consequence just then.
"Very good. Now, I'll tell you what else I want you to do. I want
you to knock off for the day and go home and sleep on this and
think it over well. Then come back in the morning and go to work
up there, if you still feel the same. Your salary from now on will
be twenty-five dollars, and I want you to dress neat and clean so
that you will be an example to the other men who have charge of
departments."
He arose coldly and distantly, but Clyde, very much encouraged and
enthused by the sudden jump in salary, as well as the admonition in
regard to dressing well, felt so grateful toward his cousin that he
longed to be friendly with him. To be sure, he was hard and cold
and vain, but still he must think something of him, and his uncle
too, or they would not choose to do all this for him and so
speedily. And if ever he were able to make friends with him, win
his way into his good graces, think how prosperously he would be
placed here, what commercial and social honors might not come to
him?
So elated was he at the moment that he bustled out of the great
plant with a jaunty stride, resolved among other things that from
now on, come what might, and as a test of himself in regard to life
and work, he was going to be all that his uncle and cousin
obviously expected of him--cool, cold even, and if necessary
severe, where these women or girls of this department were
concerned. No more relations with Dillard or Rita or anybody like
that for the present anyhow.
Chapter 12
The import of twenty-five dollars a week! Of being the head of a
department employing twenty-five girls! Of wearing a good suit of
clothes again! Sitting at an official desk in a corner commanding
a charming river view and feeling that at last, after almost two
months in that menial department below stairs, he was a figure of
some consequence in this enormous institution! And because of his
relationship and new dignity, Whiggam, as well as Liggett, hovering
about with advice and genial and helpful comments from time to
time. And some of the managers of the other departments including
several from the front office--an auditor and an advertising man
occasionally pausing in passing to say hello. And the details of
the work sufficiently mastered to permit him to look about him from
time to time, taking an interest in the factory as a whole, its
processes and supplies, such as where the great volume of linen and
cotton came from, how it was cut in an enormous cutting room above
this one, holding hundreds of experienced cutters receiving very
high wages; how there was an employment bureau for recruiting help,
a company doctor, a company hospital, a special dining room in the
main building, where the officials of the company were allowed to
dine--but no others--and that he, being an accredited department
head could now lunch with those others in that special restaurant
if he chose and could afford to. Also he soon learned that several
miles out from Lycurgus, on the Mohawk, near a hamlet called Van
Troup, was an inter-factory country club, to which most of the
department heads of the various factories about belonged, but,
alas, as he also learned, Griffiths and Company did not really
favor their officials mixing with those of any other company, and
for that reason few of them did. Yet he, being a member of the
family, as Liggett once said to him, could probably do as he chose
as to that. But he decided, because of the strong warnings of
Gilbert, as well as his high blood relations with his family, that
he had better remain as aloof as possible. And so smiling and
being as genial as possible to all, nevertheless for the most part,
and in order to avoid Dillard and others of his ilk, and although
he was much more lonely than otherwise he would have been,
returning to his room or the public squares of this and near-by
cities on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and even, since he
thought this might please his uncle and cousin and so raise him in
their esteem, beginning to attend one of the principal Presbyterian
churches--the Second or High Street Church, to which on occasion,
as he had already learned, the Griffiths themselves were accustomed
to resort. Yet without ever coming in contact with them in person,
since from June to September they spent their week-ends at
Greenwood Lake, to which most of the society life of this region as
yet resorted.
In fact the summer life of Lycurgus, in so far as its society was
concerned, was very dull. Nothing in particular ever eventuated
then in the city, although previous to this, in May, there had been
various affairs in connection with the Griffiths and their friends
which Clyde had either read about or saw at a distance--a
graduation reception and dance at the Snedeker School, a lawn fete
upon the Griffiths' grounds, with a striped marquee tent on one
part of the lawn and Chinese lanterns hung in among the trees.
Clyde had observed this quite by accident one evening as he was
walking alone about the city. It raised many a curious and eager
thought in regard to this family, its high station and his relation
to it. But having placed him comfortably in a small official
position which was not arduous, the Griffiths now proceeded to
dismiss him from their minds. He was doing well enough, and they
would see something more of him later, perhaps.
