father was a Syrian, but he was born over here--who has
built up a tremendous business out of designing series of ads like that
for big corporations. He got up that Molly Maguire series for the new
cleaning fluid. I don't think he does any of the work himself. He hires
artists to do it. Some of the best men, I understand, have done work for
him. He gets splendid prices. Then some of the big advertising agencies
are taking up that work. One of them I know. The Summerville Company has
a big art department in connection with it. They employ fifteen to
eighteen men all the time, sometimes more. They turn out some
fine ads, too, to my way of thinking. Do you remember that Korno
series?"--Benedict was referring to a breakfast food which had been
advertised by a succession of ten very beautiful and very clever
pictures.

"Yes," replied Eugene.

"Well, they did that."

Eugene thought of this as a most interesting development. Since the days
in which he worked on the Alexandria _Appeal_ he had been interested in
ads. The thought of ad creation took his fancy. It was newer than
anything else he had encountered recently. He wondered if there would
not be some chance in that field for him. His paintings were not
selling. He had not the courage to start a new series. If he could make
some money first, say ten thousand dollars, so that he could get an
interest income of say six or seven hundred dollars a year, he might be
willing to risk art for art's sake. He had suffered too much--poverty
had scared him so that he was very anxious to lean on a salary or a
business income for the time being.

It was while he was speculating over this almost daily that there came
to him one day a young artist who had formerly worked on the _World_--a
youth by the name of Morgenbau--Adolph Morgenbau--who admired Eugene and
his work greatly and who had since gone to another paper. He was very
anxious to tell Eugene something, for he had heard of a change coming in
the art directorship of the Summerville Company and he fancied for one
reason and another that Eugene might be glad to know of it. Eugene had
never looked to Morgenbau like a man who ought to be working in a
newspaper art department. He was too self-poised, too superior, too
wise. Morgenbau had conceived the idea that Eugene was destined to make
a great hit of some kind and with that kindling intuition that sometimes
saves us whole he was anxious to help Eugene in some way and so gain hi