Though this puzzled and embarrassed me from the first, I did not for a moment think it was done with malice aforethought. Being repeated so often, I finally began to question myself—why should I, when not allowed to take any part in the work in hand, be howled at? Now, I am not quite a fool. It did not require a great length of time for me to discover that Turpin’s fits of exasperation and loud talking only occurred when Mr. Morton, Mr. Hartley, or some one of the vice-presidents of the bank was in hearing. On my inquiring, quite casually, one day of Turpin what he thought of Mr. Morton’s idea of putting women in the positions left vacant by men going to the front, I got what he would have called “a line” on his behavior. “We all know that business has got to make out with women somehow,” he replied patronizingly. “This bank along with the rest. What we complain about is Morton’s giving us an untrained woman. You’ve never had any office training.” “None,” I agreed. “I told Mr. Morton I had had no experience in office work. He thought that being a college woman——” “College!” he exclaimed contemptuously. “What’s that good for? I’d have gone to college if I hadn’t known it would be throwing away time. As soon as I finished the high school—graduated, of course—I came here.” “How long have you been in the loan department?” I inquired. “More than two years. You can take it from me it’s a man-size job. No woman, much less an untrained woman, can swing it.” “The work is very hard,” I agreed, with a deep and insincere sigh. I thought then, and I have never changed my opinion, that a conscientious girl of sixteen could do all that I ever saw him attempt. “You bet it’s hard!” he agreed with a beaming smile. “The bank will miss you,” I assured him, doing my best to make my eyes look round and innocent. “Miss me!” he cried with enthusiasm. “They’ll know when I’m gone; you see if they don’t.” From then on I followed that young man’s lead so successfully that I am convinced that the loan clerk was amazed to find after Turpin and Ware left that I actually knew that two and two made four. Turpin taught me nothing. He would not even tell me how he got the figures for making out the daily report of business done in the department. To Mr. Morton, to Mr. Hartley, and two courteous men in the bookkeeping department I owe all that I know about the inside of a bank and the world of finance. Mr. Morton explained the how and why of a bank balance. By teaching me to read the ticker-tape he interested me in stocks and bonds, and the part played by the Wall Street market in the business of the country.