the mother supplied, all tender +solicitude. +</P> + +<P> +"It's not so much a question of my heart," Sandy answered composedly, +"as it is a question of his entire life. It's so unnecessary and +senseless!" +</P> + +<P> +"And you can sit there calmly discussing it!" Mrs. Salisbury said, +thoroughly out of temper with the entire scheme of things mundane. +"Upon my word, I never saw or heard anything like it!" she observed. "I +wonder that you don't quietly tell Owen that you care for him—but it's +too dreadful to joke about! I give you up!" +</P> + +<P> +And she rose from her chair, and went quickly out of the room, every +line in her erect little figure expressing exasperation and +inflexibility. Sandy, smiling sleepily, reopened an interrupted novel. +But she stared over the open page into space for a few moments, and +finally spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" an +interrupted novel. But she stared over the open page into space for a +few moments, and finally spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<P> +"Mrs. Salisbury," said Justine, when her mistress came into the kitchen +one December morning, "I've had a note from Mrs. Sargent—" +</P> + +<P> +"From Mrs. Sargent?" Mrs. Salisbury repeated, astonished. And to +herself she said: "She's trying to get Justine away from me!" +</P> + +<P> +"She writes as Chairman of the Department of Civics of the Forum Club," +pursued Justine, referring to the letter she held in her hand, "to ask +me if I will address the club some Thursday on the subject of the +College of Domestic Science. I know that you expect to give a card +party some Thursday, and I thought I would make sure just which one you +meant." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury, taken entirely unaware, was actually speechless for a +moment. The Forum was, of all her clubs, the one in which membership +was most prized by the women of River Falls. It was not a large club, +and she had longed for many years somehow to place her name among the +eighty on its roll. The richest and most exclusive women of River Falls +belonged to the Forum Club; its few rooms, situated in the business +part of town, and handsomely but plainly furnished, were full of subtle +reminders that here was no mere social center; here responsible members +of the recently enfranchised sex met to discuss civic betterment, +schools and municipal budgets, commercialized vice and child labor, +library appropriations, liquor laws and sewer systems. Local +politicians were beginning to respect the Forum, local newspapers +reported its conventions, printed its communications. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury was really a little bit out of place among the clever, +serious young doctors, the architects, lawyers, philanthropists and +writers who belonged to the club. But her membership therein was one of +the things in which she felt an unalloyed satisfaction. If the +discussions ever secretly bored or puzzled her, she was quite clever +enough to conceal it. She sat, her handsome face, under its handsome +hat, turned toward the speaker, her bright eyes immovable as she +listened to reports and expositions. And, after the motion to adjourn +had been duly made, she had her reward. Rich women, brilliant women, +famous women chatted with her cordially as the Forum Club streamed +downstairs. She was asked to luncheons, to teas; she was whirled home +in the limousines of her fellow-members. No other one thing in her life +seemed to Mrs. Salisbury as definite a social triumph as was her +membership in the Forum. +</P> + +<P> +Her election had come about simply enough, after years of secret +longing to become a member. Sandy, who was about twelve at the time, +during a call from Mrs. Sargent, had said innocently: +</P> + +<P> +"Why haven't you ever joined the Forum, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes; why not?" Mrs. Sargent had added. +</P> + +<P> +This gave Mrs. Salisbury an opportunity to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I have been a very busy woman, and couldn't have done so, with +these three dear children to watch. But, as a matter of fact, Mrs. +Sargent, I have never been asked. At least," she went on scrupulously, +"I am almost sure I never have been!" The implication being that the +Forum's card of invitation might have been overlooked for more +important affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll send you another," the great lady had said at once. "You're just +the sort we need," Mrs. Sargent had continued. "We've got enough widows +and single women in now; what we want are the real mothers, who need +shaking out of the groove!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Sargent happened to be President of the Club at that time, so Mrs. +Salisbury had only to ignore graciously the rather offensive phrasing +of the invitation, and to await the news of her election, which duly +and promptly arrived. +</P> + +<P> +And now Justine had been asked to speak at the Forum! It was the most +distasteful bit of information that had come Mrs. Salisbury's way in a +long, long time! She felt in her heart a stinging resentment against +Mrs. Sargent, with her mad notions of equality, and against Justine, +who was so complacently and contentedly accepting this monstrous state +of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"That is very kind of Mrs. Sargent," said she, fighting for dignity; +"she is very much interested in working girls and their problems, and I +suppose she thinks this might be a good advertisement for the school, +too." This idea had just come to Mrs. Salisbury, and she found it +vaguely soothing. "But I don't like the idea," she ended firmly; +"it—it seems very odd, very—very conspicuous. I should prefer you not +to consider anything of the kind." +</P> + +<P> +"I should prefer" was said in the tone that means "I command," yet +Justine was not satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but why?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"If you force me to discuss it," said Mrs. Salisbury, in sudden anger, +"because you are my maid! My gracious, YOU ARE MY MAID," she repeated, +pent-up irritation finding an outlet at last. "There is such a +relationship as mistress and maid, after all! While you are in my house +you will do as I say. It is the mistress's place to give orders, not to +take them, not to have to argue and defend herself—" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, if it is a question about the work the maid is supposed to +do," Justine defended herself, with more spirit than the other woman +had seen her show before. "But what she does with her leisure—why it's +just the same as what a clerk does with his leisure, nobody questions +it, nobody—" +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you that I will not stand here and argue with you," said Mrs. +Salisbury, with more dignity in her tone than in her words. "I say that +I don't care to have my maid exploited by a lot of fashionable women at +a club, and that ends it! And I must add," she went on, "that I am +extremely surprised that Mrs. Sargent should approach you in such a +matter, without consulting me!" +</P> + +<P> +"The relationship of mistress and maid," Justine said slowly, "is what +has always made the trouble. Men have decided what they want done in +their offices, and never have any trouble in finding boys to fill the +vacancies. But women expect—" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't care to listen to any further theories from that +extraordinary school," said Mrs. Salisbury decidedly. "I have told you +what I expect you to do, and I know you are too sensible a girl to +throw away a good position—" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Salisbury, if I intended to say anything in such a little talk +that would reflect on this family, or even to mention it, it would be +different, but, as it is—" +</P> + +<P> +"I should hope you WOULDN'T mention this family!" Mrs. Salisbury said +hotly. "But even without that—" +</P> + +<P> +"It would be merely an outline of what the school is, and what it tries +to do," Justine interposed. "Miss Holley, our founder and President, +was most anxious to have us interest the general public in this way, if +ever we got a chance." +</P> + +<P> +"What Miss Holley—whoever she is—wanted, or wants, is nothing to me!" +Mrs. Salisbury said magnificently. "You know what I feel about this +matter, and I have nothing more to say." +</P> + +<P> +She left the kitchen on the very end of the last word, and Justine, +perforce not answering, hoped that the affair was concluded, once and +for all. +</P> + +<P> +"For Mrs. Sargent may think she can exasperate me by patronizing my +maid," said Mrs. Salisbury guardedly, when telling her husband and +daughter of the affair that evening, "but there is a limit to +everything, and I have had about enough of this efficiency business!" +</P> + +<P> +"I can only beg, Mother dear, that you won't have a row with Owen's +dear little vacillating, weak-minded ma," said Sandy cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"No; but, seriously, don't you both think it's outrageous?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked, looking from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"No-o; I see the girl's point," Kane Salisbury said thoughtfully. "What +she does with her afternoons off is her own affair, after all; and you +can't blame her, if a chance to step out of the groove comes along, for +taking advantage of it. Strictly, you have no call to interfere." +</P> + +<P> +"Legally, perhaps I haven't," his wife conceded calmly. "But, thank +goodness, my home is not yet a court of law. Besides, Daddy, if one of +the young men in the bank did something of which you disapproved, you +would feel privileged to interfere." +</P> + +<P> +"If he did something WRONG, Sally, not otherwise." +</P> + +<P> +"And you would be perfectly satisfied to meet your janitor somewhere at +dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; the janitor's colored, to begin with, and, more than that, he +isn't the type one meets. But, if he qualified otherwise, I wouldn't +mind meeting him just because he happened to be the janitor. Now, young +Forrest turns up at the club for golf, and Sandy and I picked Fred Hall +up the other day, coming back from the river." Kane Salisbury, leaning +back in his chair, watched the rings of smoke that rose from his cigar. +"It's a funny thing about you women," he said lazily. "You keep +wondering why smart girls won't go into housework, and yet, if you get +a girl who isn't a mere stupid machine, you resent every sign she gives +of being an intelligent human being. No two of you keep house alike, +and you jump on the girl the instant she hangs a dish towel up the way +you don't. It's you women who make life so hard for each other. Now, if +any decent man saw a young fellow at the bottom of the ladder, who was +as good and clever and industrious as Justine is, he'd be glad to give +him a hand up. But no; that means she's above her work, and has to be +snubbed." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk so cynically, Daddy dear," Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling +over her fancy work, as one only half listening. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, a change is coming in all these things, Sally," said the +cynic, unruffled. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet there is!" his daughter seconded him from the favorite low +seat that permitted her to rest her mouse-colored head against his knee. +</P> + +<P> +"Your mother's a conservative, Sandy," pursued the man of the house, +encouraged, "but there's going to be some domestic revolutionizing in +the next few years. It's hard enough to get a maid now; pretty soon +it'll be impossible. Then you women will have to sit down and work the +thing out, and ask yourselves why young American girls won't come into +your homes, and eat the best food in the land, and get well paid for +what they do. You'll have to reduce the work of an American home to a +system, that's all, and what you want done that isn't provided for in +that system you'll have to do yourselves. There's something in the way +you treat a girl now, or in what you expect her to do, that's all +wrong!" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't a question of too much work," Mrs. Salisbury said. "They are +much better off when they're worked hard. And I notice that your +bookkeepers are kept pretty busy, Kane," she added neatly. +</P> + +<P> +"For an eight-hour day, Sally. But you expect a twelve or fourteen-hour +day from your housemaid—" +</P> + +<P> +"If I pay a maid thirty-seven and a half dollars a month," his wife +averred, with precision, "I expect her to do something for that +thirty-seven dollars and a half!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but, Mother, she does!" Alexandra contributed eagerly. "In +Justine's case she does an awful lot! She plans, and saves, and thinks +about things. Sometimes she sits writing menus and crossing things out +for an hour at a time." +</P> + +<P> +"And then Justine's a pioneer; in a way she's an experiment," the man +said. "Experiments are always expensive. That's why the club is +interested, I suppose. But in a few years probably the woods will be +full of graduate servants—everyone'll have one! They'll have their +clubs and their plans together, and that will solve some of the social +side of the old trouble. They—" +</P> + +<P> +"Still, I notice that Mrs. Sargent herself doesn't employ graduate +servants!" Mrs. Salisbury, who had been following a wandering line of +thought, threw in darkly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because they haven't any graduates for homes like hers, Mother," +Alexandra supplied. "She keeps eight or nine housemaids. The college is +only to supply the average home, don't you see? Where only one or two +are kept—that's their idea." +</P> + +<P> +"And do they suppose that the average American woman is willing to go +right on paying thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents for a maid?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked mildly. +</P> + +<P> +"For five in family, Mother! Justine would only be thirty if three dear +little strangers hadn't come to brighten your home," Sandy reminded +her. "Besides," she went on, "Justine was telling me only a day or two +ago of their latest scheme—they are arranging so that a girl can +manage two houses in the same neighborhood. She gets breakfast for the +Joneses, say; leaves at nine for market; orders for both families; goes +to the Smiths and serves their hearty meal at noon; goes back to the +Joneses at five, and serves dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"And what does she get for all this?" Mrs. Salisbury asked in a +skeptical tone. +</P> + +<P> +"The Joneses pay her twenty-five, I believe, and the Smiths fifteen for +two in each family." +</P> + +<P> +"What's to prevent the two families having all meals together," Mrs. +Salisbury asked, "instead of having to patch out with meals when they +had no maid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose they could. Then she'd get her original thirty, and +five more for the two extra—you see, it comes out the same, +thirty-five dollars a month. Perhaps families will pool their expenses +that way some day. It would save buying, too, and table linen, and gas +and fuel. And it would be fun! All at our house this month, and all at +Aunt Mat's next month!" +</P> + +<P> +"There's one serious objection to sharing a maid," Mrs. Salisbury +presently submitted; "she would tell the other family all your private +business." +</P> + +<P> +"If they chose to pump her, she might," Alexandra said, with +unintentional rebuke, and Mr. Salisbury added amusedly: +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, no, Mother! That's an exploded theory. How much has Justine +told you of her last place?" +</P> + +<P> +"But that's no proof she WOULDN'T, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury ended the talk +by rising from her chair, taking another nearer the reading lamp, and +opening a new magazine. "Justine is a sensible girl," she added, after +a moment. "I have always said that. When all the discussing and +theorizing in the world is done, it comes down to this: a servant in my +house shall do AS I SAY. I have told her that I dislike this ridiculous +club idea, and I expect to hear no more of the matter!" +</P> + +<P> +There came a day in December when Mrs. Salisbury came home from the +Forum Club in mid-afternoon. Her face was a little pale as she entered +the house, her lips tightly set. It was a Thursday afternoon, and +Justine's kitchen was empty. Lettuce and peeled potatoes were growing +crisp in yellow bowls of ice water, breaded cutlets were in the ice +chest, a custard cooled in a north window. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury walked rapidly through the lower rooms, came back to the +library, and sat down at her desk. A fire was laid in the wide, +comfortable fireplace, but she did not light it. She sat, hatted, +veiled and gloved, staring fixedly ahead of her for some moments. Then +she said aloud, in a firm but quiet voice: "Well, this positively ENDS +it!" +</P> + +<P> +A delicate film of dust obscured the shining surface of the writing +table. Mrs. Salisbury's mouth curved into a cold smile when she saw it; +and again she spoke aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents, indeed!" she said. "Ha!" +</P> + +<P> +Nearly two hours later Alexandra rushed in. Alexandra looked her +prettiest; she was wearing new furs for the first time; her face was +radiantly fresh, under the sweep of her velvet hat. She found her +mother stretched comfortably on the library couch with a book. Mrs. +Salisbury smiled, and there was a certain placid triumph in her smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Here you are, Mother!" Alexandra burst out joyously. "Mother, I've +just had the most extraordinary experience of my life!" She sat down +beside the couch, her eyes dancing, her cheeks two roses, and pushed +back her furs, and flung her gloves aside. "My dear," said Alexandra, +catching up the bunch of violets she held for an ecstatic sniff, and +then dropping it in her lap again, "wait until I tell you—I'm engaged!" +</P> + +<P> +"My darling girl—" Mrs. Salisbury said, rapturously, faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"To Owen, of course," Alexandra rushed on radiantly. "But wait until I +tell you! It's the most awful thing I ever did in my life, in a WAY," +she interrupted herself to say more soberly. Her voice died away, and +her eyes grew dreamy. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury's heart, rising giddily to heaven on a swift rush of +thanks, felt a cold check. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you mean awful, dear?" she said apprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, wait, and I'll tell you," Alexandra said, recalled and dimpling +again. "I met Jim Vance and Owen this morning at about twelve, and Jim +simply got red as a beet, and vanished—poor Jim!" The girl paid the +tribute of a little sigh to the discarded suitor. "So then Owen asked +me to lunch with him—right there in the Women's exchange, so it was +quite comme il faut, Mother," she pursued, "and, my dear! he told me, +as calmly as THAT!—that he might go to New York when Jim goes—Jim's +going to visit a lot of Eastern relatives!—so that he, Owen I mean, +could study some Eastern settlement houses and get some ideas—" +</P> + +<P> +"I think the country is going mad on this subject of settlement houses, +and reforms, and hygiene!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with some sharpness. +"However, go on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Owen spoke to me a little about—about Jim's liking me, you +know," Alexandra continued. "You know Owen can get awfully red and +choky over a thing like that," she broke off to say animatedly. "But +to-day he wasn't—he was just brotherly and sweet. And, Mother, he got +so confidential, you know, that I simply PULLED my courage together, +and I determined to talk honestly to him. I clasped my hands—I could +see in one of the mirrors that I looked awfully nice, and that +helped!—I clasped my hands, and I looked right into his eyes, and I +said, quietly, you know, 'Owen,' I said 'I'm going to tell you the +truth. You ask me why I don't care for Jim; this is the reason. I like +you too much to care for any other man that way. I don't want you to +say anything now, Owen,' I said, 'or to think I expect you to tell me +that you have always cared for me. That'd be too FLAT. And I'm not +going to say that I'll never care for anyone else, for I'm only twenty, +and I don't know. But I couldn't see so much of you, Owen,' I said, +'and not care for you, and it seems as natural to tell you so as it +would for me to tell another girl. You worry sometimes because you +can't remember your father,' I said, 'and because your mother is so +undemonstrative with you; but I want you to think, the next time you +feel sort of out of it, that there is a woman who really and truly +thinks that you are the best man in the world—'" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury had risen to a sitting position; her eyes, fixed upon +her daughter's face, were filled with utter horror. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not serious, my child!" she gasped. "Alexandra, tell me that +this is some monstrous joke—" +</P> + +<P> +"Serious! I never was more serious in my life," the girl said stoutly. +"I said just that. It was easy enough, after I once got started. And I +thought to myself, even then, that if he didn't care he'd be decent +enough to say so honestly—" +</P> + +<P> +"But, my child—my CHILD!" the mother said, beside herself with +outraged pride. "You cannot mean that you so far forgot a woman's +natural delicacy—her natural shrinking—her dignity—Why, what must +Owen think of you! Can't you SEE what a dreadful thing you've done, +dear!" Her mind, working desperately for an escape from the unbearable +situation, seized upon a possible explanation. "My darling," she said, +"you must try at once to convince him that you were only joking—you +can say half-laughingly—" +</P> + +<P> +"But wait!" Alexandra interrupted, unruffled. "He put his hand over +mine, and he turned as red as a beet—I wish you could have seen his +face, Mother!—and he said—But," and the happy color flooded her face, +"I honestly can't tell you what he said, Mother," Alexandra confessed. +"Only it was DARLING, and he is honestly the best man I ever saw in my +life!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, dearest, dearest," her mother said, with desperate appeal. "Don't +you see that you can't possibly allow things to remain this way? Your +dignity, dear, the most precious thing a girl has, you've simply thrown +it to the winds! Do you want Owen to remind you some day that YOU were +the one to speak first?" Her voice sank distressfully, a shamed red +burned in her cheeks. "Do you want Owen to be able to say that you +cared, and admitted that you cared, before he did?" +</P> + +<P> +Alexandra, staring blankly at her mother, now burst into a gay laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mother, aren't you DARLING—but you're so funny!" she said. "Don't +you suppose I know Owen well enough to know whether he cares for me or +not? He doesn't know it himself, that's the whole point, or rather he +DIDN'T, for he does now! And he'll go on caring more and more every +minute, you'll see! He might have been months finding it out, even if +he didn't go off to New York with Jim, and marry some little designing +dolly-mop of an actress, or some girl he met on the train. Owen's the +sort of dear, big, old, blundering fellow that you have to PROTECT, +Mother. And it came up so naturally—if you'd been there—" +</P> + +<P> +"I thank Heaven I was not there!" Mrs. Salisbury said feelingly. "Came +up naturally! Alexandra, what are you MADE of? Where are your natural +feelings? Why, do you realize that your Grandmother Porter kept your +grandfather waiting three months for an answer, even? She lived to be +an old, old lady, and she used to say that a woman ought never let her +husband know how much she cared for him, and Grandfather Porter +RESPECTED and ADMIRED your grandmother until the day of her death!" +</P> + +<P> +"A dear, cold-blooded old lady she must have been!" said Alexandra, +unimpressed. +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary," Mrs. Salisbury said quickly. "She was a beautiful +and dignified woman. And when your father first began to call upon me," +she went on impressively, "and Mattie teased me about him, I was so +furious—my feelings were so outraged!—that I went upstairs and cried +a whole evening, and wouldn't see him for DAYS!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, dearest," Alexandra said cheerfully, "You may have been a +perfect little lady, but it's painfully evident that I take after the +other side of the house! As for Owen ever having the nerve to suggest +that I gave him a pretty broad hint—" the girl's voice was carried +away on a gale of cheerful laughter. "He'd get no dessert for weeks to +come!" she threatened gaily. "You know I'm convinced, Mother," Sandy +went on more seriously, "that this business of a man's doing all the +asking is going out. When women have their own industrial freedom, and +their own well-paid work, it'll be a great compliment to suggest to a +man that one's willing to give everything up, and keep his house and +raise his children for him. And if, for any reason, he SHOULDN'T care +for that girl, she'll not be embarrassed—" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Salisbury shut her eyes, her face and form rigid, one hand +spasmodically clutching the couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Alexandra, I BEG—" she said faintly, "I ENTREAT that you will not +expect me to listen to such outrageous and indelicate and COARSE—yes, +coarse!—theories! Think what you will, but don't ask your mother—" +</P> + +<P> +"Now, listen, darling," Alexandra said soothingly, kneeling down and +gathering her mother affectionately in her arms, "Owen did every bit of +this except the very first second and, if you'll just FORGET IT, in a +few months he'll be thinking he did it all! Wait until you see him; +he's walking on air! He's dazed. My dear"—the strain of happy +confidence was running smoothly again—"my dear, we lunched together, +and then we went out in the car to Burning Woods, and sat there on the +porch, and talked and TALKED. It was perfectly wonderful! Now, he's +gone to tell his mother, but he's coming back to take us all to dinner. +Is that all right? And, Mother, that reminds me, we are going to live +in the new Settlement House, and have a girl like Justine!" +</P> + +<P> +"WHAT!" Mrs. Salisbury said, smitten sick with disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +"Or Justine herself, if you'll let us have her," Sandy went on. "You +see, living in that big Sargent house—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that Owen's mother doesn't want to give up that house?" +Mrs. Salisbury asked coldly. "I thought it was Owen's?" +</P> + +<P> +"It IS Owen's, Mother, but fancy living there!" Sandy said vivaciously. +"Why, I'd have to keep seven or eight maids, and do nothing but manage +them, and do just as everyone else does!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'd be the richest young matron in town," her mother said bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know, Mother, but that seems sort of mean to the other girls! +Anyway, we'd much rather live in the ducky little Settlement house, and +entertain our friends at the Club, do you see? And Justine is to run a +little cooking school, do you see? For everyone says that management of +food and money is the most important thing to teach the poorer class. +Won't that be great?" +</P> + +<P> +"I personally can't agree with you," the mother said lifelessly. "Here +I spend all my life since your babyhood trying to make friends for you +among the nicest people, trying to establish our family upon an equal +basis with much richer people, and you, instead of living as you +should, with beautiful things about you, choose to go down to River +Street, and drudge among the slums!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come, Mother; River Street is the breeziest, prettiest part of +town, with the river and those fields opposite. Wait until we clean it +up, and get some gardens going—" +</P> + +<P> +"As for Justine, I am DONE with her," continued the older woman +dispassionately. "All this has rather put it out of my head, but I +meant to tell you at once, she goes out of my house THIS WEEK! Against +my express wish, she was the guest of the Forum Club to-day. 'Miss J. +C. Harrison,' the program said, and I could hardly believe my eyes when +I saw Justine! She had on a black charmeuse gown, black velvet about +her hair—and I was supposed to sit there and listen to my own maid! I +slipped out; it was too much. To-morrow morning," Mrs. Salisbury ended +dramatically, "I dismiss her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother!" said Alexandra, aghast. "What reason will you give her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall give her no reason," Mrs. Salisbury said sternly. "I am +through with apologies to servants! To-morrow I shall apply at Crosby's +for a good, old-fashioned maid, who doesn't have to have her daily +bath, and doesn't expect to be entertained at my club!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, listen, darling," Alexandra pleaded. "DON'T make a fuss now. +Justine was my darling belle-mere's guest to-day, don't you see? It'll +be so awkward, scrapping right in the face of Owen's news. Couldn't you +sort of shelve the Justine question for a while?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dearie, be advised," Mrs. Salisbury said, with solemn warning. "You +DON'T want a girl like that, dear. You will be a SOMEBODY, Sandy. You +can't do just what any other girl would do, as Owen Sargent's wife! +Don't live with Mrs. Sargent if you don't want to, but take a pretty +house, dear. Have two or three little maids, in nice caps and aprons. +Why, Alice Snow, whose husband is merely an automobile salesman, has a +LOVELY home! It's small, of course, but you could have your choice!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, nothing's settled!" Alexandra rose to go upstairs, gathered her +furs about her. "Only promise me to let Justine's question stand," she +begged. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury consented unwillingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, there's Dad!" Alexandra cried suddenly, as the front door opened +and shut. With a joyous rush, she flew to meet him, and Mrs. Salisbury +could imagine, from the sounds she heard, exactly how Sandy and her +great news and her furs and her father's kisses were all mixed up +together. "What—what—what—why, what am I going to do for a girl?" +"Oh, Dad, darling, say that you're glad!" "Luckiest fellow this side of +the Rocky Mountains, and I'll tell him so!" "And you and Mother to dine +with us every week, promise that, Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +She heard them settle down on the lowest step, Sandy obviously in her +father's lap; heard the steady murmur of confidence and advice. +</P> + +<P> +"Wise girl, wise girl," she heard the man's voice say. "That keeps you +in touch with life, Sandy; that's real. And then, if some day you have +reasons for wanting a bigger house and a more quiet neighborhood—" +Several frantic kisses interrupted the speaker here, but he presently +went on: "Why, you can always move! Meantime, you and Owen are helping +less fortunate people, you're building up a lot of wonderful +associations—" +</P> + +<P> +Well, it was all probably for the best; it would turn out quite +satisfactorily for everyone, thought the mother, sitting in the +darkening library, and staring rather drearily before her. Sandy would +have children, and children must have big rooms and sunshine, if it can +be managed possibly. The young Sargents would fall nicely into line, as +householders, as parents, as hospitable members of society. +</P> + +<P> +But it was all so different from her dreams, of a giddy, spoiled Sandy, +the petted wife of an adoring rich man; a Sandy despotically and yet +generously ruling servants, not consulting Justine as an equal, in a +world of working women— +</P> + +<P> +And she was not even to have the satisfaction of discharging Justine! +The maid had her rights, her place in the scheme of things, her pride. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare, times have changed!" Mrs. Salisbury said to herself +involuntarily. She mused over the well-worn phrase; she had never used +it herself before; its truth struck her forcibly for the first time. +</P> + +<P> +"I remember my mother saying that," thought she, "and how old-fashioned +and conventional we thought her! I remember she said it when Mat and I +went to dances, after we were married; it seemed almost wrong to her! +Dear me! And I remember Ma's horror when Mat went to a hospital for her +first baby. 'If there is a thing that belongs at home,' Ma said, 'it +does seem to me it's a baby!' And my asking people to dinner by +telephone, and the Fosters having two bathrooms in their house—Ma +thought that such a ridiculous affectation! But what WOULD she say now? +For those things were only trifles, after all," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, +in all honesty. "But NOW, why, the world is simply being turned upside +down with these crazy new notions!" And again she paused, surprised to +hear herself using another old, familiar phrase. "Ma used to say that +very thing, too," said Mrs. Salisbury to herself. "Poor Ma!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure, by Kathleen Norris + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE *** + +***** This file should be named 4211-h.htm or 4211-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/4211/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Treasure + +Author: Kathleen Norris + +Posting Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #4211] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 11, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +THE TREASURE + +KATHLEEN NORRIS + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Lizzie, who happened to be the Salisbury's one servant at the time, was +wasteful. It was almost her only fault, in Mrs. Salisbury's eyes, for +such trifles as her habit of becoming excited and "saucy," in moments +of domestic stress, or to ask boldly for other holidays than her +alternate Sunday and Thursday afternoons, or to resent at all times the +intrusion of any person, even her mistress, into her immaculate +kitchen, might have been overlooked. Mrs. Salisbury had been keeping +house in a suburban town for twenty years; she was not considered an +exacting mistress. She was perfectly willing to forgive Lizzie what was +said in the hurried hours before the company dinner or impromptu lunch, +and to let Lizzie slip out for a walk with her sister in the evening, +and to keep out of the kitchen herself as much as was possible. So much +might be conceded to a girl who was honest and clean, industrious, +respectable, and a fair cook. + +But the wastefulness was a serious matter. Mrs. Salisbury was a careful +and an experienced manager; she resented waste; indeed, she could not +afford to tolerate it. She liked to go into the kitchen herself every +morning, to eye the contents of icebox and pantry, and decide upon +needed stores. Enough butter, enough cold meat for dinner, enough milk +for a nourishing soup, eggs and salad for luncheon--what about potatoes? + +Lizzie deliberately frustrated this house-wifely ambition. She flounced +and muttered when other hands than her own were laid upon her icebox. +She turned on rushing faucets, rattled dishes in her pan. Yet Mrs. +Salisbury felt that she must personally superintend these matters, +because Lizzie was so wasteful. The girl had not been three months in +the Salisbury family before all bills for supplies soared alarmingly. + +This was all wrong. Mrs. Salisbury fretted over it a few weeks, then +confided her concern to her husband. But Kane Salisbury would not +listen to the details. He scowled at the introduction of the topic, +glanced restlessly at his paper, murmured that Lizzie might be "fired"; +and, when Mrs. Salisbury had resolutely bottled up her seething +discontent inside of herself, she sometimes heard him murmuring, +"Bad--bad--management" as he sat chewing his pipe-stem on the dark +porch or beside the fire. + +Alexandra, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the house, was equally +incurious and unreasonable about domestic details. + +"But, honestly, Mother, you know you're afraid of Lizzie, and she knows +it," Alexandra would declare gaily; "I can't tell you how I'd manage +her, because she's not my servant, but I know I would do something!" + +Beauty and intelligence gave Alexandra, even at eighteen, a certain +serene poise and self-reliance that lifted her above the old-fashioned +topics of "trouble with girls," and housekeeping, and marketing. +Alexandra touched these subjects under the titles of "budgets," +"domestic science," and "efficiency." Neither she nor her mother +recognized the old, homely subjects under their new names, and so the +daughter felt a lack of interest, and the mother a lack of sympathy, +that kept them from understanding each other. Alexandra, ready to meet +and conquer all the troubles of a badly managed world, felt that one +small home did not present a very terrible problem. Poor Mrs. Salisbury +only knew that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep a general +servant at all in a family of five, and that her husband's salary, of +something a little less than four thousand dollars a year, did not at +all seem the princely sum that they would have thought it when they +were married on twenty dollars a week. + +From the younger members of the family, Fred, who was fifteen, and +Stanford, three years younger, she expected, and got, no sympathy. The +three young Salisburys found money interesting only when they needed it +for new gowns, or matinee tickets, or tennis rackets, or some kindred +purchase. They needed it desperately, asked for it, got it, spent it, +and gave it no further thought. It meant nothing to them that Lizzie +was wasteful. It was only to their mother that the girl's slipshod ways +were becoming an absolute trial. + +Lizzie, very neat and respectful, would interfere with Mrs. Salisbury's +plan of a visit to the kitchen by appearing to ask for instructions +before breakfast was fairly over. When the man of the house had gone, +and before the children appeared, Lizzie would inquire: + +"Just yourselves for dinner, Mrs. Salisbury?" + +"Just ourselves. Let--me--see--" Mrs. Salisbury would lay down her +newspaper, stir her cooling coffee. The memory of last night's +vegetables would rise before her; there must be baked onions left, and +some of the corn. + +"There was some lamb left, wasn't there?" she might ask. + +Amazement on Lizzie's part. + +"That wasn't such an awful big leg, Mrs. Salisbury. And the boys had +Perry White in, you know. There's just a little plateful left. I gave +Sam the bones." + +Mrs. Salisbury could imagine the plateful: small, neat, cold. + +"Sometimes I think that if you left the joint on the platter, Lizzie, +there are scrapings, you know--" she might suggest. + +"I scraped it," Lizzie would answer briefly, conclusively. + +"Well, that for lunch, then, for Miss Sandy and me," Mrs. Salisbury +would decide hastily. "I'll order something fresh for dinner. Were +there any vegetables left?" + +"There were a few potatoes, enough for lunch," Lizzie would admit +guardedly. + +"I'll order vegetables, too, then!" And Mrs. Salisbury would sigh. +Every housekeeper knows that there is no economy in ordering afresh for +every meal. + +"And we need butter--" + +"Butter again! Those two pounds gone?" + +"There's a little piece left, not enough, though. And I'm on my last +cake of soap, and we need crackers, and vanilla, and sugar, unless +you're not going to have a dessert, and salad oil--" + +"Just get me a pencil, will you?" This was as usual. Mrs. Salisbury +would pencil a long list, would bite her lips thoughtfully, and sigh as +she read it over. + +"Asparagus to-night, then. And, Lizzie, don't serve so much melted +butter with it as you did last time; there must have been a cupful of +melted butter. And, another time, save what little scraps of vegetables +there are left; they help out so at lunch--" + +"There wasn't a saucerful of onions left last night," Lizzie would +assert, "and two cobs of corn, after I'd had my dinner. You couldn't do +much with those. And, as for butter on the asparagus"--Lizzie was very +respectful, but her tone would rise aggrievedly--"it was every bit +eaten, Mrs. Salisbury!" + +"Yes, I know. But we mustn't let these young vandals eat us out of +house and home, you know," the mistress would say, feeling as if she +were doing something contemptibly small. And, worsted, she would return +to her paper. "But I don't care, we cannot afford it!" Mrs. Salisbury +would say to herself, when Lizzie had gone, and very thoughtfully she +would write out a check payable to "cash." "I used to use up little +odds and ends so deliciously, years ago!" she sometimes reflected +disconsolately. "And Kane always says we never live as well now as we +did then! He always praised my dinners." + +Nowadays Mr. Salisbury was not so well satisfied. Lizzie rang the +changes upon roasted and fried meats, boiled and creamed vegetables, +baked puddings and canned fruits contentedly enough. She made cup cake +and sponge cake, sponge cake and cup cake all the year round. Nothing +was ever changed, no unexpected flavor ever surprised the palates of +the Salisbury family. May brought strawberry shortcake, December +cottage puddings, cold beef always made a stew; creamed codfish was +never served without baked potatoes. The Salisbury table was a +duplicate of some millions of other tables, scattered the length and +breadth of the land. + +"And still the bills go up!" fretted Mrs. Salisbury. + +"Well, why don't you fire her, Sally?" her husband asked, as he had +asked of almost every maid they had ever had--of lazy Annies, and +untidy Selmas, and ignorant Katies. And, as always, Mrs. Salisbury +answered patiently: + +"Oh, Kane, what's the use? It simply means my going to Miss Crosby's +again, and facing that awful row of them, and beginning that I have +three grown children, and no other help--" + +"Mother, have you ever had a perfect maid?" Sandy had asked earnestly +years before. Her mother spent a moment in reflection, arresting the +hand with which she was polishing silver. Alexandra was only sixteen +then, and mother and daughter were bridging a gap when there was no +maid at all in the Salisbury kitchen. + +"Well, there was Libby," the mother answered at length, "the colored +girl I had when you were born. She really was perfect, in a way. She +was a clean darky, and such a cook! Daddy talks still of her fried +chicken and blueberry pies! And she loved company, too. But, you see, +Grandma Salisbury was with us then, and she paid a little girl to look +after you, so Libby had really nothing but the kitchen and dining-room +to care for. Afterward, just before Fred came, she got lazy and ugly, +and I had to let her go. Canadian Annie was a wonderful girl, too," +pursued Mrs. Salisbury, "but we only had her two months. Then she got a +place where there were no children, and left on two days' notice. And +when I think of the others!