And then a little later he read in the Lycurgus Star that there was
to be staged on June twentieth the annual inter-city automobile
floral parade and contest (Fonda, Gloversville, Amsterdam and
Schenectady), which this year was to be held in Lycurgus and which
was the last local social affair of any consequence, as The Star
phrased it, before the annual hegira to the lakes and mountains of
those who were able to depart for such places. And the names of
Bella, Bertine and Sondra, to say nothing of Gilbert, were
mentioned as contestants or defendants of the fair name of
Lycurgus. And since this occurred on a Saturday afternoon, Clyde,
dressed in his best, yet decidedly wishing to obscure himself as an
ordinary spectator, was able to see once more the girl who had so
infatuated him on sight, obviously breasting a white rose-surfaced
stream and guiding her craft with a paddle covered with yellow
daffodils--a floral representation of some Indian legend in
connection with the Mohawk River. With her dark hair filleted
Indian fashion with a yellow feather and brown-eyed susans, she was
arresting enough not only to capture a prize, but to recapture
Clyde's fancy. How marvelous to be of that world.
In the same parade he had seen Gilbert Griffiths accompanied by a
very attractive girl chauffeuring one of four floats representing
the four seasons. And while the one he drove was winter, with this
local society girl posed in ermine with white roses for snow all
about, directly behind came another float, which presented Bella
Griffiths as spring, swathed in filmy draperies and crouching
beside a waterfall of dark violets. The effect was quite striking
and threw Clyde into a mood in regard to love, youth and romance
which was delicious and yet very painful to him. Perhaps he should
have retained Rita, after all.
In the meantime he was living on as before, only more spaciously in
so far as his own thoughts were concerned. For his first thought
after receiving this larger allowance was that he had better leave
Mrs. Cuppy's and secure a better room in some private home which,
if less advantageously situated for him, would be in a better
street. It took him out of all contact with Dillard. And now,
since his uncle had promoted him, some representative of his or
Gilbert's might wish to stop by to see him about something. And
what would one such think if he found him living in a small room
such as he now occupied?
Ten days after his salary was raised, therefore, and because of the
import of his name, he found it possible to obtain a room in one of
the better houses and streets--Jefferson Avenue, which paralleled
Wykeagy Avenue, only a few blocks farther out. It was the home of
a widow whose husband had been a mill manager and who let out two
rooms without board in order to be able to maintain this home,
which was above the average for one of such position in Lycurgus.
And Mrs. Peyton, having long been a resident of the city and
knowing much about the Griffiths, recognized not only the name but
the resemblance of Clyde to Gilbert. And being intensely
interested by this, as well as his general appearance, she at once
offered him an exceptional room for so little as five dollars a
week, which he took at once.
In connection with his work at the factory, however, and in spite
of the fact that he had made such drastic resolutions in regard to
the help who were beneath him, still it was not always possible for
him to keep his mind on the mere mechanical routine of the work or
off of this company of girls as girls, since at least a few of them
were attractive. For it was summer--late June. And over all the
factory, especially around two, three and four in the afternoon,
when the endless repetition of the work seemed to pall on all, a
practical indifference not remote from languor and in some
instances sensuality, seemed to creep over the place. There were
so many women and girls of so many different types and moods. And
here they were so remote from men or idle pleasure in any form, all
alone with just him, really. Again the air within the place was
nearly always heavy and physically relaxing, and through the many
open windows that reached from floor to ceiling could be seen the
Mohawk swirling and rippling, its banks carpeted with green grass
and in places shaded by trees. Always it seemed to hint of
pleasures which might be found by idling along its shores. And
since these workers were employed so mechanically as to leave their
minds free to roam from one thought of pleasure to another, they
were for the most part thinking of themselves always and what they
would do, assuming that they were not here chained to this routine.
And because their moods were so brisk and passionate, they were
often prone to fix on the nearest object. And since Clyde was
almost always the only male present--and in these days in his best
clothes--they were inclined to fix on him. They were, indeed, full
of all sorts of fantastic notions in regard to his private
relations with the Griffiths and their like, where he lived and
how, whom in the way of a girl he might be interested in. And he,
in turn, when not too constrained by the memory of what Gilbert
Griffiths had said to him, was inclined to think of them--certain
girls in particular--with thoughts that bordered on the sensual.
