“Miss Adair?” said Mr. Lucas as Cis entered. “My brother has spoken of you in the highest terms, as you probably know. Will you be seated, if you please?”
Cis took the straight chair before the desk, so placed as to give Mr. Lucas the advantage of the light from the window above it, full on her face. He looked at her keenly, and what he saw seemed to satisfy him, for he nodded almost imperceptibly, with a softening of his glance that betokened acceptance of Cis. Cis’s bright, irregular face, with its straightforward look of humorous kindliness invariably won for her friends, and, from elder, experienced people, appraisal and trust.
Cis on her part saw a man older than the Mr. Lucas whom she had often seen at her home; a large man, greyed around the temples, with a face that was harder than his brother’s face; an intellectual face that might reveal selfishness, but did not indicate self-indulgence. Cis felt a little afraid of him, yet to herself she characterized him as “the real thing,” and decided that it would be agreeable to be in the employ of such a fine gentleman.
“My brother tells me that you would like a position, Miss Adair, or implies that. What can you do?” Mr. Lucas asked.
“I write a clear hand, that can be read; I am quick at figures; I know shorthand and can type. I can do as I’m told,” Cis added the final statement with a twist of her lips, a sudden, crooked little smile that revealed her strong white teeth.
“Great virtue, that last,” commented Mr. Lucas, his eyes reflecting Cis’s smile.
“My brother speaks of his obligation to you; may I ask in what way you have put my brother under obligations to you?”
Cis shook her head. “Sorry, Mr. Lucas, but that can’t come into my dealing with you, if I’m lucky enough to deal with you. It wasn’t such a great obligation; it wasn’t doing anything worth talking about, but you’ll see that I can’t talk about other people’s affairs, even your brother’s, or—” Cis caught herself up short.
“‘Or’? Well, Miss Adair, I suppose that you are within your rights in refusing to answer me, but you will see that I, also, have rights; that I should know all about a person whom I employ?” said Mr. Lucas.
“It’s not so much within my rights, Mr. Lucas, as within my duty,” said Cis, with her sunny smile of good fellowship, as if she expected Mr. Lucas to understand and sympathize with her. “I’ll tell you anything under the sun that you want to know about myself.”