"SECOND CHANCE"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1940, Page 10

"SECOND CHANCE"

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. COPYRIGHT.

BY

HOLLOWAY HORN

(Author of “George,” “Two Men and Mary,” etc.

CHAPTER 11. • < Continued). In the evening he went to the big church he had noticed in the London Road. The preacher was a broadminded, tolerant man, who had something to say, and knew how to say it. He took as a text that wonderful phrase: "Let him among us that is without sin cast the first stone.” The sermons that have been preached on this phrase are, of course, innumerable, but the young man who preached that evening touched some deeply responsive chord m the soul of at least one of his listeners.

Slowly and thoughtfully, Ferguson walked homeward after the service. In some subtle way he no longer seemed so utterly alone and could face the life ahead with a new courage. His reaction was rather curious for he was not, usually, conventionally religious. He had. indeed, gone to the church in the first place to escape from his own loneliness, from a fear of being alone. Five minutes to nine the next morning found him one of the stream of workers who turned through the big entrance of Trevowe’s Ltd. Just inside he saw a notice: "Enquiries.”

He tapped at the window and after a minute or so tapped again; evidently there was nobody on duty until nine. He waited and was startled when the window was suddenly opened: “Yes?” a young woman said. "Er . . I have an appointment with Mr Mumford. My name is Ferguson.” “Will you wait over there.” she said, indicating the room opposite and closed the window.

The waiting room was hot and stuffy. It had evidently been closed over the weekend and the big radiator was apparently functioning fully. Ferguson waited. He examined the framed advertisements of Trevowe’s, Ltd., which decorated the room, and still waited. Ten past, a quarter past, when suddenly the door was opened and the young lady in the “Enquiries” said: “Come this way, please.” She led him along a corridor from each side of which offices opened. At the end. she tapped at a door and stood aside for him to enter.

“Good morning, Mr Ferguson,” said Mary Donovan. “Sit down, please,” There was no one else in the room. “Er . . . good morning.” “Mr Mumford is busy just at the moment, but he won’t be long.” “It’s very pleasant finding you here.' “I’m always here,” she smiled. "I’m Mr Mumford’s secretary.” At that moment Mi- Mumford himself came into the room.

Ferguson rose: “Good morning, sir” he said. “My name is Ferguson.” “Oh, yes. I was expecting you. Mr Trevowe said you would be here. Sit down, won't you? To be frank, Mr Ferguson, I've only the vaguest of information about you. About your experience, I mean, and the kind of work to put you on. Usually of course. I attend to appointments to the office staff myself.” “I’ve had a fairly extensive experience of office work.” “In London?” “Yes. And abroad. I was some years in Singapore.” “You quite understand, Mr Ferguson, that, for the time being at any rate, you will occupy a comparatively junior position in the office?” "I quite understand,” he said. "Then I think you had better go into the sales department. Mr Goodspeed, who is in charge of it, has been with us for many years, but he is away ill.” “Thank you.” “I think I should warn you that you are almost bound to meet with a certain amount of . . suspicion—l had almost said hostility—in the staff, Mr Ferguson,” the elder man said with a certain diffidence in his manner. “Coming as a stranger?”

Mr Mumford nodded: "But it won’t mean anything. If you meet with any serious difficulty I should like you to come straight to me.”

“Thank you. But I hope the necessity won’t arise.” “Don’t misunderstand me. You will get what the films call a 'break,’ but our people are clannish and are almost bound to regard the coming of a man from London as a personal slight—in a sense.” “I can understand that, sir.”

“Mr Trevowe himself has taken up your references; he made that quite clear.”

“Yes. It was kind .of him. He has proved a good friend.”

Mr Mumford did not reply for a moment: “Quite,” he said.

"I'm starting afresh in Mossford, Mr Mumford," Ferguson said, and for a moment the eyes of the two men met.

"Don’t forget to come to me, Ferguson, if you think I can help you. I .have worked for and with Mr Trevowe and his father before him, and I have a very hearty respect for his judgment.’ "You are very kind."

He suddenly realised that ho was alone with Mr Mumford. Miss Donovan had evidently silently left the room.

"And if I’m not there, you might do worse than consult my secretary, Miss Donovan. She’s a very able girl and knows at least as much as I do about many aspects of the business. Now I’ll take you along to the Sales Department.”

Many curious eyes followed the two men as they passed through (he main office. At the end of it they came to a glass door leading into a rather smaller one where a man was dictating a letter to a typist. “My Maynard, I want to introduce Mr Ferguson.”

“Pleased to meet you," said Maynard. He was a man rather older than Ferguson with reddish hair and a pleasant smile.

