you as I have said, but you seem to have some ideas or what might be
made some under my direction, and I think I'll give you a chance. Mind
you, I haven't much confidence. My personal likes usually prove very
fatal to me. Still, you're here, and I like your looks and I haven't
seen anyone else, and so----"

"Thanks," said Eugene.

"Don't thank me. You have a hard job ahead of you if I take you. It's no
child's play. You'd better come with me first and look over the place,"
and he led the way out into the great central room where, because it was
still noon time, there were few people working, but where one could see
just how imposing this business really was.

"Seventy-two stenographers, book-keepers, canvassers and writers and
trade-aid people at their desks," he observed with an easy wave of his
hand, and moved on into the art department, which was in another wing of
the building where a north and east light could be secured. "Here's
where you come in," he observed, throwing open the door where thirty-two
artists' desks and easels were ranged. Eugene was astonished.

"You don't employ that many, do you?" he asked interestedly. Most of the
men were out to lunch.

"From twenty to twenty-five all the time, sometimes more," he said.
"Some on the outside. It depends on the condition of business."

"And how much do you pay them, as a rule?"

"Well, that depends. I think I'll give you seventy-five dollars a week
to begin with, if we come to an understanding. If you make good I'll
make it a hundred dollars a week inside of three months. It all depends.
The others we don't pay so much. The business manager can tell you."

Eugene noticed the evasion. His eyes narrowed. Still there was a good
chance here. Seventy-five dollars was considerably better than fifty and
it might lead to more. He would be his own boss--a man of some
consequence. He could not help stiffening with pride a little as he
looked at the room which Summerfield pointed out to him as his own if he
came--a room where a large, highly polished oak desk was placed and
where some of the Summerfield Advertising Company's art products were
hung on the walls. There was a nice rug on the floor and some
leather-backed chairs.

"Here's where you will be if you come here," said Summerfield.

Eugene gazed round. Certainly life was looking up. How was he to get
this place? On what did it depend? His mind was running forward to
various improvements in his affairs,