CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST INSULT.
As the young girl gave utterance to these words of prophecy herbeautiful eyes were luminous with the fire of a noble purpose. She drewher graceful form to its full height and her voice rang out like thepeal of a bell, carrying the message of hope to all that heard it.
Before any one could think of answering, two gentlemen suddenly appearedin the doorway of the poorly lighted room.
When the saleswomen and cash girls saw them they almost stoppedbreathing, for the two men were the two senior members of the firm, who,for some reason or others, were going over the store together.
Both men stared at Faith in open amazement. It was plain that they hadoverheard her words, and were surprised at such sentiments from the lipsof a greenhorn "packer."
Mr. Denton, a gray-haired man with a fairly benevolent face, seemed moredisturbed than his partner over the extraordinary utterance, but asneither of them had heard what Miss Jennings had said, their surprisepassed quickly and they began talking together.
"This is the room that they complain of," said Mr. Day, with acontemptuous gesture. "Those sneaking inspectors seem bent on making usas much trouble and expense as possible."
Mr. Denton peered around the room, and even sniffed a little.
"I do not consider it exactly healthy down here," he said, slowly, "butof course you know best, Mr. Day; you have charge of that department. Ishould not dream of interfering. I know you will do your duty."
"Certainly, certainly," said Mr. Day, promptly. He was a short, stoutman, and exceedingly curt and pompous.
"I consider it quite healthy enough for our purpose, Mr. Denton; forwhat do our salespeople know of modern sanitary improvements?"
"That is so," replied Mr. Denton, with a smile of satisfaction. "What dothey know, indeed? Why, they are nearly all of them from the garrets ofsome tenement or other. They have never been accustomed to anythingbetter, nor perhaps half as comfortable."
They passed out of the room, leaving Faith almost speechless withhorror.
In her whole life she had never dreamed of such cowardly injustice.
"Now you know that I am right, Faith," Miss Jennings remarked, with aharsh laugh. "Now you have seen for yourself what we have to expect fromour employers."
"They look on us as a lot of rats from some garret or other," added theclerk who had spoken so bitterly before. "But, time's up; we must goback and take in some more money for the darlings."
Faith stifled a sob as she took Miss Jennings' arm and started upstairs.She was pained and disgusted, but by no means discouraged.
"There must be some way," she whispered to Miss Jennings. "It looks verydark, I am willing to admit, but with God all things are possible. Ishall not give up. There must be some way of bringing the light intothis place. Just now it seems lost in a terrible darkness."
"If God had wished it to be different He would have changed it longago," muttered Miss Jennings. "But He doesn't care, Faith. Don't tell methat He cares! Why, I am dying, dying, yet He cares nothing about it!"
She broke out into such a terrible fit of coughing that she had to stopon the stairs. Faith kept her arm about her until the spell was over.
When they reached the floor they were two minutes late.
Miss Fairbanks met them and scolded them both severely.
Faith noticed that Miss Jennings did not offer to explain the delay. Shewould have explained it herself if her companion had not stopped her ina whisper.
"It's no use, Faith; she won't believe it, or, if she did, she'd say Ihad no right to cough. Poor devil! She treats the people under her justas Forbes treats her. They are a lot of slave drivers and slavestogether!"
Faith crawled up to her desk feeling sick at heart. She was overwhelmedwith the knowledge of evil which was being forced upon her.
During the afternoon she found time to write a few words on a bit ofpaper and slip it into Miss Jennings' hand without the buyer seeing her.
"Dear Mary," she wrote, "don't give up in despair. I am sure that Mr.Denton is a good man, only weak and indifferent. I shall pray to-nightthat God will open his eyes--then to-morrow I shall try personally totalk to him, for I believe that prayer and effort should always gotogether. Who knows but that I may be able to brighten things a little?It certainly is worth trying for--to bring the light into dark places."
Miss Jennings watched her chance and handed back her reply.
"It's no use, I tell you, Faith. His heart is like stone. You'll onlylose your place. Take my advice and don't do it."
