Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-16
SUNDAY MAGAZINE for January l6, 1916

There was not single sound argument
why her time and her thought should be
thus monopolized by Mr. Pendleton.
She had already done what she could
for him, and it had not amounted to
row of pins. She had told him to go to
bed at night, so that he could get up in
the morning fresh, and he had not done
it. She had advised him to hustle when
ever he was on an errand for Farnsworth,
and of late he had loafed. She had told
him to keep up to the minute on the cur
rent investments the house was offering,
and to-day he probably could not have
told even the names of half of them. No
one could argue that it was her duty to
keep after him every minute-as if he
belonged to her.
And then, in spite of herself, her
thoughts went back to the private Office
of Mr. Seagraves. She recalled the ex-
preston on the faces of the two men--an
expression denoting only the most fieeting
interest in the problem of Mr. Pendleton.
If he braced up, well and good; if he did
not, then it was only a question of select
ing some one else. 1t was Pendleton's
affair, not theirs.
That was what every one thought ex-
cept Pendleton himself-who did not
think at all, because he did not know.
And if no one told him, then he would
never know. Some day Mr.. Farnsworth
would call him into the Office and tell him
his services were no longer needed. He
would not tell him why, even if Don
inquired. So, with everything almost
within his grasp, Pendleton would go. Of
course, he might land another place; but
it was no easy thing to find the second
opportunity, having failed in the first.
And yet this was all so unnecessary.
Mr.. Pendleton had in him everything
Farnsworth wanted. If the latter could
have heard him talk as she had heard him
talk, he would have known this. Farms
worth ought to send him out of the office
let him get among men where he could
talk. And that would come only if MIR.
Pendleton could hold on here long enough.
Then he must hold on. He must cut out
his late hours and return to his old
schedule. She must get hold of him and
tell him. But how?
THE solution came the next morning.
She decided that if she had any spare
time during the day she would write him
what she had to say. When she saw him
drift in from lunch at twenty minutes
past one, she took the time without further
ado. She snatched sheet of Office paper,
rolled it into the machine snapped the
carriage into position, and began.
MIR. DONALD PENDLEToN.
Care Carter, Rand & Seagraves,
New York, N. Y.
Dear SIR:
Ofcourse it is none of my business whether
you get fired or not; but, even If it isn't l
like to see man have fair warning. Farms
worth doesn't think that way. He gives a
man all the rope he wants and lets him hang
himself. And that is just what he's doing
with you. had tip straight from the in
side the other day that If you keep on as you
have for the last six weeks you will last here
just about another month. That isn't a
guess, either; it's right from headquarters.
For all / know, this is what you want
but if it is I'd rather resign on my own ac-
count than be asked to resign. 1t looks bet
ter, and helps you with the next job. Most
men downtown have prejudice against a
man who has been fired.
You needn't ask me where 1 got my infor-
nation, because l won't tell you. I've no
business to tell you this much What you