"Poor Mary is the first clerk who has died in the store, you
know. It isn't at all likely that there will be any others."
Mr. Forbes stared at her curiously. He was not exactly angry. As she
stood supplicatingly before him, she was radiantly beautiful.
"Why not have it in the evening?" suggested Mr. Denton. He had found his
voice at last, and came to the superintendent's rescue.
"The girls are so tired at night," said Faith, sighing. "I thought of
that--but it did not seem advisable."
"We might arrange for a few of you to be away on that day. Surely, you
were not all Miss Jennings' friends; there is no excuse for the whole
store going into mourning."
Mr. Forbes spoke decidedly and with a little of his old crustiness. The
spell of the girl's magnetism was beginning to leave him.
"That would mean extra work for the clerks who remained," was Faith's
desperate answer, "and poor Mary would be the first to object to that.
Their duties are hard enough now. Oh, no, sir; I am sure that would not
be thought of for a minute. If there is work to be done, we will all
stay and do it, but if you only would relieve us for a few hours, we
would be deeply grateful."
"It wouldn't do at all, Mr. Forbes!"
Mr. Day spoke, if anything, more pompously than ever.
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