Faith smiled at her brightly as she read the words. They werecharacteristic of Miss Jennings, philosophic but bitter.
A few minutes later a dashing young man passed by the counter. Theclerks all seemed to know him, and several of the prettiest girls in thedepartment smiled at him openly in a way that Faith thought veryimmodest. As he caught sight of the new packer he stopped abruptly andstared at her.
"Who the deuce is that?" Faith heard him say to one of the saleswomen, agirl whose cheeks were flaming with paint and whose appearance was thatof a very vulgar person.
"I'm sure I don't know, Mr. Denton," replied the girl, with a simper."She's a new packer that was taken on this morning. I haven't heard hername, and I don't know as I want to."
"Oh, you're jealous of her, are you, Mag?" said the young man with alaugh. "Well, I don't wonder, for she is a peach. I'm in love with herthis minute!"
"You're a flirt, all right, Mr. Denton," said the girl, with a pout. "Ithink she's as awkward as anything, and her color is abominable."
"She's as fresh as a daisy," was the young man's answer. "Forbes had aneye for beauty when he hired that lovely creature."
"You men have queer taste," snapped the saleswoman, angrily, but theyoung man had passed on, staring at Faith all the way. Miss Fairbanksgreeted him with a bow that was positively servile.
"That's old Denton's son Jim," explained Miss Jennings to Faith as shehanded up a check. "He's a regular masher. Comes in here every few days,just to flirt with the girls. They say he's very wild and costs hisfather a lot of money."
"He is very bold," was Faith's whispered answer. "Why, he stared at meas if I were a dummy instead of a lady."
"Oh, we are none of us ladies: we are only clerks," replied MissJennings, bitterly. "If we were to snub Jim Denton he would make a lotof trouble for us."
"Mercy!" cried Faith. "It doesn't seem possible! Why, there seems to bepitfalls on every side for the girl who earns her own living."
Miss Fairbanks was coming, so the conversation was ended abruptly.
Miss Jennings went back to a customer who had just stopped at thecounter.
"Show me some yellow ribbon, right away, miss," she said, very sharply."I want to match this sample. Here, take a good look at it!"
Faith glanced down and saw that the customer was an ignorant-lookingwoman. She had on tawdry clothing and a lot of cheap jewelry.
Miss Jennings took the sample and glanced at it sharply.
"Do you wish exactly the same shade and width?" she asked, verypolitely.
"Of course! What did you suppose I brought the sample for if I don't?"cried the woman. "You must be a dunce to ask such a question!"
Faith felt her cheeks grow hot at this arrogant insult, but MissJennings replied as quietly as ever, "I cannot give you the same shadenor the same width exactly, madam. This is the nearest I have."
She handed her a roll that was a little different from the sample.
"But you must have it! Look again!" commanded the woman, angrily. "Youare just trying to save yourself trouble, you lazy hussy!"
Miss Jennings turned very indifferently and called to another of thesaleswomen:
"Miss Jones, have we any number twelve lemon in reserve? Here's asample, and this lady is anxious to match it."
Miss Jones glanced at the sample that Miss Jennings was holding.
"You know very well that we are all out of that," she replied, sharply."How o
ften have I told you not to bother me with such questions!"
Miss Jennings handed the sample to the customer without the slightesttrace of emotion.
"The 'head of stock' says we have none. I trust you will believe her,madam."
The woman snatched her sample and hurried away, while Miss Jennings wentto another customer as calmly as though nothing had happened.
Faith drew a long breath. Her cheeks were fairly tingling. She glancedabout a little to see whether any one else had noticed the transaction.
The clerks were all moving about in their automatic way. It was plainthat such occurrences as this amounted to nothing.
Suddenly Faith's glance rested on a young man who was standing in theaisle where he could watch her every movement.
As their eyes met he raised his hat and smiled at her brazenly.
Faith gasped for breath. Her insulter was young Denton.
For Gold or Soul? Page 5
