Mr.Bircham rose and bowed rather formally, motioned her to a seat, and swung round his own seat so that they faced one another.Then he scanned her from head to foot with the sort of appraising glance to which she was only too well accustomed a glance which said as plainly as words: "Oh!" So you are that atheist's daughter are you?"But whatever impression Erica made upon Mr.Bircham, not a muscle of his face altered, and he began to discuss business in a most formal and business-like way.Things did not seem very hopeful, and Erica began to doubt more and ore whether she had the smallest chance of acceptance.Something in the dry formal manner of the editor struck a chill to her heart.So much, so very much depended on this interview, and already the prospect seemed far from hopeful.
"I should like to see some of your work," observed Mr.Bircham.
"How long have you been in the habit of writing in Mr.Raeburn's organ?""For the last five years," said Erica.
Mr.Bircham lifted his shaggy eyebrows at this, for Erica looked even younger than she really was.However, he made no comment, but took up the end of a speaking tube.
"Send up Jones with the file of 'Idol-Breakers' I ordered."Erica's color rose.Presently the answer from the lower regions appeared in the shape of the sedate clerk carrying a great bundle of last year's 'Idol-Breakers.'
"Perhaps you will show me one or two of your average articles,"said Mr.Bircham, and, while Erica searched through the bundle of papers, he took up one of the copies which she had put aside, and studied the outside page critically."'The Idol-Breaker:' Advocate of Freethought and Secularism.Edited by Luke Raeburn.""They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three."Mr.Bircham put it down and began to watch her attentively.She was absorbed in her search, and was quite unconscious of his scrutiny.Even had she noticed him, she would not have understood what was passing in his mind.His little gray eyes grew bright;then he pushed back his wig impatiently; then he cleared his throat; finally he took snuff, sneezed violently, and walked to the window.When he returned he was even more dry and formal than before.
"These, I think, are fairly representative," said Erica."I have marked them on the margin."He took the three or four copies she handed to him, and began to look through one of the articles, muttering a sentence half aloud every now and then, and making little ejaculations which might have been either approval or disapproval.
Finally the interview ended.Mr.Bircham put down the papers with a sigh of utter weariness, Erica thought.
"Well, Miss Raeburn," he remarked, "I will look at one or two of your other articles, and will communicate with you in a few days'
time."
Then he shook hands with her with frigid politeness, and in another minute she was slowly making her way down the dingy staircase.
Partly from the reaction after her excitement, partly from mental worry and physical weariness, she felt by the time she was fairly out of the office as if she could hardly drag herself along.Her heart was like lead, blank loss of hope and weary anxiety as to the next effort to be made were weighing her down.She was naturally high-spirited, but when high-spirited people do get depressed, they go down to the very deepest depths; and her interview with Mr.
Bircham, by its dry cheerlessness, by its lack of human interest, had chilled her all through.If he had even made a remark on the weather, she thought she could have liked him better; if he had expressed an opinion on any subject, even if she had disagreed with him, it would have been a relief; as it was, he seemed to her more like a hard steel pen dressed in broadcloth than a man.
As to his last remark, that could only mean one thing.He did not like to tell her to her face that she would not suit him, but, he would communicate with her in a few days, and say it comfortably on paper.
She had never felt quite so desolate and forlorn and helpless as she felt that day when she left the "Daily Review" office, and found herself in the noise and bustle of Fleet Street.The midday sun blazed down upon her in all its strength; the pavements seemed to scorch her feet; the weary succession of hurrying, pushing, jostling passengers seemed to add to her sense of isolation.
Presently a girl stopped her, and asked the way to Basinghall Street.She knew it well enough, but felt too utterly stupid to direct her.
"You had better ask a policeman," she replied, wearily.
Then, recollecting that she had several commissions to do for her father, besides a great deal to do at the stores, she braced herself up, and tried to forget Mr.Bircham, and to devote her whole mind to the petty details of shopping.
]The next evening she was in the study with her father when Tom brought in a bundle of letters.One of them was for Erica.She at once recognized Mr.Bircham's writing, and a new pang of disappointment shot through her, though she had really lost all hope on the previous day.This very speedy communication could only mean that his mind had been practically made up before.She began to think of her next chance, of the next quarter she must try, and slowly opened the unwelcome letter.But in a moment she had sprung to her feet in an ecstasy of happiness.
"Oh, father! Oh, Tom! He will have me!"Raeburn looked up from his correspondence, and together they read Mr.Bircham's letter.It was quite as business-like as he himself had been at the interview.
"Dear Madame, Having fully considered the matter, we are prepared to offer you a place on our staff.The work required was explained to you yesterday.For this we offer a salary of 200 pounds per annum.Should you signify your acceptance of these terms, we will send you our usual form of agreement.I am yours faithfully, Jacob Bircham."To Miss Raeburn.""Commend me to people who don't raise one's expectations!" said Erica, rapturously."Three cheers for my dear, stiff old editor!"So that anxiety was over, and Erica was most thankful to have such a load taken off her mind.The comfort of it helped her through a very trying summer.
