“Oh, yes,” he answered innocently. “I talk to her a lot. I try to find out what she’s adapted for; but I can’t, for the life of me. And yet I can’t fire her. I simply can’t do it. She says no one else would give her the same chance I do; and that’s no lie. She wouldn’t last a week in any other office!”
“Unless—” said I, and hesitated.
“Unless what?” asked Graves.
“Unless there were another personnel manager as—as conscientious as you.”
“Well,” said Graves, “it’s this way—there’s a big responsibility attached to my job. I shouldn’t like to think I’d destroyed the self-confidence of a girl like Miss Clare.[Pg 85]”
“Anything would be better than that,” I said.
Graves looked at me with dawning suspicion.
“Well, you’re all wrong,” he said severely, “if you think there’s any—any personal element in this. It’s simply that I’ve got a heavy responsibility—”
“You bet you have!” said I, and left him with that.