I haven't any
vacancy at present, and I don't foresee any. What I want you for is
something quite different."
Imagine my amazement. No vacancy on the staff! What about the
advertisement I had answered? What about all the interviews and
correspondence, in which a companionship had been the only thing
discussed? What could the totally different thing be of which Mr.
Pulitzer spoke?
In the midst of my confusion Mr. Pulitzer said, "Look out of the window
and tell me what you see. Remember that I am blind, and try and make me
get a mental picture of everything--everything, you understand; never
think that anything is too small or insignificant to be of interest to
me; you can't tell what may interest me; always describe everything with
the greatest minuteness, every cloud in the sky, every shadow on the
hillside, every tree, every house, every dress, every wrinkle on a face,
everything, everything!"
I did my best, and he appeared to be pleased; but before I had half
exhausted the details of the magnificent scene above and below us he
stopped me suddenly with a request that I should tell him exactly what
had occurred from the time I had answered his advertisement up to the
moment of my arrival at the villa.
This demand placed me in rather an awkward predicament, for I had to try
and reconcile the fact that the advertisement itself as well as all my
conversations with his agents and with his son had been directed toward
the idea of a companionship, with his positive assertion that there was
no vacancy on his personal staff and that he wanted me for another, and
an undisclosed purpose.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55