"For the time being Mr Ferguson will be with you." Mr Mumford said. "I feel certain that you will put him through his paces. Well . . good luck!”

he went on to Ferguson and turned to the door.

"We heard about you on Saturday," Maynard said. “That'll do, Miss Tyler,” he went on to the girl who was waiting patiently. "I'll ring for you presently." “The bulk of our work consists of controlling the travellers,” Maynard went on when the two men were alone. “Their orders come to us and we check them up before they are passed for delivery.” Ferguson nodded. “You’ll pick up the system—it’s Mr Goodspeed’s system, not mine, by the way—and then it’ll be fairly plain sailing. Had any experience of this kind of thing?” “I’ve had a fairly general experience.” “You’re a friend of the boss, I hear?” "I know him." "Well, anything we can do to help you, of course. Now what we’ve got in hand this morning . . .” He went on to explain the work and Ferguson listened: “Now is that clear?” Maynard asked at the end. “Quite. Thank you. I'll have a shot at it, shall 1?"

"Go ahead. And for today you had better use that desk.”

The work was, in actual fact, perfectly simple, but rather complicated by Mr Goodspeed’s elaborate "system.” Just before lunch the phone on Maynard's desk rang.

“Yes?" Ferguson heard him say and a moment later he added: "I’ll come at once.”

“It’s old Mumford." he explained as he replaced the receiver.

“What do you think of him, Maynard?” Mr Mumford asked a minute or so later.

“He’ll be quite a useful man," Maynard replied.

‘I m glad. It’s up to us to give him a hand. I rather fancy that Mr Trevowe will want to know why, if he doesn’t make a do of it.” “I think he will. He seems to have fitted in very well. You know, sir, he’s had a better job than this before now." “I don’t know anything about that, Maynard. They took up his references in London and so it’s really nothing to do with us. I just wanted to know how he was shaping.” “I understand, sir,” said Maynard. “I hope you do.” Miss Donovan was apparently too deeply immersed in her work to listen to what the two men were saying, but she noticed the smile on Maynard's face as he turned to the door. Apparently, however, she had not missed a great deal, lor as the door closed, she said: “I’m glad he’s shaping well, Mr Mumford." “So am I.” “He seems an interesting type,” lhats as may be, Miss Donovan. As far as we are concerned, he came here fl om the London office and we’ve got to see that he . . . well that he doesn’t fail."

"Was he in the London office?” she asked.

I didn t say he was. He came though them. They are responsible, 1 mean." Mr Mumford spoke shortly, which was unlike him, and Miss Donovan turned to her work.

The suspicion of which Mr Mumford had spoken was not apparent to Ferguson. but Mossford folk rarely show their feeling to strangers. As the days passed many of the staff with whom he came into contact betrayed a curiosity about him, and made, indeed, undisguised attempts to find out more about him. But he gave nothing away. There was a reserve in him, a reticence, and by the end of the week most of them had given up attempting to find out his story. He rapidly demonstrated that he was a really able man. and it became clear to Maynard that he had not merely mastered the “system” on which the department worked but was in a position to suggest certain obvious improvements!,

these suggestions were made in no arrogant spirit. Ferguson spoke diffidently: “Don’t you think, Mr Maynard • ■ . and so on.

“It isn’t my system, old chap, it's Goodspeed’s,” Maynard told him. "He's been here since the year dot and it’s more than I dare do to suggest any diastic alteration. He'll be back next week.”

“It merely struck me." Ferguson put in hurriedly. “I'm quite happy to work on the old lines.”

All ot which was duly reported to Mr Mumford.

Oil the Friday afternoon Ferguson received his first pay envelope. It contained five pounds ten shillings, which was the sum that had been arranged. Within an hour, the amount in that particular envelope was known to many of the staff. It was rather more, for example, than the amount in Maynard’s envelope.

On the Friday evening. Maynard and several of his pals usually broke their homewards journey al the Crown, a very pleasant hostelry in the London load. Generally their dissipation did not extend beyond a couple of glasses of beer and the custom provided an excellent opportunity for a quiet talk. Inevitably, on this occasion. Ferguson piovided the main topic of conversation.

“Who is this chap that William Trevowe has sent down?" one of the men asked.

"He's a very decent fellow," Maynard said.

“What’s the idea? Pal of William's, isn’t he?"

I don t know. He’s as close as a clam.”

A mysterious sort of chap, isn’t he?” another said. "I hear that old Mumloid himself knows nothing about him."

He s a gentleman,” said Maynard, who had been in much closer contact with Ferguson than the others. (To be Continued).