coming. I have no contract with
Mr. Summerfield. He has never been willing to give me one."

"Well, we are not keen upon contracts ourselves," said Mr. Fredericks.
"It's not a very strong reed to lean upon, anyhow, as you know. Still a
contract might be arranged if you wish it. Supposing we talk a little
further to Mr. Kalvin today. He doesn't live so far from here," and with
Eugene's consent he went to the phone.

The latter had supposed that the conversation with Mr. Kalvin was
something which would necessarily have to take place at some future
date; but from the conversation then and there held over the phone it
appeared not. Mr. Fredericks explained elaborately over the phone--as
though it was necessary--that he had been about the work of finding an
advertising manager for some time, as Mr. Kalvin knew, and that he had
some difficulty in finding the right man.

"I have been talking to Mr. Witla, whom you met here today, and he is
interested in what I have been telling him about the _Weekly_. He
strikes me from my talk with him here as being possibly the man you are
looking for. I thought that you might like to talk with him further."

Mr. Kalvin evidently signified his assent, for the machine was called
out and they traveled to his house, perhaps a mile away. On the way
Eugene's mind was busy with the possibilities of the future. It was all
so nebulous, this talk of a connection with the famous Kalvin Publishing
Company; but at the same time it was so significant, so potential. Could
it be possible that he was going to leave Summerfield, after all, and
under such advantageous circumstances? It seemed like a dream.

Mr. Kalvin met them in the library of his house, which stood in a
spacious lawn and which save for the lights in the library was quite
dark and apparently lonely. And here their conversation was continued.
He was a quiet man--small, gray-haired, searching in his gaze. He had,
as Eugene noted, little hands and feet, and appeared as still and
composed as a pool in dull weather. He said slowly and quietly that he
was glad that Eugene and Mr. Fredericks had had a talk. He had heard a
little something of Eugene in the past; not much. He wanted to know what
Eugene thought of current advertising policies, what he thought of
certain new developments in advertising method, and so on, at some
length.

"So you think you might like to come with us," he observed drily toward
the end, as though Eugene had propos