Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 189, No. 4 — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

504 Mr. Juveen slowly and grimly shook his head. Even his pretense at an affable man- ner was gone now. He was being crossed; one of his ideas was being resisted. And Mr. Juveen permitted no man to resist his ideas. “You’re going to take that job,” he stated. Teddy’s spine momentarily became a racetrack for cold chills. Then his thoughts gathered themselves and dived into the vest pocket where that check from Aunt Pris- cilla was snugly hiding. “T’m sorry; I can’t take it.” The president of the Pan American Ex- port and Import Corporation glared at him. ‘The men in my organization,” he said, frigidly, “‘ are so many soldiers. I am the general in command of them. When I give an order, it is to be obeyed.” “T am afraid,” was Teddy’s somewhat flippant comeback, “ that [ll have to re- sign from your army.” “ You’re a plain damned fool!” “ No, sir; but if I took that job I would be.”’ The lips of Mr. Juveen curled into a nasty smile. It was hardly less than a sneer. ‘The trouble with you handsome young men,” he got out, gratingly, “ is that things come to you on silver platters. Diamn you, Armbister, I’ve been grooming you for five years for this job simply because you are a handsome young man. And now—’”’ ‘Do you mean,” Teddy growled, “ my work has been unsatisfactory?” -“ How dare you interrupt me!” ‘“T should like,” said Teddy, “ to tender my resignation, to be effective immediately.” ‘““You’re fired!” roared the man-breaker. “ Two weeks’ salary is nothing to sneer at,” Teddy murmured as he rose. Til. “Tr all happened so suddenly,” Teddy Armbister explained to. Clara Jennings, the dimpling dark little beauty with whom he was lunching, ‘‘ that I don’t know just what my plans are going to be. One minute I was a rising young business man, and next minute—I was a falling star.” ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. For some obscure reason, prompted per- haps by instinct, he had failed to mention the windfall from Aunt Priscilla. Miss Jennings held up her left arm and shook it slightly, a gesture she always em- ployed when she was clearing the decks for conversational action. Approximately forty thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds, em- eralds and platinum in the form of bracelets slid down toward her elbow as she did so. “Teddy, dear,” she crooned; ‘I have a perfect whiz of an idea. TI’ll simply speak to dad. I have something on him, and there’s nothing in the world I want from him just now; so I’ll get you a job with him. Do—do you like me, Teddy? Aren’t I nice to give up, maybe, a mink coat, a pearl necklace or a Hispano-Suiza roadster for you?” ‘“ Of course I like you!” Teddy exclaimed. “ How much do you like me?” ‘“T like you as much as any girl I ever met,” Teddy answered, earnestly. “ In fact, [ like you every bit as much as if you were my own sister.” Miss Jennings looked disappointed, but he had won the point neatly and she only said: “Pll speak to dad to-night. Will ,you give me a ring around ten in the morning?” “If I’m in town,” Teddy promised. It had occurred to him only this moment that he might be going away. In terms of mileage, twenty thousand dollars was a lot of money. It might take him as far away as Timbuctoo or some high peak in Tibet. ‘“Why not?” he asked himself, with ris- ing enthusiasm, ‘‘go away?” And echo answered: “ Why not?” ‘‘ Where,” the lovely girl wanted to know, “are you going??’ ‘““] haven’t yet decided,” was his honest answer. Teddy Armbister spent the afternoon packing his things and, from time to time, consulting the steamer-departure columns of his morning paper. A great many of the places listed sounded far away and entic- ing, but he was still in a state of indecision when he called for Sylvia Hemmingway that evening. His only objection to Sylvia was that she persisted in gazing at him with dying- Gomichboo (E <S (E) ' sve Hae By tar