Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 57: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

for you, Miss Pomeroy,” he remarked, smil- “ing. ‘ The time will always be long—” “Don’t fire all your guns so early in the evening,” she replied. ‘‘ You will do bet- ter to keep some of them in reserve for later, Mr. Morley.” “‘T don’t have to,” he came back. make up better ones as we go along.” ‘““T’m sure this is perfectly improper— dining with a man whom I have never actu- ally met, isn’t it?” she appealed to him. He nodded pleasantly. “ It certainly is, Miss Pomeroy.” “Isn’t that fine!” she ejaculated. ‘“ I’m going to be highly improper to-night, then.” “ Impropriety becomes the height of re- spectability when you indulge in it, Miss Pomeroy,” he fired back. “Shall we go to the dining room?” She nodded. “Please. I’m _ horribly hungry—I suppose you think I ought to live on humming birds’ wings and nightingales’ tongues—to judge from the things you say tome. I don’t really, though,” she confided to him in a low tone. ‘““No?” he asked. ‘“ You astound me.” “No,” she said. “I’m going to deal out death and destruction to oysters, filet mignon, with dozens of different kinds of vegetables and salad, ice cream—”’ “That’s fine; at least, you know what you want. Most women don’t seem to have the least idea of what they want to. eat when they dine with a man. It’s a relief to come across one who knows her own mind— stomach—if I may be so presumptuous as to. suppose you have such a thing,” he smiled. “ It’s a very personal matter.”’ “You'd think so, wouldn’t your” She smiled at him gently, and he took careful note of the dimples the smile produced in her cheeks. ‘“‘ And yet, I don’t thihk we ought to stand here and discuss my—er— tummy in such an offhand way,/do you?” “ Er—well, perhaps not,” he answered gravely. At the door of the dining room they were met by a squad of officials, respectful and obsequious. Prominent among them were the head waiter and the manager. The Morley name was a potent factor where it was known. This accounted for the cere- monia] procession—almost like a corona- ce Tl WITHOUT HANDS. AT tion procession—through the dining room to a sheltered alcove where a table laid for two, decorated with just the proper flowers, awaited them. “You must feel like a feudal baron,” she whispered to him, “to whom everything comes as a matter. of right.” He smiled. “I feet like an animated national bank, to tell you the truth.” “Yet, money has its ee she said when they were seated. He nodded. “So I’ve been led to be- lieve,” he said. “TY don’t know, really— I’ve always had it, you know—so perhaps I don’t actually realize what it means. There are times when I’ve found it to be more of a disadvantage than— But we’d better order first and talk later. I’m sure you must be perfectly starved.” “Tt am,” she admitted. the oysters.” They chatted idly for a while, until the first part of the dinner was finally served. It made little difference to Val what they talked about—rather, what she talked about. It was enough for him that he “Don’t forget ‘heard her veice; that he was sitting oppo- site her at table; that they were living a small fraction of their lives together. At present she was with him to the exclusion of the whole world. Something of what he was thinking must have flashed into her mind like the ghost of a shadow—it must have been as intangible and as nebulous as that, because Val him- self had not realized concretely his own thoughts. She looked at him, serious for perhaps the first time that evening—an ap- praising glance, a glance that seemed to dissect him. It was almost calculatingly cold. For that instant it seemed as though she looked at him not as a man who was there because he was interested in her, but as a tool that a workman finds ready to his hand, a sword a soldier finds conveniently placed so that he can use it. ‘“* Curious that we should meet like this, isn’t it???’ -She looked at him with frank approval now—he had been weighed in that instant. ‘‘ I mean,” she went on in a small sudden panic, afraid that it would seem to him that their juxtaposition was appearing very fateful and important in her eyes, “ it’s O CoOMmicloookSse@©