“Exactly!” replied Miss Brodie. “How beautifully you put it! Now Mr. Martin was just about to tell us of the things a man could do in Canada when you interrupted.”
“Awfully sorry, Martin. I apologise. Please go on. What do the natives do in Canada?”
“Please don't pay any attention to him, Mr. Martin. I am extremely interested. Now tell me, what are the openings for a young fellow in Canada? You said the professions are all wide open.”
It took a little persuasion to get Martin started again, so disgusted was he with Laughton's references to his native country. “Yes, Miss Brodie, the professions are all wide open, but of course men must enter as they do here, but with a difference. Take law, for instance: Knew a chap—went into an office at ten dollars a month—didn't know a thing about it. In three months he was raised to twenty dollars, and within a year to forty dollars. In three or four years he had passed his exams, got a junior partnership worth easily two thousand dollars a year. They wanted that chap, and wanted him badly. But take business: That chap goes into a store and—”
“A store?” inquired “Lily.”
“Yes, a shop you call it here; say a drygoods—”
“Drygoods? What extraordinary terms these Colonials use!”
“Oh, draper's shop,” said Dunn impatiently. “Go on, Martin; don't mind him.”
“A draper's clerk!” echoed “Lily.” “To sell tapes and things?”
“Yes,” replied Martin stoutly; “or groceries.”