Then she dropped the bag with a goodly share of sweets in it right into Johnny's cap as it lay in his lap, and immediately ran, giggling, into the house. When Papa Cameron went downtown that day, Carolyn May went with him. It was a holiday jaunt indeed when she was allowed to go to his office. Later, her mother would go downtown, too, and they expected to shop together. The delights of shopping in the big department stores never palled on Carolyn May. One never knows what may happen in this world. That, Carolyn May often said, was what made it so very delightful. If one went forth expecting to coast downhill and it proved to be warm enough to pick violets, she only considered it a pleasant surprise. The unexpected gave zest to existence. This day the unexpected surely happened, and it became a day long to be remembered by Carolyn May. Mr. Cameron's position on the _Beacon_ was that of city editor. First he was busy looking over the clippings from the other papers which the exchange editors had put upon his desk, and then with his assignment book. Not many reporters had as yet put in an appearance, and Carolyn May was free to wander about the big room, which was always a delight to her. Everybody knew her, or made believe they did. Even the copy boys grinned at Carolyn May, and the make-up man, whose hands were so terribly grimy, was her particular friend. Wandering back to her father's big flat-topped desk, she was in season to see him greet a young man who had quickly followed his card in from the gate where the messenger sat. "Mr. Bassett?" questioned the city editor, scanning the caller rather doubtfully. The young man was not unattractive looking. He possessed a wealth of waving brown hair which he tossed back now and then from his broad brow by a quick, nervous gesture. His expression was frank, and if he was not exactly a handsome lad he certainly was good to look upon. There was nothing dissipated in his appearance; yet his clothing was shabby, and a brilliant shine attempted to hide the ravages time had made on his footwear. His whole manner and presence spoke loudly of "putting his best foot forward." "Mr. Bassett?" repeated Carolyn May's father. "You are, I take it, a son of Mr. Henry Bassett, of Wall Street fame?" "I haven't come to you boasting of my family connections--or otherwise," replied the young man. "I cannot very well help my name, and there is nothing about it of which I am ashamed. I am here on my own behalf, to ask you for a chance, not as Henry Bassett's son, but as Joe Bassett, Yale graduate, and quite unafraid of work. I am willing to do anything that's clean." "You have not been very successful since leaving college?" Mr. Cameron suggested. "You can easily guess that," the caller said bitterly. "But I do not consider myself a failure," he quickly added. "Merely, all the holes I have found have been round; and I am a square peg, Mr. Cameron."