Sam shook hands again and took his leave, descending by the stairs to the sixth floor and making his way to a door whose ground-glass bore the legend, “Miss Craig, Stenographer,” and from behind which came the busy clatter of a typewriter. Nell Craig was hard at work when Sam entered, and she only nodded and smiled until she had finished the sheet she was on and had pulled it from the carriage. Then she laid it aside and turned to view Sam questioningly. She was a rather pretty girl of eighteen, with light hair and more delicate features than her brother’s. She looked alert and capable, and quite businesslike in the plain black gown she wore.
“I saw him,” said Sam. “He seems rather nice.”
“Of course he does. I told you you’d like him,” replied Nell. “He’s the nicest customer I have.”
“He said you were a smart girl and a good stenographer,” answered Sam. “Looks like a case of what-do-you-call-it--mutual admiration.”
Nell laughed. “It’s more fun working for men you like, Sam. Some of them are rather gruff and horrid. What did he say to you?”
“Nothing much. Said he was glad to know me.”
“Yes, I suppose so. We talked baseball a good deal, I guess.”
Nell’s nose wrinkled. “Baseball! Is that all you could find to talk of? Did you tell him what Mr. York said about you going to college?”
Sam shook his head. “No. I guess that wouldn’t interest him much.”
“But you ought to. Maybe he might know of someone who would help you or--or something, Sam.”
“I don’t believe so. Anyway, I don’t want to--to know folks just so’s they can help me, do I? He’s coming to see us play Lynton to-morrow. And he wants me to go to the Country Club with him some day and learn golf.”
“Well, I think you got on splendidly,” said Nell delightedly. “Everyone says he’s awfully smart, Sam, and I guess he’s beginning to get quite a practice. I know I do three times as much work for him as I did at first. I’m sure he will be a splendid man for you to know.”
“I don’t want to know him just because he might do something for me,” objected her brother. “Folks can be friends for--for other reasons, can’t they?”
“Of course, but there’s no harm in having friends that are influential, Sam,” replied Nell wisely. “Folks who get on, I notice, cultivate friends who can help them. That’s plain common sense, Sam.”