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Page 22
Kitty sat down in her chair. "Well," she said, "I have found him."
"Found whom?" asked Mrs. Crawford.
"The private secretary."
"What?" Killigrew swung his feet to the deck. "What the dickens have
you been doing now? Who is it?"
"Webb."
"The steward?"
"Yes."
"Well, if that . . ." began Killigrew belligerently.
"Dad, either mother and I act as we please, or you may attend to the
home-bureau yourself. Mother, it was agreed and understood that I
should select any employee we might happen to need."
"It was, my dear."
"Very good. I want some one who will attend to the affairs honestly
and painstakingly. There must be no idler about the house; and any
young man . . ."
"Wouldn't an old one do?" suggested Killigrew.
"Whose set ideas would clash constantly with ours. And any young man
we know would idle and look on the whole affair as a fine joke. I've
had a talk with Webb. He's not a university man, but he's educated. I
found him reading _Morte d'Arthur_."
"Ah!"--from Crawford.
"He became a steward because he could find nothing else to do at the
present time. He has been poor, and I dare say he has known the pinch
of poverty. You said only this morning, dad, that he was the most
attentive steward you had ever met on shipboard. Besides, there is a
case in point. Our butler was a steward before you engaged him, six
years ago."
Killigrew began to smile. "How much have you offered him as a salary?"
"Two hundred a month, to be paid out of the funds."
"Janet," said Crawford, "it's a good thing I'm married, or I'd apply
for the post myself."
"All right," agreed Killigrew; "a bargain's a bargain."
"A wager's a wager," thought Kitty.
"If you wake up some fine morning and find the funds gone . . ."
"Mother and I will attend to all checks, such as they are."
"Kitty, any day you say I'll take you into the firm as chief counsel.
But before I approve of your selection, I'd like to have a talk with
our friend Webb."
"He expects it. You are to see him on the main-deck at three this
afternoon."
"Molly, how long have we been married?"
"Thirty years, Daniel."
"How old is Kitty?"
"Mother!"
"Twenty-two," answered Mrs. Killigrew relentlessly.
"Well, I was going to say that I've learned more about the Killigrew
family in these four months of travel than in all those years together."
"Something more than ornaments," suggested Kitty dryly.
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