No man is a hero who is not a hero to his valet; and no woman a lady unless her maid thinks so. Margaret Severence"s new maid Selina was engaged to be married; the lover had gone on a spree, had started a free fight in the streets, and had got himself into jail for a fortnight. It was the first week of his imprisonment, and Selina had committed a series of faults intolerable in a maid. She sent Margaret to a ball with a long tear in her skirt; she let her go out, open in the back, both in blouse and in placket; she upset a cup of hot CAFe AU LAIT on her arm; finally she tore a strap off a shoe as she was fastening it on Margaret"s foot. Though no one has been able to fathom it, there must be a reason for the perversity whereby our outbursts of anger against any seriously-offending fellow-being always break on some trivial offense, never on one of the real and deep causes of wrath. Margaret, though ignorant of her maid"s secret grief and shame, had borne patiently the sins of omission and commission, only a few of which are catalogued above; this, though the maid, absorbed in her woe, had not even apologized for a single one of them. On the seventh day of discomforts and disasters Margaret lost her temper at the triviality of the ripping off of the shoe-strap, and poured out upon Selina not only all her resentment against her but also all that she had been storing up since the beginning of the season against life and destiny. Selina sat on the floor stupefied; Margaret, a very incarnation of fury, raged up and down the room, venting every and any insult a naturally caustic wit suggested. "And," she wound up, "I want you to clear out at once. I"ll send you your month"s wages. I can"t give you a character--except for honesty. I"ll admit, you are too stupid to steal. Clear out, and never let me see you again."
She swept from the room, drove away to lunch at Mrs. Baker"s. She acted much as usual, seemed to be enjoying herself, for the luncheon was very good indeed, Mrs. Baker"s chef being new from France and not yet grown careless, and the company was amusing. At the third course she rose.
"I"ve forgotten something," said she. "I must go at once. No, no one must be disturbed on my account. I"ll drive straight home." And she was gone before Mrs. Baker could rise from her chair.
At home Margaret went up to her own room, through her bedroom to Selina"s--almost as large and quite as comfortable as her own and hardly plainer. She knocked. As there was no answer, she opened the door. On the bed, sobbing heart-brokenly, lay Selina, crushed by the hideous injustice of being condemned capitally merely for tearing off a bit of leather which the shoemaker had neglected to make secure.
"Selina," said Margaret.
The maid turned her big, homely, swollen face on the pillow, ceased sobbing, gasped in astonishment.
"I"ve come to beg your pardon," said Margaret, not as superior to inferior, nor yet with the much-vaunted "just as if they were equals,"
but simply as one human being to another. The maid sat up. One of her braids had come undone and was hanging ludicrously down across her cheek.
"I insulted you, and I"m horribly ashamed." Wistfully: "Will you forgive me?"
"Oh, law!" cried the maid despairingly, "I"m dreaming." And she threw herself down once more and sobbed afresh.
Margaret knelt beside the bed, put her hand appealingly on the girl"s shoulder. "Can you forgive me, Selina?" said she. "There"s no excuse for me except that I"ve had so much hard luck, and everything seems to be going to pieces under me."
Selina stopped sobbing. "I told a story when I came to you and said I"d had three years" experience," moaned she, not to be outdone in honorable generosity. "It was only three months as lady"s maid, and not much of a lady, neither."
"I don"t in the least care," Margaret a.s.sured her. "I"m not strictly truthful myself at times, and I do all sorts of horrid things."
"But that"s natural in a lady," objected Selina, "where there ain"t no excuse for me that have only my character."
Margaret was careful not to let Selina see her smile in appreciation of this unconsciously profound observation upon life and morals. "Never mind," said she; "you"re going to be a good maid soon. You"re learning quickly."
"No, no," wailed Selina. "I"m a regular block-head, and my hands is too coa.r.s.e."
"But you have a good heart and I like you," said Margaret. "And I want you to forgive me and like me. I"m so lonely and unhappy. And I need the love of one so close to me all the time as you are. It"d be a real help."
