Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

POKER not wholly unlike a mountain in general size and contour. “‘ And a eup of coffee, too, Mr. Dixon?” Betty said sweetly and even tilted her head. “You like coffee?” ‘ET like anything you hand me!” Mr. Dixon said, quite thickly, “ Coffee for you, Mr. Whitmore?” Betty asked, almost as sweetly. ‘““Tf you please!” James said shortly. ‘““ One lump of sugar?” “ Huh? Ywo!”’ barked James so violent- ly that Henry Curlew, whose sodden head was rolling almost foolishly, glanced at him. On Mr. Dixon the effect was very much more pronounced. Mr. Dixon’s heavy brows came down with a snap; he flushed as he glared at James. “Say, pardon me, Whitmore!” he snapped. “ I suppose it’s not the custom- ary thing, but my manners aren’t specially ‘pretty, anyway, and sometimes I have to speak out from the shoulder or bust. I wish you wouldn’t yap at Miss Banford like that!” OF ““ No! She’s not your wife, you know!” “Do you—imagine that I speak to my wife in—an offensive way?” James had some trouble in asking. “T don’t know whether you do or not; it’s no concern of mine. But with Miss Banford I wish you’d—” “No, but as a matter of fact, do you, Mr. Whitmore?” Miss Banford inquired, suddenly, and she was looking straight at James. ‘ Deliberately, I mean?” “Haw, haw, haw!” roared Mr. Dixon delightedly. “I guess that’s pretty pat, Whitmore! Come on! Give her an an- swer!” “ Um—without any great difficulty, I can imagine occasions on which I should speak—well, at least plainly—to my wife,” ‘said James, regarding her; and added: “ And deliberately, of course.” “And she doesn’t retaliate?” asked with growing interest. “Kind of woman that ’d marry him never would,” Dixon said promptly. “Oh, do you think so?” Betty mur- mured. “ Bound to be so,” the visitor grinned. Betty FACES, 85 Betty, with the same pretty timidity and a little horror, shook her head. “No, I think you’re wrong!” she said firmly. “I think a woman—any woman— can be tormented just so long. And then she passes her limit of endurance and—” ‘And what does she do then, Miss Ban- ford?” James asked, as Betty hesitated. “Why, I think there’s no telling what she might do! She might do anything— anything at all—if she was driven to it by —by brutality and deception and that sort of thing,” “But if the—ah—lady happens to be mistaken—happens to be exaggerating the brutality and the deception and so on, in her own mind,” Mr. Whitmore pursued in an easy, conversational style, “isn’t it pos- sible—” “Ob, but I’m sure she’s very rarely mis- taken, Mr. Whitmore!” Betty said earnest- ly. “JT mean that when a—a normal wom- an really finds that she’s about to do some- thing desperate and awful, she knows why!” “Well, whether she does or not, why should a little kid like you bother her head about such stuff??? Dixon demanded impa- tiently. “ Listen, honey! Certain type of woman marries a certain type of man; that is all there is to it. If the man’s on the level and they’re congenial and so on, all right.” “And if they’re not—or if he’s not?” Betty asked. ‘* Sooner it’s broken off, the better, once she finds it out,” Mr. Dixon said, with a shrug. “T think so, too!” ‘Now, Mr. Whitmore’s wife—” the vis- itor began with a grin—and just there Henry Curlew raised his head after a thirty second trip into slumberland. ““__more’s wife!” he babbled. ‘ State— complete subjection—leave her alone when he pleases—pleases—aah! Did you speak to me, Dixon?” ~“T didn’t—no,” Dixon muttered, hard eyes on James. ‘“ But is that a fact? Does Whitmore boast about having his wife in complete subjection?” “Does he what?” Henry gasped, wide awake again. ComiclooOoks (S@)