--the Hungarian girl who boiled two pairs of +Fred's little brown socks and darkened the entire wash, sheets and +napkins and all! And the colored girl who drank, and the girl who gave +us boiled rice for dessert whenever I forgot to tell her anything else! +And then Dad and I never will forget the woman who put pudding sauce on +his mutton--dear me, dear me!" And Mrs. Salisbury laughed out at the +memory. "Between her not knowing one thing, and not understanding a +word we said, she was pretty trying all around!" she presently added. +"And, of course, the instant you have them really trained they leave; +and that's the end of that! One left me the day Stan was born, and +another--and she was a nice girl, too--simply departed when you three +were all down with scarlet fever, and left her bed unmade, and the tea +cup and saucer from her breakfast on the end of the kitchen table! +Luckily we had a wonderful nurse, and she simply took hold and saved +the day." + +"Isn't it a wonder that there isn't a training school for house +servants?" Sandy had inquired, youthful interest in her eye. + +"There's no such thing," her mother assured her positively, "as getting +one who knows her business! And why? Why, because all the smart girls +prefer to go into factories, and slave away for three or four dollars a +week, instead of coming into good homes! Do Pearsall and Thompson ever +have any difficulty in getting girls for the glove factory? Never! +There's a line of them waiting, a block long, every time they +advertise. But you may make up your mind to it, dear, if you get a good +cook, she's wasteful or she's lazy, or she's irritable, or dirty, or +she won't wait on table, or she slips out at night, and laughs under +street lamps with some man or other! She's always on your mind, and +she's always an irritation." + +"It just shows what a hopelessly stupid class you have to deal with, +Mother," the younger Sandy had said. But at eighteen, she was not so +sure. + +Alexandra frankly hated housework, and she did not know how to cook. +She did not think it strange that it was hard to find a clever and +well-trained young woman who would gladly spend all her time in +housework and cooking for something less than three hundred dollars a +year. Her eyes were beginning to be opened to the immense moral and +social questions that lie behind the simple preference of American +girls to work for men rather than for women. Household work was women's +sphere, Sandy reasoned, and they had made it a sphere insufferable to +other women. Something was wrong. + +Sandy was too young, and too mentally independent, to enter very +sympathetically into her mother's side of the matter. The younger +woman's attitude was tinged with affectionate contempt, and when the +stupidity of the maid, or the inconvenience of having no maid at all, +interfered with the smooth current of her life, or her busy comings and +goings, she became impatient and intolerant. + +"Other people manage!" said Alexandra. + +"Who, for instance?" demanded her mother, in calm exasperation. + +"Oh, everyone--the Bernards, the Watermans! Doilies and finger bowls, +and Elsie in a cap and apron!" + +"But Doctor and Mrs. Bernard are old people, dear, and the Watermans +are three business women--no lunch, no children, very little company!" + +"Well, Grace Elliot, then!" + +"With two maids, Sandy. That's a very different matter!" + +"And is there any reason why we shouldn't have two?" asked Sandy, with +youthful logic. + +"Ah, well, there you come to the question of expense, dear!" And Mrs. +Salisbury dismissed the subject with a quiet air of triumph. + +But of course the topic came up again. It is the one household ghost +that is never laid in such a family. Sometimes Kane Salisbury himself +took a part in it. + +"Do you mean to tell me," he once demanded, in the days of the +dreadfully incompetent maids who preceded Lizzie, "that it is becoming +practically impossible to get a good general servant?" + +"Well, I wish you'd try it yourself," his wife answered, grimly quiet. +"It's just about wearing me out! I don't know what has become of the +good old maid-of-all-work," she presently pursued, with a sigh, "but +she has simply vanished from the face of the earth. Even the greenest +girls fresh from the other side begin to talk about having the washing +put out, and to have extra help come in to wash windows and beat rugs! +I don't know what we're coming to--you teach them to tell a blanket +from a sheet, and how to boil coffee, and set a table, and then away +they go to get more money somewhere. Dear me! Your father's mother used +to have girls who had the wash on the line before eight o'clock--" + +"Yes, but then Grandma's house was simpler," Sandy contributed, a +little doubtfully. "You know, Grandma never put on any style, Mother--" + +"Her house was always one of the most comfortable, most hospitable--" + +"Yes, I know, Mother!" Alexandra persisted eagerly. "But Fanny never +had to answer the door, and Grandma used to let her leave the +tablecloth on between meals--Grandma told me so herself!--and no +fussing with doilies, or service plates under the soup plates, or glass +saucers for dessert. And Grandma herself used to help wipe dishes, or +sometimes set the table, and make the beds, if there was company--" + +"That may be," Mrs. Salisbury had the satisfaction of answering coldly. +"Perhaps she did, although _I_ never remember hearing her say so. But +my mother always had colored servants, and I never saw her so much as +dust the piano!" + +"I suppose we couldn't simplify things, Sally? Cut out some of the +extra touches?" suggested the head of the house. + +Mrs. Salisbury merely shook her head, compressing her lips firmly. It +was quite difficult enough to keep things "nice," with two growing boys +in the family, without encountering such opposition as this. A day or +two later she went into New Troy, the nearest big city, and came back +triumphantly with Lizzie. + +And at first Lizzie really did seem perfection. It was some weeks +before Mrs. Salisbury realized that Lizzie was not truthful; absolutely +reliable in money matters, yet Lizzie could not be believed in the +simplest statement. Tasteless oatmeal, Lizzie glibly asseverated, had +been well salted; weak coffee, or coffee as strong as brown paint, were +the fault of the pot. Lizzie, rushing through dinner so that she might +get out; Lizzie throwing out cold vegetables that "weren't worth +saving"; Lizzie growing snappy and noisy at the first hint of +criticism, somehow seemed worse sometimes than no servant at all. + +"I wonder--if we moved into New Troy, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury mused, "and +got one of those wonderful modern apartments, with a gas stove, and a +dumbwaiter, and hardwood floors, if Sandy and I couldn't manage +everything? With a woman to clean and dinners downtown now and then, +and a waitress in for occasions." + +"And me jumping up to change the salad plates, Mother!" Alexandra put +in briskly. "And a pile of dishes to do every night!" + +"Gosh, let's not move into the city--" protested Stanford. "No tennis, +no canoe, no baseball!" + +"And we know everyone in River Falls, we'd have to keep coming out here +for parties!" Sandy added. + +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, "I admit that it is too much of a +problem for me!" she said. "I know that I married your father on twenty +dollars a week," she told the children severely, "and we lived in a +dear little cottage, only eighteen dollars a month, and I did all my +own work! And never in our lives have we lived so well. But the minute +you get inexperienced help, your bills simply double, and inexperienced +help means simply one annoyance after another. I give it up!" + +"Well, I'll tell you, Mother," Alexandra offered innocently; "perhaps +we don't systematize enough ourselves. It ought to be all so well +arranged and regulated that a girl would know what she was expected to +do, and know that you had a perfect right to call her down for wasting +or slighting things. Why couldn't women--a bunch of women, say--" + +"Why couldn't they form a set of household rules and regulations?" her +mother intercepted smoothly. "Because--it's just one of the things that +you young, inexperienced people can talk very easily about," she +interrupted herself to say with feeling, "but it never seems to occur +to any one of you that every household has its different demands and +regulations. The market fluctuates, the size of a family changes--fixed +laws are impossible! No. Lizzie is no worse than lots of others, better +than the average. I shall hold on to her!" + +"Mrs. Sargent says that all these unnecessary demands have been +instituted and insisted upon by women," said Alexandra. "She says that +the secret of the whole trouble is that women try to live above their +class, and make one servant appear to do the work of three--" + +The introduction of Mrs. Sargent's name was not a happy one. + +"Ellen Sargent," said Mrs. Salisbury icily, "is not a lady herself, in +the true sense of the word, and she does very well to talk about class +distinctions! She was his stenographer when Cyrus Sargent married her, +and the daughter of a tannery hand. Now, just because she has millions, +I am not going to be impressed by anything Ellen Sargent does or says!" + +"Mother, I don't think she meant quality by 'class,'" Sandy protested. +"Everyone knows that Grandfather was General Stanford, and all that! +But I think she meant, in a way, the money side of it, the financial +division of people into classes!" + +"We won't discuss her," decided Mrs. Salisbury majestically. "The money +standard is one I am not anxious to judge my friends by!" + +Still, with the rest of the family, Mrs. Salisbury was relieved when +Lizzie, shortly after this, decided of her own accord to accept a +better-paid position. "Unless, Mama says, you'd care to raise me to +seven a week," said Lizzie, in parting. + +"No, no, I cannot pay that," Mrs. Salisbury said firmly and Lizzie +accordingly left. + +Her place was taken by a middle-aged French woman, and whipped cream +and the subtle flavor of sherry began to appear in the Salisbury bills +of fare. Germaine had no idea whatever of time, and Sandy perforce must +set the table whenever there was a company dinner afoot, and lend a +hand with the last preparations as well. The kitchen was never really +in order in these days, but Germaine cooked deliciously, and Mrs. +Salisbury gave eight dinners and a club luncheon during the month of +her reign. Then the French woman grew more and more irregular as to +hours, and more utterly unreliable as to meals; sometimes the family +fared delightfully, sometimes there was almost nothing for dinner. +Germaine seemed to fade from sight, not entirely of her own volition, +not really discharged; simply she was gone. A Norwegian girl came next, +a good-natured, blundering creature whose English was just enough to +utterly confuse herself and everyone else. Freda's mistakes were not +half so funny in the making as Alexandra made them in anecdotes +afterward; and Freda was given to weird chanting, accompanying herself +with a banjo, throughout the evenings. Finally a blonde giant known as +"Freda's cousin" came to see her, and Kane Salisbury, followed by his +elated and excited boys, had to eject Freda's cousin early in the +evening, while Freda wept and chattered to the ladies of the house. +After that the cousin called often to ask for her, but Freda had +vanished the day after this event, and the Salisburys never heard of +her again. + +They tried another Norwegian, then a Polack, then a Scandinavian. Then +they had a German man and wife for a week, a couple who asserted that +they would work, without pay, for a good home. This was a most +uncomfortable experience, unsuccessful from the first instant. Then +came a low-voiced, good-natured South American negress, Marthe, not +much of a cook, but willing and strong. + +July was mercilessly hot that year, thirty-one burning days of +sunshine. Mrs. Salisbury was not a very strong woman, and she had a +great many visitors to entertain. She kept Marthe, because the colored +woman did not resent constant supervision, and an almost hourly change +of plans. Mrs. Salisbury did almost all of the cooking herself, fussing +for hours in the hot kitchen over the cold meats and salads and ices +that formed the little informal cold suppers to which the Salisburys +loved to ask their friends on Saturday and Sunday nights. + +Alexandra helped fitfully. She would put her pretty head into the +kitchen doorway, perhaps to find her mother icing cake. + +"Listen, Mother; I'm going over to Con's. She's got that new serve down +to a fine point! And I've done the boys' room and the guest room; it's +all ready for the Cutters. And I put towels and soap in the bathroom, +only you'll have to have Marthe wipe up the floor and the tub." + +"You're a darling child," the mother would say gratefully. + +"Darling nothing!" And Sandy, with her protest, would lay a cool cheek +against her mother's hot one. "Do you have to stay out here, Mother?" +she would ask resentfully. "Can't the Culled Lady do this?" + +"Well, I left her to watch it, and it burned," Mrs. Salisbury would +say, "so now it has to be pared and frosted. Such a bother! But this is +the very last thing, dear. You run along; I'll be out of here in two +minutes!" + +But it was always something more than two minutes. Sometimes even Kane +Salisbury was led to protest. + +"Can't we eat less, dear? Or differently? Isn't there some simple way +of managing this week-end supper business? Now, Brewer--Brewer manages +it awfully well. He has his man set out a big cold roast or two, +cheese, and coffee, and a bowlful of salad, and beer. He'll get a fruit +pie from the club sometimes, or pastries, or a pot of marmalade--" + +"Yes, indeed, we must try to simplify," Mrs. Salisbury would agree +brightly. But after such a conversation as this she would go over her +accounts very soberly indeed. "Roasts--cheeses--fruit pies!" she would +say bitterly to herself. "Why is it that a man will spend as much on a +single lunch for his friends as a woman is supposed to spend on her +table for a whole week, and then ask her what on earth she has done +with her money!" + +"Kane, I wish you would go over my accounts," she said one evening, in +desperation. "Just suggest where you would cut down!" + +Mr. Salisbury ran his eye carelessly over the pages of the little +ledger. + +"Roast beef, two-forty?" he presently read aloud, questioningly. + +"Twenty-two cents a pound," his wife answered simply. But the man's +slight frown deepened. + +"Too much--too much!" he said, shaking his head. + +Mrs. Salisbury let him read on a moment, turn a page or two. Then she +said, in a dead calm: + +"Do you think my roasts are too big, Kane?" + +"Too big? On the contrary," her husband answered briskly, "I like a big +roast. Sometimes ours are skimpy-looking before they're even cut!" + +"Well!" Mrs. Salisbury said triumphantly. + +Her smile apprised her husband that he was trapped, and he put down the +account book in natural irritation. + +"Well, my dear, it's your problem!" he said unsympathetically, +returning to his newspaper. "I run my business, I expect you to run +yours! If we can't live on our income, we'll have to move to a cheaper +house, that's all, or take Stanford out of school and put him to work. +Dickens says somewhere--and he never said a truer thing!" pursued the +man of the house comfortably, "that, if you spend a sixpence less than +your income every week, you are rich. If you spend a sixpence more, you +never may expect to be anything but poor!" + +Mrs. Salisbury did not answer. She took up her embroidery, whose bright +colors blurred and swam together through the tears that came to her +eyes. + +"Never expect to feel anything but poor!" she echoed sadly to herself. +"I am sure I never do! Things just seem to run away with me; I can't +seem to get hold of them. I don't see where it's going to end!" + +"Mother," said Alexandra, coming in from the kitchen, "Marthe says that +all that delicious chicken soup is spoiled. The idiot, she says that +you left it in the pantry to cool, and she forgot to put it on the ice! +Now, what shall we do, just skip soup, or get some beef extract and +season it up?" + +"Skip soup," said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully. + +"We can't very well, dear," said his wife patiently, "because the +dinner is just soup and a fish salad, and one needs the hot start in a +perfectly cold supper. No. I'll go out." + +"Can't you just tell me what to do?" asked Alexandra impatiently. + +But her mother had gone. The girl sat on the arm of the deserted chair, +swinging an idle foot. + +"I wish I could cook!" she fretted. + +"Can't you, Sandy?" her father asked. + +"Oh, some things! Rabbits and fudge and walnut wafers! But I mean that +I wish I understood sauces and vegetables and seasoning, and getting +things cooked all at the same moment! I don't mean that I'd like to do +it, but I would like to know how. Now, Mother'll scare up some +perfectly delicious soup for dinner, cream of something or other, and I +could do it perfectly well, if only I knew how!" + +"Suppose I paid you a regular salary, Sandy--" her father was +beginning, with the untiring hopefulness of the American father. But +the girl interrupted vivaciously: + +"Dad, darling, that isn't practical! I'd love it for about two days. +Then we'd settle right down to washing dishes, and setting tables, and +dusting and sweeping, and wiping up floors--horrors, horrors, horrors!" + +She left her perch to take in turn an arm of her father's chair. + +"Well, what's the solution, pussy?" asked Kane Salisbury, keenly +appreciative of the nearness of her youth and beauty. + +"It isn't that," said Sandy decidedly. "Of course," she pursued, "the +Gregorys get along without a maid, and use a fireless cooker, and drink +cereal coffee, but admit, darling, that you'd rather have me useless +and frivolous as I am!--than Gertrude or Florence or Winifred Gregory! +Why, when Floss was married, Dad, Gertrude played the piano, for music, +and for refreshments they had raspberry ice-cream and chocolate layer +cake!" + +"Well, I like chocolate layer cake," observed her father mildly. "I +thought that was a very pretty wedding; the sisters in their light +dresses--" + +"Dimity dresses at a wedding!" Alexandra reproached him, round-eyed. +"And they are so boisterously proud of the fact that they live on their +father's salary," she went on, arranging her own father's hair +fastidiously; "it's positively offensive the way they bounce up to +change plates and tell you how to make the neck of mutton appetizing, +or the heart of a cow, or whatever it is! And their father pushes the +chairs back, Dad, and helps roll up the napkins--I'd die if you ever +tried it!" + +"But they all work, too, don't they?" + +"Work? Of course they work! And every cent of it goes into the bank. +Winnie and Florence are buying gas shares, and Gertrude means to have a +year's study in Europe, if you please!" + +"That doesn't sound very terrible," said Kane Salisbury, smiling. But +some related thought darkened his eyes a moment later. "You wouldn't +have much gas stock if I was taken, Pussy," said he. + +"No, darling, and let that be a lesson to you not to die!" his daughter +said blithely. "But I could work, Dad," she added more seriously, "if +Mother didn't mind so awfully. Not in the kitchen, but somewhere. I'd +love to work in a settlement house." + +"Now, there you modern girls are," her father said. "Can't bear to +clear away the dinner plates in your own houses, yet you'll cheerfully +suggest going to live in the filthiest parts of the city, working, as +no servant is ever expected to work, for people you don't know!" + +"I know it's absurd," Sandy agreed, smiling. Her answer was ready +somewhere in her mind, but she could not quite find it. "But, you see, +that's a new problem," she presently offered, "that's ours to-day, just +as managing your house was Mother's when she married you. Circumstances +have changed. I couldn't ever take up the kitchen question just as it +presents itself to Mother. I--people my age don't believe in a servant +class. They just believe in a division of labor, all dignified. If some +girl I knew, Grace or Betty, say, came into our kitchen--and that +reminds me!" she broke off suddenly. + +"Of what?" + +"Why, of something Owen--Owen Sargent was saying a few days ago. His +mother's quite daffy about establishing social centers and clubs for +servant girls, you know, and she's gotten into this new thing, a sort +of college for servants. Now I'll ask Owen about it. I'll do that +to-morrow. That's just what I'll do!" + +"Tell me about it," her father said. But Alexandra shook her head. + +"I don't honestly know anything about it, Dad. But Owen had a lot of +papers and a sort of prospectus. His mother was wishing that she could +try one of the graduates, but she keeps six or seven house servants, +and it wouldn't be practicable. But I'll see. I never thought of us! +And I'll bring Owen home to dinner to-morrow. Is that all right, +Mother?" she asked, as her mother came back into the room. + +"Owen? Certainly, dear; we're always glad to see him," Mrs. Salisbury +said, a shade too casually, in a tone well calculated neither to alarm +nor encourage, balanced to keep events uninterruptedly in their natural +course. But Alexandra was too deep in thought to notice a tone. + +"You'll see--this is something entirely new, and just what we need!" +she said gaily. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The constant visits of Owen Sargent, had he been but a few years older, +and had Sandy been a few years older, would have filled Mrs. +Salisbury's heart with a wild maternal hope. As it was, with Sandy +barely nineteen, and Owen not quite twenty-two, she felt more +tantalizing discomfort in their friendship than satisfaction. Owen was +a dear boy, queer, of course, but fine in every way, and Sandy was +quite the prettiest girl in River Falls; but it was far too soon to +begin to hope that they would do the entirely suitable and acceptable +thing of falling in love with each other. "That would be quite too +perfect!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, watching them together. + +No; Owen was too rich to be overlooked by all sorts of other girls, +scrupulous and unscrupulous. Every time he went with his mother for a +week to Atlantic City or New York, Mrs. Salisbury writhed in +apprehension of the thousand lures that must be spread on all sides +about his lumbering feet. He was just the sweet, big, simple sort to be +trapped by some little empty-headed girl, some little marplot clever +enough to pretend an interest in the prison problem, or the free-milk +problem, or some other industrial problem in which Owen had seen fit to +interest himself. And her lovely, dignified Sandy, reflected the +mother, a match for him in every way, beautiful, good, clever, just the +woman to win him, by her own charm and the charms of children and home, +away from the somewhat unnatural interests with which he had surrounded +himself, must sit silent and watch him throw himself away. + +Sandy, of course, had never had any idea of Owen in this light, of that +her mother was quite sure. Sandy treated him as she did her own +brothers, frankly, despotically, delightfully. And perhaps it was +wiser, after all, not to give the child a hint, for it was evident that +the shy, gentle Owen was absolutely at home and happy in the Salisbury +home; nothing would be gained by making Sandy feel self-conscious and +responsible now. + +Mrs. Salisbury really did not like Owen Sargent very well, although his +money made her honestly think she did. He had a wide, pleasant, but +homely face, and an aureole of upstanding yellow hair, and a manner as +unaffected as might have been expected from the child of his plain old +genial father, and his mother, the daughter of a tanner. He lived +alone, with his widowed mother, in a pleasant, old-fashioned house, set +in park-like grounds that were the pride of River Falls. His mother +often asked waitresses' unions and fresh-air homes to make use of these +grounds for picnics, but Mrs. Salisbury knew that the house belonged to +Owen, and she liked to dream of a day when Sandy's babies should tumble +on those smooth lawns, and Sandy, erect and beautifully furred, should +bring her own smart little motor car through that tall iron gateway. + +These dreams made her almost effusive in her manner to Owen, and Owen, +who was no fool, understood perfectly what she was thinking of him; he +understood his own energetic, busy mother; and he understood Sandy's +mother, too. He knew that his money made him well worth any mother's +attention. + +But, like her mother, he believed Sandy too young to have taken any +cognizance of it. He thought the girl liked him as she liked anyone +else, for his own value, and he sometimes dreamed shyly of her pleasure +in suddenly realizing that Mrs. Owen Sargent would be a rich woman, the +mistress of a lovely home, the owner of beautiful jewels. + +Both, however, were mistaken in Sandy. Her blue, blue eyes, so oddly +effective under the silky fall of her straight, mouse-colored hair, +were very keen. She knew exactly why her mother suggested that Owen +should bring her here or there in the car, "Daddy and the boys and I +will go in our old trap, just behind you!" She knew that Owen thought +that her quick hand over his, in a game of hearts, the thoughtful stare +of her demure eyes, across the dinner table, the help she accepted so +casually, climbing into his big car--were all evidences that she was as +unconscious of his presence as Stan was. But in reality the future for +herself of which Sandy confidently dreamed was one in which, in all +innocent complacency, she took her place beside Owen as his wife. +Clumsy, wild-haired, bashful he might be at twenty-two, but the +farsighted Sandy saw him ten years, twenty years later, well groomed, +assured of manner, devotedly happy in his home life. She considered him +entirely unable to take care of himself, he needed a good wife. And a +good, true, devoted wife Sandy knew she would be, fulfilling to her +utmost power all his lonely, little-boy dreams of birthday parties and +Christmas revels. + +To do her justice, she really and deeply cared for him. Not with +passion, for of that as yet she knew nothing, but with a real and +absorbing affection. Sandy read "Love in a Valley" and the "Sonnets +from the Portuguese" in these days, and thought of Owen. Now and then +her well-disciplined little heart surprised her by an unexpected +flutter in his direction. + +She duly brought him home with her to dinner on the evening after her +little talk with her parents. Owen was usually to be found browsing +about the region where Sandy played marches twice a week for sewing +classes in a neighborhood house. They often met, and Sandy sometimes +went to have tea with his mother, and sometimes, as to-day, brought him +home with her. + +Owen had with him the letters, pamphlets and booklet issued by the +American School of Domestic Science, and after dinner, while the +Salisbury boys wrestled with their lessons, the three others and Owen +gathered about the drawing-room table, in the late daylight, and +thoroughly investigated the new institution and its claims. Sandy +wedged her slender little person in between the two men. Mrs. Salisbury +sat near by, reading what was handed to her. The older woman's attitude +was one of dispassionate unbelief; she smiled a benign indulgence upon +these newfangled ideas. But in her heart she felt the stirring of +feminine uneasiness and resentment. It was HER sacred region, after +all, into which these young people were probing so light-heartedly. +These were her secrets that they were exploiting; her methods were to +be disparaged, tossed aside. + +The booklet, with its imposing A.S.D.S. set out fair and plain upon a +brown cover, was exhaustive. Its frontispiece was a portrait of one +Eliza Slocumb Holley, founder of the school, and on its back cover it +bore the vignetted photograph of a very pretty graduate, in apron and +cap, with her broom and feather duster. In between these two pictures +were pages and pages of information, dozens of pictures. There were +delightful long perspectives of model kitchens, of vegetable gardens, +orchards, and dairies. There were pictures of girls making jam, and +sterilizing bottles, and arranging trays for the sick. There were girls +amusing children and making beds. There were glimpses of the model +flats, built into the college buildings, with gas stoves and +dumb-waiters. And there were the usual pictures of libraries, and +playgrounds, and tennis courts. + +"Such nice-looking girls!" said Sandy. + +"Oh, Mother says that they are splendid girls," Owen said, bashfully +eager, "just the kind that go in for trained nursing, you know, or +stenography, or bookkeeping." + +"They must be a solid comfort, those girls," said Mrs. Salisbury, +leaning over to read certain pages with the others. "'First year,'" she +read aloud. "'Care of kitchen, pantry, and +utensils--fire-making--disposal of refuse--table-setting--service--care +of furniture--cooking with gas--patent +sweepers--sweeping--dusting--care of +silver--bread--vegetables--puddings--'" + +"Help!" said Sandy. "It sounds like the essence of a thousand Mondays! +No one could possibly learn all that in one year." + +"It's a long term, eleven months," her father said, deeply interested. +"That's not all of the first year, either. But it's all practical +enough." + +"What do they do the last year, Mother?" + +Mrs. Salisbury adjusted her glasses. + +"'Third year,'" she read obligingly. "'All soups, sauces, salads, ices +and meats. Infant and invalid diet. Formal dinners, arranged by season. +Budgets. Arrangement of work for one maid. Arrangement of work for two +maids. Menus, with reference to expense, with reference to nourishment, +with reference to attractiveness. Chart of suitable meals for children, +from two years up. Table manners for children. Classic stories for +children at bedtime. Flowers, their significance upon the table. +Picnics--'" + +"But, no; there's something beyond that," Owen said. Mrs. Salisbury +turned a page. + +"'Fourth Year. Post-graduate, not obligatory,'" she read. "'Unusual +German, Italian, Russian and Spanish dishes. Translation of menus. +Management of laundries, hotels and institutions. Work of a chef. Work +of subordinate cooks. Ordinary poisons. Common dangers of canning. +Canning for the market. Professional candy-making--'" + +"Can you beat it!" said Owen. + +"It's extraordinary!" Mrs. Salisbury conceded. Her husband asked the +all-important question: + +"What do you have to pay for one of these paragons?" + +"It's all here," Mrs. Salisbury said. But she was distracted in her +search of a scale of prices by the headlines of the various pages. +"'Rules Governing Employers,'" she read, with amusement. "Isn't this +too absurd? 'Employers of graduates of the A.S.D.S. will kindly respect +the conditions upon which, and only upon which, contracts are based.'" +She glanced down the long list of items. "'A comfortably furnished +room,'" she read at random, "'weekly half holiday-access to nearest +public library or family library--opportunity for hot bath at least +twice weekly--two hours if possible for church attendance on +Sunday--annual two weeks' holiday, or two holidays of one week +each--full payment of salary in advance, on the first day of every +month'--what a preposterous idea!" Mrs. Salisbury broke off to say. +"How is one to know that she wouldn't skip off on the second?" + +"In that case the school supplies you with another maid for the +unfinished term," explained Sandy, from the booklet. + +"Well--" the lady was still a little unsatisfied. "As if they didn't +have privileges enough now!" she said. "It's the same old story: we are +supposed to be pleasing them, not they us!" + +"'In a family where no other maid is kept,'" read Alexandra, "'a +graduate will take entire charge of kitchen and dining room, go to +market if required, do ordinary family washing and ironing, will clean +bathroom daily, and will clean and sweep every other room in the house, +and the halls, once thoroughly every week. She will be on hand to +answer the door only one afternoon every week, besides Sunday--'" + +"What!" ejaculated Mrs. Salisbury. + +"I should like to know who does it on other days!" Alexandra added +amazedly. + +"Don't you think that's ridiculous, Kane?" his wife asked eagerly. + +"We-el," the man of the house said temperately, "I don't know that I +do. You see, otherwise the girl has a string tied on her all the time. +People in our position, after all, needn't assume that we're too good +to open our own door--" + +"That's exactly it, sir," Owen agreed eagerly; "Mother says that that's +one of the things that have upset the whole system for so long! Just +the convention that a lady can't open her own door--" + +"But we haven't found the scale of wages yet--" Mrs. Salisbury +interrupted sweetly but firmly. Alexandra, however, resumed the recital +of the duties of one maid. + +"'She will not be expected to assume the care of young children,'" she +read, "nor to sleep in the room with them. She will not be expected to +act as chaperone or escort at night. She--'" + +"It DOESN'T say that, Sandy!" + +"Oh, yes, it does! And, listen! 'NOTE. Employers are respectfully +requested to maintain as formal an attitude as possible toward the +maid. Any intimacy, or exchange of confidences, is especially to be +avoided'"--Alexandra broke off to laugh, and her mother laughed with +her, but indignantly. + +"Insulting!" she said lightly. "Does anyone suppose for an instant that +this is a serious experiment?" + +"Come, that doesn't sound very ridiculous to me," her husband said. +"Plenty of women do become confidential with their maids, don't they?" + +"Dear me, how much you do know about women!" Alexandra said, kissing +the top of her father's head. "Aren't you the bad old man!" + +"No; but one might hope that an institution of this kind would put the +American servant in her place," Mrs. Salisbury said seriously, "instead +of flattering her and spoiling her beyond all reason. I take my maid's +receipt for salary in advance; I show her the bathroom and the +library--that's the idea, is it? Why, she might be a boarder! Next, +they'll be asking for a place at the table and an hour's practice on +the piano." + +"Well, the original American servant, the 'neighbor's girl,' who came +in to help during the haying season, and to put up the preserves, +probably did have a place at the table," Mr. Salisbury submitted mildly. + +"Mother thinks that America never will have a real servant class," Owen +added uncertainly; "that is, until domestic service is elevated to +the--the dignity of office work, don't you know? Until it attracts the +nicer class of women, don't you know? Mother says that many a good +man's fear of old age would be lightened, don't you know?--if he felt +that, in case he lost his job, or died, his daughters could go into +good homes, and grow up under the eye of good women, don't you know?" + +"Very nice, Owen, but not very practical!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with +her indulgent, motherly smile. "Oh, dear me, for the good old days of +black servants, and plenty of them!" she sighed. For though Mrs. +Salisbury had been born some years after the days of plenty known to +her mother on her grandfather's plantation, before the war, she was +accustomed to detailed recitals of its grandeurs. + +"Here we are!" said Alexandra, finding a particular page that was +boldly headed "Terms." + +"'For a cook and general worker, no other help,'" she read, "'thirty +dollars per month--'" + +"Not so dreadful," her father said, pleasantly surprised. + +"But, listen, Dad! Thirty dollars for a family of two, and an +additional two dollars and a half monthly for each other member of the +family. That would make ours thirty-seven dollars and a half, wouldn't +it?" she computed swiftly. + +"Awful! Impossible!" Mrs. Salisbury said instantly, almost in relief. +The discussion made her vaguely uneasy. What did these casual amateurs +know about the domestic problem, anyway? Kane, who was always anxious +to avoid details; Sandy, all youthful enthusiasm and ignorance, and +Owen Sargent, quoting his insufferable mother? For some moments she had +been fighting an impulse to soothe them all with generalities. "Never +mind; it's always been a problem, and it always will be! These new +schemes are all very well, but don't trouble your dear heads about it +any longer!" + +Now she sank back, satisfied. The whole thing was but a mad, Utopian +dream. Thirty-seven dollars indeed! "Why, one could get two good +servants for that!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, with the same sublime faith +with which she had told her husband, in poorer days, years ago, that, +if they could but afford her, she knew they could get a "fine girl" for +three dollars a week. The fact that the "fine girl" did not apparently +exist did not at all shake Mrs. Salisbury's confidence that she could +get two "good girls." Her hope in the untried solution rose with every +failure. + +"Thirty-seven is steep," said Kane Salisbury slowly. "However! What do +we pay now, Mother?" + +"Five a week," said that lady inflexibly. + +"But we paid Germaine more," said Alexandra eagerly. "And didn't you +pay Lizzie six and a half?" + +"The last two months I did, yes," her mother agreed unwillingly. "But +that comes only to twenty-six or seven," she added. + +"But, look here," said Owen, reading. "Here it says: 'NOTE. Where a +graduate is required to manage on a budget, it is computed that she +saves the average family from two to seven dollars weekly on food and +fuel bills.'" + +"Now that begins to sound like horse sense," Mr. Salisbury began. But +the mistress of the house merely smiled, and shook a dubious head, and +the younger members of the family here created a diversion by reminding +their sister's guest, with animation, that he had half-asked them to go +out for a short ride in his car. Alexandra accordingly ran for a veil, +and the young quartette departed with much noise, Owen stuffing his +pamphlets and booklet into his pocket before he went. + +Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury settled down contentedly to double Canfield, the +woman crushing out the last flicker of the late topic with a placid +shake of the head, when the man asked her for her honest opinion of the +American School of Domestic Science. "I don't truly think it's at all +practical, dear," said Mrs. Salisbury regretfully. "But we might watch +it for a year or two and go into the question again some time, if you +like. Especially if some one else has tried one of these maids, and we +have had a chance to see how it goes!" + +The very next morning Mrs. Salisbury awakened with a dull headache. Hot +sunlight was streaming into the bedroom, an odor of coffee, drifting +upstairs, made her feel suddenly sick. Her first thought was that she +COULD not have Sandy's two friends to luncheon, and she COULD not keep +a shopping and tea engagement with a friend of her own! She might creep +through the day somehow, but no more. + +She dressed slowly, fighting dizziness, and went slowly downstairs, +sighing at the sight of disordered music and dust in the dining-room, +the sticky chafing-dish and piled plates in the pantry. In the kitchen +was a litter of milk bottles, saucepans, bread and crumbs and bread +knife encroaching upon a basket of spilled berries, egg shells and +melting bacon. The blue sides of the coffee-pot were stained where the +liquid and grounds had bubbled over it. Marthe was making toast, the +long fork jammed into a plate hole of the range. Mrs. Salisbury thought +that she had never seen sunlight so mercilessly hot and bright before-- + +"Rotten coffee!" said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully, when his wife took her +place at the table. + +"And she NEVER uses the poacher!" Alexandra added reproachfully. "And +she says that the cream is sour because the man leaves it at half-past +four, right there in the sunniest corner of the porch--can't he have a +box or something, Mother?" + +"Gosh, I wouldn't care what she did if she'd get a move on," said +Stanford frankly. "She's probably asleep out there, with her head in +the frying pan!" + +Mrs. Salisbury went into the kitchen again. She had to pause in the +pantry because the bright squares of the linoleum, and the brassy +faucets, and the glare of the geraniums outside the window seemed to +rush together for a second. + +Marthe was on the porch, exchanging a few gay remarks with the garbage +man before shutting the side door after him. The big stove was roaring +hot, a thick odor of boiling clothes showed that Marthe was ready for +her cousin Nancy, the laundress, who came once a week. A saucepan +deeply gummed with cereal was soaking beside the hissing and smoking +frying pan Mrs. Salisbury moved the frying pan, and the quick heat of +the coal fire rushed up at her face-- + +"Why," she whispered, opening anxious eyes after what seemed a long +time, "who fainted?" + +A wheeling and rocking mass of light and shadow resolved itself into +the dining-room walls, settled and was still. She felt the soft +substance of a sofa pillow under her head, the hard lump that was her +husband's arm supporting her shoulders. + +"That's it--now she's all right!" said Kane Salisbury, his kind, +concerned face just above her own. Mrs. Salisbury shifted heavy, +languid eyes, and found Sandy. + +"Darling, you fell!" the daughter whispered. White-lipped, pitiful, +with tears still on her round cheeks, Sandy was fanning her mother with +a folded newspaper. + +"Well, how silly of me!" Mrs. Salisbury said weakly. She sighed, tried +too quickly to sit up, and fainted quietly away again. + +This time she opened her eyes in her own bed, and was made to drink +something sharp and stinging, and directed not to talk. While her +husband and daughter were hanging up things, and reducing the tumbled +room to order, the doctor arrived. + +"Dr. Hollister, I call this an imposition!" protested the invalid +smilingly. "I have been doing a little too much, that's all! But don't +you dare say the word rest-cure to me again!" + +But Doctor Hollister did not smile; there was no smiling in the house +that day. + +"Mother may have to go away," Alexandra told anxious friends, very +sober, but composed. "Mother may have to take a rest-cure," she said a +day or two later. + +"But you won't let them send me to a hospital again, Kane?" pleaded his +wife one evening. "I almost die of lonesomeness, wondering what you and +the children are doing! Couldn't I just lie here? Marthe and Sandy can +manage somehow, and I promise you I truly won't worry, just lie here +like a queen!" + +"Well, perhaps we'll give you a trial," smiled Kane Salisbury, very +much enjoying an hour of quiet, at his wife's bedside. "But don't count +on Marthe. She's going." + +"Marthe is?" Mrs. Salisbury only leaned a little more heavily on the +strong arm that held her, and laughed comfortably. "I refuse to concern +myself with such sordid matters," she said. "But why?" + +"Because I've got a new girl, hon." + +"You have!" She shifted about to stare at him, aroused by his tone. +Light came. "You've not gotten one of those college cooks, have you, +Kane?" she demanded. "Oh, Kane! Not at thirty-seven dollars a month! +Oh, you have, you wicked, extravagant boy!" + +"Cheaper than a trained nurse, petty!" + +Mrs. Salisbury was still shaking a scandalized head, but he could see +the pleasure and interest in her eyes. She sank back in her pillows, +but kept her thin fingers gripped tightly over his. + +"How you do spoil me, Tip!" The name took him back across many years to +the little eighteen-dollar cottage and the days before Sandy came. He +looked at his wife's frail little figure, the ruffled frills that +showed under her loose wrapper, at throat and elbows. There was +something girlish still about her hanging dark braid, her big eyes half +visible in the summer twilight. + +"Well, you may depend upon it, you're in for a good long course of +spoiling now, Miss Sally!" said he. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Justine Harrison, graduate servant of the American School of Domestic +Science, arrived the next day. If Mrs. Salisbury was half consciously +cherishing an expectation of some one as crisp and cheerful as a +trained nurse might have been, she was disappointed. Justine was simply +a nice, honest-looking American country girl, in a cheap, neat, brown +suit and a dreadful hat. She smiled appreciatively when Alexandra +showed her her attractive little room, unlocked what Sandy saw to be a +very orderly trunk, changed her hot suit at once for the gray gingham +uniform, and went to Mrs. Salisbury's room with great composure, for +instructions. In passing, Alexandra--feeling the situation to be a +little odd, yet bravely, showed her the back stairway and the bathroom, +and murmured something about books being in the little room off the +drawing-room downstairs. Justine smiled brightly. + +"Oh, I brought several books with me," she said, "and I subscribe to +two weekly magazines and one monthly. So usually I have enough to read." + +"How do you do? You look very cool and comfortable, Justine. Now, +you'll have to find your own way about downstairs. You'll see the +coffee next to the bread box, and the brooms are in the laundry closet. +Just do the best you can. Mr. Salisbury likes dry toast in the +morning--eggs in some way. We get eggs from the milkman; they seem +fresher. But you have to tell him the day before. And I understood that +you'll do most of the washing? Yes. My old Nancy was here day before +yesterday, so there's not much this week." It was in some such +disconnected strain as this that Mrs. Salisbury welcomed and initiated +the new maid. + +Justine bowed reassuringly. + +"I'll find everything, Madam. And do you wish me to manage and to +market for awhile until you are about again?" + +The invalid sent a pleading glance to Sandy. + +"Oh, I think my daughter will do that," she said. + +"Oh, now, why, Mother?" Sandy asked, in affectionate impatience. "I +don't begin to know as much about it as Justine probably does. Why not +let her?" + +"If Madam will simply tell me what sum she usually spends on the +table," said Justine, "I will take the matter in hand." + +Mrs. Salisbury hesitated. This was the very stronghold of her +authority. It seemed terrible to her, indelicate, to admit a stranger. + +"Well, it varies a little," she said restlessly. "I am not accustomed +to spending a set sum." She addressed her daughter. "You see, I've been +paying Nancy every week, dear," said she, "and the other laundry. And +little things come up--" + +"What sum would be customary, in a family this size?" Alexandra asked +briskly of the graduate servant. + +Justine was business-like. + +"Seven dollars for two persons is the smallest sum we are allowed to +handle," she said promptly. "After that each additional person calls +for three dollars weekly in our minimum scale. Four or five dollars a +week per person, not including the maid, is the usual allowance." + +"Mercy! Would that be twenty dollars for table alone?" the mistress +asked. "It is never that now, I think. Perhaps twice a week," she said, +turning to Alexandra, "your father gives me five dollars at the +breakfast table--" + +"But, Mother, you telephone and charge at the market, and Lewis & Sons, +too, don't you?" Sandy asked. + +"Well, yes, that's true. Yes, I suppose it comes to fully twenty-five +dollars a week, when you think of it. Yes, it probably comes to more. +But it never seems so much, somehow. Well, suppose we say twenty-five--" + +"Twenty-five, I'll tell Dad." Alexandra confirmed it briskly. + +"I used to keep accounts, years ago," Mrs. Salisbury said plaintively. +"Your father--" and again she turned to her daughter, as if to make +this revelation of her private affairs less distressing by so excluding +the stranger. "Your father has always been the most generous of men," +she said; "he always gives me more money if I need it, and I try to do +the best I can." And a little annoyed, in her weakness and helplessness +by this business talk, she lay back on her pillow, and closed her eyes. + +"Twenty-five a week, then!" Alexandra said, closing the talk by jumping +up from a seat on her mother's bed, and kissing the invalid's eyes in +parting. Justine, who had remained standing, followed her down to the +kitchen, where, with cheering promptitude, the new maid fell upon +preparations for dinner. Alexandra rather bashfully suggested what she +had vaguely planned for dinner; Justine nodded intelligently at each +item; presently Alexandra left her, busily making butter-balls, and +went upstairs to report. + +"Nothing sensational about her," said Sandy to her mother, "but she +takes hold! She's got some bleaching preparation of soda or something +drying on the sink-board; she took the shelf out of the icebox the +instant she opened it, and began to scour it while she talked. She's +got a big blue apron on, and she's hung a nice clean white one on the +pantry door." + +There was nothing sensational about the tray which Justine carried up +to the sick room that evening--nothing sensational in the dinner which +was served to the diminished family. But the Salisbury family began +that night to speak of Justine as the "Treasure." + +"Everything hot and well seasoned and nicely served," said the man of +the house in high satisfaction, "and the woman looks like a servant, +and acts like one. Sandy says she's turning the kitchen upside down, +but, I say, give her her head!" + +The Treasure, more by accident than design, was indeed given her head +in the weeks that followed, for Mrs. Salisbury steadily declined into a +real illness, and the worried family was only too glad to delegate all +the domestic problems to Justine. The invalid's condition, from +"nervous breakdown" became "nervous prostration," and August was made +terrible for the loving little group that watched her by the cruel +fight with typhoid fever into which Mrs. Salisbury's exhausted little +body was drawn. Weak as she was physically, her spirit never failed +her; she met the overwhelming charges bravely, rallied, sank, rallied +again and lived. Alexandra grew thin, if prettier than ever, and Owen +Sargent grew bold and big and protecting to meet her need. The boys +were "angels," their sister said, helpful, awed and obedient, but the +children's father began to stoop a little and to show gray in the thick +black hair at his temples. + +Soberly, sympathetically, Justine steered her own craft through all the +storm and confusion of the domestic crisis. Trays appeared and +disappeared without apparent effort. Hot and delicious meals were ready +at the appointed hours, whether the pulse upstairs went up or down. +Tradespeople were paid; there was always ice; there was always hot +water. The muffled telephone never went unanswered, the doctor never +had to ring twice for admittance. If fruit was sent up to the invalid, +it was icy cold; if soup was needed, it appeared, smoking hot, and +guiltless of even one floating pinpoint of fat. + +Alexandra and the trained nurse always found the kitchen the same: +orderly, aired, silent, with Justine, a picture of domestic efficiency, +sitting by the open window, or on the shady side porch, shelling peas +or peeling apples, or perhaps wiping immaculate glasses with an +immaculate cloth at the sink. The ticking clock, the shining range, the +sunlight lying in clean-cut oblongs upon the bright linoleum, Justine's +smoothly braided hair and crisp percales, all helped to form a picture +wonderfully restful and reassuring in troubled days. + +Alexandra, tired with a long vigil in the sick room, liked to slip down +late at night, to find Justine putting the last touches to the day's +good work. A clean checked towel would be laid over the rising, snowy +mound of dough; the bubbling oatmeal was locked in the fireless cooker, +doors were bolted, window shades drawn. There was an admirable +precision about every move the girl made. + +The two young women liked to chat together, and sometimes, when some +important message took her to Justine's door in the evening, Alexandra +would linger, pleasantly affected by the trim little apartment, the +roses in a glass vase, Justine's book lying open-faced on the bed, or +her unfinished letter waiting on the table. For all exterior signs, at +these times, she might have been a guest in the house. + +Promptly, on every Saturday evening, the Treasure presented her account +book to Mr. Salisbury. There was always a small balance, sometimes five +dollars, sometimes one, but Justine evidently had well digested +Dickens' famous formula for peace of mind. + +"You're certainly a wonder, Justine!" said the man of the house more +than once. "How do you manage it?" + +"Oh, I cut down in dozens of ways," the girl returned, with her grave +smile. "You don't notice it, but I know. You have kidney stews, and +onion soups, and cherry pies, instead of melons and steaks and +ice-cream, that's all!" + +"And everyone just as well pleased," he said, in real admiration. "I +congratulate you." + +"It's only what we are all taught at college," Justine assured him. +"I'm just doing what they told me to! It's my business." + +"It's pretty big business, and it's been waiting a long while," said +Kane Salisbury. + +When Mrs. Salisbury began to get well, she began to get very hungry. +This was plain sailing for Justine, and she put her whole heart into +the dainty trays that went upstairs three times a day. While she was +enjoying them, Mrs. Salisbury liked to draw out her clever maid, and +the older woman and the young one had many a pleasant talk together. +Justine told her mistress that she had been country-born and bred, and +had grown up with a country girl's longing for nice surroundings and +education of the better sort. + +"My name is not Justine at all," she said smilingly, "nor Harrison, +either, although I chose it because I have cousins of that name. We are +all given names when we go to college and take them with us. Until the +work is recognized, as it must be some day, as dignified and even +artistic, we are advised to sink our own identities in this way." + +"You mean that Harrison isn't your name?" Mrs. Salisbury felt this to +be really a little alarming, in some vague way. + +"Oh, no! And Justine was given me as a number might have been." + +"But what is your name?" The question fell from Mrs. Salisbury as +naturally as an "Ouch!" would have fallen had somebody dropped a +lighted match on her hand. "I had no idea of that!" she went on +artlessly. "But I suppose you told Mr. Salisbury?" + +The luncheon was finished, and now Justine stood up, and picked up the +tray. + +"No. That's the very point. We use our college names," she reiterated +simply. "Will you let me bring you up a little more custard, Madam?" + +"No, thank you," Mrs. Salisbury said, after a second's pause. She +looked a little thoughtful as Justine walked away. There is no real +reason why one's maid should not wear an assumed name, of course. +Still-- + +"What a ridiculous thing that college must be!" said Mrs. Salisbury, +turning comfortably in her pillows. "But she certainly is a splendid +cook!" + +About this point, at least, there was no argument. Justine did not need +cream or sherry, chopped nuts or mushroom sauces to make simple food +delicious. She knew endless ways in which to serve food; potatoes +became a nightly surprise, macaroni was never the same, rice had a +dozen delightful roles. Because the family enjoyed her maple custard or +almond cake, she did not, as is the habit with cooks, abandon every +other flavoring for maple or almond. She was following a broader +schedule than that supplied by the personal tastes of the Salisburys, +and she went her way serenely. + +Not so much as a teaspoonful of cold spinach was wasted in these days. +Justine's "left-over" dishes were quite as good as anything else she +cooked; her artful combinations, her garnishes of pastry, her illusive +seasoning, her enveloping and varied sauces disguised and transformed +last night's dinner into a real feast to-night. + +The Treasure went to market only twice a week, on Saturdays and +Tuesdays. She planned her meals long beforehand, with the aid of charts +brought from college, and paid cash for everything she bought. She +always carried a large market basket on her arm on these trips, and +something in her trim, strong figure and clean gray gown, as she +started off, appealed to a long-slumbering sense of house-holder's +pride in Mr. Salisbury. It seemed good to him that a person who worked +so hard for him and for his should be so bright and contented looking, +should like her life so well. + +Late in September Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs again to a spotless +drawing-room and a dining-room gay with flowers. Dinner was a little +triumph, and after dinner she was escorted to a deep chair, and called +upon to admire new papers and hangings, cleaned rugs and a newly +polished floor. + +"You are wonderful, wonderful people, every one of you!" said the +convalescent, smiling eyes roving about her. "Grass paper, Kane, and +such a dear border!" she said. "And everything feeling so clean! And my +darling girl writing letters and seeing people all these weeks! And my +boys so good! And dear old Daddy carrying the real burden for +everyone--what a dreadfully spoiled woman I am! And Justine--come here +a minute, Justine--" + +The Treasure, who was clearing the dining-room table, came in, and +smiled at the pretty group, mother and father, daughter and sons, all +rejoicing in being well and together again. + +"I don't know how I am ever going to thank you, Justine," said Mrs. +Salisbury, with a little emotion. She took the girl's hand in both her +transparent white ones. "Do believe that I appreciate it," she said. +"It has been a comfort to me, even when I was sickest, even when I +apparently didn't know anything, to know that you were here, that +everything was running smoothly and comfortably, thanks to you. We +could not have managed without you!" + +Justine returned the finger pressure warmly, also a little stirred. + +"Why, it's been a real pleasure," she said a little huskily. She had to +accept a little chorus of thanks from the other members of the family +before, blushing very much and smiling, too, she went back to her work. + +"She really has managed everything," Kane Salisbury told his wife +later. "She handles all the little monthly bills, telephone and gas and +so on; seems to take it as a matter of course that she should." + +"And what shall I do now, Kane? Go on that way, for a while anyway?" +asked his wife. + +"Oh, by all means, dear! You must take things easy for a while. By +degrees you can take just as much or as little as you want, with the +managing." + +"You dear old idiot," the lady said tenderly, "don't worry about that! +It will all come about quite naturally and pleasantly." + +Indeed, it was still a relief to depend heavily upon Justine. Mrs. +Salisbury was quite bewildered by the duties that rose up on every side +of her; Sandy's frocks for the fall, the boys' school suits, calls that +must be made, friends who must be entertained, and the opening +festivities of several clubs to which she belonged. + +She found things running very smoothly downstairs, there seemed to be +not even the tiniest flaw for a critical mistress to detect, and the +children had added a bewildering number of new names to their lists of +favorite dishes. Justine was asked over and over again for her Manila +curry, her beef and kidney pie, her scones and German fruit tarts, and +for a brown and crisp and savory dish in which the mistress of the +house recognized, under the title of chou farci, an ordinary cabbage as +a foundation. + +"Oh, let's not have just chickens or beef," Sandy would plead when a +company dinner was under discussion. "Let's have one of Justine's fussy +dishes. Leave it to Justine!" + +For the Treasure obviously enjoyed company dinner parties, and it was +fascinating to Sandy to see how methodically, and with what delightful +leisure, she prepared for them. Two or three days beforehand her +cake-making, silver-polishing, sweeping and cleaning were well under +way, and the day of the event itself was no busier than any other day. + +Yet it was on one of these occasions that Mrs. Salisbury first had what +she felt was good reason to criticize Justine. During a brief absence +from home of both boys, their mother planned a rather formal dinner. +Four of her closest friends, two couples, were asked, and Owen Sargent +was invited by Sandy to make the group an even eight. This was as many +as the family table accommodated comfortably, and seemed quite an +event. Ordinarily the mistress of the house would have been fussing for +some days beforehand, in her anxiety to have everything go well, but +now, with Justine's brain and Justine's hands in command of the kitchen +end of affairs, she went to the other extreme, and did not give her own +and Sandy's share of the preparations a thought until the actual day of +the dinner. + +For, as was stipulated in her bond, except for a general cleaning once +a week, the Treasure did no work downstairs outside of the dining-room +and kitchen, and made no beds at any time. This meant that the daughter +of the house must spend at least an hour every morning in bed-making, +and perhaps another fifteen minutes in that mysteriously absorbing +business known as "straightening" the living room. Usually Sandy was +very faithful to these duties; more, she whisked through them +cheerfully, in her enthusiastic eagerness that the new domestic +experiment should prove a success. + +But for a morning or two before this particular dinner she had shirked +her work. Perhaps the novelty of it was wearing off a little. There was +a tennis tournament in progress at the Burning Woods Country Club, two +miles away from River Falls, and Sandy, who was rather proud of her +membership in this very smart organization, did not want to miss a +moment of it. Breakfast was barely over before somebody's car was at +the door to pick up Miss Salisbury, who departed in a whirl of laughter +and a flutter of bright veils, to be gone, sometimes, for the entire +day. + +She had gone in just this way on the morning of the dinner, and her +mother, who had quite a full program of her own for the morning, had +had breakfast in bed. Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs at about ten +o'clock to find the dining-room airing after a sweeping; curtains +pinned back, small articles covered with a dust cloth, chairs at all +angles. She went on to the kitchen, where Justine was beating +mayonnaise. + +"Don't forget chopped ice for the shaker, the last thing," Mrs. +Salisbury said, adding, with a little self-conscious rush, "And, oh, by +the way, Justine, I see that Miss Alexandra has gone off again, without +touching the living room. Yesterday I straightened it a little bit, but +I have two club meetings this morning, and I'm afraid I must fly. +If--if she comes in for lunch, will you remind her of it?" + +"Will she be back for lunch? I thought she said she would not," Justine +said, in honest surprise. + +"No; come to think of it, she won't," her mother admitted, a little +flatly. "She put her room and her brothers' room in order," she added +inconsequently. + +Justine did not answer, and Mrs. Salisbury went slowly out of the +kitchen, annoyance rising in her heart. It was all very well for Sandy +to help out about the house, but this inflexible idea of holding her to +it was nonsense! + +Ruffled, she went up to her room. Justine had carried away the +breakfast tray, but there were towels and bath slippers lying about, a +litter of mail on the bed, and Mr. Salisbury's discarded linen strewn +here and there. The dressers were in disorder, window curtains were +pinned back for more air, and the coverings of the twin beds thrown +back and trailing on the floor. Fifteen minutes' brisk work would have +straightened the whole, but Mrs. Salisbury could not spare the time +just then. The morning was running away with alarming speed; she must +be dressed for a meeting at eleven o'clock, and, like most women of her +age, she found dressing a slow and troublesome matter; she did not like +to be hurried with her brushes and cold creams, her ruffles and veil. + +The thought of the unmade beds did not really trouble her when, trim +and dainty, she went off in a friend's car to the club at eleven +o'clock, but when she came back, nearly two hours later, it was +distinctly an annoyance to find her bedroom still untouched. She was +tired then, and wanted her lunch; but instead she replaced her street +dress with a loose house gown, and went resolutely to work. + +Musing over her solitary luncheon, she found the whole thing a little +absurd. There was still the drawing-room to be put in order, and no +reason in the world why Justine should not do it. The girl was not +overworked, and she was being paid thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents +every month! Justine was big and strong, she could toss the little +extra work off without any effort at all. + +She wondered why it is almost a physical impossibility for a nice woman +to ask a maid the simplest thing in the world, if she is fairly certain +that that maid will be ungracious about it. + +"Dear me!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, eating her chop and salad, her hot +muffin and tart without much heart to appreciate these delicacies, "How +much time I have spent in my life, going through imaginary +conversations with maids! Why couldn't I just step to the pantry door +and say, in a matter-of-fact tone, 'I'm afraid I must ask you to put +the sitting-room in order, Justine. Miss Sandy has apparently forgotten +all about it. I'll see that it doesn't occur again.' And I could +add--now that I think of it--'I will pay you for your extra time, if +you like, and if you will remind me at the end of the month.'" + +"Well, she may not like it, but she can't refuse," was her final +summing up. She went out to the kitchen with a deceptive air of +composure. + +Justine's occupation, when Mrs. Salisbury found her, strengthened the +older woman's resolutions. The maid, in a silent and spotless kitchen, +was writing a letter. Sheets of paper were strewn on the scoured white +wood of the kitchen table; the writer, her chin cupped in her hand, was +staring dreamily out of the kitchen window. She gave her mistress an +absent smile, then laid down her pen and stood up. + +"I'm writing here," she explained, "so that I can catch the milkman for +the cream." + +Mrs. Salisbury knew that it was useless to ask if everything was in +readiness for the evening's event. From where she stood she could see +piles of plates already neatly ranged in the warming oven, peeled +potatoes were soaking in ice water in a yellow bowl, and the parsley +that would garnish the big platter was ready, crisp and fresh in a +glass of water. + +"Well, you look nice and peaceful," smiled the mistress. "I am just +going to dress for a little tea, and I may have to look in at the +opening of the Athenaeum Club," she went on, fussing with a frill at +her wrist, "so I may be as late as five. But I'll bring some flowers +when I come. Miss Alexandra will probably be at home by that time, but +if she isn't--if she isn't, perhaps you would just go in and straighten +the living room, Justine? I put things somewhat in order yesterday, and +dusted a little, but, of course, things get scattered about, and it +needs a little attention. She may of course be back in time to do it--" + +Her voice drifted away into casual silence. She looked at Justine +expectantly, confidently. The maid flushed uncomfortably. + +"I'm sorry," she said frankly. "But that's against one of our rules, +you know. I am not supposed to--" + +"Not ordinarily, I understand that," Mrs. Salisbury agreed quickly. +"But in an emergency--" + +Again she hesitated. And Justine, with the maddening gentleness of the +person prepared to carry a point at all costs, answered again: + +"It's the rule. I'm sorry; but I am not supposed to." + +"I should suppose that you were in my house to make yourself useful to +me," Mrs. Salisbury said coldly. She used a tone of quiet dignity; but +she knew that she had had the worst of the encounter. She was really a +little dazed by the firmness of the rebuff. + +"They make a point of our keeping to the letter of the law," Justine +explained. + +"Not knowing what my particular needs are, nor how I like my house to +be run, is that it?" the other woman asked shrewdly. + +"Well--" Justine hung upon an embarrassed assent. "But perhaps they +won't be so firm about it as soon as the school is really established," +she added eagerly. + +"No; I think they will not!" Mrs. Salisbury agreed with a short laugh, +"inasmuch as they CANNOT, if they ever hope to get any foothold at all!" + +And she left the kitchen, feeling that in the last remark at least she +had scored, yet very angry at Justine, who made this sort of warfare +necessary. + +"If this sort of thing keeps up, I shall simply have to let her GO!" +she said. + +But she was trembling, and she came to a full stop in the front hall. +It was maddening; it was unbelievable; but that neglected half hour of +work threatened to wreck her entire day. With every fiber of her being +in revolt, she went into the sitting-room. + +This was Alexandra's responsibility, after all, she said to herself. +And, after a moment's indecision, she decided to telephone her daughter +at the Burning Woods Club. + +"Hello, Mother," said Alexandra, when a page had duly informed her that +she was wanted at the telephone. Her voice sounded a little tired, +faintly impatient. "What is it, Mother?" + +"Why, I ought to go to Mary Bell's tea, dearie, and I wanted just to +look in at the Athenaeum--" Mrs. Salisbury began, a little +inconsequently. "How soon do you expect to be home?" she broke off to +ask. + +"I don't know," said Sandy lifelessly. + +"Are you coming back with Owen?" + +"No," Sandy said, in the same tone. "I'll come back with the Prichards, +I guess, or with one of the girls. Owen and the Brice boy are taking +Miss Satterlee for a little spin up around Feather Rock." + +"Miss WHO?" But Mrs. Salisbury knew very well who Miss Satterlee was. A +pretty and pert and rowdyish little dancer, she had managed to +captivate one or two of the prominent matrons of the club, and was much +in evidence there, to the great discomfort of the more conservative +Sandy and her intimates. + +Now Sandy's mother ended the conversation with a few very casual +remarks, in not too sympathetic or indignant a vein. Then, with heart +and mind in anything but a hospitable or joyous state, she set about +the task of putting the sitting room in order. She abandoned once and +for all any hope of getting to her club or her tea that afternoon, and +was therefore possessed of three distinct causes of grievance. + +With her mother heart aching for the quiet misery betrayed by Sandy's +voice, she could not blame the girl. Nor could she blame herself. So +Justine got the full measure of her disapproval, and, while she worked, +Mrs. Salisbury refreshed her soul with imaginary conversations in which +she kindly but firmly informed Justine that her services were no longer +needed-- + +However, the dinner was perfect. Course smoothly followed course; there +was no hesitating, no hitch; the service was swift, noiseless, +unobtrusive. The head of the house was obviously delighted, and the +guests enthusiastic. + +Best of all, Owen arrived early, irreproachably dressed, if a little +uncomfortable in his evening clothes, and confided to Sandy that he had +had a "rotten time" with Miss Satterlee. + +"But she's just the sort of little cat that catches a dear, great big +idiot like Owen," said Sandy to her mother, when the older woman had +come in to watch the younger slip into her gown for the evening's +affair. + +"Look out, dear, or I will begin to suspect you of a tendresse in that +direction!" the mother said archly. + +"For Owen?" Sandy raised surprised brows. "I'm mad about him, I'd marry +him to-night!" she went on calmly. + +"If you really cared, dear, you couldn't use that tone," her mother +said uncomfortably. "Love comes only once, REAL love, that is--" + +"Oh, Mother! There's no such thing as real love," Sandy said +impatiently. "I know ten good, nice men I would marry, and I'll bet you +did, too, years ago, only you weren't brought up to admit it! But I +like Owen best, and it makes me sick to see a person like Rose +Satterlee annexing him. She'll make him utterly wretched; she's that +sort. Whereas I am really decent, don't you know; I'd be the sort of +wife he'd go crazier and crazier about. He's one of those unfortunate +men who really don't know what they want until they get something they +don't want. They--" + +"Don't, dear. It distresses me to hear you talk this way," Mrs. +Salisbury said, with dignity. "I don't know whether modern girls +realize how dreadful they are," she went on, "but at least I needn't +have my own daughter show such a lack of--of delicacy and of +refinement." And in the dead silence that followed she cast about for +some effective way of changing the subject, and finally decided to tell +Sandy what she thought of Justine. + +But here, too, Sandy was unsympathetic. Scowling as she hooked the +filmy pink and silver of her evening gown, Sandy took up Justine's +defense. + +"All up to me, Mother, every bit of it! And, honestly now, you had no +right to ask her to do--" + +"No right!" Exasperated beyond all words, Mrs. Salisbury picked up her +fan, gathered her dragging skirts together, and made a dignified +departure from the room. "No right!" she echoed, more in pity than +anger. "Well, really, I wonder sometimes what we are coming to! No +right to ask my servant, whom I pay thirty-seven and a half dollars a +month, to stop writing letters long enough to clean my sitting room! +Well, right or wrong, we'll see!" + +But the cryptic threat contained in the last words was never carried +out. The dinner was perfect, and Owen was back in his old position as +something between a brother and a lover, full of admiring great laughs +for Sandy and boyish confidences. There was not a cloud on the evening +for Mrs. Salisbury. And the question of Justine's conduct was laid on +the shelf. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +After the dinner party domestic matters seemed to run even more +smoothly than before, but there was a difference, far below the +surface, in Mrs. Salisbury's attitude toward the new maid. The mistress +found herself incessantly looking for flaws in Justine's perfectness; +for things that Justine might easily have done, but would not do. + +In this Mrs. Salisbury was unconsciously aided and abetted by her +sister, Mrs. Otis, a large, magnificent woman of forty-five, who had a +masterful and assured manner, as became a very rich and influential +widow. Mrs. Otis had domineered Mrs. Salisbury throughout their +childhood; she had brought up a number of sons and daughters in a +highly successful manner, and finally she kept a houseful of servants, +whom she managed with a firm hand, and managed, it must be admitted, +very well. She had seen the Treasure many times before, but it was +while spending a day in November with her sister that she first +expressed her disapproval of Justine. + +"You spoil her, Sarah," said Mrs. Otis. "She's a splendid cook, of +course, and a nice-mannered girl. But you spoil her." + +"I? I have nothing to do with it," Mrs. Salisbury asserted promptly. +"She does exactly what the college permits; no more and no less." + +"Nonsense!" Mrs. Otis said largely, genially. And she exchanged an +amused look with Sandy. + +The three ladies were in the little library, after luncheon, enjoying a +coal fire. The sisters, both with sewing, were in big armchairs. Sandy, +idly turning the pages of a new magazine, sat at her mother's feet. The +first heavy rain of the season battered at the windows. + +"Now, that darning, Sally," Mrs. Otis said, glancing at her sister's +sewing. "Why don't you simply call the girl and ask her to do it? +There's no earthly reason why she shouldn't be useful. She's got +absolutely nothing to do. The girl would probably be happier with some +work in her hands. Don't encourage her to think that she can whisk +through her lunch dishes and then rush off somewhere. They have no +conscience about it, my dear. You're the mistress, and you are supposed +to arrange things exactly to suit yourself, no matter if nobody else +has ever done things your way from the beginning of time!" + +"That's a lovely theory, Auntie," said Alexandra, "but this is an +entirely different situation." + +For answer Mrs. Otis merely compressed her lips, and flung the pink +yarn that she was knitting into a baby's sacque steadily over her +flashing needles. + +"Where's Justine now?" she asked, after a moment. + +"In her room," Mrs. Salisbury answered. + +"No; she's gone for a walk, Mother," Sandy said. "She loves to walk in +the rain, and she wanted to change her library book, and send a +telegram or something--" + +"Just like a guest in the house!" Mrs. Otis observed, with fine scorn. +"Surely she asked you if she might go, Sally?" + +"No. Her--her work is done. She--comes and goes that way." + +"Without saying a word? And who answers the door?" Mrs. Otis was +unaffectedly astonished now. + +"She does if she's in the house, Mattie, just as she answers the +telephone. But she's only actually on duty one afternoon a week." + +"You see, the theory is, Auntie," Sandy supplied, "that persons on our +income--I won't say of our position, for Mother hates that--but on our +income, aren't supposed to require formal door-answering very often." + +Mrs. Otis, her knitting suspended, moved her round eyes from mother to +daughter and back again. She did not say a word, but words were not +needed. + +"I know it seems outrageous, in some ways, Mattie," Mrs. Salisbury +presently said, with a little nervous laugh. "But what is one to do?" + +"Do?" echoed her sister roundly. "DO? Well, I know I keep six house +servants, and have always kept at least three, and I never heard the +equal of THIS in all my days! Do?