For, in spite of the wishes of the Griffiths Company, and the
discarded Rita or perhaps because of her, he found himself becoming
interested in three different girls here. They were of a pagan and
pleasure-loving turn--this trio--and they thought Clyde very
handsome. Ruza Nikoforitch--a Russian-American girl--big and
blonde and animal, with swimming brown eyes, a snub fat nose and
chin, was very much drawn to him. Only, such was the manner with
which he carried himself always, that she scarcely dared to let
herself think so. For to her, with his hair so smoothly parted,
torsoed in a bright-striped shirt, the sleeves of which in this
weather were rolled to the elbows, he seemed almost too perfect to
be real. She admired his clean, brown polished shoes, his brightly
buckled black leather belt, and the loose four-in-hand tie he wore.
Again there was Martha Bordaloue, a stocky, brisk Canadian-French
girl of trim, if rotund, figure and ankles, hair of a reddish gold
and eyes of greenish blue with puffy pink cheeks and hands that
were plump and yet small. Ignorant and pagan, she saw in Clyde
some one whom, even for so much as an hour, assuming that he would,
she would welcome--and that most eagerly. At the same time, being
feline and savage, she hated all or any who even so much as
presumed to attempt to interest him, and despised Ruza for that
reason. For as she could see Ruza tried to nudge or lean against
Clyde whenever he came sufficiently near. At the same time she
herself sought by every single device known to her--her shirtwaist
left open to below the borders of her white breast, her outer skirt
lifted trimly above her calves when working, her plump round arms
displayed to the shoulders to show him that physically at least she
was worth his time. And the sly sighs and languorous looks when he
was near, which caused Ruza to exclaim one day: "That French cat!
He should look at her!" And because of Clyde she had an intense
desire to strike her.
And yet again there was the stocky and yet gay Flora Brandt, a
decidedly low class American type of coarse and yet enticing
features, black hair, large, swimming and heavily-lashed black
eyes, a snub nose and full and sensuous and yet pretty lips, and a
vigorous and not ungraceful body, who, from day to day, once he had
been there a little while, had continued to look at him as if to
say--"What! You don't think I'm attractive?" and with a look which
said: "How can you continue to ignore me? There are lots of
fellows who would be delighted to have your chance, I can tell
you."
And, in connection with these three, the thought came to him after
a time that since they were so different, more common as he
thought, less well-guarded and less sharply interested in the
conventional aspects of their contacts, it might be possible and
that without detection on the part of any one for him to play with
one or another of them--or all three in turn if his interest should
eventually carry him so far--without being found out, particularly
if beforehand he chose to impress on them the fact that he was
condescending when he noticed them at all. Most certainly, if he
could judge by their actions, they would willingly reward him by
letting him have his way with them somewhere, and think nothing of
it afterward if he chose to ignore them, as he must to keep his
position here. Nevertheless, having given his word as he had to
Gilbert Griffiths, he was still in no mood to break it. These were
merely thoughts which from time to time were aroused in him by a
situation which for him was difficult in the extreme. His was a
disposition easily and often intensely inflamed by the chemistry of
sex and the formula of beauty. He could not easily withstand the
appeal, let alone the call, of sex. And by the actions and
approaches of each in turn he was surely tempted at times,
especially in these warm and languorous summer days, with no place
to go and no single intimate to commune with. From time to time he
could not resist drawing near to these very girls who were most
bent on tempting him, although in the face of their looks and
nudges, not very successfully concealed at times, he maintained an
aloofness and an assumed indifference which was quite remarkable
for him.
But just about this time there was a rush of orders, which
necessitated, as both Whiggam and Liggett advised, Clyde taking on
a few extra "try-out" girls who were willing to work for the very
little they could earn at the current piece work rate until they
had mastered the technique, when of course they would be able to
earn more. There were many such who applied at the employment
branch of the main office on the ground floor. In slack times all
applications were rejected or the sign hung up "No Help Wanted."
