When Jimmy at Mr. Pett's office on Pine Street at ten-thirty the next morning—his of up early to be there by nine having proved an empty boast—he was in a high of preparedness. He had for what might be a trying by a of well-chosen at an hotel for the less boarding-house with which he had of late been his interior. His was pressed, his shoes brightly, and his was shaven. These things, with the perfection of the and that which a day in down-town New York to the man who has not got to work, his natural optimism. Something to tell him that all would be well. He would have been the last person to that his position was a little complicated—he had to use a pencil and a of paper to himself just where he stood—but what of that? A in life are an excellent for the brain. It was with a sunny which that considerably—and him to his gum—that he in his card to Mr. Pett's waiting office-boy.
"This to the boss, my open-faced lad!" he said. "Get off the mark."
The boy dumbly.
From where he stood, the which visitors to the office from the within, Jimmy see a of efficient-looking men with paper protectors their away at jobs which to involve the use of a great of paper. One in particular was so by it that he had the of a in surf. Jimmy these with a and eye. All this him happy. He liked to think of this of thing going on all him.
The office-boy returned. "This way, please."
The of the lad's manner had noticeably. Mr. Pett's of the visitor's name had him. It was an odd that the financier, a in his own home, all of people at the office.
To Mr. Pett, the that Mr. James Crocker was waiting to see him had come like the of a miracle. Not a day had passed since their return to America without from Mrs. Pett on the of their failure to secure the man's person. The occasion of Mrs. Pett's reading of the article in the Sunday Chronicle of the Lord Percy Whipple had been in the little man's history. For the time since he had her the woman had down. Of all sad of or pen the are these "It might have been!" and the that, if she had only to know it, she had had in her hands that with her sister in London a which would have into was more than Mrs. Pett's endure. When she looked on that and the way in which Mrs. Crocker had spoken of her step-son's "best friend, Lord Percy Whipple" and that at that very moment Lord Percy had been in from the of his meeting with Jimmy Crocker, the iron entered into her and she to be comforted. In the of she of six and she have said to her sister, each more than the last—things which now she would be able to say.
And now, and unaccountably, the means was at hand for her to her self-esteem. Jimmy Crocker, despite what his had said, in active of her commands, had come to America after all. Mr. Pett's was that his wife would, as he it to himself, be "tickled to death about this." Scarcely waiting for the office-boy to retire, he Jimmy like a and him on the with every of and friendliness.
"My dear boy!" he cried. "My dear boy! I'm to see you!"
Jimmy was surprised, relieved, and pleased. He had not this warmth. A had been the best he had looked for. He had been to that in the Pett home he was as the black sheep: and, while one may admit a black sheep into the fold, it not that one must of upon him.
"You're very kind," he said, startled.
They each other for a moment. Mr. Pett was that Jimmy was a great on the picture his had of him. He had looked for something tougher, something and bloated. Jimmy, for his part, had taken an to the financier. He, too, had been by imagination. He had always that these Wall Street way were keen, fellows, with and tongues. On the he had only Mr. Pett from afar, and had had no means of his character. He him an little man.
"We had up all of your coming," said Mr. Pett.
A little to Jimmy to be in order.
"I you would me like this. I I must have myself unpopular."
Mr. Pett the past with a gesture.
"When did you land?" he asked.
"This morning. On the Caronia . . ."
"Good passage?"
"Excellent."
There was a silence. It to Jimmy that Mr. Pett was looking at him more closely than was necessary for the of his of beauty. He was just about to out some light about the health of Mrs. Pett or something about porpoises on the to add local colour and verisimilitude, when his missed a beat, as he that he had a blunder. Like many other plotters, Ann and he had the mistake of being too elaborate. It had them as an idea for Jimmy to that he had that morning, and it was a good idea: but he now for the time that, if he had Mr. Pett on the Atlantic, the was that Mr. Pett had him. The next moment the other had this suspicion.
"I've an idea I've you before. Can't think where."
"Everybody well at home?" said Jimmy.
"I'm sure of it."
"I'm looking to them all."
"I've you some place."
"I'm often there."
"Eh?"
Mr. Pett to be this over in his mind a suspiciously. Jimmy the subject.
"To a man like myself," he said, "with life opening out him, there is something in the of a modern office. How those seem!"
"Yes," said Mr. Pett. "Yes." He was that this note had been struck. He was to discuss the with this man.
"Everybody but father!" said Jimmy.
Mr. Pett started.
"Eh?"
"Nothing."
Mr. Pett was ruffled. He insult, but not pin it down. He his cheeriness, however, and the man of business.
"I you to settle down, now that you are here, and work hard," he said in the voice which he to use on Ogden at home.
"Work!" said Jimmy blankly.
"I shall be able to make a place for you in my office. That was my promise to your step-mother, and I shall it."
"But wait a minute! I don't this! Do you to put me to work?"
"Of course. I take it that that was why you came over here, you how you were your life and wanted a of making good in my office."
