ther I thought thirty-five shillings a week would-- Well,
I'll tell you what. You go ahead as you've begun, and at the end
of a month we'll make your pay two pounds a week. How'll that suit?'

'Thank you, sir; that will suit me very well.'

'Right. By the way, don't say "sir" to me, please. They all call me
"Mr. John," and my father "Mr. Canning." See! Now, I'll just introduce
you to Mr. Meadows, our accountant, and he will show you round. Mr.
Meadows has charge of our clerical staff, you understand; but you'll
have most to do with me, of course. There's a little bit of a room
opposite mine, where we keep the stationery an' that. I dare say
you'll be able to work there.'

In this wise, then, with most fortunate ease, I secured my first
employment in the capital city; and very well it suited me, for the
present. Within a week I found that I was left to open all letters,
and to deal with them very much as I thought best, with references of
course to Mr. John, and at times, in a matter of accounts, to Mr.
Meadows, or again to the storekeeper and others. It was not good
shorthand practice, but his correspondence pleased Mr. John very
much--especially its more rotund phrases--whilst for my part I keenly
relished the fact that I, the most junior member of the staff, had
really less of supervision in my work than any one else in the office.

Upon the whole I was entitled, on that evening of my first day in the
Sussex Street offices, to feel that I had made a tolerably creditable
beginning, and that Sydney had treated the latest suppliant for her
favour rather well. What I very well remember I did feel was that I
should have an interesting story for Mr. William Smith that night when
I reached 'my rooms' at North Shore.

XV

My third day at J. Canning and Son's offices was a Saturday, and the
establishment closed at one o'clock. My room-mate, Mr. Smith, had
invited me to spend the afternoon with him at Manly, the favourite
sea-beach resort close to Sydney Heads. I had other plans in view, but
did not like to refuse Mr. Smith, and so spent the time with him, not
without enjoyment.

Manly was not, of course, the thronged and crowded place it is to-day,
but its Saturday afternoon visitors were fairly numerous, and most of
them were people who showed in a variety of ways that they did not
have to consider very closely the expenditure of a sovereign or so.
For our part, Mr. Smith's and mine, I doubt if our outing cost mor