Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

ie As j : 03 08 CO Bee be ers oe TOMY ark C7 PASE. AP Le te Oe Ue ere : 4 ? rey ay La RS ' ; ‘ V4 SPURS (RIND) POH eet MS i OAPANNY ANTE Se 1 SNe te Fev OQ WANT MEAT A TROn Ag LOTTO OT ; ‘,) ; ie, \y . 5 ar? * | | 254 by being referred to an agent. Believe me, she is clever enough to dig up the truth. She has pretty good evidence now that there are at least three Seumas Shaynes.” I told them about the inscriptions in three different handwritings in the three books, all signed Seumas Shayne, bringing upon myself a verbal walloping for my care- lessness in leaving the books around where they could be seen. I had to remind them that, but for me, Nell Teller would have been at her work of destruction by this time. Then I told them that Nell’s syndi- cate theory had been jarred a bit, and her suspicions diverted into new channels by the fact that she had learned that there was a portrait of Seumas in the exhibition of the Independent Artists’ League, that she would certainly go to see this portrait and would corner the original the first time she saw him in the street and demand an inter- view. “Unless,” I concluded, “‘ you intend to keep Tom What’s-his-name a prisoner for life like the Man in the Iron Mask, and, personally, after shaking hands with him, I choose not to be his jailer.” “The objection is,’ said McKesson, “that if Tom Jervis posed as anybody else for ten minutes in a deaf and dumb asylum, he’d be found out.” e Why?” “ Because—well, he’s a fine chap, but an awful boob in a lot of ways,’”’ Mac replied, and I realized then why he had gotten rid of Jervis. ‘He seems to have ordinary average in- telligence,” I suggested. “ Just about,” Mac admitted. “Who is he anyway?” I asked; and Mac told me all about him, much of the information appearing to be quite as new to the others as it was to me. It seemed that the aristocratic looking Jervis was not Bertie Cecil of the Coldstream Guards nor the younger son of the Earl of Plantagenet —as such people are described in Ouida’s novels—I don’t mean as they look in real life. He was a product of the great and glori- ous Middle West, and a stranger in New York. He had attended a small Western college where he had distinguished himself ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, in athletics and had learned to read and write. Returning to the home town, he had embarked upon a career of variegated | failure, trying a lot of ways to make a living and falling down in one and all. When he got a job as a motion picture actor, it seemed as if, with his appearance and athletic prowess, he might have found his vocation; but, as usual, old Dame Mis- fortune was on watch for him. On his first day, he was given some stunt to do, and succeeded in getting a bad fracture of the forearm. Judging from McKesson’s recital, Jervis was the original bad luck kid. “One would imagine,” I commented, “that a person with his extraordinary good looks would get along on that equipment alone. With women voting now, why doesn’t he run for President? I’m surprised that some millionaire’s wife has not recommen- ded him to friend husband as a private Secretary at a large salary.” ““ Never in the world,” said Harlowe. ‘“ If a married woman ever suggested having a chap as good looking as Jervis within a thousand miles, her husband would think his happy home was rocking on its founda- tions.” “He wouldn’t have to worry,” McKes- son said. ‘‘Tom isn’t as fresh with the fair sex as many a chap who, if his face was his fortune, would be a million dollars in debt. Of course they do run after him a lot; but he isn’t crazy about them.” ‘“ Probably for the same reason that the sea isn’t crazy about fish,” Hollister sug- gested. “He isn’t a bit conceited,’ McKes- son continued. ‘“ He claims that he has never met that celebrated ‘right one.’ Moreover, if a girl asked him for an ice cream soda, he would have to negotiate a loan.” “Never mind his love affairs,” I said. “Tt doesn’t matter whether he is Don Juan’s understudy or Saint Anthony’s pet pupil. Still it is just as well that he is not too susceptible; for he is the only man who can pose as Seumas Shayne, simply because he is the only one who looks like that portrait. That’s logical, isn’t it? And if, as you claim, he has average human ins Gomichbooks ()