tion, which
had just been organized to take over the old company of Swinton, Scudder
and Davis, and was labeled "The Office of the President."

Eugene thought this was significant. Could Colfax be going to make him
an offer of some kind? Well, the more the merrier! He was doing very
well indeed, and liked Mr. Kalvin very much, in fact, all his
surroundings, but, as an offer was a testimonial to merit and could be
shown as such, he would not be opposed to receiving it. It might
strengthen him with Kalvin if it did nothing else. He made an occasion
to go over, first talking the letter over with Angela, who was simply
curious about the whole thing. He told her how much interested Colfax
appeared to be the first time they met and that he fancied it might mean
an offer from the United Magazines Corporation at some time or other.

"I'm not particularly anxious about it," said Eugene, "but I'd like to
see what is there."

Angela was not sure that it was wise to bother with it. "It's a big
firm," she said, "but it isn't bigger than Mr. Kalvin's, and he's been
mighty nice to you. You'd better not do anything to injure yourself with
him."

Eugene thought of this. It was sound advice. Still he wanted to hear.

"I won't do anything," he said. "I would like to hear what he has to
say, though."

A little later he wrote that he was coming on the twentieth and that he
would be glad to take dinner with Colfax.

The first meeting between Eugene and Colfax had been conclusive so far
as future friendship was concerned. These two, like Eugene and
Summerfield, were temperamentally in accord, though Colfax was very much
superior to Summerfield in his ability to command men.

This night when they met at dinner at Colfax's house the latter was most
cordial. Colfax had invited him to come to his office, and together they
went uptown in his automobile. His residence was in upper Fifth Avenue,
a new, white marble fronted building with great iron gates at the door
and a splendid entry set with small palms and dwarf cedars. Eugene saw
at once that this man was living in that intense atmosphere of
commercial and financial rivalry which makes living in New York so keen.
You could feel the air of hard, cold order about the place, the
insistence on perfection of appointment, the compulsion toward material
display which was held in check only by that sense of fitness, which
knowledge of current taste and the mode in everything demanded. His
aut