Mountain View Union High School - Blue and Gray Yearbook (Mountain View, CA)

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BLUE AND C,RA 29 have dozed off in luy anu-ehaii ' . Anyhow, suddt-nly I heard tlie door-bell ring and I jumped up in a hurry. There stood a man. Of course, 1 thought he was the man Mr. Marsden had sent, so I invited him in as nicely as I could and gave all of Mrs. Marsden ' s excuses. He seemed astonished and tried to stop me once or twice to tell me he wasn ' t expected, l)ut 1 insisted, so he follewed me in, meekly enough, and I deposited him hag and baggage in the best bedroom, as nice as you please. Well. I had hardly I ' eached the library until that bell rang again and I hustled to the iloor again. Xaturally. 1 thought this man was the agent, so 1 said as eiisply as possible, for 1 wanted to get rid of him : ' ' How do you do? Mrs. Marsden left woi ' d that you were to come again next week. Then he said: ' But — er — Mrs. JMarsden is expecting me. ' I replied more cooly than before, ' Airs. Slai ' sden is not at home and she left word for you to call again. He really did not know what to think and hesitated as he said: ' Mrs. Marsden asked me to come today and — ' But 1 interrupted him again, ' 1 tell you Mrs. ] Iarsden can ' t be l)othered with you today, so you might as well go. ' That struck him funnier than ever and he said: But sui ' ely there is some mistake. You can ' t mean that — ' Just then jMrs. jMarden ' s sister came along in time to rescue us and what do yo i think? That agent was Dr. Cathers, the profes- sor! Well, here 1 had already put one man in the guest room as the guest so 1 didn ' t know what to do. I yelled, ' Burglars ' , and started up the stairs, colliding with the other man coming down. He cried, ' Jean! ' and she ' Bob! ' and they embraced. I had made the most terrible mistake ever ! Here the first man was Mrs. Marsden ' s brother, who had come unexpectedly, and the last was the guest. Well I just naturally sat down on the steps and Wept. Of course. Mi ' . Woodsby, that ' s the brother, got Jean to say she wouldn ' t tell Mrs. ilarsden about it and so the first day ended. But I knew right away there was something awfully familiar about that brother, yet 1 just couldn ' t tell where it came in. He seemed to feel the same. At any rate he kept staring at me the whole time. (Of course, my cap was really very becoming). One day when I was dusting the library, in he came and began talking. He happened to mention Anne and of course I started. Then 1 knew at once he was the man Anne had so often mentioned to me. Well, that in itself was enough but what he said was that Anne and her cousin, Harriet Willoughby, were coming to visit Mrs. JMars- den. I almost screamed and I am sure he guessed then and there who [ was. At any rate. I saw the whole matter clearly then. It was all a put up job, I saw through the whole scheme, — just how Anne had figured out the whole matter and how 1 would lose my position and. worst of all, those lovely gloves. I coulil have cried, I was so angry. But that wouldn ' t help matters, so instead I glared at poor Bob — that is — I mean Mi ' . Woodsby — and turned my l)ack. Well, 1 had hardly tinu ' to think liefore a big auto came up and un- loaded Anne and her old maid cousin before the door. Of course, there was great excitement and I tried to look innocent, but it was too much when Anne whisp( red: Hello. Mai-ion. still on the jol) ' ?

