第4章 A CHEERFUL PRODIGAL(1)

That which was the supreme tragedy to the broken girl in the cell merely afforded rather agreeable entertainment to her former fellows of the department store.Mary Turner throughout her term of service there had been without real intimates, so that now none was ready to mourn over her fate.Even the two room-mates had felt some slight offense, since they sensed the superiority of her, though vaguely.Now, they found a smug satisfaction in the fact of her disaster as emphasizing very pleasurably their own continuance in respectability.

As many a philosopher has observed, we secretly enjoy the misfortunes of others, particularly of our friends, since they are closest to us.Most persons hasten to deny this truth in its application to themselves.They do so either because from lack of clear understanding they are not quite honest with themselves, from lack of clear introspection, or because, as may be more easily believed, they are not quite honest in the assertion.As a matter of fact, we do find a singular satisfaction in the troubles of others.Contemplation of such suffering renders more striking the contrasted well-being of our own lot.We need the pains of others to serve as background for our joys--just as sin is essential as the background for any appreciation of virtue, even any knowledge of its existence....So now, on the day of Mary Turner's trial, there was a subtle gaiety of gossipings to and fro through the store.The girl's plight was like a shuttlecock driven hither and yon by the battledores of many tongues.It was the first time in many years that one of the employees had been thus accused of theft.Shoplifters were so common as to be a stale topic.There was a refreshing novelty in this case, where one of themselves was the culprit.Her fellow workers chatted desultorily of her as they had opportunity, and complacently thanked their gods that they were not as she--with reason.Perhaps, a very few were kindly hearted enough to feel a touch of sympathy for this ruin of a life.

Of such was Smithson, a member of the executive staff, who did not hesitate to speak his mind, though none too forcibly.As for that, Smithson, while the possessor of a dignity nourished by years of floor-walking, was not given to the holding of vigorous opinions.Yet, his comment, meager as it was, stood wholly in Mary's favor.And he spoke with a certain authority, since he had given official attention to the girl.

Smithson stopped Sarah Edwards, Mr.Gilder's private secretary, as she was passing through one of the departments that morning, to ask her if the owner had yet reached his office.

"Been and gone," was the secretary's answer, with the terseness characteristic of her.

"Gone!" Smithson repeated, evidently somewhat disturbed by the information."I particularly wanted to see him.""He'll be back, all right," Sarah vouchsafed, amiably."He went down-town, to the Court of General Sessions.The judge sent for him about the Mary Turner case.""Oh, yes, I remember now," Smithson exclaimed.Then he added, with a trace of genuine feeling, "I hope the poor girl gets off.

She was a nice girl--quite the lady, you know, Miss Edwards.""No, I don't know," Sarah rejoined, a bit tartly.Truth to tell, the secretary was haunted by a grim suspicion that she herself was not quite the lady of her dreams, and never would be able to acquire the graces of the Vere De Vere.For Sarah, while a most efficient secretary, was not in her person of that slender elegance which always characterized her favorite heroines in the novels she affected.On the contrary, she was of a sort to have gratified Byron, who declared that a woman in her maturity should be plump.Now, she recalled with a twinge of envy that the accused girl had been of an aristocratic slimness of form."Oh, did you know her?" she questioned, without any real interest.

Smithson answered with that bland stateliness of manner which was the fruit of floor-walking politeness.

"Well, I couldn't exactly say I knew her, and yet I might say, after a manner of speaking, that I did--to a certain extent.You see, they put her in my department when she first came here to work.She was a good saleswoman, as saleswomen go.For the matter of that," he added with a sudden access of energy, "she was the last girl in the world I'd take for a thief." He displayed some evidences of embarrassment over the honest feeling into which he had been betrayed, and made haste to recover his usual business manner, as he continued formally."Will you please let me know when Mr.Gilder arrives? There are one or two little matters I wish to discuss with him.""All right!" Sarah agreed briskly, and she hurried on toward the private office.

The secretary was barely seated at her desk when the violent opening of the door startled her, and, as she looked up, a cheery voice cried out:

"Hello, Dad!"

At the same moment, a young man entered, with an air of care-free assurance, his face radiant.But, as his glance went to the empty arm-chair at the desk, he halted abruptly, and his expression changed to one of disappointment.

"Not here!" he grumbled.Then, once again the smile was on his lips as his eyes fell on the secretary, who had now risen to her feet in a flutter of excitement.

"Why, Mr.Dick!" Sarah gasped.

"Hello, Sadie!" came the genial salutation.The young man advanced and shook hands with her warmly."I'm home again.

Where's Dad?"

Even as he asked the question, the quick sobering of his face bore witness to his disappointment over not finding his father in the office.For such was the relationship of the owner of the department store to this new arrival on the scene.And in the patent chagrin under which the son now labored was to be found a certain indication of character not to be disregarded.Unlike many a child, he really loved his father.The death of the mother years before had left him without other opportunity for affection in the home, since he had neither brother nor sister.