the
adjoining office, though Whimple at first had strongly demurred. But,
indeed, an office floor with a front entrance and a rear stairway that
landed you on a lane leading to a back street was not without
advantages when money was scarce and bill collectors plentiful.

To many it may seem remarkable, to others amusing, and to the minority
a thing unbelievable, that before the end of the first week William
should have been manager of the office so far as its routine was
concerned. Every one who has had the honour of acquaintance with a
first-class office boy will understand. Those who have not had that
experience will not, and to them is added those who do not regard boys,
office or otherwise, as having the remotest bearing upon, connection
with, or part in the working of the world of to-day. Your first-class
office boy inspires fear. He knows his indispensability; he knows that
more than anything else the boss loathes the trouble of hiring an
office boy; he knows--oh! what does he not know? You who have never
had to do with him, or depend upon him, go sit at the feet of him who
has and try to grasp the outer rim of understanding as to the depth and
height and width of the wisdom and learning, the profound knowledge of
the only human being to whom the Kings of Finance and Commerce (see any
daily paper) appear as they really are--just men.

Sometimes an office boy is beloved--and that not always--for the
virtues that tell most in actual work. Or may be a streak of
cheeriness in the otherwise inscrutable bearing; it may be a confiding,
"Oh! may I trust in you, boss?" kind of manner; it may be that in the
man who hires him there still remains--though now well controlled--that
love of fun and careless mischievousness that seems to be peculiar to
the office boy of all nationalities. What one or what combination of
any or all of these qualities Whimple found quite early in William
still remains a mystery.

Coming back to William, it is to be observed that while he became Grand
Master of Ceremonies in full charge of the office routine, he exercised
his authority with discretion and tact. By the end of the first month,
he had won Whimple to an announcement on the outer door to the effect
that office hours were from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and he had established
his own luncheon hour as from 12 to 1. "It wouldn't do for you," he
said gravely to Whimple, "to be takin' your lunch then, because you're
a per-fession'l man.