Jane Cross could not believe that she had heard the real estate dealer correctly. She tried to smile, but her lips trembled. She pressed them tight together and continued to look at Mr. Garwick, her eyes very large and dark.

“You see,” the pleasant-faced gentleman continued, “the young fellow I had with me here for a long time deserted me for a New York firm that offered him broader opportunities. You can’t blame the boy, but at the same time you can see that his desertion left me in rather a hole.”

“A man!” gasped Jane. “Do—why do you think—I could possibly take the place of a—man?”

By this speech it may be seen how very unaccustomed indeed Jane was to the ways of a modern business world. But Mr. Garwick liked her none the less for it, though he was amused.

“Of course, that remains to be seen,” he pointed out. “You are the first person to answer my sign, which was placed in the window only this noon, and I’m inclined to give you a chance.

“The work isn’t difficult,” he went on, seeing that Jane looked a bit frightened. “It will be mostly a matter of taking telephone messages at first and of attending to clients while I am forced to be away from the office.”

“I’m quite sure that I could do that!” Jane said earnestly.

“So am I,” smiled Mr. Garwick. “You look like a young person who would put her mind to whatever she attempted. Well, suppose we do this.” He swung about in his chair and placed the fingers of his two hands together in a meditative gesture. “Suppose we try you out for a month and see how you like us? At the end of that time—well, we may even raise the salary.”

Jane knew what the other alternative would be—what would happen—in case Mr. Garwick did not like her!

But she was grateful for a chance. That was all, she told herself breathlessly, that she asked.

“Well, what do you say?” asked Mr. Garwick, smiling.

“Oh, thank you! I’ll try so hard to do what you want me to. When—” Jane hesitated, then plunged boldly: “When will you want me to start?”

“The sooner the better.” Mr. Garwick fumbled restlessly with some papers on his desk. “I’ve fallen behind in my collections, and now it’s necessary for me to make up for lost time. Can you start to-morrow morning? I will start you at twelve dollars a week.”

Could she! And twelve dollars a week!

Jane almost clapped her hands, but remembered just in time that that would be childish. She was practically grown up now and about to embark upon a career! She must be careful.

So instead of clapping her hands she merely looked her gladness and said “Yes, indeed!” in such an eager voice that Mr. Garwick seemed satisfied.

“All right,” he said. “Nine o’clock sharp, for we’ll have a busy day before us.”

He opened the door for her with his pleasant smile and Jane found herself once more in the hot street. But with what a difference!

Main Street, baking in the mid-afternoon heat of the sun, was no longer merely the main business street of a small town. It was, to Jane’s happy fancy, a thoroughfare of romance, and if she had suddenly awakened to find the streets paved with gold she would not have been surprised. So had life changed for her in one scant half-hour!

“I’ve got a job! I’ve got a job!” The triumphant refrain sang itself over and over again in her mind, banishing all feeling of fatigue, filling her with a desire to dance, to sing, to tell her happiness to every one she met.

If she had encountered Betty Browning now, her eyes would not have fallen beneath the glance of the rich girl. She had grown immeasurably in her own estimation during the past half-hour. She was no longer just Plain Jane, but Plain Jane with a job at twelve dollars a week, and again, what a difference!

On the way home she had to pass Mason’s store again.

She remembered that Mrs. Powell had said something in the morning about needing sugar and flour and a dozen eggs. Jane would just stop in and see whether Mrs. Powell had been to market yet, and, if not, she would take the provisions home herself.

She felt very gay and independent as she opened the familiar door. A customer came out as she entered, and for a moment the store was empty of all but herself and Billy.

The latter had his back turned toward her as he straightened some packages on the shelves and Jane’s heart was touched by the pathetic droop of his shoulders.

Billy was having a hard time of it. Nothing had been proved against him in connection with the Martin and Hull disaster, but he was under a cloud, a heavy dark cloud that could not be dispelled until some solution of the mystery had been reached.

