“I haven’t the least taste for such employment,” said Arethusa.
“You are very kind, but my social engagements are so numerous!” pleaded Marietta. “Honestly, what do you do it for? You can’t really like it! It seems so—so—very peculiar! such a queer whim, you know!”
“That is just what everybody says—such a queer whim! You get so much talked about, you know,” subjoined Arethusa. “And it is so excessively disagreeable to be talked about! I couldn’t stand it.”
“But you do not understand,” pursued Blanche, solemnly, “that you might make a living by it. Why, we three expect to be a rich firm in the course of time; to buy up bank stock and railway shares, and speculate in real estate, and all that. Emma is a capital book-keeper. Papa says she could command a salary of a thousand dollars a year already. Then, think of the luxury of having a new dress, or, what is the same thing, one that is made over to look like new, at every party; and as many hats a season as you want, for what it would cost to buy one at Madame Lavigne’s. And finally, you see, one respects herself so thoroughly and deliciously for being able to fill up a real place—a worker’s place—in the world. Most women remind me of marbles that have rolled somehow into holes. Sometimes it is a fit. But as often as not the marble is round, and the hole is square!”
PART II.
“All aboard!”
As the cars glided out of the lighted depot into the darker streets, leading to the utter gloom of the open country, two gentlemen settled themselves into their seats with audible sighs of satisfaction.
“Homeward bound!” said the elder, a man of fifty, hale in figure and face, although his hair was almost white.
“For which let us be thankful!” responded his companion, heartily. “This has been a long week to me, although a busy one—longer than a fortnight would have been at home.”
“You may blame the twin babies for that,” said the other, smiling indulgently at his impatience.