Treasures Read Online Free PDF

know. It’s tough.”
    Both women sighed, Connie more deeply, and the other in sympathy.
    “If I could make a change I wouldn’t mind,” Connie said tentatively, thinking, A job like hers at a club, perhaps? And she struck out boldly. “I suppose your work must be very complicated. Don’t you have to know a lot about food and serving and—”
    “Not really. I didn’t know a thing when I started. You pick it up from the help, the cooks and the waitresses, as you go along. Actually, all you need is to be friendly, have a good memory, and be good looking.”
    Connie felt the stirring of serious interest.
    “And you do meet a top class of people. The best. As a matter of fact, I met my fiancé there—well, not exactly, it was sort of roundabout, when his company sent him to do an estimate for a new roof.”
    “It sounds wonderful.”
    “Hey! Would you be interested? Because if you would, I’d be glad to recommend you to take my place.”
    “Really? You’re an angel!”
    “Good heavens, it’s no trouble at all. And, you know, I have a feeling you’d just fit.”
    “I can’t thank you enough!”
    “Glad to do it. You know, you’d find it a whole lot easier than trying clothes on a bunch of finicky women all day. And the pay is close to double, I’ll bet.”
    “Really? You’re an angel,” repeated Connie.
    Every day, in the beginning, was magical. True, she was still on her feet as she had been in her only two previous jobs, and the hours were even longer. But to Connie the atmosphere of this place was compensation enough for tiredness. To look out every morning on acres and acres of green, over the golf course and the low hills beyond, then down where the pool and the tennis courts lay in a grove of cool trees! All was peace and ease; everything was beautiful. The gardens were brilliant. The airy rooms were shaded restfully against the glare of the afternoons. At dinnertime the blue-and-white dining room sparkled. At night on the terrace, candles flickered in hurricane globes and lanterns hung among the trees. One could imagine that nothing ugly or drab or worrisome had ever touched the lives of the people who played and danced here; it was as if they were all floating through their days and nights in a perpetual celebration.
    Her heart expanded. Her normally high spirits soaredhigher. People liked her. She had a dependable memory for names and faces, which was exactly what the job required. The guests were pleased when she remembered where they liked to be seated and what they liked to drink. The staff, many of them older women who had been there for years, were almost motherly, surprising her by their total absence of resentment that someone so much younger than they had been placed over them. Apparently, to them, this was simply the natural order of things.
    “Don’t put the Darnley table near to the Exeters. Mrs. Exeter was Darnley’s first wife, and the two women hate each other.”
    “If Mr. Tory says seven-thirty, he means seven twenty-eight. That man’s so prompt, he’ll be early to his own funeral. And you’d better have everything ready, too, because he’s a crank.”
    Celia Mapes, who was handy with such advice, was kindly but could be meddlesome too.
    “I’ve got a daughter about your age overseas with the army in Germany. Living with some guy she says she’ll probably marry. I suppose you are, too, aren’t you?”
    “Living with some guy? No, I live by myself.”
    “What happened? Did you break up?”
    “I’ve never had anybody to break up with.”
    “Never had a real boyfriend? Don’t tell me. A girl like you.”
    “It’s true, though.”
    “I don’t believe it. You mean you’ve never—you’re a virgin?”
    “Well, believe it or not, I am.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with you, is there?”
    “Not that I know of.” Connie laughed. “Maybe I’m funny, but I’ve just never really wanted anybody that way. Never met anybody. There was an awfully nice guy once, but