All that he
could now make he needed, for his change of domicile had brought about a
corresponding change of habit and expenditure into which he slipped
imperceptibly. To live on fifteen dollars a week, plus his own small
income, which all went for "extras," had been simple, at Mrs.
Brashear's. To live on fifty at the Regalton was much more of a problem.
Banneker discovered that he was a natural spender. The discovery caused
him neither displeasure nor uneasiness. He confidently purposed to have
money to spend; plenty of it, as a mere, necessary concomitant to other
things that he was after. Good reporters on space, working moderately,
made from sixty to seventy-five dollars a week. Banneker set himself a
mark of a hundred dollars. He intended to work very hard ... if Mr.
Greenough would give him a chance.
Mr. Greenough's distribution of the day's news continued to be
distinctly unfavorable to the new space-man. The better men on the staff
began to comment on the city desk's discrimination. Banneker had, for a
time, shone in heroic light: his feat had been honorable, not only to
The Ledger office, but to the entire craft of reporting. In the
investigation he had borne himself with unexceptionable modesty and
equanimity. That he should be "picked on" offended that generous _esprit
de corps_ which was natural to the office.
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