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Show Paper Clips By DOROTHY DOUGLAS McClure Syndicate WNU Features. TT WAS not until Alice reached her office and put down her many packages that she knew she had either lost or left in the bus or train the most important of the lot. She had sat up, straining her eyes with the fine print of the telephone directory, until after midnight, addressing ad-dressing envelopes to be sent out with samples of her paper clips, and she had stupidly proceeded to lose 500 of them. Alice felt like indulging in a grand, devastating cry, but realized with her sound common sense that she dare not acquire a red nose and tear-dimmed eyes at the very commencement of her business day. Alice might have felt a bit more cheery as she opened her morning morn-ing mail. But from the depths of her gloom she failed to see that glimmer of hope. A few, nice orders among her letters let-ters and the work attendant upon getting them packed up, invoiced and dispatched left her little time to fret about her loss and it was just nearing the noon hour when a young man entered her office. She had her hat on preparatory to locking the office and going out for her noon breath of fresh air as well as a large cup of coffee and a sandwich. The young man needed no introduction. intro-duction. She smiled such a charming smile that young Woodward almost lost his breath and forgot to mention his reason for being there. However, being an outside salesman sales-man and more than accustomed to various types of receptions in offices he visited, he managed to smile joyfully in return and say briskly: "I found these envelopes in the Fifth avenue bus this morning and being curious, opened up the package. pack-age. I found the name of A. Caton, Incorporated, and this print of the clip which I suppose your office supplies." "I happen to be the office, store house, manager, office boy and all the directors," laughed Alice, "and I am tremendously pleased to get those back so soon. I sat up until twelve-thirty addressing them." "Oh, I say then I suppose yon are Miss Caton." He hesitated hesi-tated for a second, then plunged boldly into his reason for appearing ap-pearing in person with the lost property. "I suppose you are just going out to lunch, but I wanted to make a proposition about this clip." "Well, I wasn't exactly going out to lunch, but I was going to have some coffee. I have only the noon hour to get out being a one-man office force, Perhaps " she smiled at young Woodward. "Just so. Perhaps you will go with me for that cup of coffee. A pure business cup," he laughed. And when they sat at the marble counter, each with a steaming cup of coffee with cream floating on top and sandwiches beside them, Woodward Wood-ward plunged into his idea. "You see, Miss Caton, I am an outside salesman working a few good stationery lines and I feel that I could sell a lot of those clips of yours commission basis, of course. It looks like about the best paper clip on the market." "It is," said Alice with conviction, convic-tion, "and I sell millions of them now, but I want to do a lot more. I am just struggling upward at the moment and could do with some outside out-side salesmen good ones that is." "I'm all that," laughed Woodward, Wood-ward, "and if you want to save postage on this batch of envelopes, I will take this along with me. It will give me a bit of a start." Alice laughed at his enthusiasm enthusi-asm and felt a great wave of gratitude sweeping over her toward this very attractive and able young man. She had been feeling a bit in need of assistance assist-ance if her business was to expand ex-pand and had not known just how to go about it. "I will have to attach all the lips first," she told him. "I put one of each size on the circular card so that the actual clip is seen and tested test-ed in the office." "That's the stuff," exclaimed Woodward, "no use being mean in business. But it will take you a long time to do thousands of them, won't it?" Alice sighed softly. "Yes, but I have to do it I can do hundreds in the evenings at home." "Oh, I say couldn't I help? I have only some uninteresting fellow boarders to spend the evenings with. I'd love to help you. Besides the sooner we swing this batch into the offices the better." Alice laughed. The We had coma out so unconsciously. "You are the kind of salesman I have dreamed about, but never hoped to find," she told him with laughing lips. And Woodward found himself lost in contemplation of a future wherein where-in the girl opposite him played a somewhat more intimate part than that of employer of a commission salesman. Alice found herself much to her annoyance coloring under that regard re-gard but somehow they both knew that a little paper clip on a lost envelope had given them each other as well as increased business. |