--I'd show you what I'd do fast +enough! Do you suppose I'd pay a maid thirty-seven dollars a month to +go tramping off to the library in the rain, and to tell me what my +social status was? Why, Evelyn keeps two, and pays one eighteen and one +fifteen, and do you suppose she'd allow either such liberties? Not at +all. The downstairs girl wears a nice little cap and apron--'Madam, +dinner is served,' she says--" + +"Yes, but Evelyn's had seven cooks since she was married," Sandy, who +was not a great admirer of her young married cousin, put in here, "and +Arthur said that she actually cried because she could not give a decent +dinner!" + +"Evelyn's only a beginner, dear," said Evelyn's mother sharply, "but +she has the right spirit. No nonsense, regular holidays, and hard work +when they are working is the only way to impress maids. Mary +Underwood," she went on, turning to her sister, "says that, when she +and Fred are to be away for a meal, she deliberately lays out extra +work for the maid; she says it keeps her from getting ideas. No, +Sally," Mrs. Otis concluded, with the older-sister manner she had worn +years ago, "no, dear; you are all wrong about this, and sooner or later +this girl will simply walk over you, and you'll see it as I do. +Changing her book at the library, indeed! How did she know that you +mightn't want tea served this afternoon?" + +"She wouldn't serve it, if we did, Aunt Martha," Sandy said, dimpling. +"She never serves tea! That's one of the regulations." + +"Well, we simply won't discuss it," Mrs. Otis said, firm lines forming +themselves at the corners of her capable mouth. "If you like that sort +of thing, you like it, that's all! I don't. We'll talk of something +else." + +But she could not talk of anything else. Presently she burst out afresh. + +"Dear me, when I think of the way Ma used to manage 'em! No nonsense +there; it was walk a chalk line in Ma's house! Your grandmother," she +said to Alexandra, with stern relish, "had had a pack of slaves about +her in HER young days. But, of course, Sally," she added charitably, +"you've been ill, and things do have to run themselves when one's ill--" + +"You don't get the idea, Auntie," Sandy said blithely. "Mother pays for +efficiency. Justine isn't a mere extra pair of hands; she's a trained +professional worker. She's just like a stenographer, except that what +she does is ten times harder to learn than stenography. We can no more +ask her to get tea than Dad could ask his head bookkeeper to--well, to +drop in here some Sunday and O.K. Mother's household accounts. It's an +age of specialization, Aunt Martha." + +"It's an age of utter nonsense," Mrs. Otis said forcibly. "But if your +mother and father like to waste their money that way--" + +"There isn't much waste of money to it," Mrs. Salisbury put in neatly, +"for Justine manages on less than I ever did. I think there's been only +one week this fall when she hasn't had a balance." + +"A balance of what?" + +"A surplus, I mean. A margin left from her allowance." + +The pink wool fell heavily into Mrs. Otis's broad lap. "She handles +your money for you, does she, Sally?" + +"Why, yes. She seems eminently fitted for it. And she does it for a +third less, Mattie, truly. She more than saves the difference in her +wages." + +"You let her buy things and pay tradesmen, do you?" + +"Oh, Auntie, why not?" Alexandra asked, amused but impatient. "Why +shouldn't Mother let her do that?" + +"Well, it's not my idea of good housekeeping, that's all," Mrs. Otis +said staidly. "Managing is the most important part of housekeeping. In +giving such a girl financial responsibilities, you not only let go of +the control of your household, but you put temptation in her way. No; +let the girl try making some beds, and serving tea, now and then; and +do your own marketing and paying, Sally. It's the only way." + +"Justine tempted--why, she's not that sort of girl at all!" Alexandra +laughed gaily. + +"Very well, my dear, perhaps she's not, and perhaps you young girls +know everything that is to be known about life," her aunt answered +witheringly. "But when grown business men were cheated as easily as +those men in the First National were," she finished impressively, +alluding to recent occurrences in River Falls, "it seems a little +astonishing to find a girl your age so sure of her own judgment, that's +all." + +Sandy's answer, if indirect, was effective. + +"How about some tea?" she asked. "Will you have some, either of you? It +only takes me a minute to get it." + +"And I wish you could have seen Mattie's expression, Kane," Mrs. +Salisbury said to her husband when telling him of the conversation that +evening, "really, she glared! I suppose she really can't understand +how, with an expensive servant in the house--" Mrs. Salisbury's voice +dropped a little on a note of mild amusement. She sat idly at her +dressing table, her hair loosened, her eyes thoughtful. When she spoke +again, it was with a shade of resentment. "And, really, it is most +inconvenient," she said. "I don't want to impose upon a girl; I never +DID impose upon a girl; but I like to feel that I'm mistress in my own +house. If the work is too hard one day, I will make it easier the next, +and so on. But, as Mat says, it LOOKS so disobliging in a maid to have +her race off; SHE doesn't care whether you get any tea or not; SHE'S +enjoying herself! And after all one's kindness--And then another +thing," she presently roused herself to add, "Mat thinks that it is +very bad management on my part to let Justine handle money. She says--" + +"I devoutly wish that Mattie Otis would mind--" Mr. Salisbury did not +finish his sentence. He wound his watch, laid it on his bureau, and +went on, more mildly: "If you can do better than Justine, it may or may +not be worth your while to take that out of her hands; but, if you +can't, it seems to me sheer folly. My Lord, Sally--" + +"Yes, I know! I know," Mrs. Salisbury said hastily. "But, really, +Kane," she went on slowly, the color coming into her face, "let us +suppose that every family had a graduate cook, who marketed and +managed. And let us suppose the children, like ours, out of the +nursery. Then just what share of her own household responsibility IS a +woman supposed to take? + +"You are eternally saying, not about me, but about other men's wives, +that women to-day have too much leisure as it is. But, with a Justine, +why, I could go off to clubs and card parties every day! I'd know that +the house was clean, the meals as good and as nourishing as could be; +I'd know that guests would be well cared for and that bills would be +paid. Isn't a woman, the mistress of a house, supposed to do more than +that? I don't want to be a mere figurehead." + +Frowning at her own reflection in the glass, deeply in earnest, she +tried to puzzle it out. + +"In the old times, when women had big estates to look after," she +presently pursued, "servants, horses, cows, vegetables and fruit +gardens, soap-making and weaving and chickens and babies, they had real +responsibilities, they had real interests. Housekeeping to-day isn't +interesting. It's confining, and it's monotonous. But take it away, and +what is a woman going to do?" + +"That," her husband answered seriously, "is the real problem of the +day, I truly believe. That is what you women have to discover. +Delegating your housekeeping, how are you going to use your energies, +and find the work you want to do in the world? How are you going to +manage the questions of being obliged to work at home, and to suit your +hours to yourself, and to really express yourselves, and at the same +time get done some of the work of the world that is waiting for women +to do." + +His wife continued to eye him expectantly. + +"Well, how?" said she. + +"I don't know. I'm asking you!" he answered pointedly. Mrs. Salisbury +sighed. + +"Dear me, I do get so tired of this talk of efficiency, and women's +work in the world!" she said. "I wish one might feel it was enough to +live along quietly, busy with dressmaking, or perhaps now and then +making a fancy dessert for guests, giving little teas and card parties, +and making calls. It--" a yearning admiration rang in her voice, "it +seems such a dignified, pleasant ideal to live up to!" she said. + +"Well, it looks as if we had seen the last of that particular type of +woman," her husband said cheerfully. "Or at least it looks as if that +woman would find her own level, deliberately separate herself from her +more ambitious sisters, who want to develop higher arts than that of +mere housekeeping." + +"And how do YOU happen to know so much about it, Kane?" + +"I? Oh, it's in the air, I guess," the man admitted. "The whole idea is +changing. A man used to be ashamed of the idea of his wife working. Now +men tell you with pride that their wives paint or write or bind +books--Bates' wife makes loads of money designing toys, and Mrs. +Brewster is consulting physician on a hospital staff. Mary +Shotwell--she was a trained nurse--what was it she did?" + +"She gave a series of talks on hygiene for rich people's children," his +wife supplied. "And of course Florence Yeats makes candy, and the +Gerrish girls have opened a tea room in the old garage. But it seems +funny, just the same! It seems funny to me that so many women find it +worth while to hire servants, so that they can rush off to make the +money to pay the servants! It would seem so much more normal to stay at +home and do the housework themselves, and it would LOOK better." + +"Well, certain women always will, I suppose. And others will find their +outlets in other ways, and begin to look about for Justines, who will +lift the household load. I believe we'll see the time, Sally," said +Kane Salisbury thoughtfully, "when a young couple, launching into +matrimony, will discuss expenses with a mutual interest; you pay this +and I'll pay that, as it were. A trained woman will step into their +kitchen, and Madame will walk off to business with her husband, as a +matter of course." + +"Heaven forbid!" Mrs. Salisbury said piously. "If there is anything +romantic or tender or beautiful about married life under those +circumstances, I fail to see it, that's all!" + +It happened, a week or two later, on a sharp, sunshiny morning in early +winter, that Mrs. Salisbury and Alexandra found themselves sauntering +through the nicest shopping district of River Falls. There were various +small things to be bought for the wardrobes of mother and daughter, +prizes for a card party, birthday presents for one of the boys, and a +number of other little things. + +They happened to pass the windows of Lewis & Sons' big grocery, one of +the finest shops in town, on their way from one store to another, and, +attracted by a window full of English preserves, Mrs. Salisbury decided +to go in and leave an order. + +"I hope that you are going to bring your account back to us, Mrs. +Salisbury," said the alert salesman who waited upon them. "We are +always sorry to let an old customer go." + +"But I have an account here," said Mrs. Salisbury, startled. + +The salesman, smiling, shook his head, and one of the members of the +firm, coming up, confirmed the denial. + +"We were very sorry to take your name off our books, Mrs. Salisbury," +said he, with pleasant dignity; "I can remember your coming into the +old store on River Street when this young lady here was only a small +girl." + +His hand indicated a spot about three feet from the floor, as the +height of the child Alexandra, and the grown Alexandra dimpled an +appreciation of his memory. + +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury said, wrinkling her forehead; +"I had no idea that the account was closed, Mr. Lewis. How long ago was +this?" + +"It was while you were ill," said Mr. Lewis soothingly. "You might look +up the exact date, Mr. Laird." + +"But why?" Mrs. Salisbury asked, prettily puzzled. + +"That I don't know," answered Mr. Lewis. "And at the time, of course, +we did not press it. There was no complaint, of that I'm very sure." + +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury persisted. "I don't see who +could have done it except Mr. Salisbury, and, if he had had any reason, +he would have told me of it. However," she rose to go, "if you'll send +the jams, and the curry, and the chocolate, Mr. Laird, I'll look into +the matter at once." + +"And you're quite yourself again?" Mr. Lewis asked solicitously, +accompanying them to the door. "That's the main thing, isn't it? +There's been so much sickness everywhere lately. And your young lady +looks as if she didn't know the meaning of the word. Wonderful morning, +isn't it? Good morning, Mrs. Salisbury!" + +"Good morning!" Mrs. Salisbury responded graciously. But, as soon as +she and Alexandra were out of hearing, her face darkened. "That makes +me WILD!" said she. + +"What does, darling?" + +"That! Justine having the audacity to change my trade!" + +"But why should she want to, Mother?" + +"I really don't know. Given it to friends of hers perhaps." + +"Oh, Mother, she wouldn't!" + +"Well, we'll see." Mrs. Salisbury dropped the subject, and brought her +mind back with a visible effort to the morning's work. + +Immediately after lunch she interrogated Justine. The girl was drying +glasses, each one emerging like a bubble of hot and shining crystal +from her checked glass towel. + +"Justine," began the mistress, "have we been getting our groceries from +Lewis & Sons lately?" + +Justine placidly referred to an account book which she took from a +drawer under the pantry shelves. + +"Our last order was August eleventh," she announced. + +Something in her unembarrassed serenity annoyed Mrs. Salisbury. + +"May I ask why?" she suggested sharply. + +"Well, they are a long way from here," Justine said, after a second's +thought, "and they are very expensive grocers, Mrs. Salisbury. Of +course, what they have is of the best, but they cater to the very +richest families, you know--firms like Lewis & Sons aren't very much +interested in the orders they receive from--well, from upper +middle-class homes, people of moderate means. They handle hotels and +the summer colony at Burning Woods." + +Justine paused, a little uncertain of her terms, and Mrs. Salisbury +interposed an icy question. + +"May I ask where you HAVE transferred my trade?" + +"Not to any one place," the girl answered readily and mildly. But a +little resentful color had crept into her cheeks. "I pay as I go, and +follow the bargains," she explained. "I go to market twice a week, and +send enough home to make it worth while for the tradesman. You couldn't +market as I do, Mrs. Salisbury, but the tradespeople rather expect it +of a maid. Sometimes I gather an assortment of vegetables into my +basket, and get them to make a price on the whole. Or, if there is a +sale at any store, I go there, and order a dozen cans, or twenty pounds +of whatever they are selling." + +Mrs. Salisbury was not enjoying this revelation. The obnoxious term +"upper middle class" was biting like an acid upon her pride. And it was +further humiliating to contemplate her maid as a driver of bargains, as +dickering for baskets of vegetables. + +"The best is always the cheapest in the long run, whatever it may cost, +Justine," she said, with dignity. "We may not be among the richest +families in town," she was unable to refrain from adding, "but it is +rather amusing to hear you speak of the family as upper middle class!" + +"I only meant the--the sort of ordering we did," Justine hastily +interposed. "I meant from the grocer's point of view." + +"Well, Mr. Lewis sold groceries to my grandmother before I was +married," Mrs. Salisbury said loftily, "and I prefer him to any other +grocer. If he is too far away, the order may be telephoned. Or give me +your list, and I will stop in, as I used to do. Then I can order any +little extra delicacy that I see, something I might not otherwise think +of. Let me know what you need to-morrow morning, and I'll see to it." + +To her surprise, Justine did not bow an instant assent. Instead the +girl looked a little troubled. + +"Shall I give you my accounts and my ledger?" she asked rather +uncertainly. + +"No-o, I don't see any necessity for that," the older woman said, after +a second's pause. + +"But Lewis & Sons is a very expensive place," Justine pursued; "they +never have sales, never special prices. Their cheapest tomatoes are +fifteen cents a can, and their peaches twenty-five--" + +"Never mind," Mrs. Salisbury interrupted her briskly. "We'll manage +somehow. I always did trade there, and never had any trouble. Begin +with him to-morrow. And, while, of course, I understand that I was ill +and couldn't be bothered in this case, I want to ask you not to make +any more changes without consulting me, if you please." + +Justine, still standing, her troubled eyes on her employer, the last +glass, polished to diamond brightness, in her hand, frowned mutinously. + +"You understand that if you do any ordering whatever, Mrs. Salisbury, I +will have to give up my budget. You see, in that case, I wouldn't know +where I stood at all." + +"You would get the bill at the end of the month," Mrs. Salisbury said, +displeased. + +"Yes, but I don't run bills," the girl persisted. + +"I don't care to discuss it, Justine," the mistress said pleasantly; +"just do as I ask you, if you please, and we'll settle everything at +the end of the month. You shall not be held responsible, I assure you." + +She went out of the kitchen, and the next morning had a pleasant half +hour in the big grocery, and left a large order. + +"Just a little kitchen misunderstanding," she told the affable Mr. +Lewis, "but when one is ill--However, I am rapidly getting the reins +back into my own hands now." + +After that, Mrs. Salisbury ordered in person, or by telephone, every +day, and Justine's responsibilities were confined to the meat market +and greengrocer. Everything went along very smoothly until the end of +the month, when Justine submitted her usual weekly account and a bill +from Lewis & Sons which was some three times larger in amount than was +the margin of money supposed to pay it. + +This was annoying. Mrs. Salisbury could not very well rebuke her, nor +could she pay the bill out of her own purse. She determined to put it +aside until her husband seemed in a mood for financial advances, and, +wrapping it firmly about the inadequate notes and silver given her by +Justine, she shut it in a desk drawer. There the bill remained, +although the money was taken out for one thing or another; change that +must be made, a small bill that must be paid at the door. + +Another fortnight went by, and Lewis & Sons submitted another bimonthly +bill. Justine also gave her mistress another inadequate sum, what was +left from her week's expenditures. + +The two grocery bills were for rather a formidable sum. The thought of +them, in their desk drawer, rather worried Mrs. Salisbury. One evening +she bravely told her husband about them, and laid them before him. + +Mr. Salisbury was annoyed. He had been free from these petty worries +for some months, and he disliked their introduction again. + +"I thought this was Justine's business, Sally?" said he, frowning over +his eyeglasses. + +"Well, it IS" said his wife, "but she hasn't enough money, apparently, +and she simply handed me these, without saying anything." + +"Well, but that doesn't sound like her. Why?" + +"Oh, because I do the ordering, she says. They're queer, you know, +Kane; all servants are. And she seems very touchy about it." + +"Nonsense!" said the head of the house roundly. "Oh, Justine!" he +shouted, and the maid, after putting an inquiring head in from the +dining-room, duly came in, and stood before him. + +"What's struck your budget that you were so proud of, Justine?" asked +Kane Salisbury. "It looks pretty sick." + +"I am not keeping on a budget now," answered Justine, with a rather +surprised glance at her mistress. + +"Not; but why not?" asked the man good-naturedly. And his wife added +briskly, "Why did you stop, Justine?" + +"Because Mrs. Salisbury has been ordering all this month," Justine +said. "And that, of course, makes it impossible for me to keep track of +what is spent. These last four weeks I have only been keeping an +account; I haven't attempted to keep within any limit." + +"Ah, you see that's it," Kane Salisbury said triumphantly. "Of course +that's it! Well, Mrs. Salisbury will have to let you go back to the +ordering then. D'ye see, Sally? Naturally, Justine can't do a thing +while you're buying at random--" + +"My dear, we have dealt with Lewis & Sons ever since we were married," +Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling with great tolerance, and in a soothing +voice, "Justine, for some reason, doesn't like Lewis & Sons--" + +"It isn't that," said the maid quickly. "It's just that it's against +the rules of the college for anyone else to do any ordering, unless, of +course, you and I discussed it beforehand and decided just what to +spend." + +"You mean, unless I simply went to market for you?" asked the mistress, +in a level tone. + +"Well, it amounts to that--yes." + +Mrs. Salisbury threw her husband one glance. + +"Well, I'll tell you what we have decided in the morning, Justine," she +said, with dignity. "That's all. You needn't wait." + +Justine went back to her kitchen, and Mr. Salisbury, smiling, said: + +"Sally, how unreasonable you are! And how you do dislike that girl!" + +The outrageous injustice of this scattered to the winds Mrs. +Salisbury's last vestige of calm, and, after one scathing summary of +the case, she refused to discuss it at all, and opened the evening +paper with marked deliberation. + +For the next two or three weeks she did all the marketing herself, but +this plan did not work well. Bills doubled in size, and so many things +were forgotten, or were ordered at the last instant by telephone, and +arrived too late, that the whole domestic system was demoralized. + +Presently, of her own accord, Mrs. Salisbury reestablished Justine with +her allowance, and with full authority to shop when and how she +pleased, and peace fell again. But, smoldering in Mrs. Salisbury's +bosom was a deep resentment at this peculiar and annoying state of +affairs. She began to resent everything Justine did and said, as one +human being shut up in the same house with another is very apt to do. + +No schooling ever made it easy to accept the sight of Justine's leisure +when she herself was busy. It was always exasperating, when perhaps +making beds upstairs, to glance from the window and see Justine +starting for market, her handsome figure well displayed in her long +dark coat, her shining braids half hidden by her simple yet dashing hat. + +"I walked home past Perry's," Justine would perhaps say on her return, +"to see their prize chrysanthemums. They really are wonderful! The old +man took me over the greenhouses himself, and showed me everything!" + +Or perhaps, unpacking her market basket by the spotless kitchen table, +she would confide innocently: + +"Samuels is really having an extraordinary sale of serges this morning. +I went in, and got two dress lengths for my sister's children. If I can +find a good dressmaker, I really believe I'll have one myself. I +think"--Justine would eye her vegetables thoughtfully--"I think I'll go +up now and have my bath, and cook these later." + +Mrs. Salisbury could reasonably find no fault with this. But an +indescribable irritation possessed her whenever such a conversation +took place. The coolness!--she would say to herself, as she went +upstairs--wandering about to shops and greenhouses, and quietly +deciding to take a bath before luncheon! Why, Mrs. Salisbury had had +maids who never once asked for the use of the bathroom, although they +had been for months in her employ. + +No, she could not attack Justine on this score. But she began to +entertain the girl with enthusiastic accounts of the domestics of +earlier and better days. + +"My mother had a girl," she said, "a girl named Norah O'Connor. I +remember her very well. She swept, she cleaned, she did the entire +washing for a family of eight, and she did all the cooking. And such +cookies, and pies, and gingerbread as she made! All for sixteen dollars +a month. We regarded Norah as a member of the family, and, even on her +holidays she would take three or four of us, and walk with us to my +father's grave; that was all she wanted to do. You don't see her like +in these days, dear old Norah!" + +Justine listened respectfully, silently. Once, when her mistress was +enlarging upon the advantages of slavery, the girl commented mildly: + +"Doesn't it seem a pity that the women of the United States didn't +attempt at least to train all those Southern colored people for house +servants? It seems to be their natural element. They love to live in +white families, and they have no caste pride. It would seem to be such +a waste of good material, letting them worry along without much +guidance all these years. It almost seems as if the Union owed it to +them." + +"Dear me, I wish somebody would! I, for one, would love to have dear +old mammies around me again," Mrs. Salisbury said, with fervor. "They +know their place," she added neatly. + +"The men could be butlers and gardeners and coachmen," pursued Justine. + +"Yes, and with a lot of finely trained colored women in the market, +where would you girls from the college be?" the other woman asked, not +without a spice of mischievous enjoyment. + +"We would be a finer type of servant, for more fastidious people," +Justine scored by answering soberly. "You could hardly expect a colored +girl to take the responsibility of much actual managing, I should +suppose. There would always be a certain proportion of people who would +prefer white servants." + +"Perhaps there are," Mrs. Salisbury admitted dubiously. She felt, with +a sense of triumph, that she had given Justine a pretty strong hint +against "uppishness." But Justine was innocently impervious to hints. +As a matter of fact, she was not an exceptionally bright girl; literal, +simple, and from very plain stock, she was merely well trained in her +chosen profession. Sometimes she told her mistress of her +fellow-graduates, taking it for granted that Mrs. Salisbury entirely +approved of all the ways of the American School of Domestic Science. + +"There's Mabel Frost," said Justine one day. "She would have graduated +when I did, but she took the fourth year's work. She really is of a +very fine family; her father is a doctor. And she has a position with a +doctor's family now, right near here, in New Troy. There are just two +in family, and both are doctors, and away all day. So Mabel has a +splendid chance to keep up her music." + +"Music?" Mrs. Salisbury asked sharply. + +"Piano. She's had lessons all her life. She plays very well, too." + +"Yes; and some day the doctor or his wife will come in and find her at +the piano, and your friend will lose her fine position," Mrs. Salisbury +suggested. + +"Oh, Mabel never would have touched the piano without their +permission," Justine said quickly, with a little resentful flush. + +"You mean that they are perfectly willing to have her use it?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked. + +"Oh, quite!" + +"Have they ADOPTED her?" + +"Oh, no! No; Mabel is twenty-four or five." + +"What's the doctor's name?" + +"Mitchell. Dr. Quentin Mitchell. He's a member of the Burning Woods +Club." + +"A member of the CLUB! And he allows--" Mrs. Salisbury did not finish +her thought. "I don't want to say anything against your friend," she +began again presently, "but for a girl in her position to waste her +time studying music seems rather absurd to me. I thought the very idea +of the college was to content girls with household positions." + +"Well, she is going to be married next spring," Justine said, "and her +husband is quite musical. He plays a church organ. I am going to dinner +with them on Thursday, and then to the Gadski concert. They're both +quite music mad." + +"Well, I hope he can afford to buy tickets for Gadski, but marriage is +a pretty expensive business," Mrs. Salisbury said pleasantly, "What is +he, a chauffeur--a salesman?" To do her justice, she knew the question +would not offend, for Justine, like any girl from a small town, was not +fastidious as to the position of her friends; was very fond of the +policeman on the corner and his pretty wife, and liked a chat with Mrs. +Sargent's chauffeur when occasion arose. + +But the girl's answer, in this case, was a masterly thrust. + +"No; he's something in a bank, Mrs. Salisbury. He's paying teller in +that little bank at Burton Corners, beyond Burning Woods. But, of +course, he hopes for promotion; they all do. I believe he is trying to +get into the River Falls Mutual Savings, but I'm not sure." + +Mrs. Salisbury felt the blood in her face. Kane Salisbury had been in a +bank when she married him; was cashier of the River Falls Mutual +Savings Bank now. + +She carried away the asters she had been arranging, without further +remark. But Justine's attitude rankled. Mrs. Salisbury, absurd as she +felt her own position to be, could not ignore the impertinence of her +maid's point of view. Theoretically, what Justine thought mattered less +than nothing. Actually it really made a great difference to the +mistress of the house. + +"I would like to put that girl in her place once!" thought Mrs. +Salisbury. She began to wish that Justine would marry, and to envy +those of her friends who were still struggling with untrained Maggies +and Almas and Chloes. Whatever their faults, these girls were still +SERVANTS, old-fashioned "help"--they drudged away at cooking and beds +and sweeping all day, and rattled dishes far into the night. + +The possibility of getting a second little maid occurred to her. She +suggested it, tentatively, to Sandy. + +"You couldn't, unless I'm mistaken, Mother," Sandy said briskly, eyeing +a sandwich before she bit into it. The ladies were at luncheon. "For a +graduate servant can't work with any but a graduate servant; that's the +rule. At least I THINK it is!" And Sandy, turning toward the pantry, +called: "Oh, Justine!" + +"Justine," she asked, when the maid appeared, "isn't it true that you +graduates can't work with untrained girls in the house?" + +"That's the rule," Justine assented. + +"And what does the school expect you to pay a second girl?" pursued the +daughter of the house. + +"Well, where there are no children, twenty dollars a month," said +Justine, "with one dollar each for every person more than two in the +family. Then, in that case, the head servant, as we call the cook, +would get five dollars less a month. That is, I would get thirty-two +dollars, and the assistant twenty-three." + +"Gracious!" said Mrs. Salisbury. "Thank you, Justine. We were just +asking. Fifty-five dollars for the two!" she ejaculated under her +breath when the girl was gone. "Why, I could get a fine cook and +waitress for less than that!" + +And instantly the idea of two good maids instead of one graduated one +possessed her. A fine cook in the kitchen, paid, say twenty-five, and a +"second girl," paid sixteen. And none of these ridiculous and +inflexible regulations! Ah, the satisfaction of healthily imposing upon +a maid again, of rewarding that maid with the gift of a half-worn gown, +as a peace offering--Mrs. Salisbury drew a long breath. The time had +come for a change. + +Mr. Salisbury, however, routed the idea with scorn. His wife had no +argument hardy enough to survive the blighting breath of his +astonishment. And Alexandra, casually approached, proved likewise +unfavorable. + +"I am certainly not furthering my own comfort alone in this, as you and +Daddy seem inclined to think," Mrs. Salisbury said severely to her +daughter. "I feel that Justine's system is an imposition upon you, +dear. It isn't right for a pretty girl of your age to be caught dusting +the sitting-room, as Owen caught you yesterday. Daddy and I can keep a +nice home, we keep a motor car, we put the boys in good schools, and it +doesn't seem fair--" + +"Oh, fair your grandmother!" Sandy broke in, with a breezy laugh. "If +Owen Sargent doesn't like it, he can just come TO! Look at HIS mother, +eating dinner the other day with four representatives of the +Waitresses' Union! Marching in a parade with dear knows who! Besides--" + +"It is very different in Mrs. Sargent's case, dear," said Mrs. +Salisbury simply. "She could afford to do anything, and consequently it +doesn't matter what she does! It doesn't matter what you do, if you can +afford not to. The point is that we can't really afford a second maid." + +"I don't see what that has to do with it!" said the girl of the coming +generation cheerfully. + +"It has EVERYTHING to do with it," the woman of the passing generation +answered seriously. + +"As far as Owen goes," Sandy went on thoughtfully, "I'm only too much +afraid he's the other way. What do you suppose he's going to do now? +He's going to establish a little Neighborhood House for boys down on +River Street, 'The Cyrus Sargent Memorial.' And, if you please, he's +going to LIVE there! It's a ducky house; he showed me the blue-prints, +with the darlingest apartment for himself you ever saw, and a plunge, +and a roof gymnasium. It's going to cost, endowment and all, three +hundred thousand dollars--" + +"Good heavens!" Mrs. Salisbury said, as one stricken. + +"And the worst of it is," Alexandra pursued, with a sympathetic laugh +for her mother's concern, "that he'll meet some Madonna-eyed little +factory girl or laundry worker down there and feel that he owes it to +her to--" + +"To break your heart, Sandy," the mother supplied, all tender +solicitude. + +"It's not so much a question of my heart," Sandy answered composedly, +"as it is a question of his entire life. It's so unnecessary and +senseless!" + +"And you can sit there calmly discussing it!" Mrs. Salisbury said, +thoroughly out of temper with the entire scheme of things mundane. +"Upon my word, I never saw or heard anything like it!" she observed. "I +wonder that you don't quietly tell Owen that you care for him--but it's +too dreadful to joke about! I give you up!" + +And she rose from her chair, and went quickly out of the room, every +line in her erect little figure expressing exasperation and +inflexibility. Sandy, smiling sleepily, reopened an interrupted novel. +But she stared over the open page into space for a few moments, and +finally spoke: + +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" an +interrupted novel. But she stared over the open page into space for a +few moments, and finally spoke: + +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +"Mrs. Salisbury," said Justine, when her mistress came into the kitchen +one December morning, "I've had a note from Mrs. Sargent--" + +"From Mrs. Sargent?" Mrs. Salisbury repeated, astonished. And to +herself she said: "She's trying to get Justine away from me!" + +"She writes as Chairman of the Department of Civics of the Forum Club," +pursued Justine, referring to the letter she held in her hand, "to ask +me if I will address the club some Thursday on the subject of the +College of Domestic Science. I know that you expect to give a card +party some Thursday, and I thought I would make sure just which one you +meant." + +Mrs. Salisbury, taken entirely unaware, was actually speechless for a +moment. The Forum was, of all her clubs, the one in which membership +was most prized by the women of River Falls. It was not a large club, +and she had longed for many years somehow to place her name among the +eighty on its roll. The richest and most exclusive women of River Falls +belonged to the Forum Club; its few rooms, situated in the business +part of town, and handsomely but plainly furnished, were full of subtle +reminders that here was no mere social center; here responsible members +of the recently enfranchised sex met to discuss civic betterment, +schools and municipal budgets, commercialized vice and child labor, +library appropriations, liquor laws and sewer systems. Local +politicians were beginning to respect the Forum, local newspapers +reported its conventions, printed its communications. + +Mrs. Salisbury was really a little bit out of place among the clever, +serious young doctors, the architects, lawyers, philanthropists and +writers who belonged to the club. But her membership therein was one of +the things in which she felt an unalloyed satisfaction. If the +discussions ever secretly bored or puzzled her, she was quite clever +enough to conceal it. She sat, her handsome face, under its handsome +hat, turned toward the speaker, her bright eyes immovable as she +listened to reports and expositions. And, after the motion to adjourn +had been duly made, she had her reward. Rich women, brilliant women, +famous women chatted with her cordially as the Forum Club streamed +downstairs. She was asked to luncheons, to teas; she was whirled home +in the limousines of her fellow-members. No other one thing in her life +seemed to Mrs. Salisbury as definite a social triumph as was her +membership in the Forum. + +Her election had come about simply enough, after years of secret +longing to become a member. Sandy, who was about twelve at the time, +during a call from Mrs. Sargent, had said innocently: + +"Why haven't you ever joined the Forum, Mother?" + +"Why, yes; why not?" Mrs. Sargent had added. + +This gave Mrs. Salisbury an opportunity to say: + +"Well, I have been a very busy woman, and couldn't have done so, with +these three dear children to watch. But, as a matter of fact, Mrs. +Sargent, I have never been asked. At least," she went on scrupulously, +"I am almost sure I never have been!" The implication being that the +Forum's card of invitation might have been overlooked for more +important affairs. + +"I'll send you another," the great lady had said at once. "You're just +the sort we need," Mrs. Sargent had continued. "We've got enough widows +and single women in now; what we want are the real mothers, who need +shaking out of the groove!" + +Mrs. Sargent happened to be President of the Club at that time, so Mrs. +Salisbury had only to ignore graciously the rather offensive phrasing +of the invitation, and to await the news of her election, which duly +and promptly arrived. + +And now Justine had been asked to speak at the Forum! It was the most +distasteful bit of information that had come Mrs. Salisbury's way in a +long, long time! She felt in her heart a stinging resentment against +Mrs. Sargent, with her mad notions of equality, and against Justine, +who was so complacently and contentedly accepting this monstrous state +of affairs. + +"That is very kind of Mrs. Sargent," said she, fighting for dignity; +"she is very much interested in working girls and their problems, and I +suppose she thinks this might be a good advertisement for the school, +too." This idea had just come to Mrs. Salisbury, and she found it +vaguely soothing. "But I don't like the idea," she ended firmly; +"it--it seems very odd, very--very conspicuous. I should prefer you not +to consider anything of the kind." + +"I should prefer" was said in the tone that means "I command," yet +Justine was not satisfied. + +"Oh, but why?" she asked. + +"If you force me to discuss it," said Mrs. Salisbury, in sudden anger, +"because you are my maid! My gracious, YOU ARE MY MAID," she repeated, +pent-up irritation finding an outlet at last. "There is such a +relationship as mistress and maid, after all! While you are in my house +you will do as I say. It is the mistress's place to give orders, not to +take them, not to have to argue and defend herself--" + +"Certainly, if it is a question about the work the maid is supposed to +do," Justine defended herself, with more spirit than the other woman +had seen her show before. "But what she does with her leisure--why it's +just the same as what a clerk does with his leisure, nobody questions +it, nobody--" + +"I tell you that I will not stand here and argue with you," said Mrs. +Salisbury, with more dignity in her tone than in her words. "I say that +I don't care to have my maid exploited by a lot of fashionable women at +a club, and that ends it! And I must add," she went on, "that I am +extremely surprised that Mrs. Sargent should approach you in such a +matter, without consulting me!" + +"The relationship of mistress and maid," Justine said slowly, "is what +has always made the trouble. Men have decided what they want done in +their offices, and never have any trouble in finding boys to fill the +vacancies. But women expect--" + +"I really don't care to listen to any further theories from that +extraordinary school," said Mrs. Salisbury decidedly. "I have told you +what I expect you to do, and I know you are too sensible a girl to +throw away a good position--" + +"Mrs. Salisbury, if I intended to say anything in such a little talk +that would reflect on this family, or even to mention it, it would be +different, but, as it is--" + +"I should hope you WOULDN'T mention this family!" Mrs. Salisbury said +hotly. "But even without that--" + +"It would be merely an outline of what the school is, and what it tries +to do," Justine interposed. "Miss Holley, our founder and President, +was most anxious to have us interest the general public in this way, if +ever we got a chance." + +"What Miss Holley--whoever she is--wanted, or wants, is nothing to me!" +Mrs. Salisbury said magnificently. "You know what I feel about this +matter, and I have nothing more to say." + +She left the kitchen on the very end of the last word, and Justine, +perforce not answering, hoped that the affair was concluded, once and +for all. + +"For Mrs. Sargent may think she can exasperate me by patronizing my +maid," said Mrs. Salisbury guardedly, when telling her husband and +daughter of the affair that evening, "but there is a limit to +everything, and I have had about enough of this efficiency business!" + +"I can only beg, Mother dear, that you won't have a row with Owen's +dear little vacillating, weak-minded ma," said Sandy cheerfully. + +"No; but, seriously, don't you both think it's outrageous?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked, looking from one to the other. + +"No-o; I see the girl's point," Kane Salisbury said thoughtfully. "What +she does with her afternoons off is her own affair, after all; and you +can't blame her, if a chance to step out of the groove comes along, for +taking advantage of it. Strictly, you have no call to interfere." + +"Legally, perhaps I haven't," his wife conceded calmly. "But, thank +goodness, my home is not yet a court of law. Besides, Daddy, if one of +the young men in the bank did something of which you disapproved, you +would feel privileged to interfere." + +"If he did something WRONG, Sally, not otherwise." + +"And you would be perfectly satisfied to meet your janitor somewhere at +dinner?" + +"No; the janitor's colored, to begin with, and, more than that, he +isn't the type one meets. But, if he qualified otherwise, I wouldn't +mind meeting him just because he happened to be the janitor. Now, young +Forrest turns up at the club for golf, and Sandy and I picked Fred Hall +up the other day, coming back from the river." Kane Salisbury, leaning +back in his chair, watched the rings of smoke that rose from his cigar. +"It's a funny thing about you women," he said lazily. "You keep +wondering why smart girls won't go into housework, and yet, if you get +a girl who isn't a mere stupid machine, you resent every sign she gives +of being an intelligent human being. No two of you keep house alike, +and you jump on the girl the instant she hangs a dish towel up the way +you don't. It's you women who make life so hard for each other. Now, if +any decent man saw a young fellow at the bottom of the ladder, who was +as good and clever and industrious as Justine is, he'd be glad to give +him a hand up. But no; that means she's above her work, and has to be +snubbed." + +"Don't talk so cynically, Daddy dear," Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling +over her fancy work, as one only half listening. + +"I tell you, a change is coming in all these things, Sally," said the +cynic, unruffled. + +"You bet there is!" his daughter seconded him from the favorite low +seat that permitted her to rest her mouse-colored head against his knee. + +"Your mother's a conservative, Sandy," pursued the man of the house, +encouraged, "but there's going to be some domestic revolutionizing in +the next few years. It's hard enough to get a maid now; pretty soon +it'll be impossible. Then you women will have to sit down and work the +thing out, and ask yourselves why young American girls won't come into +your homes, and eat the best food in the land, and get well paid for +what they do. You'll have to reduce the work of an American home to a +system, that's all, and what you want done that isn't provided for in +that system you'll have to do yourselves. There's something in the way +you treat a girl now, or in what you expect her to do, that's all +wrong!" + +"It isn't a question of too much work," Mrs. Salisbury said. "They are +much better off when they're worked hard. And I notice that your +bookkeepers are kept pretty busy, Kane," she added neatly. + +"For an eight-hour day, Sally. But you expect a twelve or fourteen-hour +day from your housemaid--" + +"If I pay a maid thirty-seven and a half dollars a month," his wife +averred, with precision, "I expect her to do something for that +thirty-seven dollars and a half!" + +"Well, but, Mother, she does!" Alexandra contributed eagerly. "In +Justine's case she does an awful lot! She plans, and saves, and thinks +about things. Sometimes she sits writing menus and crossing things out +for an hour at a time." + +"And then Justine's a pioneer; in a way she's an experiment," the man +said. "Experiments are always expensive. That's why the club is +interested, I suppose. But in a few years probably the woods will be +full of graduate servants--everyone'll have one! They'll have their +clubs and their plans together, and that will solve some of the social +side of the old trouble. They--" + +"Still, I notice that Mrs. Sargent herself doesn't employ graduate +servants!" Mrs. Salisbury, who had been following a wandering line of +thought, threw in darkly. + +"Because they haven't any graduates for homes like hers, Mother," +Alexandra supplied. "She keeps eight or nine housemaids. The college is +only to supply the average home, don't you see? Where only one or two +are kept--that's their idea." + +"And do they suppose that the average American woman is willing to go +right on paying thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents for a maid?