he were conferring the favour. And yet, clearing his throat,
he was impelled to say:--"Miss Ottway's leaving me, she's going into the
Boston office with Mr. Semple, the treasurer of the corporation. I shall
miss her, she's an able and reliable woman, and she knows my ways." He
paused, fingering his paper knife. "The fact is, Miss Bumpus, she's
spoken highly of you, she tells me you're quick and accurate and
painstaking--I've noticed that for myself. She seems to think you could
do her work, and recommends that I give you a trial. You understand, of
course, that the position is in a way confidential, and that you could
not expect at first, at any rate, the salary Miss Ottway has had, but I'm
willing to offer you fourteen dollars a week to begin with, and
afterwards, if we get along together, to give you more. What do you say?"
"I'd like to try it, Mr. Ditmar," Janet said, and added nothing, no word
of gratitude or of appreciation to that consent.
"Very well then," he replied, "that's settled. Miss Ottway will explain
things to you, and tell you about my peculiarities. And when she goes you
can take her desk, by the window nearest my door."
Ditmar sat idle for some minutes after she had gone, staring through the
open doorway into the outer office....
To Ditmar she had given no evidence of the storm his offer had created in
her breast, and it was characteristic also that she waited until supper
was nearly over to inform her family, making the announcement in a
matter-of-fact tone, just as though it were not the unique piece of good
fortune that had come to the Bumpuses since Edward had been eliminated
from the mercantile establishment at Dolton. The news was received with
something like consternation. For the moment Hannah was incapable of
speech, and her hand trembled as she resumed the cutting of the pie: but
hope surged within her despite her effort to keep it down, her
determination to remain true to the fatalism from which she had
paradoxically derived so much comfort. The effect on Edward, while
somewhat less violent, was temporarily to take away his appetite. Hope,
to flower in him, needed but little watering. Great was his faith in the
Bumpus blood, and secretly he had always regarded his eldest daughter as
the chosen vessel for their redemption.
"Well, I swan!" he exclaimed, staring at her in admiration and neglecting
his pie, "I've always thought you had it in you to get on, Janet. I guess
I've told you
|