Evan smiled. Robb still stood beside him.
"Evan! ....."
He looked up, surprised to hear himself addressed so familiarly by the manager; but the latter was speaking:
".... Remember this: extra holidays never save you labor. The work is always waiting for your return, piling up through every hour of your pleasure."
Mr. Robb sighed and walked into his office, leaving the new junior to absorb another impression. The words spoken did impress Nelson. He sat gazing before him at the wall, wondering why the manager was so friendly toward him and so cynical on matters of business. From looking at nothingness his eyes gradually focused on a calendar, and at an "X" mark in pencil thereon. The mark indicated the day when he would make a trip home to tell about "the world": that day had come.
With a smile he laid aside the money-order he had been examining and began straightening up his desk, whistling as he did so. Castle, out in his cash, was annoyed.
"Will you kindly stop that whistling," he commanded in his high tones.
"Excuse me," said the junior quickly, "I wasn't thinking."
"Well you want to think," returned Castle.
"No you don't," called Watson; "you'll get h—l if you dare to think. As the hymn says, 'Trust and obey'—but for heaven's sake don't think. Now I think—"