THE BENEVOLENT BROKER.
“Must I pay a dollar before I can find out what sort of a place this
one is?” asked Wade, who concluded that he should not negotiate on this
basis.
“By no means! certainly not! We do business on correct principles,”
said the employment broker, with the blandest of smiles. “When we raise
any money for a party, we charge him a commission; and that pays our
fee.”
“What sort of a place is this cashier in a restaurant?” asked Wade, who
wanted to know something more about it.
“It is one of the most desirable situations in New York City,” answered
the polite broker. “The young man who gets that situation is sure to be
taken in.”
“Taken in?” repeated Wade, who had his own meaning for this phrase.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Taken into the business; that is, if he proves to be honest and
reliable. He has to know nothing but how to make change. It is a very
nice place; and the proprietor of it is in a great hurry to obtain a
young man who can fill the bill. He was in here not more than half an
hour ago, and said he wanted some one to take right hold at dinner
to-day.”
“How much does the place pay?” asked Wade, greatly interested in this
very desirable situation.
“He did not say how much he was willing to pay; but I suppose about
ten dollars a week; and the party would have his meals free at the
restaurant.”
Wade thought this was simply magnificent. Ten dollars a week for
sitting at a counter and making change during meal-hours! That was
more than they paid their clerks in the stores in Midhampton. How Obed
Swikes’s eyes would stick out, if he should go down to his former home,
and tell him that he was getting ten dollars a week besides his board
in the great city of New York!
“The cashier would not sleep at the place, I suppose,” added Wade.
“That will be just as you and the proprietor can agree. I believe he
has some rooms that he lets to his steady boarders.”
“And the one that gets this place must lend the man that keeps the
restaurant a hundred dollars?” said Wade, who did not quite understand
this part of the proposed bargain.
“Precisely so. You see, this cashier will handle hundreds of dollars
every day of the proprietor’s money; and this small loan is merely to
insure the honesty of the person employed. He does this instead of
asking for testimonials; for, between you and me, no one knows who
signs these papers, and I have heard that there are men who will give
anybody a testimonial for a dollar or two,” laughed the knowing broker
in situations.
Wade saw the point, and thought it was a good idea; for he had no
recommendations, and all the other advertisements required them.
“I don’t find any fault with the loan,” said Wade, when he had looked
into the subject.
“I think you said you had the money,” added the man behind the counter.
“I did say so.”
“Actually?” queried the broker.
“I shouldn’t say so if I didn’t have it,” answered Wade, with some
indignation.
“You will excuse me if I wish to assure myself on this point. You see,
we are so often imposed upon, that we hardly know whom we can trust,”
continued the broker. “It was only yesterday that I had a young man
apply for this place; and, after giving the keeper of the restaurant a
deal of trouble, it turned out that he had no money, and wanted to give
his note for the hundred dollars; and that would have been no guaranty
at all for his honesty.”
“I mean to speak the truth all the time,” said Wade.
“I have no doubt you do; but then, you are an entire stranger to me. I
cannot send for the proprietor of the restaurant, and ask him to come
up here under another uncertainty. If you will just satisfy me that
you have the money, I will send for him at once. You see, it is not
very often that a young man of your age has a hundred dollars in his
pocket,” persisted the broker in his blandest tone.
“I think I can easily satisfy you on that point,” said Wade, as he took
from his pocket his wallet, exhibiting the roll of bills, and turning
over each one so that the man behind the counter could count them as he
did so.
“That’s enough,” answered the broker, his eyes glowing with
satisfaction. “I see that you are an honest and fair young man, and
very different from most of those who come here. I have a great deal of
sympathy for young men out of employment; but I am sorry to say that a
great many of them are willing to cheat me out of my time and money.”
“I am not such a fellow!” exclaimed Wade.
“I know you are not. I see you speak the truth, and are ready to back
up what you say,” added the benevolent broker. “Now, if you will sit
down here for a few minutes, I will go down stairs, and find a boy to
send after the keeper of the restaurant.”
“I won’t give you all that trouble,” interposed Wade. “I will go to his
restaurant, and see him there, if you will tell me where it is.”
“That’s no way to do business,” said the broker, shaking his head
with another knowing smile. “I am sorry to say that all these
restaurant-keepers are not as honest as you are, Mr.-- What did you say
your name was?”