And since Clyde was relatively new to this work, and thus far had
neither hired nor discharged any one, it was agreed between Whiggam
and Liggett that all the help thus sent up should first be examined
by Liggett, who was looking for extra stitchers also. And in case
any were found who promised to be satisfactory as stampers, they
were to be turned over to Clyde with the suggestion that he try
them. Only before bringing any one back to Clyde, Liggett was very
careful to explain that in connection with this temporary hiring
and discharging there was a system. One must not ever give a new
employee, however well they did, the feeling that they were doing
anything but moderately well until their capacity had been
thoroughly tested. It interfered with their proper development as
piece workers, the greatest results that could be obtained by any
one person. Also one might freely take on as many girls as were
needed to meet any such situation, and then, once the rush was
over, as freely drop them--unless, occasionally, a very speedy
worker was found among the novices. In that case it was always
advisable to try to retain such a person, either by displacing a
less satisfactory person or transferring some one from some other
department, to make room for new blood and new energy.
The next day, after this notice of a rush, back came four girls at
different times and escorted always by Liggett, who in each
instance explained to Clyde: "Here's a girl who might do for you.
Miss Tyndal is her name. You might give her a try-out." Or, "You
might see if this girl will be of any use to you." And Clyde,
after he had questioned them as to where they had worked, what the
nature of the general working experiences were, and whether they
lived at home here in Lycurgus or alone (the bachelor girl was not
much wanted by the factory) would explain the nature of the work
and pay, and then call Miss Todd, who in her turn would first take
them to the rest room where were lockers for their coats, and then
to one of the tables where they would be shown what the process
was. And later it was Miss Todd's and Clyde's business to discover
how well they were getting on and whether it was worth while to
retain them or not.
Up to this time, apart from the girls to whom he was so definitely
drawn, Clyde was not so very favorably impressed with the type of
girl who was working here. For the most part, as he saw them, they
were of a heavy and rather unintelligent company, and he had been
thinking that smarter-looking girls might possibly be secured. Why
not? Were there none in Lycurgus in the factory world? So many of
these had fat hands, broad faces, heavy legs and ankles. Some of
them even spoke with an accent, being Poles or the children of
Poles, living in that slum north of the mill. And they were all
concerned with catching a "feller," going to some dancing place
with him afterwards, and little more. Also, Clyde had noticed that
the American types who were here were of a decidedly different
texture, thinner, more nervous and for the most part more angular,
and with a general reserve due to prejudices, racial, moral and
religious, which would not permit them to mingle with these others
or with any men, apparently.
But among the extras or try-outs that were brought to him during
this and several succeeding days, finally came one who interested
Clyde more than any girl whom he had seen here so far. She was, as
he decided on sight, more intelligent and pleasing--more spiritual--
though apparently not less vigorous, if more gracefully proportioned.
As a matter of fact, as he saw her at first, she appeared to him to
possess a charm which no one else in this room had, a certain
wistfulness and wonder combined with a kind of self-reliant courage
and determination which marked her at once as one possessed of will
and conviction to a degree. Nevertheless, as she said, she was
inexperienced in this kind of work, and highly uncertain as to
whether she would prove of service here or anywhere.
Her name was Roberta Alden, and, as she at once explained, previous
to this she had been working in a small hosiery factory in a town
called Trippetts Mills fifty miles north of Lycurgus. She had on a
small brown hat that did not look any too new, and was pulled low
over a face that was small and regular and pretty and that was
haloed by bright, light brown hair. Her eyes were of a translucent
gray blue. Her little suit was commonplace, and her shoes were not
so very new-looking and quite solidly-soled. She looked practical
and serious and yet so bright and clean and willing and possessed
of so much hope and vigor that along with Liggett, who had first
talked with her, he was at once taken with her. Distinctly she was
above the average of the girls in this room. And he could not help
wondering about her as he talked to her, for she seemed so tense, a
little troubled as to the outcome of this interview, as though this
was a very great adventure for her.
She explained that up to this time she had been living with her
parents near a town called Biltz, but was now living with friends
here. She talked so honestly and simply that Clyde was very much
moved by her, and for this reason wished to help her. At the same
time he wondered if she were not really above the type of work she
was seeking. Her eyes were so round and blue and intelligent--her
lips and nose and ears and hands so small and pleasing.
