The City of Masks Part 46

"Well, all I got to say is you'll be sober when she gets through with you. I've been up against it myself, and I _know_. I've been on the point of quittin' half a dozen times."

"A very sensible idea, Katie," said he, solemnly.

She stiffened. "I guess you don't get me. I mean quittin' my job, Mr.

Fresh."

"I daresay I'll be quitting mine," said he and smiled so engagingly that Katie's rancour gave way at once to sympathy.

"You poor kid! But listen. I'll give you a tip. You needn't be out of a job ten minutes. Young Mrs. Millidew is up there with the old girl now.

They've been havin' it hot and heavy for fifteen minutes. The old one called the young one up on the 'phone at seven o'clock this morning and gave her the swellest tongue-las.h.i.+n' you ever heard. Said she'd been stealin' her chauffeur, and--a lot of other things I'm ashamed to tell you. Over comes the young one, hotter'n fire, and they're havin' it out upstairs. I happened to be pa.s.sin' the door a little while ago and I heard young Mrs. Millidew tell the Missus that if she fired you she'd take you on in two seconds. So, if you--"

"Thanks, Katie," interrupted Trotter. "Did Mrs. Millidew say when she would see me?"

"Soon as she gets something on," said Katie.

At that moment, a door slammed violently on the floor above. There was a swift swish of skirts, and then the vivid, angry face of Mrs. Millidew, the younger, came suddenly into view. She leaned far out over the banister rail and searched the hallway below with quick, roving eyes.

"Are you there, Trotter?" she called out in a voice that trembled perceptibly.

He advanced a few paces, stopping beside the newel post. He looked straight up into her eyes.

"Yes, Mrs. Millidew."

"You begin driving for me today," she said hurriedly. "Do you understand?"

"But, madam, I am not open to--"

"Yes, you are," she interrupted. "You don't know it, but you are out of a job, Trotter."

"I am not surprised," he said.

"I don't care what you were doing last night,--that is your affair, not mine. You come to me at once at the same wages--"

"I beg your pardon," he broke in. "I mean to say I am not seeking another situation."

"If it is a question of pay, I will give you ten dollars a week more than you were receiving here. Now, don't haggle. That is sixty dollars a week. Hurry up! Decide! She will be out here in a minute. Oh, thunder!"

The same door banged open and the voice of Mrs. Millidew, the elder, preceded its owner by some seconds in the race to the front.

"You are not fired, Trotter," she squealed. Her head, considerably dishevelled, appeared alongside the gay spring bonnet that bedecked her daughter-in-law. "You ought to be fired for what you did last night, but you are not. Do you understand? Now, shut up, Dolly! It doesn't matter if I _did_ say I was going to fire him. I've changed my mind."

"You are too late," said the younger Mrs. Millidew coolly. "I've just engaged him. He comes to me at--"

"You little snake!"

"Ladies, I beg of you--"

"The next time I let him go gallivanting off with you for a couple of days--and _nights_,--you'll know it," cried the elder Mrs. Millidew, furiously. "I can see what you've been up to. You've been doing everything in your power to get him away from me--"

"Just what do you mean to insinuate, Mother Millidew?" demanded the other, her voice rising.

"My G.o.d!" cried Trotter's employer, straightening her figure and facing the other. Something like horror sounded in her cracked old voice.

"Could--my G.o.d!--could it be possible?"

"Speak plainly! What do you mean?"

Mrs. Millidew, the elder, advanced her mottled face until it was but a few inches from that of her daughter-in-law.

"Where were _you_ last night?" she demanded harshly.

There was a moment of utter silence. Trotter, down below, caught his breath.

Then, to his amazement, Mrs. Millidew the younger, instead of flying into a rage, laughed softly, musically.

"Oh, you are too rich for words," she gurgled. "I wish,--heavens, how I wish you could see what a fool you look. Go back, quick, and look in the mirror before it wears off. You'll have the heartiest laugh you've had in years."

She leaned against the railing and continued to laugh. Not a sound from Mrs. Millidew, the elder.

"Do come up a few steps, Trotter," went on the younger gaily,--"and have a peep. You will--"

The other found her voice. There was now an agitated note, as of alarm, in it.

"Don't you dare come up those steps, Trotter;--I forbid you, do you hear!"

Trotter replied with considerable dignity. He had been shocked by the scene.

"I have no intention of moving in any direction except toward the front door," he said.

"Don't go away," called out his employer. "You are not dismissed."

"I came to explain my unavoidable absence last--"

"Some other time,--some other time. I want the car at half-past ten."

Young Mrs. Millidew was descending the stairs. Her smiling eyes were upon the distressed young man at the bottom. There was no response in his.

"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Millidew," he said, raising his voice slightly.

"I came not only to explain, but to notify you that I am giving up my place almost immediately."

"What!" squeaked the old lady, coming to the top of the steps.

"It is imperative. I shall, of course, stay on for a day or two while you are finding--"

"Do you mean to say you are quitting of your own accord?" she gasped.

"Yes, madam."

"Don't call me 'madam'! I've told you that before. So--so, you are going to work for her in spite of me, are you? It's all been arranged, has it?

You two have--"