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked mildly. + +"For five in family, Mother! Justine would only be thirty if three dear +little strangers hadn't come to brighten your home," Sandy reminded +her. "Besides," she went on, "Justine was telling me only a day or two +ago of their latest scheme--they are arranging so that a girl can +manage two houses in the same neighborhood. She gets breakfast for the +Joneses, say; leaves at nine for market; orders for both families; goes +to the Smiths and serves their hearty meal at noon; goes back to the +Joneses at five, and serves dinner." + +"And what does she get for all this?" Mrs. Salisbury asked in a +skeptical tone. + +"The Joneses pay her twenty-five, I believe, and the Smiths fifteen for +two in each family." + +"What's to prevent the two families having all meals together," Mrs. +Salisbury asked, "instead of having to patch out with meals when they +had no maid?" + +"Well, I suppose they could. Then she'd get her original thirty, and +five more for the two extra--you see, it comes out the same, +thirty-five dollars a month. Perhaps families will pool their expenses +that way some day. It would save buying, too, and table linen, and gas +and fuel. And it would be fun! All at our house this month, and all at +Aunt Mat's next month!" + +"There's one serious objection to sharing a maid," Mrs. Salisbury +presently submitted; "she would tell the other family all your private +business." + +"If they chose to pump her, she might," Alexandra said, with +unintentional rebuke, and Mr. Salisbury added amusedly: + +"No, no, no, Mother! That's an exploded theory. How much has Justine +told you of her last place?" + +"But that's no proof she WOULDN'T, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury ended the talk +by rising from her chair, taking another nearer the reading lamp, and +opening a new magazine. "Justine is a sensible girl," she added, after +a moment. "I have always said that. When all the discussing and +theorizing in the world is done, it comes down to this: a servant in my +house shall do AS I SAY. I have told her that I dislike this ridiculous +club idea, and I expect to hear no more of the matter!" + +There came a day in December when Mrs. Salisbury came home from the +Forum Club in mid-afternoon. Her face was a little pale as she entered +the house, her lips tightly set. It was a Thursday afternoon, and +Justine's kitchen was empty. Lettuce and peeled potatoes were growing +crisp in yellow bowls of ice water, breaded cutlets were in the ice +chest, a custard cooled in a north window. + +Mrs. Salisbury walked rapidly through the lower rooms, came back to the +library, and sat down at her desk. A fire was laid in the wide, +comfortable fireplace, but she did not light it. She sat, hatted, +veiled and gloved, staring fixedly ahead of her for some moments. Then +she said aloud, in a firm but quiet voice: "Well, this positively ENDS +it!" + +A delicate film of dust obscured the shining surface of the writing +table. Mrs. Salisbury's mouth curved into a cold smile when she saw it; +and again she spoke aloud. + +"Thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents, indeed!" she said. "Ha!" + +Nearly two hours later Alexandra rushed in. Alexandra looked her +prettiest; she was wearing new furs for the first time; her face was +radiantly fresh, under the sweep of her velvet hat. She found her +mother stretched comfortably on the library couch with a book. Mrs. +Salisbury smiled, and there was a certain placid triumph in her smile. + +"Here you are, Mother!" Alexandra burst out joyously. "Mother, I've +just had the most extraordinary experience of my life!" She sat down +beside the couch, her eyes dancing, her cheeks two roses, and pushed +back her furs, and flung her gloves aside. "My dear," said Alexandra, +catching up the bunch of violets she held for an ecstatic sniff, and +then dropping it in her lap again, "wait until I tell you--I'm engaged!" + +"My darling girl--" Mrs. Salisbury said, rapturously, faintly. + +"To Owen, of course," Alexandra rushed on radiantly. "But wait until I +tell you! It's the most awful thing I ever did in my life, in a WAY," +she interrupted herself to say more soberly. Her voice died away, and +her eyes grew dreamy. + +Mrs. Salisbury's heart, rising giddily to heaven on a swift rush of +thanks, felt a cold check. + +"How do you mean awful, dear?" she said apprehensively. + +"Well, wait, and I'll tell you," Alexandra said, recalled and dimpling +again. "I met Jim Vance and Owen this morning at about twelve, and Jim +simply got red as a beet, and vanished--poor Jim!" The girl paid the +tribute of a little sigh to the discarded suitor. "So then Owen asked +me to lunch with him--right there in the Women's exchange, so it was +quite comme il faut, Mother," she pursued, "and, my dear! he told me, +as calmly as THAT!--that he might go to New York when Jim goes--Jim's +going to visit a lot of Eastern relatives!--so that he, Owen I mean, +could study some Eastern settlement houses and get some ideas--" + +"I think the country is going mad on this subject of settlement houses, +and reforms, and hygiene!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with some sharpness. +"However, go on!" + +"Well, Owen spoke to me a little about--about Jim's liking me, you +know," Alexandra continued. "You know Owen can get awfully red and +choky over a thing like that," she broke off to say animatedly. "But +to-day he wasn't--he was just brotherly and sweet. And, Mother, he got +so confidential, you know, that I simply PULLED my courage together, +and I determined to talk honestly to him. I clasped my hands--I could +see in one of the mirrors that I looked awfully nice, and that +helped!--I clasped my hands, and I looked right into his eyes, and I +said, quietly, you know, 'Owen,' I said 'I'm going to tell you the +truth. You ask me why I don't care for Jim; this is the reason. I like +you too much to care for any other man that way. I don't want you to +say anything now, Owen,' I said, 'or to think I expect you to tell me +that you have always cared for me. That'd be too FLAT. And I'm not +going to say that I'll never care for anyone else, for I'm only twenty, +and I don't know. But I couldn't see so much of you, Owen,' I said, +'and not care for you, and it seems as natural to tell you so as it +would for me to tell another girl. You worry sometimes because you +can't remember your father,' I said, 'and because your mother is so +undemonstrative with you; but I want you to think, the next time you +feel sort of out of it, that there is a woman who really and truly +thinks that you are the best man in the world--'" + +Mrs. Salisbury had risen to a sitting position; her eyes, fixed upon +her daughter's face, were filled with utter horror. + +"You are not serious, my child!" she gasped. "Alexandra, tell me that +this is some monstrous joke--" + +"Serious! I never was more serious in my life," the girl said stoutly. +"I said just that. It was easy enough, after I once got started. And I +thought to myself, even then, that if he didn't care he'd be decent +enough to say so honestly--" + +"But, my child--my CHILD!" the mother said, beside herself with +outraged pride. "You cannot mean that you so far forgot a woman's +natural delicacy--her natural shrinking--her dignity--Why, what must +Owen think of you! Can't you SEE what a dreadful thing you've done, +dear!" Her mind, working desperately for an escape from the unbearable +situation, seized upon a possible explanation. "My darling," she said, +"you must try at once to convince him that you were only joking--you +can say half-laughingly--" + +"But wait!" Alexandra interrupted, unruffled. "He put his hand over +mine, and he turned as red as a beet--I wish you could have seen his +face, Mother!--and he said--But," and the happy color flooded her face, +"I honestly can't tell you what he said, Mother," Alexandra confessed. +"Only it was DARLING, and he is honestly the best man I ever saw in my +life!" + +"But, dearest, dearest," her mother said, with desperate appeal. "Don't +you see that you can't possibly allow things to remain this way? Your +dignity, dear, the most precious thing a girl has, you've simply thrown +it to the winds! Do you want Owen to remind you some day that YOU were +the one to speak first?" Her voice sank distressfully, a shamed red +burned in her cheeks. "Do you want Owen to be able to say that you +cared, and admitted that you cared, before he did?" + +Alexandra, staring blankly at her mother, now burst into a gay laugh. + +"Oh, Mother, aren't you DARLING--but you're so funny!" she said. "Don't +you suppose I know Owen well enough to know whether he cares for me or +not? He doesn't know it himself, that's the whole point, or rather he +DIDN'T, for he does now! And he'll go on caring more and more every +minute, you'll see! He might have been months finding it out, even if +he didn't go off to New York with Jim, and marry some little designing +dolly-mop of an actress, or some girl he met on the train. Owen's the +sort of dear, big, old, blundering fellow that you have to PROTECT, +Mother. And it came up so naturally--if you'd been there--" + +"I thank Heaven I was not there!" Mrs. Salisbury said feelingly. "Came +up naturally! Alexandra, what are you MADE of? Where are your natural +feelings? Why, do you realize that your Grandmother Porter kept your +grandfather waiting three months for an answer, even? She lived to be +an old, old lady, and she used to say that a woman ought never let her +husband know how much she cared for him, and Grandfather Porter +RESPECTED and ADMIRED your grandmother until the day of her death!" + +"A dear, cold-blooded old lady she must have been!" said Alexandra, +unimpressed. + +"On the contrary," Mrs. Salisbury said quickly. "She was a beautiful +and dignified woman. And when your father first began to call upon me," +she went on impressively, "and Mattie teased me about him, I was so +furious--my feelings were so outraged!--that I went upstairs and cried +a whole evening, and wouldn't see him for DAYS!" + +"Well, dearest," Alexandra said cheerfully, "You may have been a +perfect little lady, but it's painfully evident that I take after the +other side of the house! As for Owen ever having the nerve to suggest +that I gave him a pretty broad hint--" the girl's voice was carried +away on a gale of cheerful laughter. "He'd get no dessert for weeks to +come!" she threatened gaily. "You know I'm convinced, Mother," Sandy +went on more seriously, "that this business of a man's doing all the +asking is going out. When women have their own industrial freedom, and +their own well-paid work, it'll be a great compliment to suggest to a +man that one's willing to give everything up, and keep his house and +raise his children for him. And if, for any reason, he SHOULDN'T care +for that girl, she'll not be embarrassed--" + +Mrs. Salisbury shut her eyes, her face and form rigid, one hand +spasmodically clutching the couch. + +"Alexandra, I BEG--" she said faintly, "I ENTREAT that you will not +expect me to listen to such outrageous and indelicate and COARSE--yes, +coarse!--theories! Think what you will, but don't ask your mother--" + +"Now, listen, darling," Alexandra said soothingly, kneeling down and +gathering her mother affectionately in her arms, "Owen did every bit of +this except the very first second and, if you'll just FORGET IT, in a +few months he'll be thinking he did it all! Wait until you see him; +he's walking on air! He's dazed. My dear"--the strain of happy +confidence was running smoothly again--"my dear, we lunched together, +and then we went out in the car to Burning Woods, and sat there on the +porch, and talked and TALKED. It was perfectly wonderful! Now, he's +gone to tell his mother, but he's coming back to take us all to dinner. +Is that all right? And, Mother, that reminds me, we are going to live +in the new Settlement House, and have a girl like Justine!" + +"WHAT!" Mrs. Salisbury said, smitten sick with disappointment. + +"Or Justine herself, if you'll let us have her," Sandy went on. "You +see, living in that big Sargent house--" + +"Do you mean that Owen's mother doesn't want to give up that house?" +Mrs. Salisbury asked coldly. "I thought it was Owen's?" + +"It IS Owen's, Mother, but fancy living there!" Sandy said vivaciously. +"Why, I'd have to keep seven or eight maids, and do nothing but manage +them, and do just as everyone else does!" + +"You'd be the richest young matron in town," her mother said bitterly. + +"Oh, I know, Mother, but that seems sort of mean to the other girls! +Anyway, we'd much rather live in the ducky little Settlement house, and +entertain our friends at the Club, do you see? And Justine is to run a +little cooking school, do you see? For everyone says that management of +food and money is the most important thing to teach the poorer class. +Won't that be great?" + +"I personally can't agree with you," the mother said lifelessly. "Here +I spend all my life since your babyhood trying to make friends for you +among the nicest people, trying to establish our family upon an equal +basis with much richer people, and you, instead of living as you +should, with beautiful things about you, choose to go down to River +Street, and drudge among the slums!" + +"Oh, come, Mother; River Street is the breeziest, prettiest part of +town, with the river and those fields opposite. Wait until we clean it +up, and get some gardens going--" + +"As for Justine, I am DONE with her," continued the older woman +dispassionately. "All this has rather put it out of my head, but I +meant to tell you at once, she goes out of my house THIS WEEK! Against +my express wish, she was the guest of the Forum Club to-day. 'Miss J. +C. Harrison,' the program said, and I could hardly believe my eyes when +I saw Justine! She had on a black charmeuse gown, black velvet about +her hair--and I was supposed to sit there and listen to my own maid! I +slipped out; it was too much. To-morrow morning," Mrs. Salisbury ended +dramatically, "I dismiss her!" + +"Mother!" said Alexandra, aghast. "What reason will you give her?" + +"I shall give her no reason," Mrs. Salisbury said sternly. "I am +through with apologies to servants! To-morrow I shall apply at Crosby's +for a good, old-fashioned maid, who doesn't have to have her daily +bath, and doesn't expect to be entertained at my club!" + +"But, listen, darling," Alexandra pleaded. "DON'T make a fuss now. +Justine was my darling belle-mere's guest to-day, don't you see? It'll +be so awkward, scrapping right in the face of Owen's news. Couldn't you +sort of shelve the Justine question for a while?" + +"Dearie, be advised," Mrs. Salisbury said, with solemn warning. "You +DON'T want a girl like that, dear. You will be a SOMEBODY, Sandy. You +can't do just what any other girl would do, as Owen Sargent's wife! +Don't live with Mrs. Sargent if you don't want to, but take a pretty +house, dear. Have two or three little maids, in nice caps and aprons. +Why, Alice Snow, whose husband is merely an automobile salesman, has a +LOVELY home! It's small, of course, but you could have your choice!" + +"Well, nothing's settled!" Alexandra rose to go upstairs, gathered her +furs about her. "Only promise me to let Justine's question stand," she +begged. + +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury consented unwillingly. + +"Ah, there's Dad!" Alexandra cried suddenly, as the front door opened +and shut. With a joyous rush, she flew to meet him, and Mrs. Salisbury +could imagine, from the sounds she heard, exactly how Sandy and her +great news and her furs and her father's kisses were all mixed up +together. "What--what--what--why, what am I going to do for a girl?" +"Oh, Dad, darling, say that you're glad!" "Luckiest fellow this side of +the Rocky Mountains, and I'll tell him so!" "And you and Mother to dine +with us every week, promise that, Dad!" + +She heard them settle down on the lowest step, Sandy obviously in her +father's lap; heard the steady murmur of confidence and advice. + +"Wise girl, wise girl," she heard the man's voice say. "That keeps you +in touch with life, Sandy; that's real. And then, if some day you have +reasons for wanting a bigger house and a more quiet neighborhood--" +Several frantic kisses interrupted the speaker here, but he presently +went on: "Why, you can always move! Meantime, you and Owen are helping +less fortunate people, you're building up a lot of wonderful +associations--" + +Well, it was all probably for the best; it would turn out quite +satisfactorily for everyone, thought the mother, sitting in the +darkening library, and staring rather drearily before her. Sandy would +have children, and children must have big rooms and sunshine, if it can +be managed possibly. The young Sargents would fall nicely into line, as +householders, as parents, as hospitable members of society. + +But it was all so different from her dreams, of a giddy, spoiled Sandy, +the petted wife of an adoring rich man; a Sandy despotically and yet +generously ruling servants, not consulting Justine as an equal, in a +world of working women-- + +And she was not even to have the satisfaction of discharging Justine! +The maid had her rights, her place in the scheme of things, her pride. + +"I declare, times have changed!" Mrs. Salisbury said to herself +involuntarily. She mused over the well-worn phrase; she had never used +it herself before; its truth struck her forcibly for the first time. + +"I remember my mother saying that," thought she, "and how old-fashioned +and conventional we thought her! I remember she said it when Mat and I +went to dances, after we were married; it seemed almost wrong to her! +Dear me! And I remember Ma's horror when Mat went to a hospital for her +first baby. 'If there is a thing that belongs at home,' Ma said, 'it +does seem to me it's a baby!' And my asking people to dinner by +telephone, and the Fosters having two bathrooms in their house--Ma +thought that such a ridiculous affectation! But what WOULD she say now? +For those things were only trifles, after all," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, +in all honesty. "But NOW, why, the world is simply being turned upside +down with these crazy new notions!" And again she paused, surprised to +hear herself using another old, familiar phrase. "Ma used to say that +very thing, too," said Mrs. Salisbury to herself. "Poor Ma!" + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure, by Kathleen Norris + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE *** + +***** This file should be named 4211.txt or 4211.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/4211/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Mrs. Salisbury had +been keeping house in a suburban town for twenty years; she was not +considered an exacting mistress. She was perfectly willing to +forgive Lizzie what was said in the hurried hours before the company +dinner or impromptu lunch, and to let Lizzie slip out for a walk +with her sister in the evening, and to keep out of the kitchen +herself as much as was possible. So much might be conceded to a girl +who was honest and clean, industrious, respectable, and a fair cook. + +But the wastefulness was a serious matter. Mrs. Salisbury was a +careful and an experienced manager; she resented waste; indeed, she +could not afford to tolerate it. She liked to go into the kitchen +herself every morning, to eye the contents of icebox and pantry, and +decide upon needed stores. Enough butter, enough cold meat for +dinner, enough milk for a nourishing soup, eggs and salad for +luncheon--what about potatoes? + +Lizzie deliberately frustrated this house-wifely ambition. She +flounced and muttered when other hands than her own were laid upon +her icebox. She turned on rushing faucets, rattled dishes in her +pan. Yet Mrs. Salisbury felt that she must personally superintend +these matters, because Lizzie was so wasteful. The girl had not been +three months in the Salisbury family before all bills for supplies +soared alarmingly. + +This was all wrong. Mrs. Salisbury fretted over it a few weeks, then +confided her concern to her husband. But Kane Salisbury would not +listen to the details. He scowled at the introduction of the topic, +glanced restlessly at his paper, murmured that Lizzie might be +"fired"; and, when Mrs. Salisbury had resolutely bottled up her +seething discontent inside of herself, she sometimes heard him +murmuring, "Bad--bad--management" as he sat chewing his pipe-stem on +the dark porch or beside the fire. + +Alexandra, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the house, was equally +incurious and unreasonable about domestic details. + +"But, honestly, Mother, you know you're afraid of Lizzie, and she +knows it," Alexandra would declare gaily; "I can't tell you how I'd +manage her, because she's not my servant, but I know I would do +something!" + +Beauty and intelligence gave Alexandra, even at eighteen, a certain +serene poise and self-reliance that lifted her above the old- +fashioned topics of "trouble with girls," and housekeeping, and +marketing. Alexandra touched these subjects under the titles of +"budgets," "domestic science," and "efficiency." Neither she nor her +mother recognized the old, homely subjects under their new names, +and so the daughter felt a lack of interest, and the mother a lack +of sympathy, that kept them from understanding each other. +Alexandra, ready to meet and conquer all the troubles of a badly +managed world, felt that one small home did not present a very +terrible problem. Poor Mrs. Salisbury only knew that it was becoming +increasingly difficult to keep a general servant at all in a family +of five, and that her husband's salary, of something a little less +than four thousand dollars a year, did not at all seem the princely +sum that they would have thought it when they were married on twenty +dollars a week. + +From the younger members of the family, Fred, who was fifteen, and +Stanford, three years younger, she expected, and got, no sympathy. +The three young Salisburys found money interesting only when they +needed it for new gowns, or matinee tickets, or tennis rackets, or +some kindred purchase. They needed it desperately, asked for it, got +it, spent it, and gave it no further thought. It meant nothing to +them that Lizzie was wasteful. It was only to their mother that the +girl's slipshod ways were becoming an absolute trial. + +Lizzie, very neat and respectful, would interfere with Mrs. +Salisbury's plan of a visit to the kitchen by appearing to ask for +instructions before breakfast was fairly over. When the man of the +house had gone, and before the children appeared, Lizzie would +inquire: + +"Just yourselves for dinner, Mrs. Salisbury?" + +"Just ourselves. Let--me--see--" Mrs. Salisbury would lay down her +newspaper, stir her cooling coffee. The memory of last night's +vegetables would rise before her; there must be baked onions left, +and some of the corn. + +"There was some lamb left, wasn't there?" she might ask. + +Amazement on Lizzie's part. + +"That wasn't such an awful big leg, Mrs. Salisbury. And the boys had +Perry White in, you know. There's just a little plateful left. I +gave Sam the bones." + +Mrs. Salisbury could imagine the plateful: small, neat, cold. + +"Sometimes I think that if you left the joint on the platter, +Lizzie, there are scrapings, you know--" she might suggest. + +"I scraped it," Lizzie would answer briefly, conclusively. + +"Well, that for lunch, then, for Miss Sandy and me," Mrs. Salisbury +would decide hastily. "I'll order something fresh for dinner. Were +there any vegetables left?" + +"There were a few potatoes, enough for lunch," Lizzie would admit +guardedly. + +"I'll order vegetables, too, then!" And Mrs. Salisbury would sigh. +Every housekeeper knows that there is no economy in ordering afresh +for every meal. + +"And we need butter--" + +"Butter again! Those two pounds gone?" + +"There's a little piece left, not enough, though. And I'm on my last +cake of soap, and we need crackers, and vanilla, and sugar, unless +you're not going to have a dessert, and salad oil--" + +"Just get me a pencil, will you?" This was as usual. Mrs. Salisbury +would pencil a long list, would bite her lips thoughtfully, and sigh +as she read it over. + +"Asparagus to-night, then. And, Lizzie, don't serve so much melted +butter with it as you did last time; there must have been a cupful +of melted butter. And, another time, save what little scraps of +vegetables there are left; they help out so at lunch--" + +"There wasn't a saucerful of onions left last night," Lizzie would +assert, "and two cobs of corn, after I'd had my dinner. You couldn't +do much with those. And, as for butter on the asparagus"--Lizzie was +very respectful, but her tone would rise aggrievedly--"it was every +bit eaten, Mrs. Salisbury!" + +"Yes, I know. But we mustn't let these young vandals eat us out of +house and home, you know," the mistress would say, feeling as if she +were doing something contemptibly small. And, worsted, she would +return to her paper. "But I don't care, we cannot afford it!" Mrs. +Salisbury would say to herself, when Lizzie had gone, and very +thoughtfully she would write out a check payable to "cash." "I used +to use up little odds and ends so deliciously, years ago!" she +sometimes reflected disconsolately. "And Kane always says we never +live as well now as we did then! He always praised my dinners." + +Nowadays Mr. Salisbury was not so well satisfied. Lizzie rang the +changes upon roasted and fried meats, boiled and creamed vegetables, +baked puddings and canned fruits contentedly enough. She made cup +cake and sponge cake, sponge cake and cup cake all the year round. +Nothing was ever changed, no unexpected flavor ever surprised the +palates of the Salisbury family. May brought strawberry shortcake, +December cottage puddings, cold beef always made a stew; creamed +codfish was never served without baked potatoes. The Salisbury table +was a duplicate of some millions of other tables, scattered the +length and breadth of the land. + +"And still the bills go up!" fretted Mrs. Salisbury. + +"Well, why don't you fire her, Sally?" her husband asked, as he had +asked of almost every maid they had ever had--of lazy Annies, and +untidy Selmas, and ignorant Katies. And, as always, Mrs. Salisbury +answered patiently: + +"Oh, Kane, what's the use? It simply means my going to Miss Crosby's +again, and facing that awful row of them, and beginning that I have +three grown children, and no other help--" + +"Mother, have you ever had a perfect maid?" Sandy had asked +earnestly years before. Her mother spent a moment in reflection, +arresting the hand with which she was polishing silver. Alexandra +was only sixteen then, and mother and daughter were bridging a gap +when there was no maid at all in the Salisbury kitchen. + +"Well, there was Libby," the mother answered at length, "the colored +girl I had when you were born. She really was perfect, in a way. She +was a clean darky, and such a cook! Daddy talks still of her fried +chicken and blueberry pies! And she loved company, too. But, you +see, Grandma Salisbury was with us then, and she paid a little girl +to look after you, so Libby had really nothing but the kitchen and +dining-room to care for. Afterward, just before Fred came, she got +lazy and ugly, and I had to let her go. Canadian Annie was a +wonderful girl, too," pursued Mrs. Salisbury, "but we only had her +two months. Then she got a place where there were no children, and +left on two days' notice. And when I think of the others!--the +Hungarian girl who boiled two pairs of Fred's little brown socks and +darkened the entire wash, sheets and napkins and all! And the +colored girl who drank, and the girl who gave us boiled rice for +dessert whenever I forgot to tell her anything else! And then Dad +and I never will forget the woman who put pudding sauce on his +mutton--dear me, dear me!" And Mrs. Salisbury laughed out at the +memory. "Between her not knowing one thing, and not understanding a +word we said, she was pretty trying all around!" she presently +added. "And, of course, the instant you have them really trained +they leave; and that's the end of that! One left me the day Stan was +born, and another--and she was a nice girl, too--simply departed +when you three were all down with scarlet fever, and left her bed +unmade, and the tea cup and saucer from her breakfast on the end of +the kitchen table! Luckily we had a wonderful nurse, and she simply +took hold and saved the day." + +"Isn't it a wonder that there isn't a training school for house +servants?" Sandy had inquired, youthful interest in her eye. + +"There's no such thing," her mother assured her positively, "as +getting one who knows her business! And why? Why, because all the +smart girls prefer to go into factories, and slave away for three or +four dollars a week, instead of coming into good homes! Do Pearsall +and Thompson ever have any difficulty in getting girls for the glove +factory? Never! There's a line of them waiting, a block long, every +time they advertise. But you may make up your mind to it, dear, if +you get a good cook, she's wasteful or she's lazy, or she's +irritable, or dirty, or she won't wait on table, or she slips out at +night, and laughs under street lamps with some man or other! She's +always on your mind, and she's always an irritation." + +"It just shows what a hopelessly stupid class you have to deal with, +Mother," the younger Sandy had said. But at eighteen, she was not so +sure. + +Alexandra frankly hated housework, and she did not know how to cook. +She did not think it strange that it was hard to find a clever and +well-trained young woman who would gladly spend all her time in +housework and cooking for something less than three hundred dollars +a year. Her eyes were beginning to be opened to the immense moral +and social questions that lie behind the simple preference of +American girls to work for men rather than for women. Household work +was women's sphere, Sandy reasoned, and they had made it a sphere +insufferable to other women. Something was wrong. + +Sandy was too young, and too mentally independent, to enter very +sympathetically into her mother's side of the matter. The younger +woman's attitude was tinged with affectionate contempt, and when the +stupidity of the maid, or the inconvenience of having no maid at +all, interfered with the smooth current of her life, or her busy +comings and goings, she became impatient and intolerant. + +"Other people manage!" said Alexandra. + +"Who, for instance?" demanded her mother, in calm exasperation. + +"Oh, everyone--the Bernards, the Watermans! Doilies and finger +bowls, and Elsie in a cap and apron!" + +"But Doctor and Mrs. Bernard are old people, dear, and the Watermans +are three business women--no lunch, no children, very little +company!" + +"Well, Grace Elliot, then!" + +"With two maids, Sandy. That's a very different matter!" + +"And is there any reason why we shouldn't have two?" asked Sandy, +with youthful logic. + +"Ah, well, there you come to the question of expense, dear!" And +Mrs. Salisbury dismissed the subject with a quiet air of triumph. + +But of course the topic came up again. It is the one household ghost +that is never laid in such a family. Sometimes Kane Salisbury +himself took a part in it. + +"Do you mean to tell me," he once demanded, in the days of the +dreadfully incompetent maids who preceded Lizzie, "that it is +becoming practically impossible to get a good general servant?" + +"Well, I wish you'd try it yourself," his wife answered, grimly +quiet. "It's just about wearing me out! I don't know what has become +of the good old maid-of-all-work," she presently pursued, with a +sigh, "but she has simply vanished from the face of the earth. Even +the greenest girls fresh from the other side begin to talk about +having the washing put out, and to have extra help come in to wash +windows and beat rugs! I don't know what we're coming to--you teach +them to tell a blanket from a sheet, and how to boil coffee, and set +a table, and then away they go to get more money somewhere. Dear me! +Your father's mother used to have girls who had the wash on the line +before eight o'clock--" + +"Yes, but then Grandma's house was simpler," Sandy contributed, a +little doubtfully. "You know, Grandma never put on any style, +Mother--" + +"Her house was always one of the most comfortable, most hospitable-- +" + +"Yes, I know, Mother!" Alexandra persisted eagerly. "But Fanny never +had to answer the door, and Grandma used to let her leave the +tablecloth on between meals--Grandma told me so herself!--and no +fussing with doilies, or service plates under the soup plates, or +glass saucers for dessert. And Grandma herself used to help wipe +dishes, or sometimes set the table, and make the beds, if there was +company--" + +"That may be," Mrs. Salisbury had the satisfaction of answering +coldly. "Perhaps she did, although _I_ never remember hearing her +say so. But my mother always had colored servants, and I never saw +her so much as dust the piano!" + +"I suppose we couldn't simplify things, Sally? Cut out some of the +extra touches?" suggested the head of the house. + +Mrs. Salisbury merely shook her head, compressing her lips firmly. +It was quite difficult enough to keep things "nice," with two +growing boys in the family, without encountering such opposition as +this. A day or two later she went into New Troy, the nearest big +city, and came back triumphantly with Lizzie. + +And at first Lizzie really did seem perfection. It was some weeks +before Mrs. Salisbury realized that Lizzie was not truthful; +absolutely reliable in money matters, yet Lizzie could not be +believed in the simplest statement. Tasteless oatmeal, Lizzie glibly +asseverated, had been well salted; weak coffee, or coffee as strong +as brown paint, were the fault of the pot. Lizzie, rushing through +dinner so that she might get out; Lizzie throwing out cold +vegetables that "weren't worth saving"; Lizzie growing snappy and +noisy at the first hint of criticism, somehow seemed worse sometimes +than no servant at all. + +"I wonder--if we moved into New Troy, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury mused, +"and got one of those wonderful modern apartments, with a gas stove, +and a dumbwaiter, and hardwood floors, if Sandy and I couldn't +manage everything? With a woman to clean and dinners downtown now +and then, and a waitress in for occasions." + +"And me jumping up to change the salad plates, Mother!" Alexandra +put in briskly. "And a pile of dishes to do every night!" + +"Gosh, let's not move into the city--" protested Stanford. "No +tennis, no canoe, no baseball!" + +"And we know everyone in River Falls, we'd have to keep coming out +here for parties!" Sandy added. + +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, "I admit that it is too much of a +problem for me!" she said. "I know that I married your father on +twenty dollars a week," she told the children severely, "and we +lived in a dear little cottage, only eighteen dollars a month, and I +did all my own work! And never in our lives have we lived so well. +But the minute you get inexperienced help, your bills simply double, +and inexperienced help means simply one annoyance after another. I +give it up!" + +"Well, I'll tell you, Mother," Alexandra offered innocently; +"perhaps we don't systematize enough ourselves. It ought to be all +so well arranged and regulated that a girl would know what she was +expected to do, and know that you had a perfect right to call her +down for wasting or slighting things. Why couldn't women--a bunch of +women, say--" + +"Why couldn't they form a set of household rules and regulations?" +her mother intercepted smoothly. "Because--it's just one of the +things that you young, inexperienced people can talk very easily +about," she interrupted herself to say with feeling, "but it never +seems to occur to any one of you that every household has its +different demands and regulations. The market fluctuates, the size +of a family changes--fixed laws are impossible! No. Lizzie is no +worse than lots of others, better than the average. I shall hold on +to her!" + +"Mrs. Sargent says that all these unnecessary demands have been +instituted and insisted upon by women," said Alexandra. "She says +that the secret of the whole trouble is that women try to live above +their class, and make one servant appear to do the work of three--" + +The introduction of Mrs. Sargent's name was not a happy one. + +"Ellen Sargent," said Mrs. Salisbury icily, "is not a lady herself, +in the true sense of the word, and she does very well to talk about +class distinctions! She was his stenographer when Cyrus Sargent +married her, and the daughter of a tannery hand. Now, just because +she has millions, I am not going to be impressed by anything Ellen +Sargent does or says!" + +"Mother, I don't think she meant quality by 'class,'" Sandy +protested. "Everyone knows that Grandfather was General Stanford, +and all that! But I think she meant, in a way, the money side of it, +the financial division of people into classes!" + +"We won't discuss her," decided Mrs. Salisbury majestically. "The +money standard is one I am not anxious to judge my friends by!" + +Still, with the rest of the family, Mrs. Salisbury was relieved when +Lizzie, shortly after this, decided of her own accord to accept a +better-paid position. "Unless, Mama says, you'd care to raise me to +seven a week," said Lizzie, in parting. + +"No, no, I cannot pay that," Mrs. Salisbury said firmly and Lizzie +accordingly left. + +Her place was taken by a middle-aged French woman, and whipped cream +and the subtle flavor of sherry began to appear in the Salisbury +bills of fare. Germaine had no idea whatever of time, and Sandy +perforce must set the table whenever there was a company dinner +afoot, and lend a hand with the last preparations as well. The +kitchen was never really in order in these days, but Germaine cooked +deliciously, and Mrs. Salisbury gave eight dinners and a club +luncheon during the month of her reign. Then the French woman grew +more and more irregular as to hours, and more utterly unreliable as +to meals; sometimes the family fared delightfully, sometimes there +was almost nothing for dinner. Germaine seemed to fade from sight, +not entirely of her own volition, not really discharged; simply she +was gone. A Norwegian girl came next, a good-natured, blundering +creature whose English was just enough to utterly confuse herself +and everyone else. Freda's mistakes were not half so funny in the +making as Alexandra made them in anecdotes afterward; and Freda was +given to weird chanting, accompanying herself with a banjo, +throughout the evenings. Finally a blonde giant known as "Freda's +cousin" came to see her, and Kane Salisbury, followed by his elated +and excited boys, had to eject Freda's cousin early in the evening, +while Freda wept and chattered to the ladies of the house. After +that the cousin called often to ask for her, but Freda had vanished +the day after this event, and the Salisburys never heard of her +again. + +They tried another Norwegian, then a Polack, then a Scandinavian. +Then they had a German man and wife for a week, a couple who +asserted that they would work, without pay, for a good home. This +was a most uncomfortable experience, unsuccessful from the first +instant. Then came a low-voiced, good-natured South American +negress, Marthe, not much of a cook, but willing and strong. + +July was mercilessly hot that year, thirty-one burning days of +sunshine. Mrs. Salisbury was not a very strong woman, and she had a +great many visitors to entertain. She kept Marthe, because the +colored woman did not resent constant supervision, and an almost +hourly change of plans. Mrs. Salisbury did almost all of the cooking +herself, fussing for hours in the hot kitchen over the cold meats +and salads and ices that formed the little informal cold suppers to +which the Salisburys loved to ask their friends on Saturday and +Sunday nights. + +Alexandra helped fitfully. She would put her pretty head into the +kitchen doorway, perhaps to find her mother icing cake. + +"Listen, Mother; I'm going over to Con's. She's got that new serve +down to a fine point! And I've done the boys' room and the guest +room; it's all ready for the Cutters. And I put towels and soap in +the bathroom, only you'll have to have Marthe wipe up the floor and +the tub." + +"You're a darling child," the mother would say gratefully. + +"Darling nothing!" And Sandy, with her protest, would lay a cool +cheek against her mother's hot one. "Do you have to stay out here, +Mother?" she would ask resentfully. "Can't the Culled Lady do this?" + +"Well, I left her to watch it, and it burned," Mrs. Salisbury would +say, "so now it has to be pared and frosted. Such a bother! But this +is the very last thing, dear. You run along; I'll be out of here in +two minutes!" + +But it was always something more than two minutes. Sometimes even +Kane Salisbury was led to protest. + +"Can't we eat less, dear? Or differently? Isn't there some simple +way of managing this week-end supper business? Now, Brewer--Brewer +manages it awfully well. He has his man set out a big cold roast or +two, cheese, and coffee, and a bowlful of salad, and beer. He'll get +a fruit pie from the club sometimes, or pastries, or a pot of +marmalade--" + +"Yes, indeed, we must try to simplify," Mrs. Salisbury would agree +brightly. But after such a conversation as this she would go over +her accounts very soberly indeed. "Roasts--cheeses--fruit pies!" she +would say bitterly to herself. "Why is it that a man will spend as +much on a single lunch for his friends as a woman is supposed to +spend on her table for a whole week, and then ask her what on earth +she has done with her money!" + +"Kane, I wish you would go over my accounts," she said one evening, +in desperation. "Just suggest where you would cut down!" + +Mr. Salisbury ran his eye carelessly over the pages of the little +ledger. + +"Roast beef, two-forty?" he presently read aloud, questioningly. + +"Twenty-two cents a pound," his wife answered simply. But the man's +slight frown deepened. + +"Too much--too much!" he said, shaking his head. + +Mrs. Salisbury let him read on a moment, turn a page or two. Then +she said, in a dead calm: + +"Do you think my roasts are too big, Kane?" + +"Too big? On the contrary," her husband answered briskly, "I like a +big roast. Sometimes ours are skimpy-looking before they're even +cut!" + +"Well!" Mrs. Salisbury said triumphantly. + +Her smile apprised her husband that he was trapped, and he put down +the account book in natural irritation. + +"Well, my dear, it's your problem!" he said unsympathetically, +returning to his newspaper. "I run my business, I expect you to run +yours! If we can't live on our income, we'll have to move to a +cheaper house, that's all, or take Stanford out of school and put +him to work. Dickens says somewhere--and he never said a truer +thing!" pursued the man of the house comfortably, "that, if you +spend a sixpence less than your income every week, you are rich. If +you spend a sixpence more, you never may expect to be anything but +poor!" + +Mrs. Salisbury did not answer. She took up her embroidery, whose +bright colors blurred and swam together through the tears that came +to her eyes. + +"Never expect to feel anything but poor!" she echoed sadly to +herself. "I am sure I never do! Things just seem to run away with +me; I can't seem to get hold of them. I don't see where it's going +to end!" + +"Mother," said Alexandra, coming in from the kitchen, "Marthe says +that all that delicious chicken soup is spoiled. The idiot, she says +that you left it in the pantry to cool, and she forgot to put it on +the ice! Now, what shall we do, just skip soup, or get some beef +extract and season it up?" + +"Skip soup," said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully. + +"We can't very well, dear," said his wife patiently, "because the +dinner is just soup and a fish salad, and one needs the hot start in +a perfectly cold supper. No. I'll go out." + +"Can't you just tell me what to do?" asked Alexandra impatiently. + +But her mother had gone. The girl sat on the arm of the deserted +chair, swinging an idle foot. + +"I wish I could cook!" she fretted. + +"Can't you, Sandy?" her father asked. + +"Oh, some things! Rabbits and fudge and walnut wafers! But I mean +that I wish I understood sauces and vegetables and seasoning, and +getting things cooked all at the same moment! I don't mean that I'd +like to do it, but I would like to know how. Now, Mother'll scare up +some perfectly delicious soup for dinner, cream of something or +other, and I could do it perfectly well, if only I knew how!" + +"Suppose I paid you a regular salary, Sandy--" her father was +beginning, with the untiring hopefulness of the American father. But +the girl interrupted vivaciously: + +"Dad, darling, that isn't practical! I'd love it for about two days. +Then we'd settle right down to washing dishes, and setting tables, +and dusting and sweeping, and wiping up floors--horrors, horrors, +horrors!" + +She left her perch to take in turn an arm of her father's chair. + +"Well, what's the solution, pussy?" asked Kane Salisbury, keenly +appreciative of the nearness of her youth and beauty. + +"It isn't that," said Sandy decidedly. "Of course," she pursued, +"the Gregorys get along without a maid, and use a fireless cooker, +and drink cereal coffee, but admit, darling, that you'd rather have +me useless and frivolous as I am!