No, he hadn't. That isn't probable. The way he made his
start into the next phase of his career was not by having any
ready money. Having ready money is far from being characteristic
of the young man of to-day.
John opened his office as a consulting electrical engineer not on
his own resources but as an agent for an electrical supply
company. Being agent for that company assured him enough money to
pay the office rent and stenographer. For the rest, for his meals
and his bed, he depended on his clients. Whom he didn't have. But
he started out to get them.
He opened his office in the city in which Mary was.
And then a strange but normal thing occurred. They spent enough
money on theatres and boat rides and candy in the next three
months to have paid the rent on a flat. It is true John's net
income was too small and uncertain to have justified the founding
of a family. But it was also true that they spent every cent they
had. The celibate life is an extravagant life. One of the
innumerable sources of modern extravagance is found just there.
Mary reflected on it. She didn't like it. And she began to see
other things she didn't like in this protraction of the period of
singleness.
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