twenty minutes to eleven
Punctually at ten-five , the stenographer , whose desk was in the anteroom , brought in the mail ; five minutes later the cashier entered for his morning conference with his superior ; and at half-past the hour the president was left alone to read his correspondence . Being a man whose mental processes were all serious , and whose hobby was method , Mr. Galbraith had established a custom of giving himself a quiet half-hour of inviolable seclusion in which to read and consider his mail . During this sacred interval the stenographer , standing guard in the outer office , had instructions to deny his chief to callers of any and every degree . Wherefore , when , at twenty minutes to eleven , the door of the private office opened to admit a stranger , the president was justly annoyed . `` Well , sir ; what now ? '' he demanded , impatiently , taking the intruder 's measure in a swift glance shot from beneath his bushy white eyebrows . The unannounced visitor was a young man of rather prepossessing appearance , a trifle tall for his breadth of shoulder , fair , with blue eyes and a curling reddish beard and mustache , the former trimmed to a point .