--than Gertrude or Florence or +Winifred Gregory! Why, when Floss was married, Dad, Gertrude played +the piano, for music, and for refreshments they had raspberry ice- +cream and chocolate layer cake!" + +"Well, I like chocolate layer cake," observed her father mildly. "I +thought that was a very pretty wedding; the sisters in their light +dresses--" + +"Dimity dresses at a wedding!" Alexandra reproached him, round-eyed. +"And they are so boisterously proud of the fact that they live on +their father's salary," she went on, arranging her own father's hair +fastidiously; "it's positively offensive the way they bounce up to +change plates and tell you how to make the neck of mutton +appetizing, or the heart of a cow, or whatever it is! And their +father pushes the chairs back, Dad, and helps roll up the napkins-- +I'd die if you ever tried it!" + +"But they all work, too, don't they?" + +"Work? Of course they work! And every cent of it goes into the bank. +Winnie and Florence are buying gas shares, and Gertrude means to +have a year's study in Europe, if you please!" + +"That doesn't sound very terrible," said Kane Salisbury, smiling. +But some related thought darkened his eyes a moment later. "You +wouldn't have much gas stock if I was taken, Pussy," said he. + +"No, darling, and let that be a lesson to you not to die!" his +daughter said blithely. "But I could work, Dad," she added more +seriously, "if Mother didn't mind so awfully. Not in the kitchen, +but somewhere. I'd love to work in a settlement house." + +"Now, there you modern girls are," her father said. "Can't bear to +clear away the dinner plates in your own houses, yet you'll +cheerfully suggest going to live in the filthiest parts of the city, +working, as no servant is ever expected to work, for people you +don't know!" + +"I know it's absurd," Sandy agreed, smiling. Her answer was ready +somewhere in her mind, but she could not quite find it. "But, you +see, that's a new problem," she presently offered, "that's ours to- +day, just as managing your house was Mother's when she married you. +Circumstances have changed. I couldn't ever take up the kitchen +question just as it presents itself to Mother. I--people my age +don't believe in a servant class. They just believe in a division of +labor, all dignified. If some girl I knew, Grace or Betty, say, came +into our kitchen--and that reminds me!" she broke off suddenly. + +"Of what?" + +"Why, of something Owen--Owen Sargent was saying a few days ago. His +mother's quite daffy about establishing social centers and clubs for +servant girls, you know, and she's gotten into this new thing, a +sort of college for servants. Now I'll ask Owen about it. I'll do +that to-morrow. That's just what I'll do!" + +"Tell me about it," her father said. But Alexandra shook her head. + +"I don't honestly know anything about it, Dad. But Owen had a lot of +papers and a sort of prospectus. His mother was wishing that she +could try one of the graduates, but she keeps six or seven house +servants, and it wouldn't be practicable. But I'll see. I never +thought of us! And I'll bring Owen home to dinner to-morrow. Is that +all right, Mother?" she asked, as her mother came back into the +room. + +"Owen? Certainly, dear; we're always glad to see him," Mrs. +Salisbury said, a shade too casually, in a tone well calculated +neither to alarm nor encourage, balanced to keep events +uninterruptedly in their natural course. But Alexandra was too deep +in thought to notice a tone. + +"You'll see--this is something entirely new, and just what we need!" +she said gaily. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The constant visits of Owen Sargent, had he been but a few years +older, and had Sandy been a few years older, would have filled Mrs. +Salisbury's heart with a wild maternal hope. As it was, with Sandy +barely nineteen, and Owen not quite twenty-two, she felt more +tantalizing discomfort in their friendship than satisfaction. Owen +was a dear boy, queer, of course, but fine in every way, and Sandy +was quite the prettiest girl in River Falls; but it was far too soon +to begin to hope that they would do the entirely suitable and +acceptable thing of falling in love with each other. "That would be +quite too perfect!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, watching them together. + +No; Owen was too rich to be overlooked by all sorts of other girls, +scrupulous and unscrupulous. Every time he went with his mother for +a week to Atlantic City or New York, Mrs. Salisbury writhed in +apprehension of the thousand lures that must be spread on all sides +about his lumbering feet. He was just the sweet, big, simple sort to +be trapped by some little empty-headed girl, some little marplot +clever enough to pretend an interest in the prison problem, or the +free-milk problem, or some other industrial problem in which Owen +had seen fit to interest himself. And her lovely, dignified Sandy, +reflected the mother, a match for him in every way, beautiful, good, +clever, just the woman to win him, by her own charm and the charms +of children and home, away from the somewhat unnatural interests +with which he had surrounded himself, must sit silent and watch him +throw himself away. + +Sandy, of course, had never had any idea of Owen in this light, of +that her mother was quite sure. Sandy treated him as she did her own +brothers, frankly, despotically, delightfully. And perhaps it was +wiser, after all, not to give the child a hint, for it was evident +that the shy, gentle Owen was absolutely at home and happy in the +Salisbury home; nothing would be gained by making Sandy feel self- +conscious and responsible now. + +Mrs. Salisbury really did not like Owen Sargent very well, although +his money made her honestly think she did. He had a wide, pleasant, +but homely face, and an aureole of upstanding yellow hair, and a +manner as unaffected as might have been expected from the child of +his plain old genial father, and his mother, the daughter of a +tanner. He lived alone, with his widowed mother, in a pleasant, old- +fashioned house, set in park-like grounds that were the pride of +River Falls. His mother often asked waitresses' unions and fresh-air +homes to make use of these grounds for picnics, but Mrs. Salisbury +knew that the house belonged to Owen, and she liked to dream of a +day when Sandy's babies should tumble on those smooth lawns, and +Sandy, erect and beautifully furred, should bring her own smart +little motor car through that tall iron gateway. + +These dreams made her almost effusive in her manner to Owen, and +Owen, who was no fool, understood perfectly what she was thinking of +him; he understood his own energetic, busy mother; and he understood +Sandy's mother, too. He knew that his money made him well worth any +mother's attention. + +But, like her mother, he believed Sandy too young to have taken any +cognizance of it. He thought the girl liked him as she liked anyone +else, for his own value, and he sometimes dreamed shyly of her +pleasure in suddenly realizing that Mrs. Owen Sargent would be a +rich woman, the mistress of a lovely home, the owner of beautiful +jewels. + +Both, however, were mistaken in Sandy. Her blue, blue eyes, so oddly +effective under the silky fall of her straight, mouse-colored hair, +were very keen. She knew exactly why her mother suggested that Owen +should bring her here or there in the car, "Daddy and the boys and I +will go in our old trap, just behind you!" She knew that Owen +thought that her quick hand over his, in a game of hearts, the +thoughtful stare of her demure eyes, across the dinner table, the +help she accepted so casually, climbing into his big car--were all +evidences that she was as unconscious of his presence as Stan was. +But in reality the future for herself of which Sandy confidently +dreamed was one in which, in all innocent complacency, she took her +place beside Owen as his wife. Clumsy, wild-haired, bashful he might +be at twenty-two, but the farsighted Sandy saw him ten years, twenty +years later, well groomed, assured of manner, devotedly happy in his +home life. She considered him entirely unable to take care of +himself, he needed a good wife. And a good, true, devoted wife Sandy +knew she would be, fulfilling to her utmost power all his lonely, +little-boy dreams of birthday parties and Christmas revels. + +To do her justice, she really and deeply cared for him. Not with +passion, for of that as yet she knew nothing, but with a real and +absorbing affection. Sandy read "Love in a Valley" and the "Sonnets +from the Portuguese" in these days, and thought of Owen. Now and +then her well-disciplined little heart surprised her by an +unexpected flutter in his direction. + +She duly brought him home with her to dinner on the evening after +her little talk with her parents. Owen was usually to be found +browsing about the region where Sandy played marches twice a week +for sewing classes in a neighborhood house. They often met, and +Sandy sometimes went to have tea with his mother, and sometimes, as +to-day, brought him home with her. + +Owen had with him the letters, pamphlets and booklet issued by the +American School of Domestic Science, and after dinner, while the +Salisbury boys wrestled with their lessons, the three others and +Owen gathered about the drawing-room table, in the late daylight, +and thoroughly investigated the new institution and its claims. +Sandy wedged her slender little person in between the two men. Mrs. +Salisbury sat near by, reading what was handed to her. The older +woman's attitude was one of dispassionate unbelief; she smiled a +benign indulgence upon these newfangled ideas. But in her heart she +felt the stirring of feminine uneasiness and resentment. It was HER +sacred region, after all, into which these young people were probing +so light-heartedly. These were her secrets that they were +exploiting; her methods were to be disparaged, tossed aside. + +The booklet, with its imposing A.S.D.S. set out fair and plain upon +a brown cover, was exhaustive. Its frontispiece was a portrait of +one Eliza Slocumb Holley, founder of the school, and on its back +cover it bore the vignetted photograph of a very pretty graduate, in +apron and cap, with her broom and feather duster. In between these +two pictures were pages and pages of information, dozens of +pictures. There were delightful long perspectives of model kitchens, +of vegetable gardens, orchards, and dairies. There were pictures of +girls making jam, and sterilizing bottles, and arranging trays for +the sick. There were girls amusing children and making beds. There +were glimpses of the model flats, built into the college buildings, +with gas stoves and dumb-waiters. And there were the usual pictures +of libraries, and playgrounds, and tennis courts. + +"Such nice-looking girls!" said Sandy. + +"Oh, Mother says that they are splendid girls," Owen said, bashfully +eager, "just the kind that go in for trained nursing, you know, or +stenography, or bookkeeping." + +"They must be a solid comfort, those girls," said Mrs. Salisbury, +leaning over to read certain pages with the others. "'First year,'" +she read aloud. "'Care of kitchen, pantry, and utensils--fire- +making--disposal of refuse--table-setting--service--care of +furniture--cooking with gas--patent sweepers--sweeping--dusting-- +care of silver--bread--vegetables--puddings--'" + +"Help!" said Sandy. "It sounds like the essence of a thousand +Mondays! No one could possibly learn all that in one year." + +"It's a long term, eleven months," her father said, deeply +interested. "That's not all of the first year, either. But it's all +practical enough." + +"What do they do the last year, Mother?" + +Mrs. Salisbury adjusted her glasses. + +"'Third year,'" she read obligingly. "'All soups, sauces, salads, +ices and meats. Infant and invalid diet. Formal dinners, arranged by +season. Budgets. Arrangement of work for one maid. Arrangement of +work for two maids. Menus, with reference to expense, with reference +to nourishment, with reference to attractiveness. Chart of suitable +meals for children, from two years up. Table manners for children. +Classic stories for children at bedtime. Flowers, their significance +upon the table. Picnics--'" + +"But, no; there's something beyond that," Owen said. Mrs. Salisbury +turned a page. + +"'Fourth Year. Post-graduate, not obligatory,'" she read. "'Unusual +German, Italian, Russian and Spanish dishes. Translation of menus. +Management of laundries, hotels and institutions. Work of a chef. +Work of subordinate cooks. Ordinary poisons. Common dangers of +canning. Canning for the market. Professional candy-making--'" + +"Can you beat it!" said Owen. + +"It's extraordinary!" Mrs. Salisbury conceded. Her husband asked the +all-important question: + +"What do you have to pay for one of these paragons?" + +"It's all here," Mrs. Salisbury said. But she was distracted in her +search of a scale of prices by the headlines of the various pages. +"'Rules Governing Employers,'" she read, with amusement. "Isn't this +too absurd? 'Employers of graduates of the A.S.D.S. will kindly +respect the conditions upon which, and only upon which, contracts +are based.'" She glanced down the long list of items. "'A +comfortably furnished room,'" she read at random, "'weekly half +holiday-access to nearest public library or family library-- +opportunity for hot bath at least twice weekly--two hours if +possible for church attendance on Sunday--annual two weeks' holiday, +or two holidays of one week each--full payment of salary in advance, +on the first day of every month'--what a preposterous idea!" Mrs. +Salisbury broke off to say. "How is one to know that she wouldn't +skip off on the second?" + +"In that case the school supplies you with another maid for the +unfinished term," explained Sandy, from the booklet. + +"Well--" the lady was still a little unsatisfied. "As if they didn't +have privileges enough now!" she said. "It's the same old story: we +are supposed to be pleasing them, not they us!" + +"'In a family where no other maid is kept,'" read Alexandra, "'a +graduate will take entire charge of kitchen and dining room, go to +market if required, do ordinary family washing and ironing, will +clean bathroom daily, and will clean and sweep every other room in +the house, and the halls, once thoroughly every week. She will be on +hand to answer the door only one afternoon every week, besides +Sunday--'" + +"What!" ejaculated Mrs. Salisbury. + +"I should like to know who does it on other days!" Alexandra added +amazedly. + +"Don't you think that's ridiculous, Kane?" his wife asked eagerly. + +"We-el," the man of the house said temperately, "I don't know that I +do. You see, otherwise the girl has a string tied on her all the +time. People in our position, after all, needn't assume that we're +too good to open our own door--" + +"That's exactly it, sir," Owen agreed eagerly; "Mother says that +that's one of the things that have upset the whole system for so +long! Just the convention that a lady can't open her own door--" + +"But we haven't found the scale of wages yet--" Mrs. Salisbury +interrupted sweetly but firmly. Alexandra, however, resumed the +recital of the duties of one maid. + +"'She will not be expected to assume the care of young children,'" +she read, "nor to sleep in the room with them. She will not be +expected to act as chaperone or escort at night. She--'" + +"It DOESN'T say that, Sandy!" + +"Oh, yes, it does! And, listen! 'NOTE. Employers are respectfully +requested to maintain as formal an attitude as possible toward the +maid. Any intimacy, or exchange of confidences, is especially to be +avoided'"--Alexandra broke off to laugh, and her mother laughed with +her, but indignantly. + +"Insulting!" she said lightly. "Does anyone suppose for an instant +that this is a serious experiment?" + +"Come, that doesn't sound very ridiculous to me," her husband said. +"Plenty of women do become confidential with their maids, don't +they?" + +"Dear me, how much you do know about women!" Alexandra said, kissing +the top of her father's head. "Aren't you the bad old man!" + +"No; but one might hope that an institution of this kind would put +the American servant in her place," Mrs. Salisbury said seriously, +"instead of flattering her and spoiling her beyond all reason. I +take my maid's receipt for salary in advance; I show her the +bathroom and the library--that's the idea, is it? Why, she might be +a boarder! Next, they'll be asking for a place at the table and an +hour's practice on the piano." + +"Well, the original American servant, the 'neighbor's girl,' who +came in to help during the haying season, and to put up the +preserves, probably did have a place at the table," Mr. Salisbury +submitted mildly. + +"Mother thinks that America never will have a real servant class," +Owen added uncertainly; "that is, until domestic service is elevated +to the--the dignity of office work, don't you know? Until it +attracts the nicer class of women, don't you know? Mother says that +many a good man's fear of old age would be lightened, don't you +know?--if he felt that, in case he lost his job, or died, his +daughters could go into good homes, and grow up under the eye of +good women, don't you know?" + +"Very nice, Owen, but not very practical!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with +her indulgent, motherly smile. "Oh, dear me, for the good old days +of black servants, and plenty of them!" she sighed. For though Mrs. +Salisbury had been born some years after the days of plenty known to +her mother on her grandfather's plantation, before the war, she was +accustomed to detailed recitals of its grandeurs. + +"Here we are!" said Alexandra, finding a particular page that was +boldly headed "Terms." + +"'For a cook and general worker, no other help,' she read, "'thirty +dollars per month--'" + +"Not so dreadful," her father said, pleasantly surprised. + +"But, listen, Dad! Thirty dollars for a family of two, and an +additional two dollars and a half monthly for each other member of +the family. That would make ours thirty-seven dollars and a half, +wouldn't it?" she computed swiftly. + +"Awful! Impossible!" Mrs. Salisbury said instantly, almost in +relief. The discussion made her vaguely uneasy. What did these +casual amateurs know about the domestic problem, anyway? Kane, who +was always anxious to avoid details; Sandy, all youthful enthusiasm +and ignorance, and Owen Sargent, quoting his insufferable mother? +For some moments she had been fighting an impulse to soothe them all +with generalities. "Never mind; it's always been a problem, and it +always will be! These new schemes are all very well, but don't +trouble your dear heads about it any longer!" + +Now she sank back, satisfied. The whole thing was but a mad, Utopian +dream. Thirty-seven dollars indeed! "Why, one could get two good +servants for that!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, with the same sublime +faith with which she had told her husband, in poorer days, years +ago, that, if they could but afford her, she knew they could get a +"fine girl" for three dollars a week. The fact that the "fine girl" +did not apparently exist did not at all shake Mrs. Salisbury's +confidence that she could get two "good girls." Her hope in the +untried solution rose with every failure. + +"Thirty-seven is steep," said Kane Salisbury slowly. "However! What +do we pay now, Mother?" + +"Five a week," said that lady inflexibly. + +"But we paid Germaine more," said Alexandra eagerly. "And didn't you +pay Lizzie six and a half?" + +"The last two months I did, yes," her mother agreed unwillingly. +"But that comes only to twenty-six or seven," she added. + +"But, look here," said Owen, reading. "Here it says: 'NOTE. Where a +graduate is required to manage on a budget, it is computed that she +saves the average family from two to seven dollars weekly on food +and fuel bills.'" + +"Now that begins to sound like horse sense," Mr. Salisbury began. +But the mistress of the house merely smiled, and shook a dubious +head, and the younger members of the family here created a diversion +by reminding their sister's guest, with animation, that he had half- +asked them to go out for a short ride in his car. Alexandra +accordingly ran for a veil, and the young quartette departed with +much noise, Owen stuffing his pamphlets and booklet into his pocket +before he went. + +Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury settled down contentedly to double Canfield, +the woman crushing out the last flicker of the late topic with a +placid shake of the head, when the man asked her for her honest +opinion of the American School of Domestic Science. "I don't truly +think it's at all practical, dear," said Mrs. Salisbury regretfully. +"But we might watch it for a year or two and go into the question +again some time, if you like. Especially if some one else has tried +one of these maids, and we have had a chance to see how it goes!" + +The very next morning Mrs. Salisbury awakened with a dull headache. +Hot sunlight was streaming into the bedroom, an odor of coffee, +drifting upstairs, made her feel suddenly sick. Her first thought +was that she COULD not have Sandy's two friends to luncheon, and she +COULD not keep a shopping and tea engagement with a friend of her +own! She might creep through the day somehow, but no more. + +She dressed slowly, fighting dizziness, and went slowly downstairs, +sighing at the sight of disordered music and dust in the dining- +room, the sticky chafing-dish and piled plates in the pantry. In the +kitchen was a litter of milk bottles, saucepans, bread and crumbs +and bread knife encroaching upon a basket of spilled berries, egg +shells and melting bacon. The blue sides of the coffee-pot were +stained where the liquid and grounds had bubbled over it. Marthe was +making toast, the long fork jammed into a plate hole of the range. +Mrs. Salisbury thought that she had never seen sunlight so +mercilessly hot and bright before-- + +"Rotten coffee!" said Mr. Salisbury cheerfully, when his wife took +her place at the table. + +"And she NEVER uses the poacher!" Alexandra added reproachfully. +"And she says that the cream is sour because the man leaves it at +half-past four, right there in the sunniest corner of the porch-- +can't he have a box or something, Mother?" + +"Gosh, I wouldn't care what she did if she'd get a move on," said +Stanford frankly. "She's probably asleep out there, with her head in +the frying pan!" + +Mrs. Salisbury went into the kitchen again. She had to pause in the +pantry because the bright squares of the linoleum, and the brassy +faucets, and the glare of the geraniums outside the window seemed to +rush together for a second. + +Marthe was on the porch, exchanging a few gay remarks with the +garbage man before shutting the side door after him. The big stove +was roaring hot, a thick odor of boiling clothes showed that Marthe +was ready for her cousin Nancy, the laundress, who came once a week. +A saucepan deeply gummed with cereal was soaking beside the hissing +and smoking frying pan Mrs. Salisbury moved the frying pan, and the +quick heat of the coal fire rushed up at her face-- + +"Why," she whispered, opening anxious eyes after what seemed a long +time, "who fainted?" + +A wheeling and rocking mass of light and shadow resolved itself into +the dining-room walls, settled and was still. She felt the soft +substance of a sofa pillow under her head, the hard lump that was +her husband's arm supporting her shoulders. + +"That's it--now she's all right!" said Kane Salisbury, his kind, +concerned face just above her own. Mrs. Salisbury shifted heavy, +languid eyes, and found Sandy. + +"Darling, you fell!" the daughter whispered. White-lipped, pitiful, +with tears still on her round cheeks, Sandy was fanning her mother +with a folded newspaper. + +"Well, how silly of me!" Mrs. Salisbury said weakly. She sighed, +tried too quickly to sit up, and fainted quietly away again. + +This time she opened her eyes in her own bed, and was made to drink +something sharp and stinging, and directed not to talk. While her +husband and daughter were hanging up things, and reducing the +tumbled room to order, the doctor arrived. + +"Dr. Hollister, I call this an imposition!" protested the invalid +smilingly. "I have been doing a little too much, that's all! But +don't you dare say the word rest-cure to me again!" + +But Doctor Hollister did not smile; there was no smiling in the +house that day. + +"Mother may have to go away," Alexandra told anxious friends, very +sober, but composed. "Mother may have to take a rest-cure," she said +a day or two later. + +"But you won't let them send me to a hospital again, Kane?" pleaded +his wife one evening. "I almost die of lonesomeness, wondering what +you and the children are doing! Couldn't I just lie here? Marthe and +Sandy can manage somehow, and I promise you I truly won't worry, +just lie here like a queen!" + +"Well, perhaps we'll give you a trial," smiled Kane Salisbury, very +much enjoying an hour of quiet, at his wife's bedside. "But don't +count on Marthe. She's going." + +"Marthe is?" Mrs. Salisbury only leaned a little more heavily on the +strong arm that held her, and laughed comfortably. "I refuse to +concern myself with such sordid matters," she said. "But why?" + +"Because I've got a new girl, hon." + +"You have!" She shifted about to stare at him, aroused by his tone. +Light came. "You've not gotten one of those college cooks, have you, +Kane?" she demanded. "Oh, Kane! Not at thirty-seven dollars a month! +Oh, you have, you wicked, extravagant boy!" + +"Cheaper than a trained nurse, petty!" + +Mrs. Salisbury was still shaking a scandalized head, but he could +see the pleasure and interest in her eyes. She sank back in her +pillows, but kept her thin fingers gripped tightly over his. + +"How you do spoil me, Tip!" The name took him back across many years +to the little eighteen-dollar cottage and the days before Sandy +came. He looked at his wife's frail little figure, the ruffled +frills that showed under her loose wrapper, at throat and elbows. +There was something girlish still about her hanging dark braid, her +big eyes half visible in the summer twilight. + +"Well, you may depend upon it, you're in for a good long course of +spoiling now, Miss Sally!" said he. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Justine Harrison, graduate servant of the American School of +Domestic Science, arrived the next day. If Mrs. Salisbury was half +consciously cherishing an expectation of some one as crisp and +cheerful as a trained nurse might have been, she was disappointed. +Justine was simply a nice, honest-looking American country girl, in +a cheap, neat, brown suit and a dreadful hat. She smiled +appreciatively when Alexandra showed her her attractive little room, +unlocked what Sandy saw to be a very orderly trunk, changed her hot +suit at once for the gray gingham uniform, and went to Mrs. +Salisbury's room with great composure, for instructions. In passing, +Alexandra--feeling the situation to be a little odd, yet bravely, +showed her the back stairway and the bathroom, and murmured +something about books being in the little room off the drawing-room +downstairs. Justine smiled brightly. + +"Oh, I brought several books with me," she said, "and I subscribe to +two weekly magazines and one monthly. So usually I have enough to +read." + +"How do you do? You look very cool and comfortable, Justine. Now, +you'll have to find your own way about downstairs. You'll see the +coffee next to the bread box, and the brooms are in the laundry +closet. Just do the best you can. Mr. Salisbury likes dry toast in +the morning--eggs in some way. We get eggs from the milkman; they +seem fresher. But you have to tell him the day before. And I +understood that you'll do most of the washing? Yes. My old Nancy was +here day before yesterday, so there's not much this week." It was in +some such disconnected strain as this that Mrs. Salisbury welcomed +and initiated the new maid. + +Justine bowed reassuringly. + +"I'll find everything, Madam. And do you wish me to manage and to +market for awhile until you are about again?" + +The invalid sent a pleading glance to Sandy. + +"Oh, I think my daughter will do that," she said. + +"Oh, now, why, Mother?" Sandy asked, in affectionate impatience. "I +don't begin to know as much about it as Justine probably does. Why +not let her?" + +"If Madam will simply tell me what sum she usually spends on the +table," said Justine, "I will take the matter in hand." + +Mrs. Salisbury hesitated. This was the very stronghold of her +authority. It seemed terrible to her, indelicate, to admit a +stranger. + +"Well, it varies a little," she said restlessly. "I am not +accustomed to spending a set sum." She addressed her daughter. "You +see, I've been paying Nancy every week, dear," said she, "and the +other laundry. And little things come up--" + +"What sum would be customary, in a family this size?" Alexandra +asked briskly of the graduate servant. + +Justine was business-like. + +"Seven dollars for two persons is the smallest sum we are allowed to +handle," she said promptly. "After that each additional person calls +for three dollars weekly in our minimum scale. Four or five dollars +a week per person, not including the maid, is the usual allowance." + +"Mercy! Would that be twenty dollars for table alone?" the mistress +asked. "It is never that now, I think. Perhaps twice a week," she +said, turning to Alexandra, "your father gives me five dollars at +the breakfast table--" + +"But, Mother, you telephone and charge at the market, and Lewis & +Sons, too, don't you?" Sandy asked. + +"Well, yes, that's true. Yes, I suppose it comes to fully twenty- +five dollars a week, when you think of it. Yes, it probably comes to +more. But it never seems so much, somehow. Well, suppose we say +twenty-five--" + +"Twenty-five, I'll tell Dad." Alexandra confirmed it briskly. + +"I used to keep accounts, years ago," Mrs. Salisbury said +plaintively. "Your father--" and again she turned to her daughter, +as if to make this revelation of her private affairs less +distressing by so excluding the stranger. "Your father has always +been the most generous of men," she said; "he always gives me more +money if I need it, and I try to do the best I can." And a little +annoyed, in her weakness and helplessness by this business talk, she +lay back on her pillow, and closed her eyes. + +"Twenty-five a week, then!" Alexandra said, closing the talk by +jumping up from a seat on her mother's bed, and kissing the +invalid's eyes in parting. Justine, who had remained standing, +followed her down to the kitchen, where, with cheering promptitude, +the new maid fell upon preparations for dinner. Alexandra rather +bashfully suggested what she had vaguely planned for dinner; Justine +nodded intelligently at each item; presently Alexandra left her, +busily making butter-balls, and went upstairs to report. + +"Nothing sensational about her," said Sandy to her mother, "but she +takes hold! She's got some bleaching preparation of soda or +something drying on the sink-board; she took the shelf out of the +icebox the instant she opened it, and began to scour it while she +talked. She's got a big blue apron on, and she's hung a nice clean +white one on the pantry door." + +There was nothing sensational about the tray which Justine carried +up to the sick room that evening--nothing sensational in the dinner +which was served to the diminished family. But the Salisbury family +began that night to speak of Justine as the "Treasure." + +"Everything hot and well seasoned and nicely served," said the man +of the house in high satisfaction, "and the woman looks like a +servant, and acts like one. Sandy says she's turning the kitchen +upside down, but, I say, give her her head!" + +The Treasure, more by accident than design, was indeed given her +head in the weeks that followed, for Mrs. Salisbury steadily +declined into a real illness, and the worried family was only too +glad to delegate all the domestic problems to Justine. The invalid's +condition, from "nervous breakdown" became "nervous prostration," +and August was made terrible for the loving little group that +watched her by the cruel fight with typhoid fever into which Mrs. +Salisbury's exhausted little body was drawn. Weak as she was +physically, her spirit never failed her; she met the overwhelming +charges bravely, rallied, sank, rallied again and lived. Alexandra +grew thin, if prettier than ever, and Owen Sargent grew bold and big +and protecting to meet her need. The boys were "angels," their +sister said, helpful, awed and obedient, but the children's father +began to stoop a little and to show gray in the thick black hair at +his temples. + +Soberly, sympathetically, Justine steered her own craft through all +the storm and confusion of the domestic crisis. Trays appeared and +disappeared without apparent effort. Hot and delicious meals were +ready at the appointed hours, whether the pulse upstairs went up or +down. Tradespeople were paid; there was always ice; there was always +hot water. The muffled telephone never went unanswered, the doctor +never had to ring twice for admittance. If fruit was sent up to the +invalid, it was icy cold; if soup was needed, it appeared, smoking +hot, and guiltless of even one floating pinpoint of fat. + +Alexandra and the trained nurse always found the kitchen the same: +orderly, aired, silent, with Justine, a picture of domestic +efficiency, sitting by the open window, or on the shady side porch, +shelling peas or peeling apples, or perhaps wiping immaculate +glasses with an immaculate cloth at the sink. The ticking clock, the +shining range, the sunlight lying in clean-cut oblongs upon the +bright linoleum, Justine's smoothly braided hair and crisp percales, +all helped to form a picture wonderfully restful and reassuring in +troubled days. + +Alexandra, tired with a long vigil in the sick room, liked to slip +down late at night, to find Justine putting the last touches to the +day's good work. A clean checked towel would be laid over the +rising, snowy mound of dough; the bubbling oatmeal was locked in the +fireless cooker, doors were bolted, window shades drawn. There was +an admirable precision about every move the girl made. + +The two young women liked to chat together, and sometimes, when some +important message took her to Justine's door in the evening, +Alexandra would linger, pleasantly affected by the trim little +apartment, the roses in a glass vase, Justine's book lying open- +faced on the bed, or her unfinished letter waiting on the table. For +all exterior signs, at these times, she might have been a guest in +the house. + +Promptly, on every Saturday evening, the Treasure presented her +account book to Mr. Salisbury. There was always a small balance, +sometimes five dollars, sometimes one, but Justine evidently had +well digested Dickens' famous formula for peace of mind. + +"You're certainly a wonder, Justine!" said the man of the house more +than once. "How do you manage it?" + +"Oh, I cut down in dozens of ways," the girl returned, with her +grave smile. "You don't notice it, but I know. You have kidney +stews, and onion soups, and cherry pies, instead of melons and +steaks and ice-cream, that's all!" + +"And everyone just as well pleased," he said, in real admiration. "I +congratulate you." + +"It's only what we are all taught at college," Justine assured him. +"I'm just doing what they told me to! It's my business." + +"It's pretty big business, and it's been waiting a long while," said +Kane Salisbury. + +When Mrs. Salisbury began to get well, she began to get very hungry. +This was plain sailing for Justine, and she put her whole heart into +the dainty trays that went upstairs three times a day. While she was +enjoying them, Mrs. Salisbury liked to draw out her clever maid, and +the older woman and the young one had many a pleasant talk together. +Justine told her mistress that she had been country-born and bred, +and had grown up with a country girl's longing for nice surroundings +and education of the better sort. + +"My name is not Justine at all," she said smilingly, "nor Harrison, +either, although I chose it because I have cousins of that name. We +are all given names when we go to college and take them with us. +Until the work is recognized, as it must be some day, as dignified +and even artistic, we are advised to sink our own identities in this +way." + +"You mean that Harrison isn't your name?" Mrs. Salisbury felt this +to be really a little alarming, in some vague way. + +"Oh, no! And Justine was given me as a number might have been." + +"But what is your name?" The question fell from Mrs. Salisbury as +naturally as an "Ouch!" would have fallen had somebody dropped a +lighted match on her hand. "I had no idea of that!" she went on +artlessly. "But I suppose you told Mr. Salisbury?" + +The luncheon was finished, and now Justine stood up, and picked up +the tray. + +"No. That's the very point. We use our college names," she +reiterated simply. "Will you let me bring you up a little more +custard, Madam?" + +"No, thank you," Mrs. Salisbury said, after a second's pause. She +looked a little thoughtful as Justine walked away. There is no real +reason why one's maid should not wear an assumed name, of course. +Still-- + +"What a ridiculous thing that college must be!" said Mrs. Salisbury, +turning comfortably in her pillows. "But she certainly is a splendid +cook!" + +About this point, at least, there was no argument. Justine did not +need cream or sherry, chopped nuts or mushroom sauces to make simple +food delicious. She knew endless ways in which to serve food; +potatoes became a nightly surprise, macaroni was never the same, +rice had a dozen delightful roles. Because the family enjoyed her +maple custard or almond cake, she did not, as is the habit with +cooks, abandon every other flavoring for maple or almond. She was +following a broader schedule than that supplied by the personal +tastes of the Salisburys, and she went her way serenely. + +Not so much as a teaspoonful of cold spinach was wasted in these +days. Justine's "left-over" dishes were quite as good as anything +else she cooked; her artful combinations, her garnishes of pastry, +her illusive seasoning, her enveloping and varied sauces disguised +and transformed last night's dinner into a real feast to-night. + +The Treasure went to market only twice a week, on Saturdays and +Tuesdays. She planned her meals long beforehand, with the aid of +charts brought from college, and paid cash for everything she +bought. She always carried a large market basket on her arm on these +trips, and something in her trim, strong figure and clean gray gown, +as she started off, appealed to a long-slumbering sense of house- +holder's pride in Mr. Salisbury. It seemed good to him that a person +who worked so hard for him and for his should be so bright and +contented looking, should like her life so well. + +Late in September Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs again to a spotless +drawing-room and a dining-room gay with flowers. Dinner was a little +triumph, and after dinner she was escorted to a deep chair, and +called upon to admire new papers and hangings, cleaned rugs and a +newly polished floor. + +"You are wonderful, wonderful people, every one of you!" said the +convalescent, smiling eyes roving about her. "Grass paper, Kane, and +such a dear border!" she said. "And everything feeling so clean! And +my darling girl writing letters and seeing people all these weeks! +And my boys so good! And dear old Daddy carrying the real burden for +everyone--what a dreadfully spoiled woman I am! And Justine--come +here a minute, Justine--" + +The Treasure, who was clearing the dining-room table, came in, and +smiled at the pretty group, mother and father, daughter and sons, +all rejoicing in being well and together again. + +"I don't know how I am ever going to thank you, Justine," said Mrs. +Salisbury, with a little emotion. She took the girl's hand in both +her transparent white ones. "Do believe that I appreciate it," she +said. "It has been a comfort to me, even when I was sickest, even +when I apparently didn't know anything, to know that you were here, +that everything was running smoothly and comfortably, thanks to you. +We could not have managed without you!" + +Justine returned the finger pressure warmly, also a little stirred. + +"Why, it's been a real pleasure," she said a little huskily. She had +to accept a little chorus of thanks from