Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million
John Stuart Mill · en
A Samaritan, a Pharisee, a man and a policeman who were first on the
spot lifted Banker McRamsey and carried him into Hinkle’s restaurant.
When the aged but indestructible banker opened his eyes he saw a
beautiful vision bending over him with a pitiful, tender smile, bathing
his forehead with beef tea and chafing his hands with something frappé
out of a chafing-dish. Mr. McRamsey sighed, lost a vest button, gazed
with deep gratitude upon his fair preserveress, and then recovered
consciousness.
To the Seaside Library all who are anticipating a romance! Banker
McRamsey had an aged and respected wife, and his sentiments toward Miss
Merriam were fatherly. He talked to her for half an hour with
interest—not the kind that went with his talks during business hours.
The next day he brought Mrs. McRamsey down to see her. The old couple
were childless—they had only a married daughter living in Brooklyn.
To make a short story shorter, the beautiful cashier won the hearts of
the good old couple. They came to Hinkle’s again and again; they
invited her to their old-fashioned but splendid home in one of the East
Seventies. Miss Merriam’s winning loveliness, her sweet frankness and
impulsive heart took them by storm. They said a hundred times that Miss
Merriam reminded them so much of their lost daughter. The Brooklyn
matron, née Ramsey, had the figure of Buddha and a face like the ideal
of an art photographer. Miss Merriam was a combination of curves,
smiles, rose leaves, pearls, satin and hair-tonic posters. Enough of
the fatuity of parents.
A month after the worthy couple became acquainted with Miss Merriam,
she stood before Hinkle one afternoon and resigned her cashiership.
“They’re going to adopt me,” she told the bereft restaurateur. “They’re
funny old people, but regular dears. And the swell home they have got!
Say, Hinkle, there isn’t any use of talking—I’m on the à la carte to
wear brown duds and goggles in a whiz wagon, or marry a duke at least.
Still, I somehow hate to break out of the old cage. I’ve been
cashiering so long I feel funny doing anything else. I’ll miss joshing
the fellows awfully when they line up to pay for the buckwheats and.
But I can’t let this chance slide. And they’re awfully good, Hinkle; I
know I’ll have a swell time. You owe me nine-sixty-two and a half for
the week. Cut out the half if it hurts you, Hinkle.”
And they did. Miss Merriam became Miss Rosa McRamsey. And she graced
the transition. Beauty is only skin-deep, but the nerves lie very near
to the skin. Nerve—but just here will you oblige by perusing again the
quotation with which this story begins?
The McRamseys poured out money like domestic champagne to polish their
adopted one. Milliners, dancing masters and private tutors got it.
Miss—er—McRamsey was grateful, loving, and tried to forget Hinkle’s. To
give ample credit to the adaptability of the American girl, Hinkle’s
did fade from her memory and speech most of the time.