“Why are you attached to my interests?” asked Asbury Fuller, somewhat dryly.
Alas, Clarissa could not take advantage of the protection her assumed character gave her to tell the real reason. Only as a woman could she do that, only as a woman could she say and be believed, “Because I love you.”
“Why, some people are naturally leaders, naturally draw others to them——”
“You cannot be a spy upon me, since no one knows who I am.”
“A spy!” cried Clarissa, in a voice whose sorrowful reproach gave convincing evidence of her ingenuousness.
“I wrong you, I wrong you,” said Asbury Fuller. “I will trust you. I will tell you what you are to do——”
“Butler,” said a maid, poking her head in at the door, “it is time to come and give the finishing touches to the table. It is almost time for the dinner to be served,” and without ado, Asbury Fuller sprang out of the room.
A butler! A butler! Clarissa sat stunned. It was thus that her hero had turned out. Could she tell the other girls in the store with any degree of pride that she was keeping company with a butler? She had received a good literary education in the high school at Muncie, Indiana, and was a young woman of taste and refinement. Could she marry a butler? To be near her hero, she herself had just now been willing to undertake a menial position. But she had then imagined him to be a person of importance. This stage in her cogitations led her to the reflection that her feelings were unworthy of her. Had her regard for Asbury Fuller been all due to the belief that he was a person of importance, merely the worship of position, the selfish desire and hope—however faint—of rising to affluence and social dignity through him? Butler or no butler, Asbury Fuller was handsome, he was distinguished, his manner of speech was superior to that of any person she had ever known. Butler or no butler, she loved him. Just now she had hoped that he, rich and well placed, would overlook her poverty, and take her, friendless and obscure, for his bride. Could she give less than she had hoped he would give? And then as butler, her chances of winning him were so greatly increased.
In a short time, he returned. He told her she was to wait on the table and instructed her how to serve the courses.
“The master will look surprised when he sees you instead of me. If he asks who you are, say the new page. But he will be too much afraid of exciting the wonder of his guests to ask you any questions. I feel certain that he will accept your presence without question, being desirous his guests shall not think him a tyro in the management of an establishment like this. I feel certain that after dinner, his guests will ask to see his collection of arms. Indeed, Miss Bording told him in my hearing last Monday that she accepted his invitation here on condition that she be allowed to see the famous collection. You are to follow them into the drawing-room after dinner. The master will not know whether that is usual or not. If they do start to go to look at the arms, you are to say, ‘The collection of your former weapons, sir, has been placed in the first room to the left at the head of the stairs. The paper-hangers and decorators have been busy.’ Then you are to lead the way into that room, which you will find dimly lighted. After that, I will attend to everything myself.”