the other members of the +family before, blushing very much and smiling, too, she went back to +her work. + +"She really has managed everything," Kane Salisbury told his wife +later. "She handles all the little monthly bills, telephone and gas +and so on; seems to take it as a matter of course that she should." + +"And what shall I do now, Kane? Go on that way, for a while anyway?" +asked his wife. + +"Oh, by all means, dear! You must take things easy for a while. By +degrees you can take just as much or as little as you want, with the +managing." + +"You dear old idiot," the lady said tenderly, "don't worry about +that! It will all come about quite naturally and pleasantly." + +Indeed, it was still a relief to depend heavily upon Justine. Mrs. +Salisbury was quite bewildered by the duties that rose up on every +side of her; Sandy's frocks for the fall, the boys' school suits, +calls that must be made, friends who must be entertained, and the +opening festivities of several clubs to which she belonged. + +She found things running very smoothly downstairs, there seemed to +be not even the tiniest flaw for a critical mistress to detect, and +the children had added a bewildering number of new names to their +lists of favorite dishes. Justine was asked over and over again for +her Manila curry, her beef and kidney pie, her scones and German +fruit tarts, and for a brown and crisp and savory dish in which the +mistress of the house recognized, under the title of chou farci, an +ordinary cabbage as a foundation. + +"Oh, let's not have just chickens or beef," Sandy would plead when a +company dinner was under discussion. "Let's have one of Justine's +fussy dishes. Leave it to Justine!" + +For the Treasure obviously enjoyed company dinner parties, and it +was fascinating to Sandy to see how methodically, and with what +delightful leisure, she prepared for them. Two or three days +beforehand her cake-making, silver-polishing, sweeping and cleaning +were well under way, and the day of the event itself was no busier +than any other day. + +Yet it was on one of these occasions that Mrs. Salisbury first had +what she felt was good reason to criticize Justine. During a brief +absence from home of both boys, their mother planned a rather formal +dinner. Four of her closest friends, two couples, were asked, and +Owen Sargent was invited by Sandy to make the group an even eight. +This was as many as the family table accommodated comfortably, and +seemed quite an event. Ordinarily the mistress of the house would +have been fussing for some days beforehand, in her anxiety to have +everything go well, but now, with Justine's brain and Justine's +hands in command of the kitchen end of affairs, she went to the +other extreme, and did not give her own and Sandy's share of the +preparations a thought until the actual day of the dinner. + +For, as was stipulated in her bond, except for a general cleaning +once a week, the Treasure did no work downstairs outside of the +dining-room and kitchen, and made no beds at any time. This meant +that the daughter of the house must spend at least an hour every +morning in bed-making, and perhaps another fifteen minutes in that +mysteriously absorbing business known as "straightening" the living +room. Usually Sandy was very faithful to these duties; more, she +whisked through them cheerfully, in her enthusiastic eagerness that +the new domestic experiment should prove a success. + +But for a morning or two before this particular dinner she had +shirked her work. Perhaps the novelty of it was wearing off a +little. There was a tennis tournament in progress at the Burning +Woods Country Club, two miles away from River Falls, and Sandy, who +was rather proud of her membership in this very smart organization, +did not want to miss a moment of it. Breakfast was barely over +before somebody's car was at the door to pick up Miss Salisbury, who +departed in a whirl of laughter and a flutter of bright veils, to be +gone, sometimes, for the entire day. + +She had gone in just this way on the morning of the dinner, and her +mother, who had quite a full program of her own for the morning, had +had breakfast in bed. Mrs. Salisbury came downstairs at about ten +o'clock to find the dining-room airing after a sweeping; curtains +pinned back, small articles covered with a dust cloth, chairs at all +angles. She went on to the kitchen, where Justine was beating +mayonnaise. + +"Don't forget chopped ice for the shaker, the last thing," Mrs. +Salisbury said, adding, with a little self-conscious rush, "And, oh, +by the way, Justine, I see that Miss Alexandra has gone off again, +without touching the living room. Yesterday I straightened it a +little bit, but I have two club meetings this morning, and I'm +afraid I must fly. If--if she comes in for lunch, will you remind +her of it?" + +"Will she be back for lunch? I thought she said she would not," +Justine said, in honest surprise. + +"No; come to think of it, she won't," her mother admitted, a little +flatly. "She put her room and her brothers' room in order," she +added inconsequently. + +Justine did not answer, and Mrs. Salisbury went slowly out of the +kitchen, annoyance rising in her heart. It was all very well for +Sandy to help out about the house, but this inflexible idea of +holding her to it was nonsense! + +Ruffled, she went up to her room. Justine had carried away the +breakfast tray, but there were towels and bath slippers lying about, +a litter of mail on the bed, and Mr. Salisbury's discarded linen +strewn here and there. The dressers were in disorder, window +curtains were pinned back for more air, and the coverings of the +twin beds thrown back and trailing on the floor. Fifteen minutes' +brisk work would have straightened the whole, but Mrs. Salisbury +could not spare the time just then. The morning was running away +with alarming speed; she must be dressed for a meeting at eleven +o'clock, and, like most women of her age, she found dressing a slow +and troublesome matter; she did not like to be hurried with her +brushes and cold creams, her ruffles and veil. + +The thought of the unmade beds did not really trouble her when, trim +and dainty, she went off in a friend's car to the club at eleven +o'clock, but when she came back, nearly two hours later, it was +distinctly an annoyance to find her bedroom still untouched. She was +tired then, and wanted her lunch; but instead she replaced her +street dress with a loose house gown, and went resolutely to work. + +Musing over her solitary luncheon, she found the whole thing a +little absurd. There was still the drawing-room to be put in order, +and no reason in the world why Justine should not do it. The girl +was not overworked, and she was being paid thirty-seven dollars and +fifty cents every month! Justine was big and strong, she could toss +the little extra work off without any effort at all. + +She wondered why it is almost a physical impossibility for a nice +woman to ask a maid the simplest thing in the world, if she is +fairly certain that that maid will be ungracious about it. + +"Dear me!" thought Mrs. Salisbury, eating her chop and salad, her +hot muffin and tart without much heart to appreciate these +delicacies, "How much time I have spent in my life, going through +imaginary conversations with maids! Why couldn't I just step to the +pantry door and say, in a matter-of-fact tone, 'I'm afraid I must +ask you to put the sitting-room in order, Justine. Miss Sandy has +apparently forgotten all about it. I'll see that it doesn't occur +again.' And I could add--now that I think of it--'I will pay you for +your extra time, if you like, and if you will remind me at the end +of the month.'" + +"Well, she may not like it, but she can't refuse," was her final +summing up. She went out to the kitchen with a deceptive air of +composure. + +Justine's occupation, when Mrs. Salisbury found her, strengthened +the older woman's resolutions. The maid, in a silent and spotless +kitchen, was writing a letter. Sheets of paper were strewn on the +scoured white wood of the kitchen table; the writer, her chin cupped +in her hand, was staring dreamily out of the kitchen window. She +gave her mistress an absent smile, then laid down her pen and stood +up. + +"I'm writing here," she explained, "so that I can catch the milkman +for the cream." + +Mrs. Salisbury knew that it was useless to ask if everything was in +readiness for the evening's event. From where she stood she could +see piles of plates already neatly ranged in the warming oven, +peeled potatoes were soaking in ice water in a yellow bowl, and the +parsley that would garnish the big platter was ready, crisp and +fresh in a glass of water. + +"Well, you look nice and peaceful," smiled the mistress. "I am just +going to dress for a little tea, and I may have to look in at the +opening of the Athenaeum Club," she went on, fussing with a frill at +her wrist, "so I may be as late as five. But I'll bring some flowers +when I come. Miss Alexandra will probably be at home by that time, +but if she isn't--if she isn't, perhaps you would just go in and +straighten the living room, Justine? I put things somewhat in order +yesterday, and dusted a little, but, of course, things get scattered +about, and it needs a little attention. She may of course be back in +time to do it--" + +Her voice drifted away into casual silence. She looked at Justine +expectantly, confidently. The maid flushed uncomfortably. + +"I'm sorry," she said frankly. "But that's against one of our rules, +you know. I am not supposed to--" + +"Not ordinarily, I understand that," Mrs. Salisbury agreed quickly. +"But in an emergency--" + +Again she hesitated. And Justine, with the maddening gentleness of +the person prepared to carry a point at all costs, answered again: + +"It's the rule. I'm sorry; but I am not supposed to." + +"I should suppose that you were in my house to make yourself useful +to me," Mrs. Salisbury said coldly. She used a tone of quiet +dignity; but she knew that she had had the worst of the encounter. +She was really a little dazed by the firmness of the rebuff. + +"They make a point of our keeping to the letter of the law," Justine +explained. + +"Not knowing what my particular needs are, nor how I like my house +to be run, is that it?" the other woman asked shrewdly. + +"Well--" Justine hung upon an embarrassed assent. "But perhaps they +won't be so firm about it as soon as the school is really +established," she added eagerly. + +"No; I think they will not!" Mrs. Salisbury agreed with a short +laugh, "inasmuch as they CANNOT, if they ever hope to get any +foothold at all!" + +And she left the kitchen, feeling that in the last remark at least +she had scored, yet very angry at Justine, who made this sort of +warfare necessary. + +"If this sort of thing keeps up, I shall simply have to let her GO!" +she said. + +But she was trembling, and she came to a full stop in the front +hall. It was maddening; it was unbelievable; but that neglected half +hour of work threatened to wreck her entire day. With every fiber of +her being in revolt, she went into the sitting-room. + +This was Alexandra's responsibility, after all, she said to herself. +And, after a moment's indecision, she decided to telephone her +daughter at the Burning Woods Club. + +"Hello, Mother," said Alexandra, when a page had duly informed her +that she was wanted at the telephone. Her voice sounded a little +tired, faintly impatient. "What is it, Mother?" + +"Why, I ought to go to Mary Bell's tea, dearie, and I wanted just to +look in at the Athenaeum--" Mrs. Salisbury began, a little +inconsequently. "How soon do you expect to be home?" she broke off +to ask. + +"I don't know," said Sandy lifelessly. + +"Are you coming back with Owen?" + +"No," Sandy said, in the same tone. "I'll come back with the +Prichards, I guess, or with one of the girls. Owen and the Brice boy +are taking Miss Satterlee for a little spin up around Feather Rock." + +"Miss WHO?" But Mrs. Salisbury knew very well who Miss Satterlee +was. A pretty and pert and rowdyish little dancer, she had managed +to captivate one or two of the prominent matrons of the club, and +was much in evidence there, to the great discomfort of the more +conservative Sandy and her intimates. + +Now Sandy's mother ended the conversation with a few very casual +remarks, in not too sympathetic or indignant a vein. Then, with +heart and mind in anything but a hospitable or joyous state, she set +about the task of putting the sitting room in order. She abandoned +once and for all any hope of getting to her club or her tea that +afternoon, and was therefore possessed of three distinct causes of +grievance. + +With her mother heart aching for the quiet misery betrayed by +Sandy's voice, she could not blame the girl. Nor could she blame +herself. So Justine got the full measure of her disapproval, and, +while she worked, Mrs. Salisbury refreshed her soul with imaginary +conversations in which she kindly but firmly informed Justine that +her services were no longer needed-- + +However, the dinner was perfect. Course smoothly followed course; +there was no hesitating, no hitch; the service was swift, noiseless, +unobtrusive. The head of the house was obviously delighted, and the +guests enthusiastic. + +Best of all, Owen arrived early, irreproachably dressed, if a little +uncomfortable in his evening clothes, and confided to Sandy that he +had had a "rotten time" with Miss Satterlee. + +"But she's just the sort of little cat that catches a dear, great +big idiot like Owen," said Sandy to her mother, when the older woman +had come in to watch the younger slip into her gown for the +evening's affair. + +"Look out, dear, or I will begin to suspect you of a tendresse in +that direction!" the mother said archly. + +"For Owen?" Sandy raised surprised brows. "I'm mad about him, I'd +marry him to-night!" she went on calmly. + +"If you really cared, dear, you couldn't use that tone," her mother +said uncomfortably. "Love comes only once, REAL love, that is--" + +"Oh, Mother! There's no such thing as real love," Sandy said +impatiently. "I know ten good, nice men I would marry, and I'll bet +you did, too, years ago, only you weren't brought up to admit it! +But I like Owen best, and it makes me sick to see a person like Rose +Satterlee annexing him. She'll make him utterly wretched; she's that +sort. Whereas I am really decent, don't you know; I'd be the sort of +wife he'd go crazier and crazier about. He's one of those +unfortunate men who really don't know what they want until they get +something they don't want. They--" + +"Don't, dear. It distresses me to hear you talk this way," Mrs. +Salisbury said, with dignity. "I don't know whether modern girls +realize how dreadful they are," she went on, "but at least I needn't +have my own daughter show such a lack of--of delicacy and of +refinement." And in the dead silence that followed she cast about +for some effective way of changing the subject, and finally decided +to tell Sandy what she thought of Justine. + +But here, too, Sandy was unsympathetic. Scowling as she hooked the +filmy pink and silver of her evening gown, Sandy took up Justine's +defense. + +"All up to me, Mother, every bit of it! And, honestly now, you had +no right to ask her to do--" + +"No right!" Exasperated beyond all words, Mrs. Salisbury picked up +her fan, gathered her dragging skirts together, and made a dignified +departure from the room. "No right!" she echoed, more in pity than +anger. "Well, really, I wonder sometimes what we are coming to! No +right to ask my servant, whom I pay thirty-seven and a half dollars +a month, to stop writing letters long enough to clean my sitting +room! Well, right or wrong, we'll see!" + +But the cryptic threat contained in the last words was never carried +out. The dinner was perfect, and Owen was back in his old position +as something between a brother and a lover, full of admiring great +laughs for Sandy and boyish confidences. There was not a cloud on +the evening for Mrs. Salisbury. And the question of Justine's +conduct was laid on the shelf. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +After the dinner party domestic matters seemed to run even more +smoothly than before, but there was a difference, far below the +surface, in Mrs. Salisbury's attitude toward the new maid. The +mistress found herself incessantly looking for flaws in Justine's +perfectness; for things that Justine might easily have done, but +would not do. + +In this Mrs. Salisbury was unconsciously aided and abetted by her +sister, Mrs. Otis, a large, magnificent woman of forty-five, who had +a masterful and assured manner, as became a very rich and +influential widow. Mrs. Otis had domineered Mrs. Salisbury +throughout their childhood; she had brought up a number of sons and +daughters in a highly successful manner, and finally she kept a +houseful of servants, whom she managed with a firm hand, and +managed, it must be admitted, very well. She had seen the Treasure +many times before, but it was while spending a day in November with +her sister that she first expressed her disapproval of Justine. + +"You spoil her, Sarah," said Mrs. Otis. "She's a splendid cook, of +course, and a nice-mannered girl. But you spoil her." + +"I? I have nothing to do with it," Mrs. Salisbury asserted promptly. +"She does exactly what the college permits; no more and no less." + +"Nonsense!" Mrs. Otis said largely, genially. And she exchanged an +amused look with Sandy. + +The three ladies were in the little library, after luncheon, +enjoying a coal fire. The sisters, both with sewing, were in big +armchairs. Sandy, idly turning the pages of a new magazine, sat at +her mother's feet. The first heavy rain of the season battered at +the windows. + +"Now, that darning, Sally," Mrs. Otis said, glancing at her sister's +sewing. "Why don't you simply call the girl and ask her to do it? +There's no earthly reason why she shouldn't be useful. She's got +absolutely nothing to do. The girl would probably be happier with +some work in her hands. Don't encourage her to think that she can +whisk through her lunch dishes and then rush off somewhere. They +have no conscience about it, my dear. You're the mistress, and you +are supposed to arrange things exactly to suit yourself, no matter +if nobody else has ever done things your way from the beginning of +time!" + +"That's a lovely theory, Auntie," said Alexandra, "but this is an +entirely different situation." + +For answer Mrs. Otis merely compressed her lips, and flung the pink +yarn that she was knitting into a baby's sacque steadily over her +flashing needles. + +"Where's Justine now?" she asked, after a moment. + +"In her room," Mrs. Salisbury answered. + +"No; she's gone for a walk, Mother," Sandy said. "She loves to walk +in the rain, and she wanted to change her library book, and send a +telegram or something--" + +"Just like a guest in the house!" Mrs. Otis observed, with fine +scorn. "Surely she asked you if she might go, Sally?" + +"No. Her--her work is done. She--comes and goes that way." + +"Without saying a word? And who answers the door?" Mrs. Otis was +unaffectedly astonished now. + +"She does if she's in the house, Mattie, just as she answers the +telephone. But she's only actually on duty one afternoon a week." + +"You see, the theory is, Auntie," Sandy supplied, "that persons on +our income--I won't say of our position, for Mother hates that--but +on our income, aren't supposed to require formal door-answering very +often." + +Mrs. Otis, her knitting suspended, moved her round eyes from mother +to daughter and back again. She did not say a word, but words were +not needed. + +"I know it seems outrageous, in some ways, Mattie," Mrs. Salisbury +presently said, with a little nervous laugh. "But what is one to +do?" + +"Do?" echoed her sister roundly. "DO? Well, I know I keep six house +servants, and have always kept at least three, and I never heard the +equal of THIS in all my days! Do?--I'd show you what I'd do fast +enough! Do you suppose I'd pay a maid thirty-seven dollars a month +to go tramping off to the library in the rain, and to tell me what +my social status was? Why, Evelyn keeps two, and pays one eighteen +and one fifteen, and do you suppose she'd allow either such +liberties? Not at all. The downstairs girl wears a nice little cap +and apron--'Madam, dinner is served,' she says--" + +"Yes, but Evelyn's had seven cooks since she was married," Sandy, +who was not a great admirer of her young married cousin, put in +here, "and Arthur said that she actually cried because she could not +give a decent dinner!" + +"Evelyn's only a beginner, dear," said Evelyn's mother sharply, "but +she has the right spirit. No nonsense, regular holidays, and hard +work when they are working is the only way to impress maids. Mary +Underwood," she went on, turning to her sister, "says that, when she +and Fred are to be away for a meal, she deliberately lays out extra +work for the maid; she says it keeps her from getting ideas. No, +Sally," Mrs. Otis concluded, with the older-sister manner she had +worn years ago, "no, dear; you are all wrong about this, and sooner +or later this girl will simply walk over you, and you'll see it as I +do. Changing her book at the library, indeed! How did she know that +you mightn't want tea served this afternoon?" + +"She wouldn't serve it, if we did, Aunt Martha," Sandy said, +dimpling. "She never serves tea! That's one of the regulations." + +"Well, we simply won't discuss it," Mrs. Otis said, firm lines +forming themselves at the corners of her capable mouth. "If you like +that sort of thing, you like it, that's all! I don't. We'll talk of +something else." + +But she could not talk of anything else. Presently she burst out +afresh. + +"Dear me, when I think of the way Ma used to manage 'em! No nonsense +there; it was walk a chalk line in Ma's house! Your grandmother," +she said to Alexandra, with stern relish, "had had a pack of slaves +about her in HER young days. But, of course, Sally," she added +charitably, "you've been ill, and things do have to run themselves +when one's ill--" + +"You don't get the idea, Auntie," Sandy said blithely. "Mother pays +for efficiency. Justine isn't a mere extra pair of hands; she's a +trained professional worker. She's just like a stenographer, except +that what she does is ten times harder to learn than stenography. We +can no more ask her to get tea than Dad could ask his head +bookkeeper to--well, to drop in here some Sunday and O.K. Mother's +household accounts. It's an age of specialization, Aunt Martha." + +"It's an age of utter nonsense," Mrs. Otis said forcibly. "But if +your mother and father like to waste their money that way--" + +"There isn't much waste of money to it," Mrs. Salisbury put in +neatly, "for Justine manages on less than I ever did. I think +there's been only one week this fall when she hasn't had a balance." + +"A balance of what?" + +"A surplus, I mean. A margin left from her allowance." + +The pink wool fell heavily into Mrs. Otis's broad lap. "She handles +your money for you, does she, Sally?" + +"Why, yes. She seems eminently fitted for it. And she does it for a +third less, Mattie, truly. She more than saves the difference in her +wages." + +"You let her buy things and pay tradesmen, do you ?" + +"Oh, Auntie, why not?" Alexandra asked, amused but impatient. "Why +shouldn't Mother let her do that?" + +"Well, it's not my idea of good housekeeping, that's all," Mrs. Otis +said staidly. "Managing is the most important part of housekeeping. +In giving such a girl financial responsibilities, you not only let +go of the control of your household, but you put temptation in her +way. No; let the girl try making some beds, and serving tea, now and +then; and do your own marketing and paying, Sally. It's the only +way." + +"Justine tempted--why, she's not that sort of girl at all!" +Alexandra laughed gaily. + +"Very well, my dear, perhaps she's not, and perhaps you young girls +know everything that is to be known about life," her aunt answered +witheringly. "But when grown business men were cheated as easily as +those men in the First National were," she finished impressively, +alluding to recent occurrences in River Falls, "it seems a little +astonishing to find a girl your age so sure of her own judgment, +that's all." + +Sandy's answer, if indirect, was effective. + +"How about some tea?" she asked. "Will you have some, either of you? +It only takes me a minute to get it." + +"And I wish you could have seen Mattie's expression, Kane," Mrs. +Salisbury said to her husband when telling him of the conversation +that evening, "really, she glared! I suppose she really can't +understand how, with an expensive servant in the house--" Mrs. +Salisbury's voice dropped a little on a note of mild amusement. She +sat idly at her dressing table, her hair loosened, her eyes +thoughtful. When she spoke again, it was with a shade of resentment. +"And, really, it is most inconvenient," she said. "I don't want to +impose upon a girl; I never DID impose upon a girl; but I like to +feel that I'm mistress in my own house. If the work is too hard one +day, I will make it easier the next, and so on. But, as Mat says, it +LOOKS so disobliging in a maid to have her race off; SHE doesn't +care whether you get any tea or not; SHE'S enjoying herself! And +after all one's kindness--And then another thing," she presently +roused herself to add, "Mat thinks that it is very bad management on +my part to let Justine handle money. She says--" + +"I devoutly wish that Mattie Otis would mind--" Mr. Salisbury did +not finish his sentence. He wound his watch, laid it on his bureau, +and went on, more mildly: "If you can do better than Justine, it may +or may not be worth your while to take that out of her hands; but, +if you can't, it seems to me sheer folly. My Lord, Sally--" + +"Yes, I know! I know," Mrs. Salisbury said hastily. "But, really, +Kane," she went on slowly, the color coming into her face, "let us +suppose that every family had a graduate cook, who marketed and +managed. And let us suppose the children, like ours, out of the +nursery. Then just what share of her own household responsibility IS +a woman supposed to take? + +"You are eternally saying, not about me, but about other men's +wives, that women to-day have too much leisure as it is. But, with a +Justine, why, I could go off to clubs and card parties every day! +I'd know that the house was clean, the meals as good and as +nourishing as could be; I'd know that guests would be well cared for +and that bills would be paid. Isn't a woman, the mistress of a +house, supposed to do more than that? I don't want to be a mere +figurehead." + +Frowning at her own reflection in the glass, deeply in earnest, she +tried to puzzle it out. + +"In the old times, when women had big estates to look after," she +presently pursued, "servants, horses, cows, vegetables and fruit +gardens, soap-making and weaving and chickens and babies, they had +real responsibilities, they had real interests. Housekeeping to-day +isn't interesting. It's confining, and it's monotonous. But take it +away, and what is a woman going to do?" + +"That," her husband answered seriously, "is the real problem of the +day, I truly believe. That is what you women have to discover. +Delegating your housekeeping, how are you going to use your +energies, and find the work you want to do in the world? How are you +going to manage the questions of being obliged to work at home, and +to suit your hours to yourself, and to really express yourselves, +and at the same time get done some of the work of the world that is +waiting for women to do." + +His wife continued to eye him expectantly. + +"Well, how?" said she. + +"I don't know. I'm asking you!" he answered pointedly. Mrs. +Salisbury sighed. + +"Dear me, I do get so tired of this talk of efficiency, and women's +work in the world!" she said. "I wish one might feel it was enough +to live along quietly, busy with dressmaking, or perhaps now and +then making a fancy dessert for guests, giving little teas and card +parties, and making calls. It--" a yearning admiration rang in her +voice, "it seems such a dignified, pleasant ideal to live up to!" +she said. + +"Well, it looks as if we had seen the last of that particular type +of woman," her husband said cheerfully. "Or at least it looks as if +that woman would find her own level, deliberately separate herself +from her more ambitious sisters, who want to develop higher arts +than that of mere housekeeping." + +"And how do YOU happen to know so much about it, Kane ?" + +"I? Oh, it's in the air, I guess," the man admitted. "The whole idea +is changing. A man used to be ashamed of the idea of his wife +working. Now men tell you with pride that their wives paint or write +or bind books--Bates' wife makes loads of money designing toys, and +Mrs. Brewster is consulting physician on a hospital staff. Mary +Shotwell--she was a trained nurse--what was it she did?" + +"She gave a series of talks on hygiene for rich people's children," +his wife supplied. "And of course Florence Yeats makes candy, and +the Gerrish girls have opened a tea room in the old garage. But it +seems funny, just the same! It seems funny to me that so many women +find it worth while to hire servants, so that they can rush off to +make the money to pay the servants! It would seem so much more +normal to stay at home and do the housework themselves, and it would +LOOK better." + +"Well, certain women always will, I suppose. And others will find +their outlets in other ways, and begin to look about for Justines, +who will lift the household load. I believe we'll see the time, +Sally," said Kane Salisbury thoughtfully, "when a young couple, +launching into matrimony, will discuss expenses with a mutual +interest; you pay this and I'll pay that, as it were. A trained +woman will step into their kitchen, and Madame will walk off to +business with her husband, as a matter of course." + +"Heaven forbid!" Mrs. Salisbury said piously. "If there is anything +romantic or tender or beautiful about married life under those +circumstances, I fail to see it, that's all!" + +It happened, a week or two later, on a sharp, sunshiny morning in +early winter, that Mrs. Salisbury and Alexandra found themselves +sauntering through the nicest shopping district of River Falls. +There were various small things to be bought for the wardrobes of +mother and daughter, prizes for a card party, birthday presents for +one of the boys, and a number of other little things. + +They happened to pass the windows of Lewis & Sons' big grocery, one +of the finest shops in town, on their way from one store to another, +and, attracted by a window full of English preserves, Mrs. Salisbury +decided to go in and leave an order. + +"I hope that you are going to bring your account back to us, Mrs. +Salisbury," said the alert salesman who waited upon them. "We are +always sorry to let an old customer go." + +"But I have an account here," said Mrs. Salisbury, startled. + +The salesman, smiling, shook his head, and one of the members of the +firm, coming up, confirmed the denial. + +"We were very sorry to take your name off our books, Mrs. +Salisbury," said he, with pleasant dignity; "I can remember your +coming into the old store on River Street when this young lady here +was only a small girl." + +His hand indicated a spot about three feet from the floor, as the +height of the child Alexandra, and the grown Alexandra dimpled an +appreciation of his memory. + +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury said, wrinkling her +forehead; "I had no idea that the account was closed, Mr. Lewis. How +long ago was this?" + +"It was while you were ill," said Mr. Lewis soothingly. "You might +look up the exact date, Mr. Laird." + +"But why?" Mrs. Salisbury asked, prettily puzzled. + +"That I don't know," answered Mr. Lewis. "And at the time, of +course, we did not press it. There was no complaint, of that I'm +very sure." + +"But I don't understand," Mrs. Salisbury persisted. "I don't see who +could have done it except Mr. Salisbury, and, if he had had any +reason, he would have told me of it. However," she rose to go, "if +you'll send the jams, and the curry, and the chocolate, Mr. Laird, +I'll look into the matter at once." + +"And you're quite yourself again?" Mr. Lewis asked solicitously, +accompanying them to the door. "That's the main thing, isn't it? +There's been so much sickness everywhere lately. And your young lady +looks as if she didn't know the meaning of the word. Wonderful +morning, isn't it? Good morning, Mrs. Salisbury!" + +"Good morning!" Mrs. Salisbury responded graciously. But, as soon as +she and Alexandra were out of hearing, her face darkened. "That +makes me WILD!" said she. + +"What does, darling?" + +"That! Justine having the audacity to change my trade!" + +"But why should she want to, Mother?" + +"I really don't know. Given it to friends of hers perhaps." + +"Oh, Mother, she wouldn't!" + +"Well, we'll see." Mrs. Salisbury dropped the subject, and brought +her mind back with a visible effort to the morning's work. + +Immediately after lunch she interrogated Justine. The girl was +drying glasses, each one emerging like a bubble of hot and shining +crystal from her checked glass towel. + +"Justine," began the mistress, "have we been getting our groceries +from Lewis & Sons lately?" + +Justine placidly referred to an account book which she took from a +drawer under the pantry shelves. + +"Our last order was August eleventh," she announced. + +Something in her unembarrassed serenity annoyed Mrs. Salisbury. + +"May I ask why?" she suggested sharply. + +"Well, they are a long way from here," Justine said, after a +second's thought, "and they are very expensive grocers, Mrs. +Salisbury. Of course, what they have is of the best, but they cater +to the very richest families, you know--firms like Lewis & Sons +aren't very much interested in the orders they receive from--well, +from upper middle-class homes, people of moderate means. They handle +hotels and the summer colony at Burning Woods." + +Justine paused, a little uncertain of her terms, and Mrs. Salisbury +interposed an icy question. + +"May I ask where you HAVE transferred my trade?" + +"Not to any one place," the girl answered readily and mildly. But a +little resentful color had crept into her cheeks. "I pay as I go, +and follow the bargains," she explained. "I go to market twice a +week, and send enough home to make it worth while for the tradesman. +You couldn't market as I do, Mrs. Salisbury, but the tradespeople +rather expect it of a maid. Sometimes I gather an assortment of +vegetables into my basket, and get them to make a price on the +whole. Or, if there is a sale at any store, I go there, and order a +dozen cans, or twenty pounds of whatever they are selling." + +Mrs. Salisbury was not enjoying this revelation. The obnoxious term +"upper middle class" was biting like an acid upon her pride. And it +was further humiliating to contemplate her maid as a driver of +bargains, as dickering for baskets of vegetables. + +"The best is always the cheapest in the long run, whatever it may +cost, Justine," she said, with dignity. "We may not be among the +richest families in town," she was unable to refrain from adding, +"but it is rather amusing to hear you speak of the family as upper +middle class!" + +"I only meant the--the sort of ordering we did," Justine hastily +interposed. "I meant from the grocer's point of view." + +"Well, Mr. Lewis sold groceries to my grandmother before I was +married," Mrs. Salisbury said loftily, "and I prefer him to any +other grocer. If he is too far away, the order may be telephoned. Or +give me your list, and I will stop in, as I used to do. Then I can +order any little extra delicacy that I see, something I might not +otherwise think of. Let me know what you need to-morrow morning, and +I'll see to it." + +To her surprise, Justine did not bow an instant assent. Instead the +girl looked a little troubled. + +"Shall I give you my accounts and my ledger?" she asked rather +uncertainly. + +"No-o, I don't see any necessity for that," the older woman said, +after a second's pause. + +"But Lewis & Sons is a very expensive place," Justine pursued; "they +never have sales, never special prices. Their cheapest tomatoes are +fifteen cents a can, and their peaches twenty-five--" + +"Never mind," Mrs. Salisbury interrupted her briskly. "We'll manage +somehow. I always did trade there, and never had any trouble. Begin +with him to-morrow. And, while, of course, I understand that I was +ill and couldn't be bothered in this case, I want to ask you not to +make any more changes without consulting me, if you please." + +Justine, still standing, her troubled eyes on her employer, the last +glass, polished to diamond brightness, in her hand, frowned +mutinously. + +"You understand that if you do any ordering whatever, Mrs. +Salisbury, I will have to give up my budget. You see, in that case, +I wouldn't know where I stood at all." + +"You would get the bill at the end of the month," Mrs. Salisbury +said, displeased. + +"Yes, but I don't run bills," the girl persisted. + +"I don't care to discuss it, Justine," the mistress said pleasantly; +"just do as I ask you, if you please, and we'll settle everything at +the end of the month. You shall not be held responsible, I assure +you." + +She went out of the kitchen, and the next morning had a pleasant +half hour in the big grocery, and left a large order. + +"Just a little kitchen misunderstanding," she told the affable Mr. +Lewis, "but when one is ill--However, I am rapidly getting the reins +back into my own hands now." + +After that, Mrs. Salisbury ordered in person, or by telephone, every +day, and Justine's responsibilities were confined to the meat market +and greengrocer. Everything went along very smoothly until the end +of the month, when Justine submitted her usual weekly account and a +bill from Lewis & Sons which was some three times larger in amount +than was the margin of money supposed to pay it. + +This was annoying. Mrs. Salisbury could not very well rebuke her, +nor could she pay the bill out of her own purse. She determined +to put it aside until her husband seemed in a mood for financial +advances, and, wrapping it firmly about the inadequate notes and +silver given her by Justine, she shut it in a desk drawer. There the +bill remained, although the money was taken out for one thing or +another; change that must be made, a small bill that must be paid at +the door. + +Another fortnight went by, and Lewis & Sons submitted another +bimonthly bill. Justine also gave her mistress another inadequate +sum, what was left from her week's expenditures. + +The two grocery bills were for rather a formidable sum. The thought +of them, in their desk drawer, rather worried Mrs. Salisbury. One +evening she bravely told her husband about them, and laid them +before him. + +Mr. Salisbury was annoyed. He had been free from these petty worries +for some months, and he disliked their introduction again. + +"I thought this was Justine's business, Sally?" said he, frowning +over his eyeglasses. + +"Well, it IS" said his wife, "but she hasn't enough money, +apparently, and she simply handed me these, without saying +anything." + +"Well, but that doesn't sound like her. Why?" + +"Oh, because I do the ordering, she says. They're queer, you know, +Kane; all servants are. And she seems very touchy about it." + +"Nonsense!" said the head of the house roundly. "Oh, Justine!" he +shouted, and the maid, after putting an inquiring head in from the +dining-room, duly came in, and stood before him. + +"What's struck your budget that you were so proud of, Justine?" +asked Kane Salisbury. "It looks pretty sick." + +"I am not keeping on a budget now," answered Justine, with a rather +surprised glance at her mistress. + +"Not; but why not?" asked the man good-naturedly. And his wife added +briskly, "Why did you stop, Justine?" + +"Because Mrs. Salisbury has been ordering all this month," Justine +said. "And that, of course, makes it impossible for me to keep track +of what is spent. These last four weeks I have only been keeping an +account; I haven't attempted to keep within any limit." + +"Ah, you see that's it," Kane Salisbury said triumphantly. "Of +course that's it! Well, Mrs. Salisbury will have to let you go back +to the ordering then. D'ye see, Sally? Naturally, Justine can't do a +thing while you're buying at random--" + +"My dear, we have dealt with Lewis & Sons ever since we were +married," Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling with great tolerance, and in +a soothing voice, "Justine, for some reason, doesn't like Lewis & +Sons--" + +"It isn't that," said the maid quickly. "It's just that it's against +the rules of the college for anyone else to do any ordering, unless, +of course, you and I discussed it beforehand and decided just what +to spend." + +"You mean, unless I simply went to market for you?" asked the +mistress, in a level tone. + +"Well, it amounts to that--yes." + +Mrs. Salisbury threw her husband one glance. + +"Well, I'll tell you what we have decided in the morning, Justine," +she said, with dignity. "That's all. You needn't wait." + +Justine went back to her kitchen, and Mr. Salisbury, smiling, said: + +"Sally, how unreasonable you are! And how you do dislike that girl!" + +The outrageous injustice of this scattered to the winds Mrs. +Salisbury's last vestige of calm, and, after one scathing summary of +the case, she refused to discuss it at all, and opened the evening +paper with marked deliberation. + +For the next two or three weeks she did all the marketing herself, +but this plan did not work well. Bills doubled in size, and so many +things were forgotten, or were ordered at the last instant by +telephone, and arrived too late, that the whole domestic system was +demoralized. + +Presently, of her own accord, Mrs. Salisbury reestablished Justine +with her allowance, and with full authority to shop when and how she +pleased, and peace fell again. But, smoldering in Mrs. Salisbury's +bosom was a deep resentment at this peculiar and annoying state of +affairs. She began to resent everything Justine did and said, as one +human being shut up in the same house with another is very apt to +do. + +No schooling ever made it easy to accept the sight of Justine's +leisure when she herself was busy. It was always exasperating, when +perhaps making beds upstairs, to glance from the window and see +Justine starting for market, her handsome figure well displayed in +her long dark coat, her shining braids half hidden by her simple yet +dashing hat. + +"I walked home past Perry's," Justine would perhaps say on her +return, "to see their prize chrysanthemums. They really are +wonderful! The old man took me over the greenhouses himself, and +showed me everything!" + +Or perhaps, unpacking her market basket by the spotless kitchen +table, she would confide innocently: + +"Samuels is really having an extraordinary sale of serges this +morning. I went in, and got two dress lengths for my sister's +children. If I can find a good dressmaker, I really believe I'll +have one myself. I think"--Justine would eye her vegetables +thoughtfully--"I think I'll go up now and have my bath, and cook +these later." + +Mrs. Salisbury could reasonably find no fault with this. But an +indescribable irritation possessed her whenever such a conversation +took place. The coolness!