“I don’t know. Tomorrow I’ll go around there and ask. Well, I’m off. Pay the news company when they come. And pay for the Recorders, too. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Why don’t you go across to the store?” asked Jack. “The telephone’s in the outer office. Just tell them I said you were to use it.”
“Too cheeky. I’d rather pay for the call myself. Out of the firm’s money!” he added laughingly as he disappeared through the revolving doors.
He was back some twenty minutes later. “Anything doing?” he asked as he deposited two bundles on the counter.
“Lots,” replied Jack. “I sold two cigars, a package of cigarettes, one Recorder, and a box of these mints. And I paid for the evening papers and a dollar and twelve cents to the news company.”
“Did you put down what you’d paid out?”
“No. Should I?”
“If you don’t we’ll get all mixed up. I’ve got a small blankbook here and I guess we’d better start in and keep a careful account of everything. What papers did the news company bring?”
“All sorts. There’s one from New York. We’ll never sell that, Joey.”
“I don’t believe we will, but it doesn’t matter. After a week or so we’ll find out just what papers we can sell, and how many, and then we’ll confine ourselves to those. They brought the magazines I asked them to? Oh, I see. All right. Things begin to look a bit more business-like again. Undo this candy, will you, while I get the cigars out. By the way, what do you think? That cigar that Mr. Adams smokes is called Vista de Isla and it costs seventeen dollars and twenty cents a hundred!”