As Constance talked she wielded a big knife and helped briskly. Mary did not answer at once; her pretty forehead wore a perplexed pucker. At length she said:
“I know a girl who could take charge of it I think, although I don’t know whether you’d like her or not.”
Constance smiled as she answered: “Suppose you tell me who she is, then maybe I can tell you whether I like her or not.”
“It’s Kitty Sniffins. We used to go to school together.”
“I don’t know her at all, so I’m a poor judge of her qualifications, am I not? But if you think she is the sort of girl we would like to have there, I am sure she needs no other recommendation, Mary. What is her address?”
“Her brother is an insurance agent down on State Street. You might see him. They moved not long ago, and I don’t know where they live now.”
“Oh——,” exclaimed Constance, light beginning to dawn upon her. She had not heard the name Sniffins since the year in which she began her candy-making, as the result of the burning of their home, and the name had not figured very pleasantly in the experience of that October, or the months which followed. Still, the sister might prove very unlike the brother, and just now time was precious. If she was to act upon Charles’ suggestion she must act immediately.
“I think I’ll drop her a note in care of her brother; I don’t like to go to his office. She can call here,” said Constance.
Mary glanced up quickly to ask:
“Is there any reason, Miss Constance, why you would prefer someone else?” for something in Constance’s tone made her surmise that for some reason which she failed to comprehend Kitty Sniffins did not meet with her young employer’s approval.