Selina began to cry again, and then Margaret gave way to tears; and, presently, out came the dreadful story of the lover"s fight and jailing; and Margaret, of course, promised to see that he was released at once.
When she went to her own room, the maid following to help her efface the very disfiguring evidence of their humble, emotional drama, Margaret had recovered her self-esteem and had won a friend, who, if too stupid to be very useful, was also too stupid to be unfaithful.
As it was on the same day, and scarcely one brief hour later, it must have been the very same Margaret who paced the alley of trimmed elms, her eyes so stern and somber, her mouth and chin so hard that her worshipful sister Lucia watched in silent, fascinated dread. At length Margaret noted Lucia, halted and: "Why don"t you read your book?" she cried fiercely. "Why do you sit staring at me?"
"What a temper you have got--what a NASTY temper!" Lucia was goaded into retorting.
"Haven"t I, though!" exclaimed Margaret, as if she gloried in it. "Stop that staring!"
"I could see you were thinking something--something--TERRIBLE!"
explained Lucia.
Margaret"s face cleared before a satirical smile. "What a romancer you are, Lucia." Then, with a laugh: "I"m taking myself ridiculously seriously to-day. Temper--giving way to temper--is a sure sign of defective intelligence or of defective digestion."
"Is it about--about Mr. Craig?"
Margaret reddened, dropped to the bench near her sister--evidence that she was willing to talk, to confide--so far as she ever confided her inmost self--to the one person she could trust.
"Has he asked you to marry him?"
"No; not yet."
"But he"s going to?"
Margaret gave a queer smile. "He doesn"t think so."
"He wouldn"t dare!" exclaimed Lucia. "Why, he"s not in the same cla.s.s with you."
"So! The little romancer is not so romantic that she forgets her sn.o.bbishness."
"I mean, he"s so rude and noisy. I DETEST him!"
"So do I--at times."
Lucia looked greatly relieved. "I thought you were encouraging him. It seemed sort of--of--cheap, unworthy of you, to care to flirt with a man like that."
Margaret"s expression became strange indeed. "I am not flirting with him," she said gravely. "I"m going to marry him."
Lucia was too amazed to speak, was so profoundly shocked that her usually rosy cheeks grew almost pale.
"Yes, I shall marry him," repeated Margaret slowly.
"But you don"t love him!" cried Lucia.
"I dislike him," replied Margaret. After a pause she added: "When a woman makes up her mind to marry a man, w.i.l.l.y-nilly, she begins to hate him. It"s a case of hunter and hunted. Perhaps, after she"s got him, she may change. But not till the trap springs--not till the game"s bagged."
Lucia shuddered. "Oh, Rita!" she cried. And she turned away to bury her face in her arms.
"I suppose I oughtn"t to tell you these things," pursued Margaret; "I ought to leave you your illusions as long as possible. But--why shouldn"t you know the truth? Perhaps, if we all faced the truth about things, instead of sheltering ourselves in lies, the world would begin to improve."
"But I don"t see why you chose him," persisted Lucia.
"I didn"t. Fate did the choosing."
"But why not somebody like--like Grant Arkwright? Rita, I"m sure he"s fond of you."
"So am I," said Rita. "But he"s got the idea he would be doing me a favor in marrying me; and when a man gets that notion it"s fatal.
Also--He doesn"t realize it himself, but I"m not prim enough to suit him. He imagines he"s liberal--that"s a common failing among men. But a woman who is natural shocks them, and they are taken in and pleased by one who poses as more innocent and impossible than any human being not perfectly imbecile could remain in a world that conceals nothing.... I despise Grant--I like him, but despise him."
"He IS small," admitted Lucia.
"Small? He"s infinitesimal. He"d be mean with his wife about money. He"d run the house himself. He should have been a butler."
"But, at least, he"s a gentleman."
"Oh, yes," said Margaret. "Yes, I suppose so. I despise him, while, in a way, I respect Craig."
"He has such a tough-looking skin," said Lucia.