“Mr. Keene will see you. Go in there, boys.” The pretty young woman emerged from an inner office with this welcome announcement. Resuming her seat at her typewriter, she began clicking the keys industriously.

“At last,” breathed Teddy Burke, with an impatient twitch of his head. “You go first, Harry.”

Harry stepped rather diffidently forward and over the threshold of Mr. Keene’s office, Teddy following closely at his heels. The only occupant of the room, the man at the desk, looked up from a letter he was reading as the boys entered. His shrewd, dark eyes took in his callers at one sweeping glance. “Well, boys,” he began in quick, business-like tones, “what can I do for you?”

“We came to see about getting work, sir.” Harry found himself answering in the same business-like tones of the superintendent.

“How old are you?”

“I am sixteen.”

“And how old are you?” He turned to Teddy.

“Fifteen, sir.”

“Have you a certificate?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let me see it.”

Teddy drew his certificate from an inner pocket. It was rolled up and fastened with an elastic band. His first thought after receiving his mother’s permission to go to work had been for the obtaining of the necessary certificate.

The shrewd-eyed man examined it carefully. “Why did you leave school?” he asked quietly.

Teddy blushed rosy red. Then looking rather defiant, he said clearly, “I couldn’t get along with the teacher. But I’ve had enough of school. I want to work.”

Their interrogator smiled slightly. Then his eyes sought Harry’s face.

“And did you have trouble with the teacher, too?”

“No, sir. I am obliged to go to work to help my mother support us. I left school of my own free will.”

“You will have to bring your certificate of birth. We must know positively that you are as old as you claim to be.”

Harry’s face fell. He had hoped that they would be able to start work at once, provided they were lucky enough to obtain positions.

The brown-eyed man studied the two boys in silence. Teddy braced himself and put on as dignified an expression as he could muster. Harry returned the scrutiny with calm, steady eyes. Still without speaking, Mr. Keene touched the buzzer at one side of his desk. The next instant the pretty girl appeared.

“Miss Mason, give these boys application blanks to fill. Show them where to sit to write,” he directed. “When you have filled them, boys, bring them to me.”

“We’re goin’ to get a job, all right,” whispered Teddy, as, with their application blanks in their hands, they followed their attractive guide to a long table where another boy sat, laboriously filling in the spaces on the big white card. Teddy’s thin little face was aglow with triumph as he slipped into a chair beside the first-comer and began a curious inspection of his own application blank.

“Don’t be too sure,” murmured Harry. “We may fill out these blanks and then Mr. Keene may tell us that he will send for us if he needs us.”

“Looks like a bill-of-fare, doesn’t it?” grinned Teddy, as he opened the blank, which was folded twice like a programme, and had printed matter on all four sides. “Let me see. What’ll I have to eat. Oh, excuse me! I mean, What’s your full name?” Teddy’s voice rose a little higher with each word.

“Sh-h-h,” warned Harry. “Be more quiet, Teddy. You don’t want to be told to keep still, even before you’re hired, do you?”

There was nothing goody-goody or priggish in Harry’s tone, so Teddy did not resent his new friend’s warning. While Harry, unconsciously drawn toward the mischief-loving, black-eyed youngster, spoke as he might have to a brother, if he had had one.

“All right. I’ll be good.” Teddy seized a fresh hold on his application card and glowered at it with a purposely threatening scowl that made Harry smile in spite of himself. Then the little boy laid it down, and seizing a pen from the rack in front of him, dipped it energetically into the ink, spattered a few drops on the table and settled himself to his task. There were a great many questions to answer, such as, “Have you ever before been employed?” “Are you the sole support of your family?” “How many persons are dependent upon your earnings?” “Will you cheerfully obey the rules of this establishment?” and “Would you consider it your duty to report any disobedience of the rules of the store on the part of your fellow employees?”

“I’m not goin’ to say, ‘yes’ to this,” whispered Teddy, pointing with his index finger to the objectionable rule. “Catch me reporting anybody. I’m no telltale. That’s a nice idea—running to the superintendent’s office with every little thing.” Teddy sat back in his chair, disgust written on every feature.

“I don’t think it means every little thing, Ted.” Harry soberly scanned the paragraph. “I think it means the big things like stealing, or damaging store property or something like that. Wouldn’t you report another fellow if you saw him taking what didn’t belong to him?”

“No; I’d make him put it back,” declared Ted stoutly.

“But he might steal it again when your back was turned,” argued Harry. “Do you think a boy who would steal would be a safe person to employ in a big place like this, full of beautiful and expensive things? I don’t. Why, if such things weren’t looked after and reported, a whole lot of the employees might be tempted to take what didn’t belong to them. First thing you know the store might fail and then everyone in it would be without work.”

“I guess that’s so,” admitted Ted, visibly impressed by Harry’s somewhat far-fetched argument for strict honesty of purpose as well as deed.

“Of course it’s so,” nodded Harry. “Why, I wouldn’t put my name on this card if I weren’t ready and willing to obey all the rules of this store.”

