Had Salome realized the burden of care which she was taking upon herself, it is doubtful whether she would have assumed it as cheerfully as she did. But as weeks rolled into months, and responsibilities multiplied and cares increased until she became as hard a worker as any in the mills, she did not flinch. She had put her hand to the plough, and it did not once occur to her to turn back.
She went to the office of the mills the day they were opened, and began to study, thoroughly, the details of the business. Villard and Burnham were her teachers, and both were often astonished at her business keenness and cool judgment. She had pressed Marion into service immediately, and always took her to the counting-room, where the two staid throughout the entire morning, going home to lunch at two, and usually remaining there the rest of the day. But always, whether she was in the house, or out driving, or overseeing the new houses, which were progressing rapidly, Salome’s one thought was the improvement of conditions at the Shawsheen Mills.
When Marion had been with her a week, Salome said to her:
“Marion, I want you to stay with me all the time.”
“I should be so glad,” replied her friend, “but I can’t afford it. I shall have to go out into the world again, before long, to earn my living, dear; but I will stay here as long as I can.”
“You good girl!” was Salome’s answer. “Why not stay here and earn your living? I want a companion, shall very soon need a secretary, and as soon as I get things in running order, ought to have a woman like you to help draw in my people. You need a congenial place at a comfortable salary. Now, why not stay? I will pay you a thousand dollars a year.”
Marion drew a breath of astonishment.
“It isn’t worth that,” she said; “Madame Blanc only paid me seven hundred.”
“Madame Blanc is not fixing a scale of wages for me,” said Salome; “as to your ‘worth,’ my dear, I must judge of that. When we get fairly at work, I shall give you enough to do, and you will find yourself a very busy woman. Besides, if I had a young man to do what I want you to do for me, he would ask a thousand dollars, wouldn’t he? And why shouldn’t you have it? Because you are a woman?”
Marion was not demonstrative. On the contrary, she had a great deal of the true New England reserve; but she got up and went over to her friend, put both arms around her neck and then——cried.