"If you do, I'll be out of it," was the equally cold answer of the young Jerseyman, and he walked out of the office.
"One fish I didn't land," muttered Hamilton Dart to himself. "Better luck next time."
Hardly had the young man left than a sickly-looking middle-aged man appeared. He had been in the hospital for two months, and out of work for twice that length of time.
"You advertised for a clerk," he said, sitting down on a chair.
"Yes."
"I am a bookkeeper, and an all-round office man," added the sick man. "I am willing to work hard for low wages."
"I am always willing to pay good wages to the right man," answered Hamilton Dart, smoothly.
At this the face of the sick man brightened.
"I have been sick," he went on, apologetically. "But I am getting stronger every day."
"Well, the work here is not very hard."