"You're going to live in Lycurgus, then, if you can get work here?"
he said, more to be talking to her than anything else.
"Yes," she said, looking at him most directly and frankly.
"And the name again?" He took down a record pad.
"Roberta Alden."
"And your address here?"
"228 Taylor Street."
"I don't even know where that is myself," he informed her because
he liked talking to her. "I haven't been here so very long, you
see." He wondered just why afterwards he had chosen to tell her as
much about himself so swiftly. Then he added: "I don't know
whether Mr. Liggett has told you all about the work here. But it's
piece work, you know, stamping collars. I'll show you if you'll
just step over here," and he led the way to a near-by table where
the stampers were. After letting her observe how it was done, and
without calling Miss Todd, he picked up one of the collars and
proceeded to explain all that had been previously explained to him.
At the same time, because of the intentness with which she observed
him and his gestures, the seriousness with which she appeared to
take all that he said, he felt a little nervous and embarrassed.
There was something quite searching and penetrating about her
glance. After he had explained once more what the bundle rate was,
and how much some made and how little others, and she had agreed
that she would like to try, he called Miss Todd, who took her to
the locker room to hang up her hat and coat. Then presently he saw
her returning, a fluff of light hair about her forehead, her cheeks
slightly flushed, her eyes very intent and serious. And as advised
by Miss Todd, he saw her turn back her sleeves, revealing a pretty
pair of forearms. Then she fell to, and by her gestures Clyde
guessed that she would prove both speedy and accurate. For she
seemed most anxious to obtain and keep this place.
After she had worked a little while, he went to her side and
watched her as she picked up and stamped the collars piled beside
her and threw them to one side. Also the speed and accuracy with
which she did it. Then, because for a second she turned and looked
at him, giving him an innocent and yet cheerful and courageous
smile, he smiled back, most pleased.
"Well, I guess you'll make out all right," he ventured to say,
since he could not help feeling that she would. And instantly, for
a second only, she turned and smiled again. And Clyde, in spite of
himself, was quite thrilled. He liked her on the instant, but
because of his own station here, of course, as he now decided, as
well as his promise to Gilbert, he must be careful about being
congenial with any of the help in this room--even as charming a
girl as this. It would not do. He had been guarding himself in
connection with the others and must with her too, a thing which
seemed a little strange to him then, for he was very much drawn to
her. She was so pretty and cute. Yet she was a working girl, as
he remembered now, too--a factory girl, as Gilbert would say, and
he was her superior. But she WAS so pretty and cute.
Instantly he went on to others who had been put on this same day,
and finally coming to Miss Todd asked her to report pretty soon on
how Miss Alden was getting along--that he wanted to know.
But at the same time that he had addressed Roberta, and she had
smiled back at him, Ruza Nikoforitch, who was working two tables
away, nudged the girl working next her, and without any one noting
it, first winked, then indicated with a slight movement of the head
both Clyde and Roberta. Her friend was to watch them. And after
Clyde had gone away and Roberta was working as before, she leaned
over and whispered: "He says she'll do already." Then she lifted
her eyebrows and compressed her lips. And her friend replied, so
softly that no one could hear her: "Pretty quick, eh? And he
didn't seem to see any one else at all before."
Then the twain smiled most wisely, a choice bit between them. Ruza
Nikoforitch was jealous.
Chapter 13
The reasons why a girl of Roberta's type should be seeking
employment with Griffiths and Company at this time and in this
capacity are of some point. For, somewhat after the fashion of
Clyde in relation to his family and his life, she too considered
her life a great disappointment. She was the daughter of Titus
Alden, a farmer--of near Biltz, a small town in Mimico County, some
fifty miles north. And from her youth up she had seen little but
poverty. Her father--the youngest of three sons of Ephraim Alden,
a farmer in this region before him--was so unsuccessful that at
forty-eight he was still living in a house which, though old and
much in need of repair at the time his father willed it to him, was
now bordering upon a state of dilapidation. The house itself,
while primarily a charming example of that excellent taste which
produced those delightful gabled homes which embellish the average
New England town and street, had been by now so reduced for want of
paint, shingles, and certain flags which had once made a winding
walk from a road gate to the front door, that it presented a
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