At length he saw an advertisement that read as follows:
WANTED—A young man of 18 or 20 to assist in the office of a local express. Inquire at No. — —— St.”
“Do you think I would answer for such a place?” he asked.
“I don’t see why not. At any rate, ‘nothing venture, nothing gain.’ You may as well go around and inquire. And, by the way, as your suit is rather shabby, let me lend you one of mine. We are of nearly the same size.”
“Thank you, Mr. Leslie.”
“Fine feathers make fine birds, you know, and a neat dress always increases the chances of an applicant for employment, though, when it is carried too far, it is apt to excite suspicion. I remember a friend of mine advertised for a bookkeeper. Among the applicants was a young man wearing a sixty-dollar suit, a ruffled shirt, a handsome gold watch and a diamond pin. He was a man of taste, and he was strongly impressed with the young man’s elegant appearance. So, largely upon the strength of these, he engaged him, and in less than six months discovered that he had been swindled to the extent of eight hundred dollars by his æsthetic bookkeeper.”
“Then I will leave my diamond pin at home,” said Dodger, smiling. “Suppose they ask me for recommendations?”
“I will go with you and indorse you. I happen to know one or two prominent gentlemen in San Francisco—among them the president of a bank—and I presume my indorsement will be sufficient.”
Dodger went back to the hotel, put on a suit of Mr. Leslie’s, got his boots blacked, and then, in company with the young reporter, went to the express office.
“I am afraid some one will have been engaged already,” said the reporter; “but if not, your chances will be good.”