Ethel Hollister's Second Summer as a Campfire Girl Part 13

"I have asked Ethel to be my wife. Will you and Mr. Hollister give her to me?"

Mrs. Hollister gasped.

"Why Tom! Ethel! Is it true?"

Ethel put her arm around her mother.

"Yes, Mamma, Tom has asked me to marry him and I said 'yes,' for I know that you and Papa like him. Now you say 'yes'--do dear."

"Yes, I will say it gladly. Tom, I have always liked you and I'm sure you and Ethel will be happy. I give my consent with all my heart," and Tom took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly.

"Thank you," he said, "you have given me a precious gift. You shall never regret it."

Then they sought Mr. Hollister and were closeted with him for a long time, after which Grandmother and Aunt Susan had to be told, and lastly Nora.

So that Christmas brought two engagements in the Hollister circle.

Ethel decided to finish college before marrying, and Nora her school. The men had to be content.

"We'll have one more year at Camp anyway," said Nora. "I shall be glad to spend my last single summer there."

"And Tom and Harvey will practically be with us," said Ethel. "Nora, are you not a happy girl?"

"I am," said Nora.

"So am I," rejoined Ethel.

CHAPTER XIX

MR. CASEY BUYS A HOUSE

Aunt Susan at once began to make plans. In the meanwhile Mr. Casey asked Mr. Hollister and his mother to give him a few moments conversation on business.

"I understand that ye own this house, ma'am," he began. "What would ye sell it for?"

Mrs. Hollister looked at her son.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm about to buy a house for Nora and the Doctor, and I want to buy one in this neighborhood. I also have a proposition to make to ye, Mr. Hollister. Frankly, what might be yere salary?"

Mr. Hollister reddened.

"I mean no disrespect or pryin', sir. It is a business proposition I have to make to ye, before I do to anyone else."

"My salary is three thousand a year, Mr. Casey," said Archibald Hollister. "I'm with an old and respected firm and have been with them for thirty years."

"Thin they don't value your services as they should,--pardon my sayin'.

This minnit they ought to give ye more. Now I need a man like yourself to be me representative in New York. I give you the first option. Will ye come and accept the position for six thousand a year?"

Mr. Hollister acted dazed. Grandmother spoke up:

"Answer, Archibald,"

But still Archibald kept quiet.

"Is it because ye think it not honorable to leave them? Thin tell thim that I have offered ye more and see if they will do the same. I'll give you a week to see."

"And now, ma'am, I have heard that ye wished to sell. Yere Granddaughter will marry and this house will be too big for the three of yees. A pretty apartment on the Park will be far better for ye. What is yere price for the house?"

"We refused thirty thousand for it in 1900," replied Mrs. Hollister, "and real estate has increased in value since that."

"Very well," said Mr. Casey, "I know what ye say is true, and I will pay a fair price. I will give ye fifty thousand for this house, ma'am, and I will have it remodeled for my girl."

"I will accept," said Mrs. Hollister, in a prompt businesslike way.

"There is no mortgage on the house," she added.

"Yere more of a business woman than yere son. Faith, he's worryin' over hurtin' feelings of his employers I do be thinkin'," and Mr. Casey laid back and laughed.

But Archibald felt as though the earth was slowly slipping from under his feet. His luck was changing too rapidly. It was coming upon him too late in life, and Mr. Casey! Well, he was indeed the fairy G.o.dfather. He and his wife had so longed for an apartment overlooking the Park, but Grandmother would never hear of selling.

"When I die will be time enough," she would say, and now she had actually seemed glad. And to think she would have fifty thousand dollars to live on for the rest of her life. Then this new offer from Mr. Casey, double the salary he was now receiving--it was like a dream. And his girl engaged to one of the finest men in the West. G.o.d was too good to him--he didn't deserve it.

His wife was overjoyed.

"Oh, Archie," she said "how wonderful it all is. It seems to have happened since Ethel joined the Camp Fire girls. I'm sure they have brought her luck. They have brought Nora to us and her dear father, who has been so generous, and but for the Camp Fire she never would have met Nora. Isn't it strange?"

Archibald Hollister laid the case before the Company by which he had been employed for thirty years, not telling how much his new salary was to be.

"Mr. Hollister," they said, "we can not afford to increase your salary.

To be sure you have served us faithfully, but you are no longer young, and you know we need young blood in business. There are plenty waiting for your place."

That was a terrible blow to Archibald. He had not expected to get three thousand extra, but he had looked for an increase of a thousand rather than they should let him go, and to hear them calmly sit and tell him that they needed young blood was too much. He left the office, and the next morning in place of Archibald Hollister there arrived his resignation. So thirty years of faithfulness to their interests and strict attention to business didn't count with them, and there he had been so loyal to the concern!

"Ah!" said Mr. Casey, "what did I tell ye? Do ye think these corporations care for the man? No. It's for what they can get out of him--for the amount of work he can do, and for how small a salary. Let them hire their young blood and you come along with me, and we'll see how much better off they'll be!"

CHAPTER XX

ARCHIBALD'S CHANGE FOR THE BETTER