Rumors were that Martin and Hull had collected enough insurance to permit of their building again on a small scale. But they were both old men, and it was hard for them to start again at their time of life, forced as they were to pocket a loss that made it extremely doubtful whether the feed and grain business would ever function again on its old-time scale of prosperity.

Small wonder that they were bitter against the one they thought responsible for their misfortune. And, to do the old men justice, they were both firmly convinced in their hearts that Billy Dobson was the one responsible.

They considered all would-be inventors slightly mad to begin with, and they knew Billy’s excitable temper as well as his passionate desire to find some one who would finance his latest invention. They fully believed that in a fit of vengeful rage against them he had set fire to their place. What was worse, they intended that all of Greenville should believe it. Not all of Greenville did, of course, but Billy was destined to remain under a cloud, nevertheless, until his innocence was proved.

“Billy!”

There was something so breathless and triumphant in Jane’s voice that the lad whirled about, half startled.

“Hello, Jane! What’s up?”

“Billy, I’ve got a job—a life-sized job—with Mr. Garwick!”

“With John Garwick?” asked Billy, and as Jane nodded, whistled his amazement.

“Say, that’s great! But say, Jane, I didn’t know you wanted a job!”

“Neither did I until a little time ago,” laughed Jane, pleased by Billy’s unfeigned delight and astonishment. “But now I’ve got it, wild horses couldn’t drag me away from it. I’m so happy I just had to tell somebody or go crazy.”

“I always said you were a game kid,” said Billy, looking at her approvingly. “Now I know it. Go in, Jane, and win!”

There were more customers then and no chance for further conversation.

After he had done up her bundle for her, however, Billy’s hand squeezed hers in comradely fashion and he said under his breath:

“How about going to the movies some night, Jane? I want to hear more about the big job.”

“All right.”

“How about to-morrow night?”

Jane nodded, and, feeling rather breathless, hurried from the store.

Her first job and her first invitation to the movies, all in one day! It was too much! Jane thought she must burst with joy!

She entered the house calling for Mrs. Powell, and at the sound of her voice the latter came running.

One glance at Jane’s face was enough.

“Jane, you don’t mean to tell me you’ve got it!”

“Oh, Aunt Lou—here, let me get this package out of my arms—there, now I’m going to hug you, look out! I’ve got it; yes, I have! You needn’t look at me as if I’d gone crazy. It’s my first job, you know, and I’ve got to get used to the feel of having it. Aunt Lou, aren’t you glad? Quick! Say you’re as glad as I am!”

“You crazy child! If you’ll stop squeezing my neck and let me catch my breath! There, that’s better! Now tell me again, Jane. You’re sure you’re not joking?”

So Jane told her to the minutest detail what had happened from the moment she stepped inside the real estate office up to that happy moment when she stepped out of it again.

Mr. Powell came in from a visit to the doctor and a redressing of his bandaged hands in time to hear the end of the recital, and of course the story had to be told all over again for his benefit.

Mr. and Mrs. Powell were very proud of Jane and, looking upon her with fond eyes, thought she could not have been dearer to them if she had been their own.

On her part, Jane was thinking how generous and kind they had always been to her and that nothing she could do in return could more than partly pay her debt to them.

The next day, the first of Jane’s altered life, dawned gloriously. She took this as a good omen and sallied forth to work filled with enthusiasm and hope.

“I’ve got to please him!” she told herself, remembering Mr. Garwick’s words of yesterday. “I’m only on trial, really, and to lose a position I should think would be even worse than not finding one at all!”

She was even a little ahead of time, and Mr. Garwick greeted her in friendly fashion and set her to work at once.

“We won’t let any grass grow under our feet,” he told her, with a pleasant smile. “Now let me show you what you are to do.”

Half an hour later Jane was left alone with her responsibility and the telephone—and she was not sure which frightened her the more!

“If you ring,” she told the telephone, “I’ll run a mile—Oh, my good gracious,” as the bell rang shrilly, insistently, “there you go now!”