St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-22
MY SECRETARY.
''Wita Such Eyes, Who Could Re-
sist EKerl's


In town, and more humbIy undertook the
country branch, and obeyed his behests |
aoWn in Liverpool. 1 had only seen him
very occasionally, for though he was re-
ported to be as kind as he was eccentric. /
we dld not pull very well together. Hence
my grief at his decease was deep enough to
be respectable, and having installed our
snlet clerk at Liverpool, l cheerfully came
mp TO the London Office as my uncle's sole
aelF This identical morning, on which I
Was rolling downward in a Fuham bus.
was tIe Iirst on Which was going regularly
TO work.
There were eleven of US inside, nd when
me conductor gave us hasty survey, and
men opened the door, am sure there was
not one among us who did not sincerely
nope that the new conner might prove a
tolerably slim man. Instead OF man il
was a girl.
She slipped into the vacant place and
then we were off again. She was a par
tlculary nice girl. Her hair was yellow,
neE Hps very red, and her eyes very blue,
ana such vivid little bit of coloring was
quite a relief after the stolid monotony of
the bearded faces round her. Her ulster
was thin and worn, and her gloves were a
miraculous proof Of how much daTning one
pair could stand; but it was neither her
pretty face nor her shabby clothes that 50
attracted me. No; it was her own exceed
ing happiness. She was chidishly happy:
almost ldiOtically so, | thought at last. for
tilere she was, with her big eyes sparkling
with fun, and the dimples PLAYING at hide
and-seek round her mouth. What on earth
was she thinking about? She could not
have been more than 10 or SO, and
carried with her a roll OF manuscript in a
puSlneSS-llke sort Of way as if the docu-
ment were her own.
When was put down in Fleet street,
noticed that she too, left the omnibus. but
was not prepared to see her precede me
into the Office and vanish up the staircase.
All my life l had nourished a special de-
testation for writing women; so it was with
q considerable amount Of anger that turned
round on old Jones, who had a seat in the
lower room, and asked him who was the
lady who had just passed me.
Old Jones was my uncle's foreman-an
ancient, highly-respectable. not-to-be-got-
ric-of sort OF man, who had come into
the Office at such remote date that it was
lost in the mist Of the Middle ages.
'Lady.' echoed the foreman. Ct
Oh, yes, to be sure. beg pardon, sir, but
Tor the moment l thought you meant some
one with letters or manuscript, and they al
ways come in here. If she went straight
upstairs it was Miss Charity Landor."
What does she want and who is she?"
L asked: and if old Jones had thrown q
thunderbolt by way of answer, conId not
have been more astounded than was by
his reply.
''She is your secretary" he said.
''My secretaryI" I exclaimed ''Good
heavens! wont have a girl for a secre
tary.''
you must,'' said old Jones, and then he
proceeded to explain.
Mr.. Landor, it appeared. had been my
uncle'S secretary for some three years, when
one morning his daughter had arrived in
his stead, saying that her father was I'M
well, and might she not undertake his
work for a couple of days? My uncle
agreed, and the girl did the work, and did
it so creditably, old Jones declared, that
his master was only too glad to retain her
when it proved that, as regards writing, a
paralytic stroke had placed Mr.. Landor on
the shelf.
''And so" pursued my informant, ''MiSs
Cherry has been here going on year now,
and if you dismiss her-yOu'u excuse me,
sir-but you'll get yourself into a pretty
pickle. She knows all about everybody,
and the correspondence, and"
This is pure rubbish" I interrupted
loftily, for it was hardly soothing sugges-
ton that my future success depended on
slip of girl.
/ had snug qUarters-a tOlerably good
sized room, where my uncle used to sit in
state, and an inner one. very much smaller,
where | found Miss Charity Lander. She
looked desperately industrious, a perfect
model of a secretary. i'll fact, when [ first
peered into the room. for she was seated
at the table, with a whole pile of papers
before her, and her pen was silimming
RAPIDLY along, while the orthodox little
business fToWn drew the pretty eyebrows
nearer together.
Good morning" and walked into the
room.
Good morning. Mr Blake" said the
girl. She rose and held out her hand. -
hope you will approve OF me, but perhaps
you don't approve of women secretaries"
''NO. l DON'T" [ said blundy; but l
should he very sorry to cause you any in
convenience; so, suppose We say that, for
one month, things shall go on as they are. ;"
The girls face fell.
business is business; I did not want
girl in my office, and l told her so. Fur
thermore, 1 explained my Eviews of
women's duties in general. and finished by
limiting pretty plainly that thought she
would be far better at home nursing her
father.
went to my room feeling thankful to
her that she had not tried to coax a more
gracious answer from me. With such q
a face-with such eyes, who could resist
her? Did she know how beautiful she WAS?
PShaW! every woman knows that.
Our paper was simply chit-chat on the
topics of the day. and steered tOlera6ly
clear OF scandal. There were science pa
pers, and book papers, and the only anus
ing column was one that was de-
voted to miscellaneous gossip, and was
signed, The Man About Town. The
style was clever and easy, and l nourished
a secret but profound admiration for my
unknown contributor. Looking over his
latest articles. it suddenly struck me I he'd
never been told his name, and 1 put my
new secretary to her first use by asking it
of Miss Charity LandOr.
''Hope," said the girl, she never calls.
Mr.. Blake used to write TO him"
81 should like to see him. answered.
EDO you not admire his writings, Miss
Landor?"
Not particularly" she replied. at
reads to me as if he put in good deal of
rubbish by way of padding"
For the first week or so L found the girls
presence was ir6sOme, but as the strange
ness wore off, ii seemed to make my work
dOubly attractive. She was an immense
help to me; but, try as | would. l could
notpersuade myself that il was simply her
assistance that was so valuable TO me. l
began to listen for the soft voice, ana laid
many a deep plot TO win from her laugh
OF a smile.
One spring morning, when 1 was work
inc clone an omen ppVelODp was brought