"'I'm coming to help you with the letters, old fellow,' he said, slipping off his coat and turning to do the polite to old Bristow, as he told me afterwards, because Bristow is my chief, you see, and he might cut up rough even with Jack if he thought we were up to larks with the letters.
"Jack showed me how to sort them first. There was a stack, I tell you. Every department has a bag of its own, except the accountant's and those addressed to Mr. Brading personally. Those for our department I hand to Mr. Bristow as soon as I have got them all together, and Mr. Brading's, I take to his room, which is next to our offices; and then when all the other bags are ready, I sling them over my shoulder and start off on my round. Jack insisted upon carrying half the bags for me this morning, and in every department, he introduced me to its chief manager as 'Mr. Murray, our assistant-accountant.'
"There was no larking about Jack while he was doing this, I can tell you," said Arthur impressively. "But as we got through the place well within the time allowed, we turned into the gymnasium and let off steam for five minutes. Mr. Brading allows this to the youngest of the crowd, and it proves that he knows what he is about, and how he can get the best work out of a fellow. It took us nearly an hour before we gave up the last bag in the furniture warehouse, and as the clock was striking, I went up to my desk and Jack ran off to school."
"How late he would be!" put in Molly.
"Yes, but Mr. Brading had arranged it all with Dr. Robinson, and so Jack would only miss one of his classes, and there would be no time wasted in taking excuses to the doctor. Mr. Brading believes that time is money, even a school-boy's time."
"Hannah ought to go there and take a lesson," commented Annie.
"What time do you think we had our one-o'clock dinner to-day?" said Molly, laughing. "It was just half-past two by the dining-room clock, and when Annie told her of it she said, 'Time was of no consequence here'!"
"It never was to us, according to old Hannah. A good thing for me I don't have to come home to dinner, or I should have to live on bread and cheese half the week, I suppose."
"No, you wouldn't," said Molly promptly. "If Hannah would not begin to get the dinner ready in good time, I would go to the kitchen and get it myself. I know enough about cooking now to do most things, for I like to learn and Hannah likes to teach me. So if you wish to come home to dinner, only say what time you want it, and I will have it on the table all ready."
Annie laughed. "How bravely we talk!" she said. "But I should not like to face old Hannah on such an errand."