“I know how you can have your dull-finish pictures, Mr. Riley,” he stated.
“Oh, you do?” interposed Orris, an edge to his voice. “Suppose you tell us!”
“I was trying it out the other day,” explained Flash. “All you need to do is to place the print between blotting paper when you put it on the ferrotype machine.”
“And what finish will it make?” Riley inquired with interest.
“I’ll show you,” Flash offered. “I think I have a few samples in my portfolio.”
He brought the prints. Riley glanced at them and beamed.
“This is what I want! Orris, let me have my prints like these.”
“As you wish,” the head photographer returned surlily, “but I doubt if they’ll make as good cuts as the regular glossy prints.”
After Riley had gone, Orris offered no comment. He experimented in the darkroom, and gave orders to the other photographers how the new prints were to be made. While he neither praised nor criticised Flash, his attitude made it evident that he considered the young man something of a pest.
However, the new prints made an attractive change in the Ledger, and Riley was pleased.