A on Jimmy's tongue. Never had he been so misjudged. And then the of Ann him. He must do nothing that would with Ann's plans. Whatever the cost, he must this little man. For a moment he on Ann. He she would what he was going through for her sake. To a man with his for work in any shape the of those wage-slaves there in the office had, as he had told Mr. Pett, been stimulating: but only it him with a of to think that he had not got to do that of thing. Consider them in the light of fellow-workers, and the to and nauseating. And for her he was about to one of them! Had any of old done anything as big as that for his lady? He very much it.
"All right," he said. "Count me in. I take it that I shall have a job like one of those out there?"
"Yes."
"Not to dictate, I that you give me something that will take some of the work off that who's in paper. Only the of his nose was above the surface as I passed through. I saw so many so hard at the same time in my life. All trying to catch the boss's eye, too, I suppose? It must make you like a snipe."
Mr. Pett stiffly. He this on the of office work. He that Jimmy was not his new life in the proper spirit. Many men had with him in that room the of in his employment, but none in the same manner.
"You are at a point in your career," he said. "You will have every opportunity of rising."
"Yes. At seven in the morning, I suppose?"
"A of levity—" Mr. Pett.
"I laugh that I may not weep," Jimmy. "Try to think what this means to a man who work. Be to me. Instruct your floor-walkers to speak to me at first. It may be a far, thing that I do than I have done, but don't ask me to it! It's all right for you. You're the boss. Any time you want to call it a day and go off and watch a ball-game, all you have to do is to word that you have an urgent date to see Mr. Rockerfeller. Whereas I shall have to myself in paper and only come up for air when the of too great."
It may have been the mention of his game that Mr. Pett. The which had into his manner thawed.
"It me," he said, "why you came over at all, if you like that."
"Duty!" said Jimmy. "Duty! There comes a time in the life of every man when he must choose what is and what is right."
"And that last fool-game of yours, that Lord Percy Whipple business, must have London for you?" Mr. Pett.
"Your is less than mine, but there is something in what you say."
"Had it to you, man, that I am taking a a like you to work in my office?"
"Have no fear. The little of work I shall do won't make any difference."
"I've a mind to send you to London."
"Couldn't we compromise?"
"How?"
"Well, haven't you some job you put me into? I have an idea that I should make an secretary."
"My work."
"I you. Cancel the suggestion."
Mr. Pett his thoughtfully.
"You puzzle me. And that's the truth."
"Always speak the truth," said Jimmy approvingly.
"I'm if I know what to do with you. Well, you'd come home with me now, anyway, and meet your aunt, and then we can talk over. After all, the main thing is to keep you out of mischief."
"You put crudely, but no you are right."
"You'll live with us, of course."
"Thank you very much. This is the right spirit."
"I'll have to talk to Nesta about you. There may be something you can do."
"I shouldn't mind being a partner," Jimmy helpfully.
"Why don't you work on a paper again? You used to do that well."
"I don't think my old paper would welcome me now. They me as an news-item than a worker."
"That's true. Say, why on earth did you make such a of over on the other side? That breach-of-promise case with the barmaid!" said Mr. Pett reproachfully.
"Let be bygones," said Jimmy. "I was more against than sinning. You know how it is, uncle Pete!" Mr. Pett started violently, but said nothing. "You try out of pure of to light and and protect the working-girl—like Heaven—and up her and so on, and she right around and it to you good! And she wasn't a barmaid. She in a florist's shop."
"I don't see that that makes any difference."
"All the in the world, all the the and the poetical. I don't know if you have the of a florist's shop? Take it from me, uncle Pete, any girl can look an as long as she is by choice blooms. I couldn't help myself. I wasn't responsible. I only up when I met her outside. But all that of thing is different now. I am another man. Sober, steady, serious-minded!"
Mr. Pett had taken the from the telephone and was talking to some one. The of a voice came to Jimmy's ears. Mr. Pett up the receiver.
"Your aunt says we are to come up at once."
"I'm ready. And it will be a good for you to off work. I you're I came! Does the or shall we take the subway?"
"I it will be to take the subway. Your aunt's very that you are here, and very pleased."
"I'm making happy to-day."
Mr. Pett was looking at him in a way. Jimmy his eye.
"You're something, uncle Pete, and I don't know what it is. Why the glance?"
"I was just of something."
"Jimmy," his nephew.
"Eh?"
"Add the word Jimmy to your remarks. It will help me to at home and me to overcome my shyness."
Mr. Pett chuckled.
"Shyness! If I had your nerve—!" He off with a and looked at Jimmy affectionately. "What I was was that you're a good boy. At least, you're not, but you're different from that of—of—that up-town."
"What crowd?"
"Your aunt is literary, you know. She's the house with and that of thing. It will be a having you around. You're human! I don't see that we're going to make much of you now that you're here, but I'm you've come, Jimmy!"
"Put it there, uncle Pete!" said Jimmy. "You're all right. You're the Captain of Industry I met!"
