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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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