"How long ago was that?"
"When I worked on the Alexandria, Illinois, Daily Appeal."
Summerfield smiled. He couldn't help it.
"That's almost as important as the Wickham Union, I fancy. It sounds as if it might have the same wide influence."
"Oh, much more, much more," returned Eugene quietly. "The Alexandria Appeal had the largest exclusively country circulation of any county south of the Sangamon."
"I see! I see!" replied Summerfield good-humoredly. "It's all day with the Wickham Union. Well, how was it you came to change your mind?"
"Well, I got a few years older for one thing," said Eugene. "And then I decided that I was cut out to be the greatest living artist, and then I came to New York, and in the excitement I almost lost the idea."
"I see."
"But I have it again, thank heaven, tied up back of the house, and here I am."
"Well, Witla, to tell you the truth you don't look like a real live, every day, sure-enough art director, but you might make good. You're not quite art-y enough according to the standards that prevail around this office. Still I might be willing to take one gosh-awful chance. I suppose if I do I'll get stung as usual, but I've been stung so often that I ought to be used to it by now. I feel sort of spotted at times from the hornets I've hired in the past. But, be that as it may, what do you think you could do with a real live art directorship if you had it?"