iting. Still, she felt no resentment as she sat in Michael Fenger's outer office. For as she sat there, waiting, she was getting a distinct impression of this unseen man whose voice she could just

t glittering lamp. All through the gigantic plant (she had already met department hea

o see Mr. Feng

alled. It's a great help to us. Doubles our shipping-room efficiency

ry. Michael Fenger was System. He could take a muddle of orders, a jungle of unfilled contracts, a horde of incompetent workers, and of them make a smooth-ru

as electrically charged with the high-voltage of the man in the inner office. His secretary was a spare, middle-aged, anxious-looking woman in snuff-brown and spectacles; his stenograp

s in Chicago, and to Chicago when he is in New York. Trains with the word Limited after them were invented for him and his type. A buzzer sounded. It galvanized the

horribly nervous and high-keyed. They

secretary had said, "Mr.

little tingle of excitement.

vital organs beneath. He put out his hand. Fanny extended hers. They met in a silent grip. It was like a meeting between two men. Even as he indexed her, Fanny's alert mind was busy docketing, numbering, cataloguing him. They had in common a certain force, a driving power. Fanny seated herself opposite him, in obedience to a gesture. He crossed his legs comfortably and sat back in his big desk chair. A great-bodied man, wi

"You're younger

are

ins

am

leaned forward, folde

rough the plant

Don't stick to your own department. It narrows one." He paused a moment. "Did you think that this opportunity to come to Haynes-

es

't expect to find I've made a mistake. I suppose you k

icle in the world-at least, in the de

o buy and sell in terms of millions, don't you? Well, our infants' wear department isn't helping to roll up the millions; and it ought to, because there are millions of babies born every year, and the golden-spoon kind are in the minority. I've decided that that department needs a woman, your kind of woman. Now, as a rule, I never employ a woman when I can use a man. There's only one other woman

turned to look at the picture to which his finger pointed. She got up and strol

ere hung with them. "Of course you understand I know nothing about them. But it's too flowery, i

ack and white and gray thing in its frame. "I felt that

tant. "No," said

had done. She had spoken almost mechanically. And yet that monosyllable must have been the fruit of all these months of inward struggle and thought. "Now I begin to understand you," Fenger went on. "You've

Fanny hotly, lik

t be argued, child. Beaut

at difference i

sense are to be turned loose on our infants' wear department. The buyer, Mr. Slosson, is going to resent you. Naturally. I don't know whether we'll get results from you in a month, or six

the Wisconsin farmer woman-and man too, for that matter-means knowing the Oregon,

around, and bump your head a few times. Then you'll learn where the low places are. And, Miss Brandeis, remember that suggestions are w

ntal eye on the door. But now

u mean

olut

ering those enormous distances from one bin to another, up one aisle and down the next, to the office, back again. Your floors are concrete, or cement, or some such mixture, aren't they? I just happened to thi

uff-brown secretary buzzer. "Tell Clancy I want him. Now." He had not glanced up, or taken his eyes from Fanny. She was aware of feeling a little uncomfortable, but elated, too. She moved t

and labor saved, including wear and tear on department heads and their assistants, I s

were part of them; just shop labor-savers. The report presented to Fenger was this: Time and energy saved, fifty-five per cent; stock staff decreased by one third. The picturesqueness of it, the almost ludicrous simplicity of the idea appealed to the entire plant. It tickled the hum

city's show places, like the stockyards, the Art Institute, and Field's. Fifteen years before, a building had been erected to accommodate a prosperous mail order business. It had been built large and roomy, with plenty of seams, planned amply, it was thought, to allow the boy to grow. It would do for twe

half per cent in their unimaginative minds, saw their dividends doubling, trebling, quadrupling, finally soaring gymnastically beyond all reason. Listen to the old guide who (at

are received here every day. Yes, madam, I said every day. About half of these letters are orders. Last year the banking department counted one hundred an

And yet, not so inadequately. What exclamation is there, please,

, they had had them in New York years before, certainly. But after all, it isn't New York's artistic progress that shows the development of this nation. It is the thing they are thinking, and doing, and learning in Backwash, Nebraska, that marks time for these United States. There may be a certain significance in the announcement that New York has dropped the Russian craze and has gone in for that quaint Chinese stuff. My dear, it makes the loveliest hangings and decorations. When Fifth Avenue takes down its filet lace and eyelet embroidered curtains, and substitutes severe shantung and chaste net, there is little in

out in the Yukon, the most isolated cabin in the Rockies, the loneliest ranch-house i

ghout-twelve stories, and we're adding three already; offices all two-toned rugs, and leather upholstery, with dim, rich, brown-toned Dutch masterpieces on the walls, he sat helpless and defenseless while the torrent of millions rushed, and swirled, and foamed about him. I think he h

tarted this avalanche of money, and now it rushed on of its own momentum, plunging, rolling, leaping, crashing, and as it swept on it gathered rocks, trees, stones, houses, everything that lay

h that austerity that only mad wealth can afford-or bitter poverty. He caused the land about the plant to be laid out in sunken gardens and baseball fields and tennis courts, so that one approached this monster of c

r skates had not been merely a lucky flash. That idea had been part of the consistent whole. Her mind was her mother's mind raised to the nth power, and en

n apartment that was small, bright, near the lake, and yet within fairly reasonable transportation facilities for her work. Her room was on the ninth floor, not on the Michigan Avenue side, but east, overlooking the lake. She spent hours at the windows, fascinated by the stone and steel city that lay just below with the incredible blue of the sail-dotted lake beyond, and at night, with the lights spangling

siness! That was it. She had trained herself for it, like an athlete. Eight hours of sleep. A co

scure desk, in a dingy corner of the infants' wear department, the black sheep section of the great plant. Her very presence in that corner seemed to change it magically. You must remember how young she was, how healthy, how vigorous, with the freshness of the small town still upon her. It was health and youth, and vigor that g

e. Fanny rose to greet him. She felt a little sorry for S

erson who would say, well, well!-"

and

andeis. Well, nothing li

Fanny. "The shelves and bins, and the numbering system.

