The Argosy, March 1907 — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

658 | THE ARGOSY. “¢ Seventh floor, miss,’ I says, making an inward inventory of her many charms. She was one of the pink-and-white sort, and she had blue eyes as big as saucers. “Mr. Paul Dewar was a lawyer, and I thought at first that she must be one of his clients; but she told me in a confiding sort of way-that she was his new stenographer and that she was to start in at work that morning. “She asked me nervously what sort of employer Mr. Dewar was and whether he was a hard man to get along with; and I, taking pity on her, hastened to assure her that Mr. Dewar was a model gentleman and a very pleasant boss. “She thanked me sweetly when my car reached the seventh floor. It was not so much her words as the look she gave me out of her big blue eyes that set my blood a tingling. ‘“T says to myself right then, ‘ Jerry, this pretty, innocent,. helpless young thing is up against the wiles and snares of the business world for the first time in her life, and it’s up to you to keep a paternal eye on her as much as pos- sible to see that she doesn’t come to grief.’ ‘Well, after she’d rode up and down in my car for a few days and we’d got on quite a friendly footing, I began to drop the paternal part of the idea. “ After all, I wasn’t old enough to be her father. I wasn’t yet forty years of age. I was good-looking in a way and well preserved, I flattered myself, and although an elevator man’s wages ain’t very big, I’d managed to accumulate a bank-account of a few hundred dollars. ‘“T began to dream pleasant dreams. I grew quite mushy. Why, I even wrote a letter to a woman named Letty, who runs a column in an evening newspa- per entitled ‘ Letty’s Advice to Lovers.’ “IT stated my case to Letty in black and white and asked her if in her opin- ion there was any hope. And Letty printed my letter in her column with an answer underneath saying that she was sure the young lady returned my love and that if I was wise I would go ‘In and win. ‘“T made up my mind to follow Letty’s advice. I’ve learned since that Letty’s column is run by a red-haired young man who smokes a pipe and gets drunk three days out of every week; but I didn’t know that then. ‘““T proceeded to pay sinmistababis at- tention to this pretty typewriter girl. When she stepped into my car at nine o'clock every morning on her way to Mr. Dewar’s office I presented her with bunches of violets and sometimes with boxes of candies. “And she accepted these gifts with a sweet graciousness that made my heart beat high with hope. “One evening I even plucked up enough courage to ask her if she would like to accompany me to the theater. ‘She refused the invitation; but she did it so nicely, telling me in a confused sort of way that her mother didn’t allow her to go out of nights, that I wasn’t one bit offended or discouraged. “[ went on dreaming and hoping, until my mind was in such a state that I really wasn’t fit to run an elevator, and it’s a miracle that some of the pas- sengers didn’t lose their lives. ‘Now, Mr. Dewar had a young clerk by the name of Simmons. He was a long, lanky, monkey-faced dude wis parted his hair in the middle. “One day, at lunch-time, the type- writer girl and this dude entered my elevator together. I scented trouble right away. I knew instinctively that they were going to lunch, and _ the thought maddened me. a After that they went to lunch in each other’s company every day, and I became so desperate that it’s a wonder I didn’t pitch that fellow Simmons down the ele- vator-shaft. “This was bad enough; but when, each evening, Simmons and my _ type- writer girl boarded my car together, I became downright desperate. “I guessed that the monkey-faced dude was seeing her home, and I thirsted for his blood. “To add to my despair, the girl be- gan to treat me quite coldl¥. When I gave her violets she no longer wore them, and she accepted them in such a way that I was given plainly to understand that my attentions were no longer wel- come. ‘“ And every lunch-time and every eve- “ning, when she and that fellow Simmons descended in my car, they would laugh — GCoOmicbooks.co : a ws m