is even started. The architects hate him. They
don't have a soft snap with him. He made me send back Hinkinson's plans
for the Chester Flats--stairways too wide by ten inches, and ten feet
too near the front for the stores on the sides."

"I know," Reed chuckled. "Well, what do you think about his pay? You
know we've hinted at a raise."

Pilcher smiled. "I think he is worth as much to us as he is to any one
else, and, as I like the fellow personally, I want to hold on to him.
You can't hire a brain like his very long for nothing, and if we don't
come across he may be snapped up by some one else. Carter & Langley's
man asked me the other day if we had a contract with him. I lied. I
told him yes, and what I want to do now is to sign up with the fellow
and know where we stand. He is ambitious, and I never saw such a worker
in my life. He often does as much as an ordinary man after the office
closes. He works at home. He told me that he did not care for
amusements, reading, or politics. He has put his little sister in
school, and he warms up when he speaks of the child. Outside of his
work, she seems to be the only thing he is interested in. He is always
quoting something she says or telling amusing things she does. Then he
laughs--he seldom smiles over anything else. He is very deep and
serious. If he were not so young I'd think he had had a sad love-affair.
I think he must have taken the deaths of his parents and the
responsibility of the child very seriously. Well, what do you think?"

"About a contract with him? Yes, I think we ought to come to terms with
him. You say he is the man we need. Why not be liberal with him?"

"I've always thought that gradual progress," Pilcher said, "was good for
young men. You can spoil them easily by letting them know that you can't
do without them. Still, I see your point and agree with you. How about a
two years' contract at fifteen hundred a year?"

"Not enough." Reed shook his younger and more progressive head firmly.
"Make it eighteen for a year, with a bonus of three per cent. on our
entire net profits."

Pilcher winced and pulled his beard, but finally agreed. "You attend to
the details and draw up the contract. I catch your idea of pinning down
his personal interest in the work with the bonus. If we make as much
money next year as this he will do well."

So it was finally arranged, and when John went home on the following
Saturday night, after signing the contract, he was i