He had expected a formal talk with the two Messrs.Beagle, perhaps touching on such matters as duties, hours, salary, and so on.To his surprise he was ushered by the secretary into a charming Louis XVI salon farther down the private corridor.There were several ladies: one was pouring tea.Mr.Beagle junior came forward.The vice-president (such was Mr.Beagle junior's rank, Gissing had learned by the sign on his door) still wore his business garb of the morning.Gissing immediately felt himself to have the advantage.But what a pleasant idea, he thought, for the members of the firm to have tea together every afternoon.He handed his hat, gloves, and stick to the secretary.
"Very kind of you to come," said Mr.Beagle."Let me present you to my wife."Mrs.Beagle, at the tea-urn, received him graciously."Cream or lemon?" she said."Two lumps?"This is really delightful, Gissing thought.Only on Fifth Avenue could this kind of thing happen.He looked down the hostess from his superior height, and smiled charmingly.
"Do you permit three?" he said."A little weakness of mine." As a matter of fact, he hated tea so sweet; but he felt it was strategic to fix himself in Mrs.Beagle's mind as a polished eccentric.
"You must have a meringue," she said."Ah, Mrs.Pomeranian hasthem.Mrs.Pomeranian, let me present Mr.Gissing."Mrs.Pomeranian, small and plump and tightly corseted, offered the meringues, while Mrs.Beagle pressed upon him a plate with a small doily, embroidered with the arms of the store, and its motto je maintiendrai-- referring, no doubt, to its prices.Mr.Beagle then introduced him to several more ladies in rapid succession.Gissing passed along the line, bowing slightly but with courteous interest to each.To each one he raised his eyebrows and permitted himself a small significant smile, as though to convey that this was a moment he had long been anticipating.How different, he thought, was this life of enigmatic gaiety from the suburban drudgery of recent months.If only Mrs.Spaniel could see him now! He eras about to utilize a brief pause by sipping his tea, when a white-headed patriarch suddenly appeared beside him.
"Mr.Gissing," said the vice-president, "this is my father, Mr.Beagle senior."Gissing, by quick work, shuffled the teacup into his left paw, and the meringue plate into the crook of his elbow, so he was ready for the old gentleman's salutation.Mr.Beagle senior was indeed very old: his white hair hung over his eyes, he spoke with growling severity.Gissing's manner to the old merchant was one of respectful reassurance: he attempted to make an impression that would console: to impart--of course without saying so--the thought that though the head of the firm could not last much longer, yet he would leave his great traffic in capable care.
"Where will I find an aluminum cooking pot?" growled the elder Beagle unexpectedly.
"In the Bargain Basement," said Gissing promptly."He'll do!" cried the president.
To his surprise, on looking round, Gissing saw that all the ladies had vanished.Beagle junior was grinning at him.
"You have the job, Mr.Gissing," he said."You will pardon the harmless masquerade--we always try out a floorwalker in that way.My father thinks that if he can handle a teacup and a meringue while being introduced to ladies, he can manage anything on the main aisle downstairs.Mrs.Pomeranian, our millinery buyer, said she had never seen it betterdone, and she mixes with some of the swellest people in Paris.""Nine to six, with half an hour off for lunch," said the senior partner, and left the room.
Gissing calmly swallowed his tea, and ate the meringue.He would have enjoyed another, but the capable secretary had already removed them.He poured himself a second cup of tea.Mr.Beagle junior showed signs of eagerness to leave, but Gissing detained him.
"One moment," he said suavely."There is a little matter that we have not discussed.The question of salary."Mr.Beagle looked thoughtfully out of the window."Thirty dollars a week," he said.
After all, Gissing thought, it will only take four weeks to pay for what I have spent on clothes.
