Diantha religiously kept her hour at noon, and tried to keep the three in the afternoon; but the employer and manager cannot take irresponsible rest as can the employee.She felt like a most inexperienced captain on a totally new species of ship, and her paper plans looked very weak sometimes, as bills turned out to be larger than she had allowed for, or her patronage unaccountably dwindled.But if the difficulties were great, the girl's courage was greater."It is simply a big piece of work," she assured herself, "and may be a long one, but there never was anything better worth doing.Every new business has difficulties, Imustn't think of them.I must just push and push and push--a little more every day."And then she would draw on all her powers to reason with, laugh at, and persuade some dissatisfied girl; or, hardest of all, to bring in a new one to fill a vacancy.
She enjoyed the details of her lunch business, and studied it carefully;planning for a restaurant a little later.Her bread was baked in long cylindrical closed pans, and cut by machinery into thin even slices, not a crust wasted; for they were ground into crumbs and used in the cooking.
The filling for her sandwiches was made from fish, flesh, and fowl; from cheese and jelly and fruit and vegetables; and so named or numbered that the general favorites were gradually determined.
Mr.Thaddler chatted with her over the counter, as far as she would allow it, and discoursed more fully with his friends on the verandah.
"Porne," he said, "where'd that girl come from anyway? She's a genius, that's what she is; a regular genius.""She's all that," said Mr.Porne, "and a benefactor to humanity thrown in.I wish she'd start her food delivery, though.I'm tired of those two Swedes already.O--come from? Up in Jopalez, Inca County, Ibelieve."
"New England stock I bet," said Mr.Thaddler."Its a damn shame the way the women go on about her.""Not all of them, surely," protested Mr.Porne.
"No, not all of 'em,--but enough of 'em to make mischief, you may be sure.Women are the devil, sometimes."Mr.Porne smiled without answer, and Mr.Thaddler went sulking away--a bag of cakes bulging in his pocket.
The little wooden hotel in Jopalez boasted an extra visitor a few days later.A big red faced man, who strolled about among the tradesmen, tried the barber's shop, loafed in the post office, hired a rig and traversed the length and breadth of the town, and who called on Mrs.
Warden, talking real estate with her most politely in spite of her protestation and the scornful looks of the four daughters; who bought tobacco and matches in the grocery store, and sat on the piazza thereof to smoke, as did other gentlemen of leisure.
Ross Warden occasionally leaned at the door jamb, with folded arms.He never could learn to be easily sociable with ranchmen and teamsters.
Serve them he must, but chat with them he need not.The stout gentleman essayed some conversation, but did not get far.Ross was polite, but far from encouraging, and presently went home to supper, leaving a carrot-haired boy to wait upon his lingering customers.
"Nice young feller enough," said the stout gentleman to himself, "but raised on ramrods.Never got 'em from those women folks of his, either.
He _has_ a row to hoe!" And he departed as he had come.
Mr.Eltwood turned out an unexpectedly useful friend to Diantha.He steered club meetings and "sociables" into her large rooms, and as people found how cheap and easy it was to give parties that way, they continued the habit.He brought his doctor friends to sample the lunch, and they tested the value of Diantha's invalid cookery, and were more than pleased.
Hungry tourists were wholly without prejudice, and prized her lunches for their own sake.They descended upon the caffeteria in chattering swarms, some days, robbing the regular patrons of their food, and sent sudden orders for picnic lunches that broke in upon the routine hours of the place unmercifully.
But of all her patrons, the families of invalids appreciated Diantha's work the most.Where a little shack or tent was all they could afford to live in, or where the tiny cottage was more than filled with the patient, attending relative, and nurse, this depot of supplies was a relief indeed.
A girl could be had for an hour or two; or two girls, together, with amazing speed, could put a small house in dainty order while the sick man lay in his hammock under the pepper trees; and be gone before he was fretting for his bed again.They lived upon her lunches; and from them, and other quarters, rose an increasing demand for regular cooked food.
"Why don't you go into it at once?" urged Mrs.Weatherstone.
"I want to establish the day service first," said Diantha."It is a pretty big business I find, and I do get tired sometimes.I can't afford to slip up, you know.I mean to take it up next fall, though.""All right.And look here; see that you begin in first rate shape.
I've got some ideas of my own about those food containers."They discussed the matter more than once, Diantha most reluctant to take any assistance; Mrs.Weatherstone determined that she should.
"I feel like a big investor already," she said."I don't think even you realize the _money_ there is in this thing! You are interested in establishing the working girls, and saving money and time for the housewives.I am interested in making money out of it--honestly! It would be such a triumph!""You're very good--" Diantha hesitated.
