“If I don’t hang my hat up in that shanty, you can count me out,” said Will.
“The saucy young rascal has the making of a business man in him,” said Mr. Leonard, to himself. “I would much rather have a boy that aimed high than one that aimed low. He is a handsome lad, too, and if better dressed would be quite presentable. I have half a notion to try him, with all his impudence. He is a perfect specimen of the street Arab, but he seems quick and intelligent.”
“How about that job?” asked Will, impatiently. “I’m bound to strike one, somewhere, afore night. I’ve give you the refusal. The man that gets me makes a ten-strike, and no braggin’.”
“If I should give you employment could I depend on you to do what you were told?”
“What I was told?” said Will, rising impulsively to his feet. “I wouldn’t give a smashed cent for the feller who couldn’t do more than he was told.”
“That would never do,” replied Mr. Leonard. “I want a boy to do just as he is told.”
“And what chance is there for genius, then, if a feller can’t spread a little?” asked Will, earnestly. “The boy that only does what he’s told won’t never get to Congress.”
“And they who act beyond their instructions sometimes get to the State’s prison, my boy. If I give you a position you must learn to never take a step without orders.”
“I can try,” said Will, with a comical leer, “but it’ll go mighty ag’in’ the grain.”
Their conversation was interrupted at this point by the entrance of a person into the office.