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Page 34
The hostility of Mr Bickersdyke was a slight drawback. Psmith had
developed a habit of taking Mike with him to the club of an evening;
and this did not do anything towards wiping out of the manager's mind
the recollection of his former passage of arms with the Old Wrykinian.
The glass remaining Set Fair as far as Mr Rossiter's approval was
concerned, Mike was enabled to keep off the managerial carpet to a
great extent; but twice, when he posted letters without going through
the preliminary formality of stamping them, Mr Bickersdyke had
opportunities of which he availed himself. But for these incidents life
was fairly enjoyable. Owing to Psmith's benevolent efforts, the Postage
Department became quite a happy family, and ex-occupants of the postage
desk, Bannister especially, were amazed at the change that had come
over Mr Rossiter. He no longer darted from his lair like a pouncing
panther. To report his subordinates to the manager seemed now to be a
lost art with him. The sight of Psmith and Mr Rossiter proceeding high
and disposedly to a mutual lunch became quite common, and ceased to
excite remark.
'By kindness,' said Psmith to Mike, after one of these expeditions. 'By
tact and kindness. That is how it is done. I do not despair of training
Comrade Rossiter one of these days to jump through paper hoops.'
So that, altogether, Mike's life in the bank had become very fairly
pleasant.
Out of office-hours he enjoyed himself hugely. London was strange to
him, and with Psmith as a companion, he extracted a vast deal of
entertainment from it. Psmith was not unacquainted with the West End,
and he proved an excellent guide. At first Mike expostulated with
unfailing regularity at the other's habit of paying for everything, but
Psmith waved aside all objections with languid firmness.
'I need you, Comrade Jackson,' he said, when Mike lodged a protest on
finding himself bound for the stalls for the second night in
succession. 'We must stick together. As my confidential secretary and
adviser, your place is by my side. Who knows but that between the acts
tonight I may not be seized with some luminous thought? Could I utter
this to my next-door neighbour or the programme-girl? Stand by me,
Comrade Jackson, or we are undone.'
So Mike stood by him.
By this time Mike had grown so used to his work that he could tell to
within five minutes when a rush would come; and he was able to spend a
good deal of his time reading a surreptitious novel behind a pile of
ledgers, or down in the tea-room. The New Asiatic Bank supplied tea to
its employees. In quality it was bad, and the bread-and-butter
associated with it was worse. But it had the merit of giving one an
excuse for being away from one's desk. There were large printed notices
all over the tea-room, which was in the basement, informing gentlemen
that they were only allowed ten minutes for tea, but one took just as
long as one thought the head of one's department would stand, from
twenty-five minutes to an hour and a quarter.
This state of things was too good to last. Towards the beginning of the
New Year a new man arrived, and Mike was moved on to another
department.
14. Mr Waller Appears in a New Light
The department into which Mike was sent was the Cash, or, to be more
exact, that section of it which was known as Paying Cashier. The
important task of shooting doubloons across the counter did not belong
to Mike himself, but to Mr Waller. Mike's work was less ostentatious,
and was performed with pen, ink, and ledgers in the background.
Occasionally, when Mr Waller was out at lunch, Mike had to act as
substitute for him, and cash cheques; but Mr Waller always went out at
a slack time, when few customers came in, and Mike seldom had any very
startling sum to hand over.
He enjoyed being in the Cash Department. He liked Mr Waller. The work
was easy; and when he did happen to make mistakes, they were corrected
patiently by the grey-bearded one, and not used as levers for boosting
him into the presence of Mr Bickersdyke, as they might have been in
some departments. The cashier seemed to have taken a fancy to Mike; and
Mike, as was usually the way with him when people went out of their way
to be friendly, was at his best. Mike at his ease and unsuspicious of
hostile intentions was a different person from Mike with his prickles
out.
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