THE BIG CHANCE Part II

                    "He does look nice."…

...Hargrave was young and outside 
of office hours he was said to be human.  

 But that wasn't why he'd gotten 
to be one of the important 
officials of the company.  

 He was quiet, and some of the other 
men in the office hadn't realized 
how fast he was succeeding in the company until they saw him one day 
in one of the top executive positions.

The two girls saw him get up from 

his desk and walk to the doorway 

                                             of his office. 

He stood there with one hand in a
pocket of his blue flannel suit.   

There was a small white flower 
in his buttonhole and the usual 
keen, unrevealing smile 
on his face. 
"Did you send for the tickets?"  
he asked Nancy.

"I got the tickets all right," she answered, "but . . . and she tried to smile 

in the same hard way the boss did.  She looked about as hardboiled as a white kitten. 

"But there just aren´t any staterooms to be had," she told him.  

 "Not for love or money."

The boss was certainly disappointed.  Anybody could see that.

-"Suppose I try it?" Paula suggested quickly.

And for the next ten minutes, half the office employees could hear Paula telling 

the ticket agent exactly what she thought of him.

-"Listen," she said, "I don't care whose reservations you have to cancel."

Well, the job was worth going after.  There was the salary, for one thing.   

And then was the prestige.   

The boss' secretary knew a grate deal about the business. 

And there were the interesting people she got to talk to. 

The important people.  

 And the boxes of perfume, flowers and candy they often left on her desk...