Carmella Commands
“I’ve a very good chauffeur now,” she said. “How is Dixon, by the way? I hear he’s with your father.”
“Dixon’s fine. Making more money now than he ever could as chauffeur, and I’m going to marry him.”
“Marry him! Bless my soul! Why, Kate, you’re only a child.”
“When I finish school I’ll be nineteen.”
“Oh-h!”
For a moment Mrs. Barrington sat and stared. Then she said:
“Has he asked you to?”
“Oh, no, but he will when I finish school.”
Mrs. Barrington was bewildered. This modern generation! Her own Margaret was having strange ideas, but none like this.
“That’s very nice, I’m sure,” she said at last. “But now I want to talk to you about something else. How would you like to be assistant to Miss Sargle here at Hope House?”
Carmella stared in turn. This was a new vista. She was accustomed to responsibility, but here was more than she had foreseen.
“But I go to school,” she protested.
“Of course. And you’d keep on going. This wouldn’t take you out of school at all. Miss Sargle needs more help than she has. You could come over two or three afternoons a week, after school, and then help in the Tuesday and Friday evening classes, and be here all day Saturday.”
[272]
