He made a swing at an imaginary golf ball, and slipped on the polished floor, nearly falling down. He recovered himself.
"Here's some flowers for you," he said, taking a bunch of daffodils from the desk. "Daffy-down-dillies, as the poets call 'em. Lovely flowers, hey? Now comes in the sweet of the year. What ho!"
He advanced toward her, and for one extraordinary moment she thought he was about to chuck her under the chin.
"Mr. Veal," she said, nervously, "there's just one thing--I wanted to ask you about, my salary, don't you think, er, I think, it seems to me about time I had a raise. I've been here----"
"Bless my soul," he said. "I never thought of it. Why, of course, you're right. Miss Stafford, how old would you say I am?"
Miss Stafford knew perfectly well that he was fifty-five, but she had learned the cunning of all women who have to manage men, whether those men be husbands, employers, or ticket scalpers.
"Why, Mr. Veal, in a good light and in your new suit, I should say about thirty-nine."
"What are you getting now, Miss Stafford?"
The feminine mind moves in rapid zigzags, and Miss Stafford's first conscious and coherent thought was of a certain woollen sports suit she had seen in a window on Vincent Street marked $50.00.
"And by the way," said Mr. Veal, "when you see Mr. Mason, tell him I've got a new motto for next week's pay envelopes. Here it is; I found it in the paper this morning. I don't know who wrote it--better have him credit it to Orison Swett Marden."
He handed her a slip of paper, on which he had copied out:
Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty;
"Before you call Mr. Foster," said the secretary, "Mr. Schmaltz of the Pullman Company is here to see you; he arrived just before you came in. He says he wants to place a large order for the cuspidorados."
"Send him in," said Mr. Veal, chuckling. "Hello, Schmaltz," he cried, as the customer entered. "How's this for weather?"
"Great stuff!" said Schmaltz. "Makes us old fellows feel almost young again, doesn't it?"
Mr. Veal's face grew dark. He aged ten years in the instant. He pointed morosely to a chair.
"Mr. Veal," said the other, "we want to place an order for ten thousand of the cuspidorados. Can you give us the old price?"