“Here we are,” announced Teddy, at last, as they paused before a huge stone edifice that towered high above the neighboring buildings. “Let’s go in at that big middle door. Then we can ask someone the way to the office.”
“Suppose we ask that man standing in front of the elevators,” suggested Harry a moment later, as they threaded their way in and out of the crowded aisles. Suiting the action to the word, he approached the man and asked his question.
“All the way down, turn to your right, and four aisles over,” repeated the man mechanically.
“Thank you,” Harry replied doubtfully. “‘All the way down, turn to your right, and four aisles over,’” he repeated.
“That’s clear as mud,” was Teddy’s satirical comment.
“I guess we can find it. Let me see. We have to go clear down to that desk. Come on.” Harry led the way. From the desk they made the turning to the right and counted the aisles.
“I see it,” Teddy cried, pointing straight ahead.
“Yes, there it is.”
A dozen steps down a short, narrow aisle brought the boys to an enclosure railed off from the passage by a flat-topped, breast-high partition of oak. Within the enclosure were several desks. At these desks young men and women were seated. Beyond the enclosure they caught sight through half-opened doors of an inner office with a shining desk, before which a grave, middle-aged man was sitting. Along the wall, facing the outer office, were long, oak benches. These were but sparsely occupied. A gray-haired woman occupied the end of one of them. The length of a bench from her two young girls sat, talking in whispers and glancing furtively at the young man who received the aspirants for positions.
It seemed hours to both lads before their turn came. “Well, boys, what is it?” asked the young man kindly. He had a dark, alert face, and dark, penetrating eyes.