Susan remained mutinously silent.
"Have you any fault to find with Auntie"s provision for you, dear?"
asked Mrs. Lancaster, patiently.
"Oh, NO, auntie! That"s not it AT ALL!" Susan protested, "it"s just simply that I--I can"t--I need money, sometimes--" She stopped, miserably.
"Come, now!" Mrs. Lancaster, all sweet tolerance of the vagary, folded her hands to await enlightenment. "Come, now! Tell auntie what you need money for. What is this special great need?"
"No one special thing, auntie--" Susan was anything but sure of her ground. As a matter of fact she did not want to work at all, she merely felt a frantic impulse to do something else than settle down for life as Mary Lou and Virginia and Georgie had done. "But clothes cost money," she pursued vaguely.
"What sort of a gown did you want, dear?" Mrs. Lancaster reached for her shabby purse. Susan refused the gift of a gown with many kisses, and no more was said for a while of her working.
This was in her seventeenth summer. For more than a year after that she drifted idly, reading a great many romantic novels, and wishing herself a young actress, a lone orphan, the adored daughter of an invalid father or of a rich and adoring mother, the capable, worshiped oldest sister in a jolly big family, a lovely cripple in a bright hospital ward, anything, in short, except what she was.
Then came the offer of a position in Front Office, and Susan took it on her own responsibility, and resigned herself to her aunt"s anger. This was a most unhappy time for all concerned.
But it was all over now. Auntie rebeled no more, she accepted the fact as she had accepted other unwelcome facts in her life. And soon Susan"s little salary came to be depended upon by the family; it was not much, but it did pay a gas or a laundry bill, it could be "borrowed" for the slippers Georgie must have in a hurry, or the ticket that should carry Alfie to Sacramento or Stockton for his new job. Virginia wondered if Sue would lend her two dollars for the subscription to the "Weekly Era," or asked, during the walk to church, if Susan had "plate-money"
for two? Mary Lou used Susan"s purse as her own. "I owe you a dollar, Sue," she would observe carelessly, "I took it yesterday for the cleaner."
Or, on their evening walks, Mary Lou would glance in the candy-store window. "My! Don"t those caramels look delicious! This is my treat, now, remind me to give it back to you." "Oh, Ma told me to get eggs,"
she would remember suddenly, a moment later. "I"ll have to ask you to pay for them, dearie, until we get home."
Susan never was repaid these little loans. She could not ask it. She knew very well that none of the girls ever had a cent given her except for some definite and unavoidable purchase. Her aunt never spent money.
They lived in a continual and agonizing shortage of coin.
Lately, however, Susan had determined that if her salary were raised she would save the extra money, and not mention the fact of the raise at home. She wanted a gray feather boa, such as Peter Coleman"s girl friends wore. It would cost twenty dollars, but what beauty and distinction it lent to the simplest costume!
Since young Mr. Coleman"s appearance in Front Office certain young girls very prominent in San Francisco society found various reasons for coming down, in mid-afternoon, to the establishment of Hunter, Baxter & Hunter, for a chat with old Mr. Baxter, who appeared to be a great favorite with all girls. Susan, looking down through the gla.s.s walls of Front Office, would suddenly notice the invasion of flowered hats and smart frocks, and of black and gray and white feather-boas, such as her heart desired. She did not consciously envy these girls, but she felt that, with their advantages, she would have been as attractive as any, and a boa seemed the first step in the desired direction. She always knew it when Mr. Baxter sent for Peter, and generally managed to see him as he stood laughing and talking with his friends, and when he saw them to their carriages. She would watch him wistfully when he came upstairs, and be glad when he returned briskly to his work, as if the interruption had meant very little to him after all.
One day, when a trio of exquisitely pretty girls came to carry him off bodily, at an early five o"clock, Miss Thornton came up the office to Susan"s desk. Susan, who was quite openly watching the floor below, turned with a smile, and sat down in her place.
"S"listen, Susan," said Miss Thornton, leaning on the desk, "are you going to the big game?"
"I don"t know," said Susan, suddenly wild to go.
"Well, I want to go," pursued Miss Thornton, "but Wally"s in Los Angeles." Wally was Miss Thornton"s "friend."
"What would it cost us, Th.o.r.n.y?"
"Two-fifty."
"Gosh," said Susan thoughtfully. The big intercollegiate game was not to be seen for nothing. Still, it was undoubtedly THE event of the sporting year.
"Hat come?" asked Th.o.r.n.y.
"Ye-es." Susan was thinking. "Yes, and she"s made it look lovely," she admitted. She drew a sketch of a little face on her scratch pad. "Who"s that?" asked Miss Thornton, interestedly. "Oh, no one!" Susan said, and scratched it out.
"Oh, come on, Susan, I"m dying to go!" said the tempter.
"We need a man for that, Th.o.r.n.y. There"s an awful crowd."
"Not if we go early enough. They say it"s going to be the closest YET.
Come on!"
"Th.o.r.n.y, honest, I oughtn"t to spend the money," Susan persisted.
"S"listen, Susan." Miss Thornton spoke very low, after a cautious glance about her. "Swear you won"t breathe this!"
"Oh, honestly I won"t!"
"Wait a minute. Is Elsie Kirk there?" asked Miss Thornton. Susan glanced down the office.
"Nope. She"s upstairs, and Violet"s in Brauer"s office. What is it?"
"Well, say, listen. Last night--" began Miss Thornton, impressively, "Last night I and Min and Floss and Harold Clarke went into the Techau for supper, after the Orpheum show. Well, after we got seated--we had a table way at the back--I suddenly noticed Violet Kirk, sitting in one of those private alcoves, you know--?"
"For Heaven"s sake!" said Susan, in proper horror.
"Yes. And champagne, if you please, all as bold as life! And all dressed up, Susan, I wish you could have seen her! Well. I couldn"t see who she was with--"
"A party?"
"A party--no! One man."
"Oh, Th.o.r.n.y--" Susan began to be doubtful, slowly shook her head.
"But I tell you I SAW her, Sue! And listen, that"s not all. We sat there and sat there, an hour I guess, and she was there all that time.
And when she got up to go, Sue, I saw the man. And who do you suppose it was?"
"Do I know him?" A sick premonition seized Susan, she felt a stir of agonizing jealousy at her heart. "Peter Coleman?" she guessed, with burning cheeks. "Peter Coleman! That kid! No, it was Mr. Phil!"
"Mr. Phil HUNTER!" But, through all her horror, Susan felt the warm blood creep back to her heart.
"Sure."
"But--but Th.o.r.n.y, he"s married!"
Miss Thornton shrugged her shoulders, and pursed her lips, as one well accustomed, if not reconciled, to the wickedness of the world.
"So now we know how she can afford a velvet tailor-made and ostrich plumes," said she. Susan shrank in natural cleanness of heart, from the ugliness of it.
"Ah, don"t say such things, Th.o.r.n.y!" she said. Her brows contracted.
"His wife enjoying Europe!" she mused. "Can you beat it?"
"I think it"s the limit," said Miss Thornton virtuously, "and I think old J. B. would raise the roof. But anyway, it shows why she got the crediting."
"Oh, Th.o.r.n.y, I can"t BELIEVE it! Perhaps she doesn"t realize how it looks!"