“I mean––” she grew really confused. “I mean––you needn’t put it down that I said it. You ought to say it to yourself.”
He shook his head. “That’s too deep for me.”
“Then let’s drop the subject,” she answered curtly. “Only don’t get the idea that it’s I who am worrying about your salary, one way or the other.”
“No need of getting peeved about it,” he suggested.
“Not in the slightest,” she agreed.
But she did not wait for her éclair, and went back to the office in anything but a good humor.
On the whole, Miss Winthrop was rather disappointed in him as a result of this last interview––the more so because he had begun the day so well. Her hopes had risen high at the way he approached Powers, and at the seriousness with which he had listened to what Powers had to say. He had acted like a man eager to learn. Then he had spoiled it all by placing undue emphasis on the salary end.
This new development in Pendleton came as a surprise. It did not seem consistent with his nature as she read it in his eyes. It was not in character. It left her doubting her judgment about him along other lines. She did not object to his ambition. That was essential. He ought to work for Farnsworth’s position––but for the position, not the salary. The position stood for power based upon ability. That was the sort of success she would be keen about if she were a man.
Curious, too, that Mr. Pendleton should be so keen about money in this one direction. She had thought his tendency all the other way, and had made a mental note that sometime she must drive home to him a few facts about having a decent respect for money. A man who would return the loan of a two-dollar bill in five dollars’ worth of roses was not the sort of man one expected to have a vaulting ambition for thousands for their own sake. One thing was sure––he was not the type of man who ought to occupy so much of her attention on a busy afternoon.