“Well, I don’t suppose I would, either,” admitted Teddy. “I thought if I got clear of school and went to work I could do as I pleased. But this doesn’t look like it.” He wagged his head in disapproval of the card.

“Oh, well, here goes.” He wrote “Yes” in a large, boyish hand after the contested question.

A brief silence ensued. The boys wrote their answers carefully. They wished to hand Mr. Keene neatly written applications.

“There, it’s done.” Harry heaved a little sigh of relief. Laying down his pen he turned to the first page of his application blank and began to read over what he had written. Teddy finished writing soon afterward. His application filled, Harry busied himself with watching what went on about him, while he waited for Teddy. The outer office, which they were in, was much larger than the inner one. About it were scattered several desks. There was one large desk at one side of the room, but it was closed. The boy wondered vaguely to whom it belonged. It must belong to a person of importance. It was by far the largest desk in the office. At a smaller desk a little to one side sat a young man. He was busily engaged in transferring something from cards to a large book that looked for all the world like the teacher’s register in school. The cards were about the size of a post-card and from where he sat Harry could see that they were ruled into little squares and had printing at the left-hand side. He guessed that these were the record cards of the boys of the great establishment, and he afterward found his guess to be correct.

“All right. I’m done.” Teddy finished writing with a flourish, and rose from the table.

“Better look your blank over, first,” advised Harry. “I went over mine.”

“Oh, bother,” ejaculated Teddy impatiently. Nevertheless, he sat down again and read over what he had written. “Say,” he turned to Harry. “What salary did you put down?”

“Four dollars a week,” returned Harry. “I think I can earn it.”

“I put down three. They’ll never give you four to start with. I guess two and a half’ll be about what we’ll get.”

“I won’t take that.” Harry’s boyish mouth set in a determined line. “A big boy of sixteen who can’t earn at least four dollars a week doesn’t amount to much. I think I’m worth four dollars a week, so I put it down. If I don’t get that, I’ll surely get three. A boy I know, who works in Arnold’s store, says that when you apply for a position in a store you must always ask for more salary than you expect to get. But that isn’t why I put down four dollars. I set it down because I know I can earn it.”

“I guess I’ll change mine.” Ted picked up his pen, hesitated, then laid it down. “Oh, what’s the use of changing it now. I’ve written three, I’ll stick to it and see what happens. Come along. That man in there’ll think we are pretty slow.”

The boys once more made their way to Mr. Keene’s office. He was busy for the moment with a tall, cross-looking man who turned at the interruption and glowered at the two boys like a veritable ogre, then resumed his conversation with Mr. Keene in quick, harsh tones.

“Some crank,” whispered the irrepressible Ted to Harry.

Harry gave his companion a sly poke. Teddy subsided with his usual cheerful grin. But low-spoken as was Teddy’s rude comment, the cranky-looking man had heard. Instead of attributing it to Teddy, however, he glared straight at Harry, as, his business with Mr. Keene finished, he passed the waiting boys and stalked on out of the office. Luckily, at the very instant Teddy had made this careless but uncomplimentary comment, Mr. Keene had been called upon to answer the telephone on his desk. He was still talking when the disagreeable man left his office and under cover of it Harry said sternly, “Cut it, Teddy.”

Teddy, whose quick eyes had noted that the cross-looking man had silently blamed Harry for the rude remark, became at once unduly solemn.

“Here are our applications, sir.” Harry was again spokesman. He laid his application blank on Mr. Keene’s desk. Teddy followed suit. Mr. Keene looked searchingly at the two eager, boyish faces. Long experience in the handling and training of promising youth had taught him to read boy nature. In Harry’s and Teddy’s features he saw much that appealed to him, and before reading their meagre histories and expectations as set down on the blanks before him, he had determined to give them a chance. However, he merely said, “Very well, young men. You may come here to this office at half past seven o’clock to-morrow morning and I will see what I can do for you. Bring your certificates with you.”

“Thank you, sir. Good morning,” said Harry politely.

“Thank you, sir. Good morning,” repeated Teddy hastily.

“Good morning,” returned Mr. Keene pleasantly.

Neither boy spoke until they had left the outer office behind. Then Teddy Burke gave vent to his disappointment. “We don’t know any more about whether we’re going to work here than we did when we came in,” he grumbled.

“It looks hopeful to me,” was Harry’s cheery response. “I’m going home and think just as hard as I can that I’m going to get the position. Mr. Keene looked so nice and kind, I don’t believe he’d tell us to come back in the morning if he didn’t intend to give us a trial.”

“Maybe not.” Teddy’s tones expressed lingering doubt. “I’ll try to make myself believe I’m goin’ to get it, too. If we don’t, we’ll just have to go somewhere else to find work.”

Harry nodded emphatically.

“The fellows up at West Park School will wish they were me, if I do get it. Won’t it be great not to have to go to school any more?”

“No, it won’t.” Harry’s face fell, as the memory of the school life which he had been obliged to leave rose before him. “I wish I could go to school.”

“Not for mine,” reiterated Ted slangily. “I’m all done with school forever and ever.”

But even as he boasted of his freedom from the school-room, a most astonishing surprise was hurrying to catch up with Teddy Burke.