Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

182 be nearly one hundred, and has been with the family since his boyhood, showed me ‘inte the library, and pretty soon Mr. Ber- ford himself appeared, looking like at least one million dollars in his evening togs; and so far from seeming worried, he grinned in the friendliest way and said: ‘Well, Henry, where was I?” “{ don’t know, sir.” “ Didn’t you stay and look?” the presi- dent asked, and stopped grinning. ‘““T did, and there wasn’t a thing to be found,” I said. ‘“‘ There wasn’t a letter written in your office between the fourth and eleventh of that January and—” _ “ But of course there was!’’ he snapped. **T was in the city then; I—er—that is, I ‘can’t recall being anywhere else about that time, although it’s a long while ago. You’ve overlooked something, Henry.” - “ That’s pogsible, sir,” I said; “ but if I did it wasn’t in your private file. I emptied the whole of that January and part of the ‘December before on your desk, before I gave it up, and then went over every let- ter’ After which, of course, one of those nasty, curt, chilly rebukes was due—and it didn’t come at all! The president stared ‘good and hard at me for a moment, and then he grinned again and setuseet his shoulders. ‘Well, if there was nothing there, there was nothing there, Henry—that’s all. Cu- rious, of course, but it’s not important. Sooner or later I’ll remember or discover just what I was doing on that day, and when I do I'll call the directorate together and break the news. Meanwhile, there’s nothing to worry about.” “¢ Well—to-morrow, sir—” I began. The president unbent still further. He settled down on the arm of a big chair and removed his cigar, looking whimsically at me. - “Drat to-morrow!” he said cheerfully. “‘T’ve recovered from the shock of finding my impeccable character assailed for the first time, Henry, and taken to thinking. Almost beyond question, that woman was somebody’s asinine idea of a joke.” “T’d thought of that.” “Had you really, Henry?” the president ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. said, with a dry smile. ‘ Well, the next time inspiration of that character comes to you in a similar crisis, don’t hesitate to mention it—because I was so utterly thun- derstruck that for a little while I wasn’t able to think of much of anything. But that’s what it was and we’ve seen the end of it.” “The end?” “Of course. That pleasing young wom- an will never return.” -““ Why not, sir?” “Well, as nearly as I can follow the probable working of the sort of brain that must have been behind that performance, its chief virtue lay in its surprise quality. You can’t very well repeat the same sur- prise. Also, should she turn up again, she’d be virtually certain to run into a real third degree and, possibly enough, some un- pleasant consequences. She won’t turn up.” ‘““T hope not, sir,’”’ I said. ““Oh, she won’t, Henry!” snapped the president and it was plain that he was grow- ing a trifle impatient with me for not agree- ing instantly in the optimistic view. “ She’ll never— Yes, Evans!” “Tt’s Mrs. Storm and Miss Alicia, Mr. Tom,” said the butler and showed all three of his teeth in a smile. ‘ Come to take you to the theater, sir, I believe, and sending word in from the car that—” The president left that chair like a ten- year-old kid! He was out of the room be- fore the butler had finished. “Right, Evans! Good night, Henry— and thanks!” he called. There was an end of him for that night! The butler came back with my hat and coat in about five minutes and I went home, feeling almost foolish—I don’t know why. Maybe it was because I’d been worrying like sin about not having been able to get the boss all vindicated with carbon copies; whereas, in point of fact, the whole affair seemed to have slipped from his own shoul- ders like a drop of water from a duck’s back! However, if he wasn’t concerning himself about the strange lady, there was no reason why I should; I had all but for- gotten her myself by bedtime. And he was quite as cheerful when he appeared at the office next morning! He PP Comicbooks,co