THE REPRIMAND


At the sound of Mr. Troy's bell, Eleanor Graves vanished into his private
office. Ten minutes later she came out, with a deep flush on her face and
tears in her eyes.

"He lectured me on the spelling of a couple of words and a mistake in a
date," she complained to Jim Forbes. "Anybody's liable to misspell a word
or two in typing, and I know I took the date down exactly as he gave it to
me."

Jim looked uncomfortable. "I would not mind," he said awkwardly. "We all
have to take it sometime or other. Besides," he glanced hesitatingly at the
pretty, indignant face, "I suppose the boss thinks we ought not to make
mistakes."

"As if I wanted to!" Eleanor retorted, stiffly.

But she worked more carefully the next week; for her pride was touched.
Then, with restored confidence, came renewed carelessness, and an error
crept into one of the reports she was copying. The error was slight, but it
brought her a sharp reprimand from Mr. Troy. It was the second time, he
reminded her, that she had made that blunder. At the reproof the girl's
face flushed painfully, and then paled.

"If my work is not satisfactory, you had better find some one who can do it
better," she said.