Not by so much as the twinkling of an eye did the little man betray that he was interested in Rock’s words, or that the clerk’s meddling with the firm’s affairs was at all out of the ordinary.
“Mr. Greener,” said the clerk, very earnestly, “I should like to try to get them for you.”
“Yes?” he squeaked, absent-mindedly.
“Yes, sir,” answered Rock.
“Go ahead, then,” said Mr. Greener, carelessly. “Let me know next week how you are getting on.”
An expression of disappointment came into Rock’s face, whereupon Greener added: “Of course if you succeed I’ll do well by you.”
“What will you do, Mr. Greener?” asked the clerk, looking straight at him.
“I’ll give you,” he squeaked, encouragingly, “ten thousand dollars.”
“Is that a good price for the work, Mr. Greener? I may have to pay out a great deal,” added the young clerk with a faint touch of bitterness.
“It is all that it is worth to me, Mr. Rock, and I think it is worth more to me than to anybody else. I’ll raise your salary from sixteen hundred to two thousand a year. That’s a great deal more money than I had at your age, Mr. Rock.”