The young couple were deep in conversation, and Mr. Patten had just put down the newspaper he had been reading as Katherine walked up. She set the tray down, and before she could speak, Mr. Patten said,
“Thank you, Katherine. Now, there’s something I want to speak with you about. I know that you are very busy, but would you mind joining me for just a few minutes as soon as it’s convenient?”
Katherine could hardly believe her ears! She nodded and hurried around to all the tables, taking orders and bringing checks. Finally, when everyone in the shop had been served, she went to Mr. Patten’s table and sat down with a breathless, “I think everyone’s set, but you’ll have to excuse me if we get interrupted.”
Mr. Patten nodded. “Of course.”
“What was it you wanted to talk about?” Katherine asked.
“It regards Captain Braddock. I gather you have enjoyed working at his shop?”
Katherine nodded, her heart fluttering with suspense. “Very much.”
“And do I understand correctly that the Captain considers you his friend?”
“I think so.”
“Then I feel justified in telling you something that I really ought not discuss. The truth is, Captain Braddock has been asking for information about a course of action which I feel would be very much to his hurt. I am bound by the confidentiality of my position, so I cannot give you specifics. I can only say that the step he is considering would be very unadvisable.” He paused, and Katherine asked timidly,
“Would it help if I asked you to explain, generally, what it would mean to a person’s financial state if he—or she—signed over their retirement savings to a business that was losing money?”
Mr. Patten’s eyes grew wide. “He has told you, then?”
“No.” Katherine said, her face growing hot. “But I have…gathered, you might say.”
“Then I can tell you—generally, as you say—that if a person’s income were limited to his or her retirement savings account, he or she would be very unwise to sign that account over to anyone or anything, for it is their only means of support. Even if the individual expected some return on their investment, the loss of personal income long term would nevertheless be catastrophic.”
“And, can you tell me if a business like the Harborside, for example, could survive very long with the addition of such an amount of savings as its only income?”
Mr. Patten considered before answering, as if weighing the information he wanted to give with the limits of what was appropriate to share. “I can tell you that a business such as the Harborside could only survive for a short time on such a sum. Even with so large an investment, a business with so few customers cannot last very long at all. I have seen several such businesses destroyed, and their owners along with them, by similar conditions.”
Katherine’s heart sank. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing. That is, nothing short of convincing the owner to branch out, perhaps advertise… the main thing is to generate more sales.”
“I understand.” Katherine said. “Thank you for telling me. I will see what I can do.”
Mr. Patten stood and reached out to shake Katherine’s hand.
“I am sorry to give you such a bleak account, but I thought you should know.”
“Thank you.” Katherine said, and with an amount of composure worthy of Miss Harriet herself, she walked calmly into the kitchen, pulled the curtain carefully shut, and began to sob.
28 Confessions and Sorrows
Katherine stood with her hand on the doorhandle, trying to gather courage to open the door. She knew she had to confess to the Captain, and it needed to be sooner rather than later. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to open the door, but to no avail.
It took all the strength she could muster at that moment to accomplish the monumental effort of standing still when all she wanted to do was turn and flee back to the safety of solitude at Miss Harriet’s. No, she would stay. But, oh! Where would she find the words to say? And how would she be able to bear his response?
Lord, help me! Her heart cried, as she leaned her head against the doorframe, eyes squeezed tight against the tears that threatened to spill out. Help me do what I know is right. Help me to be brave and not run away!
She straightened up, smoothed her hair back from her face, and turned the door handle.
“Hello, Katherine.” Captain Braddock came in from his office with a smile, wiping his hands on a dust rag. “Ready to unpack the week’s shipments?”
“Yes, I mean, no…that is… I have to tell you something first.”
The old man’s eyebrows knit together as he surveyed Katherine’s troubled face. “Oh? Well, then. Go ahead.”
He was remarkably quiet and calm as Katherine spilled out her confession. The words tumbled out one after the other, completely different from the way she had planned to say them. And yet, calm as he remained, the captain’s face bore an expression of deepening sorrow which tied a sickening knot in Katherine’s stomach.
She had hurt him, and what was worse, she had no just excuse for her behavior. And now! Her rapid stream of words finally came to a halt and Katherine stood still, waiting for the unleashing of the captain’s wrath.
But he just stood there, looking down, silently. Finally, after what seemed to Katherine a miserable eternity, he spoke. His words came slow and grave, seeming to Katherine even slower for their contrast to the rushing flood she had just unleashed.
“If it were anyone else, I’da fired you on the spot for what you’ve done. And perhaps I should anyway, but I know yer curiosity, and I hired you supposin’ something like this would happen eventually. But I’m disappointed in you for how it happened. This place has plenty of secrets of its own, I know, but I never would have thought you’d a gone nosing into mine.”
Katherine hung her head as the Captain continued, a little more gruffly,
“I know you meant well, Katherine, and that lessens the sting of it, but it’s a serious thing you’ve done.”
A wave of sorrow such as Katherine had never felt before swept over her as he spoke.
“I understand.” she said meekly, looking up with pleading eyes. “It was wrong of me. I do want you to know that I only did it because I wanted to help. I should have just asked you what was wrong, but…” She paused, then plunged recklessly ahead. “Oh, isn’t there anything else you can do? Must you take such a drastic step?”
Now the Captain’s face clouded over, and his voice took on the harshness that came whenever his temper flared.