“I didn’t say; but my name is Wade Brooks,” replied the applicant.
“Some of them are not as honest as they might be, Mr. Brooks,”
continued the broker, who seemed to have his eyes open to dishonesty in
every direction.
“If he is not an honest man, I don’t know as I want to have any thing
to do with him,” added Wade doubtfully.
“Oh! he is a perfectly honest and upright man, as the world goes,”
interposed the broker, seeing that he had rather overdone the business.
“You see, if I get him the right sort of a cashier, he is to pay me a
commission for my services. If you go to his place of business, and
engage with him, he may say--though I don’t think he would--that I was
not entitled to the commission, as the arrangements were not made in
my office. A great many very honest men, even members of the church,
take this view of the matter. But the advertisement you saw, and which
brought you here, cost me three dollars; and my commission only amounts
to five dollars.”
Wade Brooks had brains enough to comprehend this logic; and he thought
the broker was very fair about the matter. He did not see how anybody
could hire an office, pay for advertisements, and do business, for
nothing.
“I will send for Mr. Flinker”--
“Mr. who?” interrupted Wade.
“Mr. Flinker. Didn’t you ever hear of Flinker’s restaurant?”
“Never,” replied Wade.
“I supposed everybody knew it,” added the broker, as though he pitied
the young man for his ignorance. “It is just in the midst of his
dinner-time, and I don’t know that he will be able to come up just at
present.”
“If you will tell me where it is, I will go there and get my dinner: I
would like to see what sort of a place it is.”
“That isn’t the right way to do business,” replied the broker, writing
a note with a pencil in a very hurried manner. “I think this note will
bring him at once; and I dare say he will want you to go to work right
off.”
Wade happened to think, if he broke one of the ten-dollar bills in his
pocket, he would not have a hundred dollars to make the trade with; and
he concluded to let the broker send for the keeper of the restaurant,
who would at least give him his dinner, if he did not set him at work
at once. There was something very pleasing in the idea of beginning his
new duties at once. His hundred dollars would be put on interest also.
The broker left the office, and went down stairs; but he was not absent
more than five minutes.
“I think he will be here in a few minutes,” said the man of places. “I
believe he has his father in the restaurant for a few days; and if he
has, he will be able to come right off.”
It was not more than twenty minutes, before a man came into the
office; and the broker introduced him as Mr. Flinker, speaking in the
highest terms of Wade, as though he had known him all his life. He
was sure the young man was honest and smart, and that he was just the
person to be the cashier of a restaurant. Mr. Flinker was very glad
to see him. He had had a great deal of trouble with the cashiers of
his restaurant. They were dishonest, and robbed him of half of his
profits. He would never employ another without some sort of guaranty
of his honesty; and the “dead beats” who had so often imposed upon him
were the very ones who never had a hundred dollars to deposit with the
employer, to insure their good behavior.
“I will pay you ten per cent for the money,” continued Mr. Flinker. “It
is true, I do not need the money, and would rather not take it if I
could manage the business in any other way.”
“I am a poor boy, and this hundred dollars is all the money I have in
the world,” said Wade, who was pleased with the fair talk of the keeper
of the restaurant. “I can’t afford to lose it.”
“Do you think I would rob you of it?” demanded Mr. Flinker, looking as
magnificent as though he had been the president of the Walnut National
Bank.
“Oh, no, sir! I didn’t mean that,” protested Wade, afraid that he had
offended the high-toned keeper of the restaurant.
“If you did, I would have nothing more to say to you about this little
matter; for I can’t afford to have my honor doubted.”
“Excuse me, for I didn’t mean what I said,” added Wade.
“I see you didn’t; and I pass over the remark,” said the indulgent Mr.
Flinker.
“But the advertisement said good security would be given for the
money,” persisted Wade, who was not quite willing to drop the subject.
“Very true; and the note of Francis Flinker is as good as gold; but you
shall have an indorser.”
Wade understood what this meant; and the keeper of the employment
bureau offered to put his name on the back of the note.
“You can satisfy yourself about the name of Mr. Flinker, by asking all
the people near his place. He will pay the note any time when you want
the money,” said the man behind the counter. “Then, if he don’t pay it,
I will.”
Wade reflected.