“Madam, I shall be most happy,” he answered, “but I shall have to ask you to excuse me immediately after, for I have a great deal to do.”
Min, who had got as far as the door, clapped her hands and shouted with great satisfaction. She went now to carry the news to her mother, and to “help,” for she considered her assistance very important. In fact she could never see anything done without having a hand in it. Whenever the cloth was laid, she must pull it a little this way or that, by way of nice adjustment; so with the plates and everything she could reach.
Susie was a little anxious about the dinner on this occasion, and chose to make the flower decorations for the table herself. Min succeeded, however, in getting permission to make a little bouquet for “Paul,” which she did not fail to inform him was her work as soon as he entered the dining-room, where both the wide folding-doors were thrown open, exposing a beautiful array of flowers and plants. The count’s place was assigned him by Susie, on the opposite side of the table, in face of the conservatory. The count was charmed with everything, and Susie, who was at first a little embarrassed, soon gained perfect composure, as every one did in his presence when he chose. During the dinner the conversation was mostly about flowers, and the count said to Susie, “I have been urging Mrs. Delano to invest more money in your business. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to supply any amount you wish for extending your operations. I speak in a pure business way, you understand,” he added, fearing the implication of charity as a motive. “I am perfectly satisfied that the investment or loan would be quite safe. Mrs. Delano seems to hesitate. How is it with you, madam?”
“I do not hesitate in the least, sir,” she answered confidently. “I want to import our stock directly from England; but heretofore we have not had money enough to do so. We have orders now that we cannot fill, and they are increasing daily, especially for certain shade-trees and hedge-shrubs.” Clara was a little surprised at the daring spirit of Susie, to whose lead in business, however, she always submitted. The little woman was developing a most wonderful executive ability. She was heart and soul interested in her business; and so it came to pass that the count honored, what Mr. Kendrick called, the “Dykes & Delano paper.”
“I confess,” said Clara, smiling, “that I do tremble a little at the idea of giving Madam Susie ‘a wider swing,’ as papa calls it.”
“Madam Susie,” echoed Min, “that was what Annie always called mamma.”
“And so does auntie also, when she speaks of her outside,” said Clara. This relieved the count of an uncertainty, for he did not like to call her Mrs. Dykes, and politeness forbade him to call her Miss. Not noticing these last remarks, Susie said: “There has been a great demand here for pot-plants this spring, and I must confess we ask outrageous prices, but you see there is no competition, and as we’ve got so fine a start, I do not fear a rival, unless some one appears with unlimited capital.”
The count laughed. “Commercial magnanimity,” he said, “is a fiction, and commercial honesty is little better than playing confessedly with loaded dice; but it does me good, Madam Susie, to see women getting hold of the dice-boxes that men have so long wielded.”
“Almost all men believe,” said Susie, “that women’s industrial and commercial capacities are restricted by nature to very small, safe, light, feminine operations, like the conduct of a peanut stand. Now I’ve been haggling with Betterton, the importer, about hedge-shrubs for the last month. He has made us his last offer, and I know he thinks we are at his mercy. To-night I give him my answer. I shall write, thanking him for his slight concession in the matter of price, and decline, on the ground that the firm of Dykes & Delano have decided to open negotiations with foreign houses direct.” Susie’s eyes were bright with triumph.
“Good! Good!” exclaimed the count, as they rose from the table. “I haven’t enjoyed such a satisfaction for years as that speech affords me. Go ahead boldly. Upon my honor, I’d rather lose out and out a million than to see you fail. But you must not fail. I pledge you to that amount that you shall not,” and he gave Susie his hand. Clara was very silent, but Susie could not conceal her triumph. It beamed from every part of her, like the light from a flame.