eplied Ellen. "I want to get work if I can. I don't
know which foreman I ought to see."

"To get work?" repeated the girl, with a subtle change in her
manner.

"Yes," said Ellen. She could hear her heart beat, but she looked at
the other girl's pretty, common face with the most perfect calmness.

"Mr. Flynn is the one you want to see, then," said the girl. "You
know Ed Flynn, don't you?"

"A little," replied Ellen. He had been a big boy when she entered
the high-school, and had left the next spring.

"Well, he's the one you want," said Nellie Stone. Then she raised
her voice to a shrill peal as a boy passed the office door.

"Here, you, Jack," said she, "ask Mr. Flynn to come here a minute,
will you?"

"He don't want to see you," replied the boy, who was small and
spare, laden heavily with a great roll of wrapping paper borne
bayonet fashion over his shoulder. His round, impish face grinned
back at the girl at the desk.

"Quit your impudence," she returned, half laughing herself. "I don't
want to see him; it is this young lady here; hurry up."

The boy gave a comprehensive glance at Ellen. "Guess he'll come," he
called back.

Flynn appeared soon. He was handsome, well shaven and shorn, and he
held himself smartly. He also dressed well in a business suit which
would not have disgraced the Lloyds. His face lit up with
astonishment and pleasure when he saw Ellen. He bowed and greeted
her in a rich voice. He was of Irish descent but American born. Both
his motions and his speech were adorned with flourishes of grace
which betrayed his race. He placed a chair for Ellen with a sweep
which would have been a credit to the stage. All his actions had a
slight exaggeration as of fresco painting, which seemed to fit them
for a stage rather than a room, and for an audience rather than
chance spectators.

"No, thank you," replied Ellen. Then she went straight to the matter
in hand. "I have called to see if I could get a job here?" she said.
She had been formulating her speech all the way thither. Her first
impulse was to ask for employment, but she was sure as to the manner
in which a girl would ordinarily couch such a request. So she asked
for a job.

Flynn stared at her. "A job?" he repeated.

"Yes, I want very much to get one," replied Ellen. "I thought there
might be a vacancy."

"Why, I thought--" said the young man. He was very much astonished,
but his natural polish could rise above astonishment. Instead of