uff."

"Nobody has. I'm keeping it dark. It's only a try-out. You _did_ send
for me, didn't you?" she added, turning to Hal.

"Yes. What I had in mind to say to you--that is, to the author--the
writer of the paragraphs," stumbled Hal, "is that they're a little
too--too--"

"Too flip?" queried his father. "That's what makes 'em go."

"If they could be done in a manner not quite so undignified," suggested
the editor-in-chief.

Color rose in the girl's smooth cheek. "You think they're vulgar," she
charged.

"That's rather too harsh a word," he protested.

"You do! I can see it." She flushed an angry red. "I'd rather stop
altogether than have you think that."

"Don't be young," put in McGuire Ellis, with vigor. "Kitty has caught
on. It's a good feature. The paper can't afford to drop it."

"That's right," supplemented Dr. Surtaine. "People are beginning to talk
about those items. They read 'em. I read 'em myself. They've got the go,
the pep. They're different. But, Milly, I didn't even know you could
write."

"Neither did I," said the girl staidly, "till I got to putting down some
of the things I heard the girls say, and stringing them together with
nonsense of my own. One evening I showed some of it to Mr. Veltman, and
he took it here and had it printed."

"I was going to suggest, Mr. Surtaine," said McGuire Ellis formally,
"that we put Miss Kitty on the five-dollar-a-column basis and make her
an every-other-day editorial page feature. I think the stuff's worth
it."

"We can give it a trial," said his principal, a little dubiously, "since
you think so well of it."

"Then, Milly, I suppose you'll be quitting the shop to become a
full-fledged writer," remarked Dr. Surtaine.

"No, indeed, Chief." The girl smiled at him with that frank
friendliness which Hal had noted as informing every relationship between
Dr. Surtaine and the employees of the Certina plant. "I'll stick. The
regular pay envelope looks good to me. And I can do this work after
hours."

"How would it be if I was to put you on half-time, Milly?" suggested her
employer. "You can keep your department going by being there in the
mornings and have your afternoons for the writing."

The girl thanked him demurely but with genuine gratitude.

"Then we'll look for your copy here on alternate days," said Hal. "And I
think I'll give you a desk. As this develops into an editorial feature I
shall want to keep an eye on it and to be in touch with you. P