“Well-?” he said, finally, after a critical sniff.
Then, as I said, I laughed-a laugh born of my feeling of new confidence, gained from the teachings of the Voice. It caught Ben Hutchins’s interest and made him take a liking to me from the start. I have learned that he is very quick and very decided in his likes and dislikes. In fact, he never does anything half-way. He is either stubbornly for a thing or against it. No argument can ever convince him either way. And down under all his surface peculiarities he has a keen and most original sense of humor. It was the liking that he conceived for me from the start which made him let me do the things that I have done.
He gave me again the once-over; then he, too, indulged in a faint grin.
“I’ve come for that job,” I informed him, with all my new courage of adventure. “And I’m just the man you’re looking for.”
“Oh, are you?” and he gave another of his critical sniffs, which I soon discovered to be habitual. “Well, come and sit down, and we’ll see. I may not be of your opinion.”
With his composing-stick still in his hand, he led the way to the corner where stood the ancient roll-top desk. He seated himself heavily in the creaking swivel-chair, and I pulled up another old chair that stood near. All this time he was studying me closely over his glasses.
“I’ve got the reputation,” he told me, after I was seated, “of never keeping a man very long.”
He waited to see if this was going to discourage me any. But it didn’t, and so he went on to say:-
“But the ones that come out here for a job are generally no good. Or, if they are, they get discouraged and don’t want to stay.”
“Well, I’m going to stay,” I said, “you can’t get rid of me. And I’m all to the good.”