Miss Trent looked at him keenly, smiled humorously, and shook his hand heartily.
"I'm glad you came," she declared. "I don't often find Alayne in such spirits."
She took to Finch at once. When she heard that he was looking for a position, she was instantly ready to take him under her wing, to place him where he would have an excellent chance of advancement. She was in the advertising business.
"The very thing for him!" she exclaimed to Alayne, energetically snapping her cigarette-lighter. "I'll see about it first thing in the morning."
But Alayne could not picture Finch in an advertising office. She had already made up her mind to see Mr. Cory about him. It required courage to oppose Rosamond when she had set her mind on taking someone under her wing, but Finch helped her by boldly saying that he felt a greater urge in himself toward publishing than toward advertising.
Before he left, Finch helped to carry out the supper things, and in the kitchen Alayne gave him some money—it was to be only a loan—and learned from him that he had been forced to pawn his topcoat and his watch.
In a few days Finch was installed in a minor clerk's position in the publishing house, and Rosamond Trent had had to satisfy her instinct for managing by finding him a more comfortable lodging.
It was only a week later that Alayne had a letter from Lady Buckley, written in a long, graceful hand, with frequent underlinings.
