P. more
than once--the effect upon him was too startling.
J. P.'s favors in the way of giving time off were always granted subject
to a change of mind on his part; and these changes were often so sudden
that it was our custom as soon as leave was given to disappear from the
yacht or the villa at the earliest possible moment. But at times even an
instant departure was too slow, for it might happen that before you were
out of the room J. P. would say: "Just a moment, Mr. So-and-So, you
wouldn't mind if I asked you to put off your holiday till to-morrow,
would you? I think I would like you to finish that novel this evening; I
am really interested to see how it comes out."
This, of course, was rather disappointing; but the great disadvantage of
not getting away was that Mr. Pulitzer's memory generally clung very
tenaciously to the fact that he had given you leave, and lost the
subsequent act of rescinding it. The effect of this was that for the
practical purpose of getting a day off your turn was used up as soon as
J. P. granted it, without any reference to whether you actually got it
or not; and the phrase, "until to-morrow," was not to be interpreted
literally or to be acted upon without a further distinct permission.
The only "right" any of us had to time off was to our annual vacation of
two weeks, which we had to take whenever J.
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