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28 A Mixxh by rox 4. ! T tELL, girls, draw up your eluiirs aucl while the water ])oils for tea I ' ll tell you all about my latest escapade. No, S dly, I didn ' t go to the seashore and fall in. Jt was fai ' more exciting than that. 1 ' 11 just tell the maid not to wait any long- er. I give her every afternoon off now, since my latest adventure. I feel so sorry for any servant. There, everything is ready now and I can begin. Well, about tiiree weeks ago Anne Remmington dropped into tea, and, as usual, the Di ' aper twins were with hei ' . We all got to talk- ing altout Servants (I have a new maid aiul she is a dream), and the girls laughed at me lieeause 1 did ' at think they had to work so very hard and couldn ' t see why they were always so grouchy. Finally, Anne said she would wager me a dozen pairs of gloves that 1 couldn ' t keep a position as parlor maid for two weeks. Of course, I had to take it. She was to provide the place and I was to hold it for two weeks. That ' s the way it started. The next day Anne came along with a bunch of references to a friend in New York, and, as 1 had i)lanned a little trip to Philadel- phia and since 1 knew mother would never know where I really was, I just packed a suit-case of borroweil things and set off. It was too funny! How 1 looked! My hat belonged to Katie, the parlor maid, and I borrowed Janet Draper ' s slumming suit. It didn ' t fit very well; but, of course, that didn ' t make any difference for a servant generally doesn ' t wear a tailored suit. At any rate T reached Xew York. It was about three in the afternoon and I thought I ' d better go to Mrs. Marden ' s right away. She was in. so I was ushered into the library and sent my references up to her. I had scarcely time to turn around before she came in. I never expected her to look the way she did. Really, girls, she was quite young and had on the dearest dress ! I want one like it, it was grey wool crepe and was ti-immed — All right, Madge, I ' ll go on with the story. Well, she asked me all sorts of (juestions as to why T left my last place — as if I ever had one — and why I came to Xew York and things of that sort. At last she said that she guessed she would try me, since Anne had sent such fine i-efei ' ences. She ' s an old friend of Anne ' s. When I came down again she was all excited. She had had a letter from Mr. Marsden telling her that a friend of his would come in on the afternoon train, and that she would have to entertain him overnight. He, himself, couldn ' t come home until the next day. This friend was a college professor and had all sorts of dreadful de- grees and such things. She simply had to go to a tea and left me in charge, after tele- phoning to her sister to come to the house. As she went out she turned and said to me: ' If an agent should come here this afternoon tell him to come again next week. I simply can ' t be bothered with him today and Mr. Marsden will be here tlien. ' Then she left and I sorted magazines for a while; but I must

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30 ULUE AXD CRAY 1 (lid manage to jiiiich licr in the turhoil, but it tlidn ' t do much good. Every chance she got she said something crazy so that only 1 could hear it and Mrs. Marsden would glare when I giggled. As if 1 could help it ! But the funniest thing was Miss Willoughljy 1 My dear, she just searched every corner to find something to ' crab ' about. The second day she found a feather duster 1 had aecidently left behind the books in the book-ease and reported it to Mrs. ilarsden. Of course, she was furious at me, for Miss Wiiioughby is a dreadful gos- sip. And the way she ran after Professor Cathers! Anyone could see that he was just crazy al)out Jean Woodsby, who is a dear, but Miss Wiiioughby thought she herself, was very attractive and tried to read suffrage articles to him by the hours. Bob — that is — Mr. Woodsby — and 1 tried to help liim out as much as possilde, liut she was a frigid and no mistake. Yes, .Sally, I ' m coming to the climax soon. You see 1 hadn ' t had a chance to lie alone with Anne yet, but my chance finally came the third evening after dinner. I heard them all say that they were going to the theatre and would leave immedi- ately. Naturally, 1 thought 1 would be alone that evening. So I slipped into the only evening dress I had along and made myself cozy in the library, relying on the hope that no one would come in. As luck would liave it who should wander in liut Anne! Of course, I couldn ' t resist telling her what I thought of her then and there for playing such a trick on me. Just as 1 was telling Anne that she was a mean little cat and that 1 hated her, in walked Mrs. Marsden ! Scandalized was no word for the way she felt. ' ' That little cat. Miss Wiiioughby, noticed my dress and began to yell, ' Burglars ' . Of course, Mrs. Marsden thought it was her dress and began crying — ' Get the police! Oh, my jewels! ' You never saw such a turmoil in all your life. And that hor- rid little Anne was laughing so she simply couldnt ' ' fess ' up. And there was poor I, not knowing how to explain or what to do. Finally Bob came in and said there must be some mistake and took my part gallantly. That sobered Anne and she explained. Well, they were awfully nice about it and Jean said she knew 1 must be nice because I made such a ' bum ' parlor maid. And then we all went to the theatre. Yes, Sal, that ' s all, just now; of course, I might add that Jean and jjob are coming to lloston lomorrow and you n( ' -er can tell what may develop. — Florence Hoi ' nig, ' 14.