--she would say to herself, as she went +upstairs--wandering about to shops and greenhouses, and quietly +deciding to take a bath before luncheon! Why, Mrs. Salisbury had had +maids who never once asked for the use of the bathroom, although +they had been for months in her employ. + +No, she could not attack Justine on this score. But she began to +entertain the girl with enthusiastic accounts of the domestics of +earlier and better days. + +"My mother had a girl," she said, "a girl named Norah O'Connor. I +remember her very well. She swept, she cleaned, she did the entire +washing for a family of eight, and she did all the cooking. And such +cookies, and pies, and gingerbread as she made! All for sixteen +dollars a month. We regarded Norah as a member of the family, and, +even on her holidays she would take three or four of us, and walk +with us to my father's grave; that was all she wanted to do. You +don't see her like in these days, dear old Norah!" + +Justine listened respectfully, silently. Once, when her mistress was +enlarging upon the advantages of slavery, the girl commented mildly: + +"Doesn't it seem a pity that the women of the United States didn't +attempt at least to train all those Southern colored people for +house servants? It seems to be their natural element. They love to +live in white families, and they have no caste pride. It would seem +to be such a waste of good material, letting them worry along +without much guidance all these years. It almost seems as if the +Union owed it to them." + +"Dear me, I wish somebody would! I, for one, would love to have dear +old mammies around me again," Mrs. Salisbury said, with fervor. +"They know their place," she added neatly. + +"The men could be butlers and gardeners and coachmen," pursued +Justine. + +"Yes, and with a lot of finely trained colored women in the market, +where would you girls from the college be?" the other woman asked, +not without a spice of mischievous enjoyment. + +"We would be a finer type of servant, for more fastidious people," +Justine scored by answering soberly. "You could hardly expect a +colored girl to take the responsibility of much actual managing, I +should suppose. There would always be a certain proportion of people +who would prefer white servants." + +"Perhaps there are," Mrs. Salisbury admitted dubiously. She felt, +with a sense of triumph, that she had given Justine a pretty strong +hint against "uppishness." But Justine was innocently impervious to +hints. As a matter of fact, she was not an exceptionally bright +girl; literal, simple, and from very plain stock, she was merely +well trained in her chosen profession. Sometimes she told her +mistress of her fellow-graduates, taking it for granted that Mrs. +Salisbury entirely approved of all the ways of the American School +of Domestic Science. + +"There's Mabel Frost," said Justine one day. "She would have +graduated when I did, but she took the fourth year's work. She +really is of a very fine family; her father is a doctor. And she has +a position with a doctor's family now, right near here, in New Troy. +There are just two in family, and both are doctors, and away all +day. So Mabel has a splendid chance to keep up her music." + +"Music?" Mrs. Salisbury asked sharply. + +"Piano. She's had lessons all her life. She plays very well, too." + +"Yes; and some day the doctor or his wife will come in and find her +at the piano, and your friend will lose her fine position," Mrs. +Salisbury suggested. + +"Oh, Mabel never would have touched the piano without their +permission," Justine said quickly, with a little resentful flush. + +"You mean that they are perfectly willing to have her use it?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked. + +"Oh, quite!" + +"Have they ADOPTED her?" + +"Oh, no! No; Mabel is twenty-four or five." + +"What's the doctor's name?" + +"Mitchell. Dr. Quentin Mitchell. He's a member of the Burning Woods +Club." + +"A member of the CLUB! And he allows--" Mrs. Salisbury did not +finish her thought. "I don't want to say anything against your +friend," she began again presently, "but for a girl in her position +to waste her time studying music seems rather absurd to me. I +thought the very idea of the college was to content girls with +household positions." + +"Well, she is going to be married next spring," Justine said, "and +her husband is quite musical. He plays a church organ. I am going to +dinner with them on Thursday, and then to the Gadski concert. +They're both quite music mad." + +"Well, I hope he can afford to buy tickets for Gadski, but marriage +is a pretty expensive business," Mrs. Salisbury said pleasantly, +"What is he, a chauffeur--a salesman?" To do her justice, she knew +the question would not offend, for Justine, like any girl from a +small town, was not fastidious as to the position of her friends; +was very fond of the policeman on the corner and his pretty wife, +and liked a chat with Mrs. Sargent's chauffeur when occasion arose. + +But the girl's answer, in this case, was a masterly thrust. + +"No; he's something in a bank, Mrs. Salisbury. He's paying teller in +that little bank at Burton Corners, beyond Burning Woods. But, of +course, he hopes for promotion; they all do. I believe he is trying +to get into the River Falls Mutual Savings, but I'm not sure." + +Mrs. Salisbury felt the blood in her face. Kane Salisbury had been +in a bank when she married him; was cashier of the River Falls +Mutual Savings Bank now. + +She carried away the asters she had been arranging, without further +remark. But Justine's attitude rankled. Mrs. Salisbury, absurd as +she felt her own position to be, could not ignore the impertinence +of her maid's point of view. Theoretically, what Justine thought +mattered less than nothing. Actually it really made a great +difference to the mistress of the house. + +"I would like to put that girl in her place once!" thought Mrs. +Salisbury. She began to wish that Justine would marry, and to envy +those of her friends who were still struggling with untrained +Maggies and Almas and Chloes. Whatever their faults, these girls +were still SERVANTS, old-fashioned "help"--they drudged away at +cooking and beds and sweeping all day, and rattled dishes far into +the night. + +The possibility of getting a second little maid occurred to her. She +suggested it, tentatively, to Sandy. + +"You couldn't, unless I'm mistaken, Mother," Sandy said briskly, +eyeing a sandwich before she bit into it. The ladies were at +luncheon. "For a graduate servant can't work with any but a graduate +servant; that's the rule. At least I THINK it is!" And Sandy, +turning toward the pantry, called: "Oh, Justine!" + +"Justine," she asked, when the maid appeared, "isn't it true that +you graduates can't work with untrained girls in the house?" + +"That's the rule," Justine assented. + +"And what does the school expect you to pay a second girl?" pursued +the daughter of the house. + +"Well, where there are no children, twenty dollars a month," said +Justine, "with one dollar each for every person more than two in the +family. Then, in that case, the head servant, as we call the cook, +would get five dollars less a month. That is, I would get thirty-two +dollars, and the assistant twenty-three." + +"Gracious!" said Mrs. Salisbury. "Thank you, Justine. We were just +asking. Fifty-five dollars for the two!" she ejaculated under her +breath when the girl was gone. "Why, I could get a fine cook and +waitress for less than that!" + +And instantly the idea of two good maids instead of one graduated +one possessed her. A fine cook in the kitchen, paid, say twenty- +five, and a "second girl," paid sixteen. And none of these +ridiculous and inflexible regulations! Ah, the satisfaction of +healthily imposing upon a maid again, of rewarding that maid with +the gift of a half-worn gown, as a peace offering--Mrs. Salisbury +drew a long breath. The time had come for a change. + +Mr. Salisbury, however, routed the idea with scorn. His wife had no +argument hardy enough to survive the blighting breath of his +astonishment. And Alexandra, casually approached, proved likewise +unfavorable. + +"I am certainly not furthering my own comfort alone in this, as you +and Daddy seem inclined to think," Mrs. Salisbury said severely to +her daughter. "I feel that Justine's system is an imposition upon +you, dear. It isn't right for a pretty girl of your age to be caught +dusting the sitting-room, as Owen caught you yesterday. Daddy and I +can keep a nice home, we keep a motor car, we put the boys in good +schools, and it doesn't seem fair--" + +"Oh, fair your grandmother!" Sandy broke in, with a breezy laugh. +"If Owen Sargent doesn't like it, he can just come TO! Look at HIS +mother, eating dinner the other day with four representatives of the +Waitresses' Union! Marching in a parade with dear knows who! +Besides--" + +"It is very different in Mrs. Sargent's case, dear," said Mrs. +Salisbury simply. "She could afford to do anything, and consequently +it doesn't matter what she does! It doesn't matter what you do, if +you can afford not to. The point is that we can't really afford a +second maid." + +"I don't see what that has to do with it!" said the girl of the +coming generation cheerfully. + +"It has EVERYTHING to do with it," the woman of the passing +generation answered seriously. + +"As far as Owen goes," Sandy went on thoughtfully, "I'm only too +much afraid he's the other way. What do you suppose he's going to do +now? He's going to establish a little Neighborhood House for boys +down on River Street, 'The Cyrus Sargent Memorial.' And, if you +please, he's going to LIVE there! It's a ducky house; he showed me +the blue-prints, with the darlingest apartment for himself you ever +saw, and a plunge, and a roof gymnasium. It's going to cost, +endowment and all, three hundred thousand dollars--" + +"Good heavens!" Mrs. Salisbury said, as one stricken. + +"And the worst of it is," Alexandra pursued, with a sympathetic +laugh for her mother's concern, "that he'll meet some Madonna-eyed +little factory girl or laundry worker down there and feel that he +owes it to her to--" + +"To break your heart, Sandy," the mother supplied, all tender +solicitude. + +"It's not so much a question of my heart," Sandy answered +composedly, "as it is a question of his entire life. It's so +unnecessary and senseless!" + +"And you can sit there calmly discussing it!" Mrs. Salisbury said, +thoroughly out of temper with the entire scheme of things mundane. +"Upon my word, I never saw or heard anything like it!" she observed. +"I wonder that you don't quietly tell Owen that you care for him-- +but it's too dreadful to joke about! I give you up!" + +And she rose from her chair, and went quickly out of the room, every +line in her erect little figure expressing exasperation and +inflexibility. Sandy, smiling sleepily, reopened an interrupted +novel. But she stared over the open page into space for a few +moments, and finally spoke: + +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" an +interrupted novel. But she stared over the open page into space for +a few moments, and finally spoke: + +"Upon my word, I don't know that that's at all a bad idea!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Mrs. Salisbury," said Justine, when her mistress came into the +kitchen one December morning, "I've had a note from Mrs. Sargent--" + +"From Mrs. Sargent?" Mrs. Salisbury repeated, astonished. And to +herself she said: "She's trying to get Justine away from me!" + +"She writes as Chairman of the Department of Civics of the Forum +Club," pursued Justine, referring to the letter she held in her +hand, "to ask me if I will address the club some Thursday on the +subject of the College of Domestic Science. I know that you expect +to give a card party some Thursday, and I thought I would make sure +just which one you meant." + +Mrs. Salisbury, taken entirely unaware, was actually speechless for +a moment. The Forum was, of all her clubs, the one in which +membership was most prized by the women of River Falls. It was not a +large club, and she had longed for many years somehow to place her +name among the eighty on its roll. The richest and most exclusive +women of River Falls belonged to the Forum Club; its few rooms, +situated in the business part of town, and handsomely but plainly +furnished, were full of subtle reminders that here was no mere +social center; here responsible members of the recently enfranchised +sex met to discuss civic betterment, schools and municipal budgets, +commercialized vice and child labor, library appropriations, liquor +laws and sewer systems. Local politicians were beginning to respect +the Forum, local newspapers reported its conventions, printed its +communications. + +Mrs. Salisbury was really a little bit out of place among the +clever, serious young doctors, the architects, lawyers, +philanthropists and writers who belonged to the club. But her +membership therein was one of the things in which she felt an +unalloyed satisfaction. If the discussions ever secretly bored or +puzzled her, she was quite clever enough to conceal it. She sat, her +handsome face, under its handsome hat, turned toward the speaker, +her bright eyes immovable as she listened to reports and +expositions. And, after the motion to adjourn had been duly made, +she had her reward. Rich women, brilliant women, famous women +chatted with her cordially as the Forum Club streamed downstairs. +She was asked to luncheons, to teas; she was whirled home in the +limousines of her fellow-members. No other one thing in her life +seemed to Mrs. Salisbury as definite a social triumph as was her +membership in the Forum. + +Her election had come about simply enough, after years of secret +longing to become a member. Sandy, who was about twelve at the time, +during a call from Mrs. Sargent, had said innocently: + +"Why haven't you ever joined the Forum, Mother?" + +"Why, yes; why not?" Mrs. Sargent had added. + +This gave Mrs. Salisbury an opportunity to say: + +"Well, I have been a very busy woman, and couldn't have done so, +with these three dear children to watch. But, as a matter of fact, +Mrs. Sargent, I have never been asked. At least," she went on +scrupulously, "I am almost sure I never have been!" The implication +being that the Forum's card of invitation might have been overlooked +for more important affairs. + +"I'll send you another," the great lady had said at once. "You're +just the sort we need," Mrs. Sargent had continued. "We've got +enough widows and single women in now; what we want are the real +mothers, who need shaking out of the groove!" + +Mrs. Sargent happened to be President of the Club at that time, so +Mrs. Salisbury had only to ignore graciously the rather offensive +phrasing of the invitation, and to await the news of her election, +which duly and promptly arrived. + +And now Justine had been asked to speak at the Forum! It was the +most distasteful bit of information that had come Mrs. Salisbury's +way in a long, long time! She felt in her heart a stinging +resentment against Mrs. Sargent, with her mad notions of equality, +and against Justine, who was so complacently and contentedly +accepting this monstrous state of affairs. + +"That is very kind of Mrs. Sargent," said she, fighting for dignity; +"she is very much interested in working girls and their problems, +and I suppose she thinks this might be a good advertisement for the +school, too." This idea had just come to Mrs. Salisbury, and she +found it vaguely soothing. "But I don't like the idea," she ended +firmly; "it--it seems very odd, very--very conspicuous. I should +prefer you not to consider anything of the kind." + +"I should prefer" was said in the tone that means "I command," yet +Justine was not satisfied. + +"Oh, but why?" she asked. + +"If you force me to discuss it," said Mrs. Salisbury, in sudden +anger, "because you are my maid! My gracious, YOU ARE MY MAID," she +repeated, pent-up irritation finding an outlet at last. "There is +such a relationship as mistress and maid, after all! While you are +in my house you will do as I say. It is the mistress's place to give +orders, not to take them, not to have to argue and defend herself--" + +"Certainly, if it is a question about the work the maid is supposed +to do," Justine defended herself, with more spirit than the other +woman had seen her show before. "But what she does with her leisure- +-why it's just the same as what a clerk does with his leisure, +nobody questions it, nobody--" + +"I tell you that I will not stand here and argue with you," said +Mrs. Salisbury, with more dignity in her tone than in her words. "I +say that I don't care to have my maid exploited by a lot of +fashionable women at a club, and that ends it! And I must add," she +went on, "that I am extremely surprised that Mrs. Sargent should +approach you in such a matter, without consulting me!" + +"The relationship of mistress and maid," Justine said slowly, "is +what has always made the trouble. Men have decided what they want +done in their offices, and never have any trouble in finding boys to +fill the vacancies. But women expect--" + +"I really don't care to listen to any further theories from that +extraordinary school," said Mrs. Salisbury decidedly. "I have told +you what I expect you to do, and I know you are too sensible a girl +to throw away a good position--" + +"Mrs. Salisbury, if I intended to say anything in such a little talk +that would reflect on this family, or even to mention it, it would +be different, but, as it is--" + +"I should hope you WOULDN'T mention this family!" Mrs. Salisbury +said hotly. "But even without that--" + +"It would be merely an outline of what the school is, and what it +tries to do," Justine interposed. "Miss Holley, our founder and +President, was most anxious to have us interest the general +public in this way, if ever we got a chance." + +"What Miss Holley--whoever she is--wanted, or wants, is nothing to +me!" Mrs. Salisbury said magnificently. "You know what I feel about +this matter, and I have nothing more to say." + +She left the kitchen on the very end of the last word, and Justine, +perforce not answering, hoped that the affair was concluded, once +and for all. + +"For Mrs. Sargent may think she can exasperate me by patronizing my +maid," said Mrs. Salisbury guardedly, when telling her husband and +daughter of the affair that evening, "but there is a limit to +everything, and I have had about enough of this efficiency +business!" + +"I can only beg, Mother dear, that you won't have a row with Owen's +dear little vacillating, weak-minded ma," said Sandy cheerfully. + +"No; but, seriously, don't you both think it's outrageous?" Mrs. +Salisbury asked, looking from one to the other. + +"No-o; I see the girl's point," Kane Salisbury said thoughtfully. +"What she does with her afternoons off is her own affair, after all; +and you can't blame her, if a chance to step out of the groove comes +along, for taking advantage of it. Strictly, you have no call to +interfere." + +"Legally, perhaps I haven't," his wife conceded calmly. "But, thank +goodness, my home is not yet a court of law. Besides, Daddy, if one +of the young men in the bank did something of which you disapproved, +you would feel privileged to interfere." + +"If he did something WRONG, Sally, not otherwise." + +"And you would be perfectly satisfied to meet your janitor somewhere +at dinner?" + +"No; the janitor's colored, to begin with, and, more than that, he +isn't the type one meets. But, if he qualified otherwise, I wouldn't +mind meeting him just because he happened to be the janitor. Now, +young Forrest turns up at the club for golf, and Sandy and I +picked Fred Hall up the other day, coming back from the river." Kane +Salisbury, leaning back in his chair, watched the rings of smoke +that rose from his cigar. "It's a funny thing about you women," he +said lazily. "You keep wondering why smart girls won't go into +housework, and yet, if you get a girl who isn't a mere stupid +machine, you resent every sign she gives of being an intelligent +human being. No two of you keep house alike, and you jump on the +girl the instant she hangs a dish towel up the way you don't. It's +you women who make life so hard for each other. Now, if any decent +man saw a young fellow at the bottom of the ladder, who was as good +and clever and industrious as Justine is, he'd be glad to give him a +hand up. But no; that means she's above her work, and has to be +snubbed." + +"Don't talk so cynically, Daddy dear," Mrs. Salisbury said, smiling +over her fancy work, as one only half listening. + +"I tell you, a change is coming in all these things, Sally," said +the cynic, unruffled. + +"You bet there is!" his daughter seconded him from the favorite low +seat that permitted her to rest her mouse-colored head against his +knee. + +"Your mother's a conservative, Sandy," pursued the man of the house, +encouraged, "but there's going to be some domestic revolutionizing +in the next few years. It's hard enough to get a maid now; pretty +soon it'll be impossible. Then you women will have to sit down and +work the thing out, and ask yourselves why young American girls +won't come into your homes, and eat the best food in the land, and +get well paid for what they do. You'll have to reduce the work of an +American home to a system, that's all, and what you want done that +isn't provided for in that system you'll have to do yourselves. +There's something in the way you treat a girl now, or in what you +expect her to do, that's all wrong!" + +"It isn't a question of too much work," Mrs. Salisbury said. "They +are much better off when they're worked hard. And I notice that your +bookkeepers are kept pretty busy, Kane," she added neatly. + +"For an eight-hour day, Sally. But you expect a twelve or fourteen- +hour day from your housemaid--" + +"If I pay a maid thirty-seven and a half dollars a month," his wife +averred, with precision, "I expect her to do something for that +thirty-seven dollars and a half!" + +"Well, but, Mother, she does!" Alexandra contributed eagerly. "In +Justine's case she does an awful lot! She plans, and saves, and +thinks about things. Sometimes she sits writing menus and crossing +things out for an hour at a time." + +"And then Justine's a pioneer; in a way she's an experiment," the +man said. "Experiments are always expensive. That's why the club is +interested, I suppose. But in a few years probably the woods will be +full of graduate servants--everyone'll have one! They'll have their +clubs and their plans together, and that will solve some of the +social side of the old trouble. They--" + +"Still, I notice that Mrs. Sargent herself doesn't employ graduate +servants!" Mrs. Salisbury, who had been following a wandering line +of thought, threw in darkly. + +"Because they haven't any graduates for homes like hers, Mother," +Alexandra supplied. "She keeps eight or nine housemaids. The college +is only to supply the average home, don't you see? Where only one or +two are kept--that's their idea." + +"And do they suppose that the average American woman is willing to +go right on paying thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents for a maid?" +Mrs. Salisbury asked mildly. + +"For five in family, Mother! Justine would only be thirty if three +dear little strangers hadn't come to brighten your home," Sandy +reminded her. "Besides," she went on, "Justine was telling me only a +day or two ago of their latest scheme--they are arranging so that a +girl can manage two houses in the same neighborhood. She gets +breakfast for the Joneses, say; leaves at nine for market; orders +for both families; goes to the Smiths and serves their hearty meal +at noon; goes back to the Joneses at five, and serves dinner." + +"And what does she get for all this?" Mrs. Salisbury asked in a +skeptical tone. + +"The Joneses pay her twenty-five, I believe, and the Smiths fifteen +for two in each family." + +"What's to prevent the two families having all meals together," Mrs. +Salisbury asked, "instead of having to patch out with meals when +they had no maid?" + +"Well, I suppose they could. Then she'd get her original thirty, and +five more for the two extra--you see, it comes out the same, thirty- +five dollars a month. Perhaps families will pool their expenses that +way some day. It would save buying, too, and table linen, and gas +and fuel. And it would be fun! All at our house this month, and all +at Aunt Mat's next month!" + +"There's one serious objection to sharing a maid," Mrs. Salisbury +presently submitted; "she would tell the other family all your +private business." + +"If they chose to pump her, she might," Alexandra said, with +unintentional rebuke, and Mr. Salisbury added amusedly: + +"No, no, no, Mother! That's an exploded theory. How much has Justine +told you of her last place?" + +"But that's no proof she WOULDN'T, Kane," Mrs. Salisbury ended the +talk by rising from her chair, taking another nearer the reading +lamp, and opening a new magazine. "Justine is a sensible girl," she +added, after a moment. "I have always said that. When all the +discussing and theorizing in the world is done, it comes down to +this: a servant in my house shall do AS I SAY. I have told her that +I dislike this ridiculous club idea, and I expect to hear no more of +the matter!" + +There came a day in December when Mrs. Salisbury came home from the +Forum Club in mid-afternoon. Her face was a little pale as she +entered the house, her lips tightly set. It was a Thursday +afternoon, and Justine's kitchen was empty. Lettuce and peeled +potatoes were growing crisp in yellow bowls of ice water, breaded +cutlets were in the ice chest, a custard cooled in a north window. + +Mrs. Salisbury walked rapidly through the lower rooms, came back to +the library, and sat down at her desk. A fire was laid in the wide, +comfortable fireplace, but she did not light it. She sat, hatted, +veiled and gloved, staring fixedly ahead of her for some moments. +Then she said aloud, in a firm but quiet voice: "Well, this +positively ENDS it!" + +A delicate film of dust obscured the shining surface of the writing +table. Mrs. Salisbury's mouth curved into a cold smile when she saw +it; and again she spoke aloud. + +"Thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents, indeed!" she said. "Ha!" + +Nearly two hours later Alexandra rushed in. Alexandra looked her +prettiest; she was wearing new furs for the first time; her face was +radiantly fresh, under the sweep of her velvet hat. She found her +mother stretched comfortably on the library couch with a book. Mrs. +Salisbury smiled, and there was a certain placid triumph in her +smile. + +"Here you are, Mother!" Alexandra burst out joyously. "Mother, I've +just had the most extraordinary experience of my life!" She sat down +beside the couch, her eyes dancing, her cheeks two roses, and pushed +back her furs, and flung her gloves aside. "My dear," said +Alexandra, catching up the bunch of violets she held for an ecstatic +sniff, and then dropping it in her lap again, "wait until I tell +you--I'm engaged!" + +"My darling girl--" Mrs. Salisbury said, rapturously, faintly. + +"To Owen, of course," Alexandra rushed on radiantly. "But wait until +I tell you! It's the most awful thing I ever did in my life, in a +WAY," she interrupted herself to say more soberly. Her voice died +away, and her eyes grew dreamy. + +Mrs. Salisbury's heart, rising giddily to heaven on a swift rush of +thanks, felt a cold check. + +"How do you mean awful, dear?" she said apprehensively. + +"Well, wait, and I'll tell you," Alexandra said, recalled and +dimpling again. "I met Jim Vance and Owen this morning at about +twelve, and Jim simply got red as a beet, and vanished--poor Jim!" +The girl paid the tribute of a little sigh to the discarded suitor. +"So then Owen asked me to lunch with him--right there in the Women's +exchange, so it was quite comme il faut, Mother," she pursued, "and, +my dear! he told me, as calmly as THAT!--that he might go to New +York when Jim goes--Jim's going to visit a lot of Eastern +relatives!--so that he, Owen I mean, could study some Eastern +settlement houses and get some ideas--" + +"I think the country is going mad on this subject of settlement +houses, and reforms, and hygiene!" Mrs. Salisbury said, with some +sharpness. "However, go on!" + +"Well, Owen spoke to me a little about--about Jim's liking me, you +know," Alexandra continued. "You know Owen can get awfully red and +choky over a thing like that," she broke off to say animatedly. "But +to-day he wasn't--he was just brotherly and sweet. And, Mother, he +got so confidential, you know, that I simply PULLED my courage +together, and I determined to talk honestly to him. I clasped my +hands--I could see in one of the mirrors that I looked awfully nice, +and that helped!--I clasped my hands, and I looked right into his +eyes, and I said, quietly, you know, 'Owen,' I said 'I'm going to +tell you the truth. You ask me why I don't care for Jim; this is the +reason. I like you too much to care for any other man that way. I +don't want you to say anything now, Owen,' I said, 'or to think I +expect you to tell me that you have always cared for me. That'd be +too FLAT. And I'm not going to say that I'll never care for anyone +else, for I'm only twenty, and I don't know. But I couldn't see so +much of you, Owen,' I said, 'and not care for you, and it seems as +natural to tell you so as it would for me to tell another girl. You +worry sometimes because you can't remember your father,' I said, +'and because your mother is so undemonstrative with you; but I want +you to think, the next time you feel sort of out of it, that there +is a woman who really and truly thinks that you are the best man in +the world--'" + +Mrs. Salisbury had risen to a sitting position; her eyes, fixed upon +her daughter's face, were filled with utter horror. + +"You are not serious, my child!" she gasped. "Alexandra, tell me +that this is some monstrous joke--" + +"Serious! I never was more serious in my life," the girl said +stoutly. "I said just that. It was easy enough, after I once got +started. And I thought to myself, even then, that if he didn't care +he'd be decent enough to say so honestly--" + +"But, my child--my CHILD!" the mother said, beside herself with +outraged pride. "You cannot mean that you so far forgot a woman's +natural delicacy--her natural shrinking--her dignity--Why, what must +Owen think of you! Can't you SEE what a dreadful thing you've done, +dear!" Her mind, working desperately for an escape from the +unbearable situation, seized upon a possible explanation. "My +darling," she said, "you must try at once to convince him that you +were only joking--you can say half-laughingly--" + +"But wait!" Alexandra interrupted, unruffled. "He put his hand over +mine, and he turned as red as a beet--I wish you could have seen his +face, Mother!--and he said--But," and the happy color flooded her +face, "I honestly can't tell you what he said, Mother," Alexandra +confessed. "Only it was DARLING, and he is honestly the best man I +ever saw in my life!" + +"But, dearest, dearest," her mother said, with desperate appeal. +"Don't you see that you can't possibly allow things to remain this +way? Your dignity, dear, the most precious thing a girl has, you've +simply thrown it to the winds! Do you want Owen to remind you some +day that YOU were the one to speak first?" Her voice sank +distressfully, a shamed red burned in her cheeks. "Do you want Owen +to be able to say that you cared, and admitted that you cared, +before he did?" + +Alexandra, staring blankly at her mother, now burst into a gay +laugh. + +"Oh, Mother, aren't you DARLING--but you're so funny!" she said. +"Don't you suppose I know Owen well enough to know whether he cares +for me or not? He doesn't know it himself, that's the whole point, +or rather he DIDN'T, for he does now! And he'll go on caring more +and more every minute, you'll see! He might have been months finding +it out, even if he didn't go off to New York with Jim, and marry +some little designing dolly-mop of an actress, or some girl he met +on the train. Owen's the sort of dear, big, old, blundering fellow +that you have to PROTECT, Mother. And it came up so naturally--if +you'd been there--" + +"I thank Heaven I was not there!" Mrs. Salisbury said feelingly. +"Came up naturally! Alexandra, what are you MADE of? Where are your +natural feelings? Why, do you realize that your Grandmother Porter +kept your grandfather waiting three months for an answer, even? She +lived to be an old, old lady, and she used to say that a woman ought +never let her husband know how much she cared for him, and +Grandfather Porter RESPECTED and ADMIRED your grandmother until the +day of her death!" + +"A dear, cold-blooded old lady she must have been!" said Alexandra, +unimpressed. + +"On the contrary," Mrs. Salisbury said quickly. "She was a beautiful +and dignified woman. And when your father first began to call upon +me," she went on impressively, "and Mattie teased me about him, I +was so furious--my feelings were so outraged!--that I went upstairs +and cried a whole evening, and wouldn't see him for DAYS!" + +"Well, dearest," Alexandra said cheerfully, "You may have been a +perfect little lady, but it's painfully evident that I take after +the other side of the house! As for Owen ever having the nerve to +suggest that I gave him a pretty broad hint--" the girl's voice was +carried away on a gale of cheerful laughter. "He'd get no dessert +for weeks to come!" she threatened gaily. "You know I'm convinced, +Mother," Sandy went on more seriously, "that this business +of a man's doing all the asking is going out. When women have their +own industrial freedom, and their own well-paid work, it'll be a +great compliment to suggest to a man that one's willing to give +everything up, and keep his house and raise his children for him. +And if, for any reason, he SHOULDN'T care for that girl, she'll not +be embarrassed--" + +Mrs. Salisbury shut her eyes, her face and form rigid, one hand +spasmodically clutching the couch. + +"Alexandra, I BEG--" she said faintly, "I ENTREAT that you will not +expect me to listen to such outrageous and indelicate and COARSE-- +yes, coarse!--theories! Think what you will, but don't ask your +mother--" + +"Now, listen, darling," Alexandra said soothingly, kneeling down and +gathering her mother affectionately in her arms, "Owen did every bit +of this except the very first second and, if you'll just FORGET IT, +in a few months he'll be thinking he did it all! Wait until you see +him; he's walking on air! He's dazed. My dear"--the strain of happy +confidence was running smoothly again--"my dear, we lunched +together, and then we went out in the car to Burning Woods, and sat +there on the porch, and talked and TALKED. It was perfectly +wonderful! Now, he's gone to tell his mother, but he's coming back +to take us all to dinner. Is that all right? And, Mother, that +reminds me, we are going to live in the new Settlement House, and +have a girl like Justine!" + +"WHAT!" Mrs. Salisbury said, smitten sick with disappointment. + +"Or Justine herself, if you'll let us have her," Sandy went on. "You +see, living in that big Sargent house--" + +"Do you mean that Owen's mother doesn't want to give up that house?" +Mrs. Salisbury asked coldly. "I thought it was Owen's?" + +"It IS Owen's, Mother, but fancy living there!" Sandy said +vivaciously. "Why, I'd have to keep seven or eight maids, and do +nothing but manage them, and do just as everyone else does!" + +"You'd be the richest young matron in town," her mother said +bitterly. + +"Oh, I know, Mother, but that seems sort of mean to the other girls! +Anyway, we'd much rather live in the ducky little Settlement house, +and entertain our friends at the Club, do you see? And Justine is to +run a little cooking school, do you see? For everyone says that +management of food and money is the most important thing to teach +the poorer class. Won't that be great?" + +"I personally can't agree with you," the mother said lifelessly. +"Here I spend all my life since your babyhood trying to make friends +for you among the nicest people, trying to establish our family upon +an equal basis with much richer people, and you, instead of living +as you should, with beautiful things about you, choose to go down to +River Street, and drudge among the slums!" + +"Oh, come, Mother; River Street is the breeziest, prettiest part of +town, with the river and those fields opposite. Wait until we clean +it up, and get some gardens going--" + +"As for Justine, I am DONE with her," continued the older woman +dispassionately. "All this has rather put it out of my head, but I +meant to tell you at once, she goes out of my house THIS WEEK! +Against my express wish, she was the guest of the Forum Club to-day. +'Miss J. C. Harrison,' the program said, and I could hardly believe +my eyes when I saw Justine! She had on a black charmeuse gown, black +velvet about her hair--and I was supposed to sit there and listen to +my own maid! I slipped out; it was too much. To-morrow morning," +Mrs. Salisbury ended dramatically, "I dismiss her!" + +"Mother!" said Alexandra, aghast. "What reason will you give her?" + +"I shall give her no reason," Mrs. Salisbury said sternly. "I am +through with apologies to servants! To-morrow I shall apply at +Crosby's for a good, old-fashioned maid, who doesn't have to have +her daily bath, and doesn't expect to be entertained at my club!" + +"But, listen, darling," Alexandra pleaded. "DON'T make a fuss now. +Justine was my darling belle-mere's guest to-day, don't you see? +It'll be so awkward, scrapping right in the face of Owen's news. +Couldn't you sort of shelve the Justine question for a while?" + +"Dearie, be advised," Mrs. Salisbury said, with solemn warning. "You +DON'T want a girl like that, dear. You will be a SOMEBODY, Sandy. +You can't do just what any other girl would do, as Owen Sargent's +wife! Don't live with Mrs. Sargent if you don't want to, but take a +pretty house, dear. Have two or three little maids, in nice caps and +aprons. Why, Alice Snow, whose husband is merely an automobile +salesman, has a LOVELY home! It's small, of course, but you could +have your choice!" + +"Well, nothing's settled!" Alexandra rose to go upstairs, gathered +her furs about her. "Only promise me to let Justine's question +stand," she begged. + +"Well," Mrs. Salisbury consented unwillingly. + +"Ah, there's Dad!" Alexandra cried suddenly, as the front door +opened and shut. With a joyous rush, she flew to meet him, and Mrs. +Salisbury could imagine, from the sounds she heard, exactly how +Sandy and her great news and her furs and her father's kisses were +all mixed up together. "What--what--what--why, what am I going to do +for a girl?" "Oh, Dad, darling, say that you're glad!" "Luckiest +fellow this side of the Rocky Mountains, and I'll tell him so!" "And +you and Mother to dine with us every week, promise that, Dad!" + +She heard them settle down on the lowest step, Sandy obviously in +her father's lap; heard the steady murmur of confidence and advice. + +"Wise girl, wise girl," she heard the man's voice say. "That keeps +you in touch with life, Sandy; that's real. And then, if some day +you have reasons for wanting a bigger house and a more quiet +neighborhood--" Several frantic kisses interrupted the speaker here, +but he presently went on: "Why, you can always move! Meantime, you +and Owen are helping less fortunate people, you're building up a lot +of wonderful associations--" + +Well, it was all probably for the best; it would turn out quite +satisfactorily for everyone, thought the mother, sitting in the +darkening library, and staring rather drearily before her. Sandy +would have children, and children must have big rooms and sunshine, +if it can be managed possibly. The young Sargents would fall nicely +into line, as householders, as parents, as hospitable members of +society. + +But it was all so different from her dreams, of a giddy, spoiled +Sandy, the petted wife of an adoring rich man; a Sandy despotically +and yet generously ruling servants, not consulting Justine as an +equal, in a world of working women-- + +And she was not even to have the satisfaction of discharging +Justine! The maid had her rights, her place in the scheme of things, +her pride. + +"I declare, times have changed!" Mrs. Salisbury said to herself +involuntarily. She mused over the well-worn phrase; she had never +used it herself before; its truth struck her forcibly for the first +time. + +"I remember my mother saying that," thought she, "and how old- +fashioned and conventional we thought her! I remember she said it +when Mat and I went to dances, after we were married; it seemed +almost wrong to her! Dear me! And I remember Ma's horror when Mat +went to a hospital for her first baby. 'If there is a thing that +belongs at home,' Ma said, 'it does seem to me it's a baby!' And my +asking people to dinner by telephone, and the Fosters having two +bathrooms in their house--Ma thought that such a ridiculous +affectation! But what WOULD she say now? For those things were only +trifles, after all," Mrs. Salisbury sighed, in all honesty. "But +NOW, why, the world is simply being turned upside down with these +crazy new notions!" And again she paused, surprised to hear herself +using another old, familiar phrase. "Ma used to say that very thing, +too," said Mrs. Salisbury to herself. "Poor Ma!" + +THE END + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Treasure, by Kathleen Norris + diff --git a/old/trsur10.zip b/old/trsur10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e1c472 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/trsur10.zip |