United States or Cocos Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I'll try to do my best wherever you put me, Mr. Meggison" said Win, sounding to herself like a heroine of a Sunday serial, and feeling not unlike one in a difficult situation at the end of an instalment. At home, in her father's house, she had occasionally been driven to read Sunday serials on Sunday. They were the only fiction permitted on that day. "That's all right.
"Only I think I've troubled you long enough. You will be wanting me to go." As she spoke she gazed straight and steadily down into his eyes, as if he were an animal that could be mastered if your look never let his go. She remembered how Sadie had said that Meggison wanted to be a "dog," but his bark might be stopped if you showed him in time that you were not afraid.
Meggison in "spotting" No. 2884 for this place. Meggison was, of course, "onto" the situation, for the whole secret of the man's sudden rise lay in his capacity for knowing and keeping track of every current and undercurrent of life in each department.
Perhaps, thought Sadie, Meggison wanted to see how much the new girl could stand. Perhaps he wished to "sweat out of her" all the work of which she was capable, the full wage worth she could give to Peter Rolls before casting her aside forever. Or it was just possible that, instead of exciting resentment she had won his respect by "cheeking" him.
Meggison was puzzled by an employee, he was generally annoyed. This case seemed, however, to be an exception. He kept his temper, and even condescended to grin. "I don't want you should think I'm asking all these questions because we have any fault to find with you," he said. "You've done very well. I always know what's going on all over the place. I keep track of everything in every department.
And it was at this very moment that she received a peremptory summons to Mr. Croft's office. "It'll be about the fire, maybe," the nicest girl in the department encouraged her. "I shouldn't wonder if they're going to give you a reward. If there was anything wrong, the word would come through Meggison sure." Win smiled thanks as she went to her fate; the girl was kind, not of the tigress breed.
So when we come across a pair of lamps that are bright, a long way above the average we sometimes make it worth their while " "Oh, Mr. Meggison, please don't go on!" Win cut the great man short. "I'd rather you didn't say it, because I don't wish to hear. I I don't want to know what you mean." It was his turn to flush. But the change of colour was only just perceptible.
Sadie, with the best intentions, had been able to give little encouragement There must be scolding or else flirting in prospect. And Winifred's eyes were bright, her cheeks pink, her head high, as the superintendent's voice bade her "Come in." She went in. Mr. Meggison sat in front of his roll-top desk. No such world-shaking event as his rising to receive her took place.
It was rather fortunate, perhaps, that Win had another exciting thought to engross her attention at this time, though it was no more agreeable than the thought of Peter Rolls. After her conversation with Mr. Meggison, she confidently expected to find her dismissal in the next pay envelope.
With Miss Stein at their head, her five assistants would not put the energy of one into disposing of the hated stock, therefore Meggison had sent an "extra." He had chosen a new girl because she would not "take sides," and a girl who looked as if she might hold her own against odds, because she would need all her "ginger" if she were to "make good."
Word Of The Day