The Prince and BettyWodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
General
The Prince and Betty
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Humorous stories
Betty breathed freely again. Her knowledge of the East Side was small,
and that there might be those there who acted independently of Mr.
Jarvis, disdainful of his influence, did not occur to her. She returned
to her own affairs, satisfied that danger no longer threatened.
"Mr. Jarvis, I wonder if you can help me. I want to find some work to
do," she said.
"Woik?"
"I have to earn my living, you see, and I'm afraid I don't know how to
begin."
Mr. Jarvis pondered. "What sort of woik?"
"Any sort," said Betty
valiantly. "I don't care what it is."
Mr. Jarvis knitted his brows in thought. He was not used to being an
employment agency. But Betty was Betty, and even at the cost of a
headache he must think of something.
At the end of five minutes inspiration came to him.
"Say," he said, "what do youse call de guy dat sits an' takes de money
at an eatin'-joint? Cashier? Well, say, could youse be dat?"
"It would be just the thing. Do you know a place?"
"Sure. Just around de corner. I'll take you dere."
Betty waited while he put on his coat, and they started out. Betty
chatted as they walked, but Mr. Jarvis, who appeared a little
self-conscious beneath the unconcealed interest of the neighbors, was
silent. At intervals he would turn and glare ferociously at the heads
that popped out of windows or protruded from doorways. Fame has its
penalties, and most of the population of that portion of the Bowery had
turned out to see their most prominent citizen so romantically employed
as a squire of dames.
After a short walk Bat halted the expedition before a dingy restaurant.
The glass window bore in battered letters the name, Fontelli.
"Dis is de joint," he said.
Inside the restaurant a dreamy-eyed Italian sat gazing at vacancy and
twirling a pointed mustache. In a far corner a solitary customer was
finishing a late breakfast.
Signor Fontelli, for the sad-eyed exile was he, sprang to his feet at
the sight of Mr. Jarvis' well-known figure. An ingratiating, but
nervous, smile came into view behind the pointed mustache.
"Hey, Tony," said Mr. Jarvis, coming at once to the point, "I want you
to know dis loidy. She's going to be cashier at dis joint."
Signor Fontelli looked at Betty and shook his head. He smiled
deprecatingly. His manner seemed to indicate that, while she met with
the approval of Fontelli, the slave of her sex, to Fontelli, the
employer, she appealed in vain. He gave his mustache a sorrowful twirl.
"Ah, no," he sighed. "Not da cashier do I need. I take-a myself da
money."
Mr. Jarvis looked at him coldly. He continued to look at him coldly.
His lower jaw began slowly to protrude, and his forehead retreated
further behind its zareba of forelock.
There was a pause. The signor was plainly embarrassed.
"Dis loidy," repeated Mr. Jarvis, "is cashier at dis joint at six
per--" He paused. "Does dat go?" he added smoothly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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