How do you

unnecessarily hid

plain garment is what t

an is at her worst. If she can get it, she at least wa

not-ah-married, I be

N

mpling his hair a little. "An expensive proposition, let me tell you, three g

deis' face the mask of hardness t

the letter-opening machines had slit the envelopes. Those letter-openers! Fanny had hung over them, enthralled. The unopened envelopes were fed into them. Flip! Zip! Flip! Out! Opened! Faster than eye could follow. It was uncanny. It was, somehow, humorous, like the clever antics of a trained dog. You could not bel

ors went the bundles, down the great spiral bundle chute, into the shipping room, out by mail, by express, by freight. This leghorn hat for a Nebraska country belle; a tombstone for a

ants of just this type of person. The letters she saw at Haynes-Cooper's read exactly as customers had worded thei

ays, six months in advance. The first week in August Fanny asked for an interview with Fenger. Slosson was to be there. At ten o'clock she entered Fenger's inner office. He was telephoning-something about dinner at the Union League Club. His voice was suave, his tone well modulated, his accent correct, his English faultless. And yet Fanny Brandeis, studying the etchings on his wall, her back turned to him, smiled to herself. The voice, the tone, the accent, the English, did not ring true They were acquired graces, exquisite imitations of the real thing. Fanny Brandeis knew. She was playing the same game herself. She understood this man now, after two months in

m, deft, repressed things, done with that econom

ng up the

as awfully afraid, from the start you made, that

ear the truth. "I had to use all my self-control

upon her. "Pretty sure

ny. She came ov

all, he's been here for years, and I'm practically an upstart

s business, Miss Brandeis. You ought to know what that means. For that matter, it may be t

dent in the way he bristled, in the way he seated himself. His fingers drummed h

ook out

iss Bra

ands in her lap. A deep pink glowed in her cheeks. Her eyes were very bright. All the Molly Br

want me

ed conversation. If you've got anything to say you ought to say it in that time. Now

andeis took

ed this one thing about that sort of woman: she may not want that baby, but either before or after it's born she'll starve, and save, and go without proper clothing, and even beg, and steal to give it clothes-clothes with lace on them, with ribbon on them, sheer white things. I don't know why that's true, but it is. Well, we're not reaching them. Our goods are unattractive. They're packed and shipped una

e done," sa

randeis has given us a very fair general statement. We'll have

actical to me. And if it doe

expression of defiance, unbelief, an

n her chair and talked straight at the big, poten

n our infants' department. Every article intended for a baby's use should be wrapped or boxed as it lies in the bin or on the shelf. And those bins ought to be glassed. We would advertise that, and it would advertise itself. Our visitors would talk about it. This department hasn't been getting a square deal in the catalogue. Not enough space. It ought to have not only more catalogue space, but a catalogue all it

lled Slosson. "Three-n

ars ought to be packed in a pink or a pale blue pasteboard box. The outfits trimmed in pink, pink boxes; the outfits trimmed in blue, blue boxes. In eight cases out of ten their letters wil

losson. "It isn't business

l department in this business. And we ought to be doing it at the rate of a million and a

Brandeis," Fenger e

ught to order flannel bands, or the double-knitted kind. That sort of thing. And who's been answering them? Some sixteen-year-old girl in the mailing department who doesn't know a flannel band from a bootee when she sees it. We could call our woman something pleasant and everydayish, like Emily Brand. Easy to remem

losson, and slumped d

houlder for a moment. He looked down at her. "I knew you'd do

"Brandeis' Bazaar, perhaps. It's just

ush

ry. Even the discomfite

ay at Haynes-Cooper. No waste. No delay. That she had accomplished in two months that which ordinarily takes years was not surprising. They did things that way, t

ebago library, was infinitely more appealing than this glib and capable young woman. The spitting wildcat of the street fight so long ago was gentler by far than this cool person who was so deliberately taking his job a

y and Michael Fenger reveals a new side, and presents somethi

n intent and concentrated gaze that had the effect of an actual physical hold. Most

r again? Of course I've only outlined th

or turn away his gaze. A little bla

sh you wouldn't sit and glower at me like that. It's rude,

her. "I was thinking very hard. Miss Brandeis, will you dine with me

I am.

nt to tal

situation. For she laughed, a big, wholesome,

e been reading the murky m

ing: "Why won't y

ect the conventions. They're so sensible. And because i

murky magazine viewpoint, as

n in this organization, or break them. That sounds melodramatic, but it's true. I've got a definite life plan, and it's as complete and detailed as an engineering blue print. I don't intend to let you spoil it. I've made a re

ient exclamation Fanny walked toward the door. Fenger, s

ribly sorry. You see, you inte

ks,"

in. But when I find something very fine, very intricate, very fascinating and complex-

r you. You know so little about them." Fenger waited. Most women would have found ref

er and me at our home some evening? M

ired for further effort at th

night perhaps

y desk. Slosson was at lunch in one of the huge restaurants provided for employees in the building across the street. She sat there, very still, for some minutes; for more minutes

you. That stamped you. Now he thinks you're rotten

loves were on that floor, at the far end. The two

ed woman of forty-one or two, prematurely gray and therefore excessively yo

urriedly. "I was

us." And strolled off down the aisle t

back. But she must have changed her mind, because she said, "Oh, nonsens