Carmella Commands
“Well, ma’am, for one there was that Italian girl that came racing out of the house a few minutes before you came out. She did it, I reckon.”
“Who? Kid Kate? I don’t mean that sort of thing. She’s a child. And besides, she doesn’t know you. I mean somebody who smiles down—you know—from above.”
“Mostly the people who tip you do that, Mrs. Barrington,” said Dixon.
“Oh, I see! And do you like it, Dixon?”
“If they tip big enough, I can stand it, as long as I’m driving. But when I get through⸺”
“You mean you’re not going to be a chauffeur always?”
“Not always, ma’am. Of course not.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Get into a job that grows, ma’am.”
“I see. And then?”
“Nobody’s going to tip me, ma’am. I’ll charge ’em and they’ll pay. And if they act superior, I’m going to tell ’em to go to hell. I beg pardon, Mrs. Barrington. That slipped out.”
“All right! That’s all right, Dixon. I see what you mean.”
It was Mrs. Barrington’s first attempt to learn from her chauffeur. She sat in silence, trying to figure how much she had learned. Suddenly she remembered, with a hot-flushing face, that Mrs. Whitman Russell had “smiled down” to her—on her, Mrs. Barrington
[27]
