“Good-morning, Mr. Cannon,” said Georgia in businesslike tones, when he appeared. “We’ve got a proposition to make to you. We three are Harding girls, and this is Miss Wales, secretary of the Student’s Aid Society,—also proprietor of the Tally-ho Tea-Shop.”
“Indeed! Charmed to meet you, I’m sure.” The fat little man bowed low and smiled a fatuous, oily smile. “Anything I can do in the way of canned goods, crackers, sweets—to the sweet, ladies.” He bowed and smiled again.
“We want to ask a favor,” pursued Georgia, utterly ignoring his courtesies. “We all have pretty good times generally, and very merry Christmases. We want other girls to have the same. We have just lately realized how hard it is for salespeople just at this time of year—how Christmas means to them just terribly hard work for little or no extra pay—and we want to help at least a few of them. So we’ve gotten up a petition about shopping early in the day, and early in the season, for the Harding girls to sign. Now we also want to arrange to come down and help some of your girls out. We want to take the places of three of them every day from twelve to one, so that they can get a good rest at noon, and also from five to six, so they can, if possible, do any extra work they have then and so avoid night work. If not, they can at least start fresh for the evening.”
Mr. Cannon stared at Georgia in utter amazement. Suddenly his fat face grew red, and he shouted angrily, “Who’s been talkin’ to you? You know an awful lot about my business, don’t you, now? You’d better clear out.”
“Without the canned goods and crackers and sweets—for the sweet?” asked Fluffy gaily, looking down at him with her fascinating, insolent smile.
“We’ve talked to no one, Mr. Cannon,” put in little Eugenia earnestly.
“And we mean to help you too, as is only fair, if you are good enough to give us the chance to help the girls,” added Betty, with quiet dignity.
Mr. Cannon glowered at the circle of pretty, serious, half-frightened faces.
“You don’t know nothing about clerking,” he sputtered at last. “Nice mess you’d make of your hours! Nice kind of help you’d hand out to me!”
“I was a waitress once,” Fluffy informed him calmly, winking at Betty. “The young woman I worked for said I was very good at it. Besides, all my little friends came and patronized me. If you’ll let me try, I’ll ask them to patronize me here.”