"Well," said Mr. Wattles, when he had finished, "you're 'way off in your ideas on that point. Why, the interview is great. I supposed you had taken the reporter out and got him full."
"The interview didn't cost me a cent."
"That's so much the better. I'm mighty glad it appeared, and you ought to be, too. It'll help biz; and how do you know but that through it you may find your sister?"
"That's not possible," said Al. "Why, the facts are all distorted. My father never had any palatial country seat in Tarrytown; there was never any talk of a rejected suitor of my mother's; there——"
"Never mind," interrupted Mr. Wattles; "it's a good ad., anyway, and we got it for nothing. You mustn't be so thin-skinned, my boy. You see here"—in a changed tone—"that ad. of yours in the Bugle must have cost a young fortune. You ought to have consulted me by wire before you did that. The idea is a good one, and everyone is talking about it, but it will not be worth to us what it cost."
"How much do you suppose I paid for it, sir?"
"Oh, I don't know; three hundred at least, probably more."
"It cost just fifty dollars; and if it is not worth that to you, I'll pay it out of my own pocket."
"Fif—— Is that straight?"
"Certainly."