Part 27 (1/2)

But Saxon's money-earning was doomed to cease ignominiously and tragically. One day, to take advantage of a department store bargain sale, she crossed the bay to San Francisco. Pa.s.sing along Sutter Street, her eye was attracted by a display in the small window of a small shop.

At first she could not believe it; yet there, in the honored place of the window, was the wonderful breakfast cap for which she had received twelve dollars from Mercedes. It was marked twenty-eight dollars. Saxon went in and interviewed the shopkeeper, an emaciated, shrewd-eyed and middle-aged woman of foreign extraction.

”Oh, I don't want to buy anything,” Saxon said. ”I make nice things like you have here, and I wanted to know what you pay for them--for that breakfast cap in the window, for instance.”

The woman darted a keen glance to Saxon's left hand, noted the innumerable tiny punctures in the ends of the first and second fingers, then appraised her clothing and her face.

”Can you do work like that?”

Saxon nodded.

”I paid twenty dollars to the woman that made that.” Saxon repressed an almost spasmodic gasp, and thought coolly for a s.p.a.ce. Mercedes had given her twelve. Then Mercedes had pocketed eight, while she, Saxon, had furnished the material and labor.

”Would you please show me other hand-made things -- nightgowns, chemises, and such things, and tell me the prices you pay?”

”Can you do such work?”

”Yes.”

”And will you sell to me?”

”Certainly,” Saxon answered. ”That is why I am here.”

”We add only a small amount when we sell,” the woman went on; ”you see, light and rent and such things, as well as a profit or else we could not be here.”

”It's only fair,” Saxon agreed.

Amongst the beautiful stuff Saxon went over, she found a nightgown and a combination undersuit of her own manufacture. For the former she had received eight dollars from Mercedes, it was marked eighteen, and the woman had paid fourteen; for the latter Saxon received six, it was marked fifteen, and the woman had paid eleven.

”Thank you,” Saxon said, as she drew on her gloves. ”I should like to bring you some of my work at those prices.”

”And I shall be glad to buy it... if it is up to the mark.” The woman looked at her severely. ”Mind you, it must be as good as this. And if it is, I often get special orders, and I'll give you a chance at them.”

Mercedes was unblus.h.i.+ngly candid when Saxon reproached her.

”You told me you took only a commission,” was Saxon's accusation.

”So I did; and so I have.”

”But I did all the work and bought all the materials, yet you actually cleared more out of it than I did. You got the lion's share.”

”And why shouldn't I, my dear? I was the middleman. It's the way of the world. 'Tis the middlemen that get the lion's share.”

”It seems to me most unfair,” Saxon reflected, more in sadness than anger.

”That is your quarrel with the world, not with me,” Mercedes rejoined sharply, then immediately softened with one of her quick changes. ”We mustn't quarrel, my dear. I like you so much. La la, it is nothing to you, who are young and strong with a man young and strong. Listen, I am an old woman. And old Barry can do little for me. He is on his last legs. His kidneys are 'most gone. Remember, 'tis I must bury him. And I do him honor, for beside me he'll have his last long sleep. A stupid, dull old man, heavy, an ox, 'tis true; but a good old fool with no trace of evil in him. The plot is bought and paid for--the final installment was made up, in part, out of my commissions from you. Then there are the funeral expenses. It must be done nicely. I have still much to save. And Barry may turn up his toes any day.”

Saxon sniffed the air carefully, and knew the old woman had been drinking again.

”Come, my dear, let me show you.” Leading Saxon to a large sea chest in the bedroom, Mercedes lifted the lid. A faint perfume, as of rose-petals, floated up. ”Behold, my burial trousseau. Thus I shall wed the dust.”

Saxon's amazement increased, as, article by article, the old woman displayed the airiest, the daintiest, the most delicious and most complete of bridal outfits. Mercedes held up an ivory fan.