‘Well,’ said George, ‘they have so many.’
‘Many offices! What do you mean?’
‘Why, you see, I’m not attached to any office. One week I go to their office in Fenchurch Street, and perhaps the next I’m at Little Britain. This week I’m on at the office in the Borough.’
‘Do you have many customers come in?’
‘No. Now and then a gentleman comes to see the manager—that’s all.’
‘It’s a queer situation, anyway,’ said Jabez. ‘I wonder what they can be?’
‘I don’t know,’ answered George; ‘but the manager is a most respectable old gentleman, and very kind, and I get my money to the minute.’
Jabez registered a mental note to make some inquiries about the firm of Smith & Co., who had so many offices. And then the conversation turned upon Mr. Jabez’s own line of business.
‘We see some rum affairs in the law,’ he said, after giving George an idea of the grandeur of his firm. ‘We’ve a case now that’s a romance in itself.’
‘A romance!’ exclaimed Miss Jackson. ‘Oh, I dote on romances, they end so sadly. I had my romance once.’