He had attended his only interview gratefully and in the fever of examination did not think to test the position  an inexplicit editorial role on a free local newspaper for its own merits Relieved at having pulled off twenty minutes of pleasant conversation with Neil his boss he had not considered the future of lengthy encounters by which he was now daily assaulted Neil had offered him the job there and then telling him he was the only graduate who had applied a revelation which at the time Ralph had obscurely taken as a compliment