"Right!"
Instantly the attendant closed the gates and touched a lever. Armitage felt his stomach leap into his throat. They were flying upward at a speed of fifty miles an hour, and before he had time to gasp, the car had reached the first stop, nearly 300 feet up in the air. Two stories more and he had reached the floor he wanted.
"Along the corridor to your left, first door to the right," shouted the elevator man.
Armitage followed the handsome corridor with its marble walls, inlaid floors and hard-wood finishing until he came to a glass door on which was inscribed in bold black letters:
COXE AND WILLOUGHBY
Counsellors at law
He opened the door, and found himself in an outer office in which behind a rail were two foppish-looking clerks seated at desks. Neither of them made an attempt to move when Armitage entered, but continued their animated discussion of a game of baseball they had witnessed the previous day. Armitage hit the rail lightly with his hand to attract their attention, and finally one of the clerks condescended to get up and come and ask what the caller wanted.
"I wish to see a member of the firm," said Armitage.
The clerk looked him over from head to toe. He had been trained to judge people by their clothes, and there was something unconventional about Armitage's attire that appealed to his sense of humor. He turned to his fellow clerk and gave him the wink, whereupon the other laughed.
"In relation to what?" he demanded, wondering what possible business this ordinary workingman could have with his employer.