Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

THE ORCHID HUNTRESS, From within the taxi Norine smiled a little as she watched him tip the starter. She was thinking that Jerry should have a car of his own—that he would have it pres- ently. Then she heard him say: ‘Drive around the park till I tell you to stop.” In a few minutes they had swung upon a tree-arched drive. Then Jerry’s hand came over hers. ‘“Say! You’re the keenest little pal I’ve ever had!” he exulted. “ Hang it all! There’s no reason why this fifty-fifty busi- ness shouldn’t broaden out a bit! You get me, don’t you? You’ve had my number from the first, and now that you’ve rather chucked this highbrow bunch of yours—” Norine put aside his arms and pushed her way into the corner of the seat. ‘“‘ Suppose we cut the strong-arm stuff!” she said. “ It’s fifty-fifty, Jerry! Strictly business!” “Good Lord, Norine! I mean I want to marry you! I know you too well to try anything bogus. I’m keen enough for you to get a Riverside apartment and put you in it as Mrs. Jerry! I tell you, you’ve got me running in circles! I wish—” “Running is good exercise ”—Norine in- sinuated herself more deeply into the cor- ner, leaving no opportunity for Jerry’s de- termined onslaught—‘ and it sometimes helps you to arrive even when done in cir- cles. Now, Jerry, suppose we get this mar- riage business straight.” She put both hands lightly. on his and pushed them to her knee, holding them there. Her eyes were wide and had hard- ened until the golden lights were gone. ‘“T suppose you know I haven’t kept my original maiden calling-cards because of no opportunity to change them. The oppor- tunities have probably been fewer than re- ports would indicate. There have been two or three messes—fathers who were nasty about son’s desire to take on a penniless Lawton—you understand. “Now I'll tell you what I’ve gotten out of it all. I’m making a strong gamble, Jerry. And I’m putting Norine up as the stakes. I mean to be happy, and I don’t intend to do anything ‘that will queer. the game. Having money isn’t enough for No- said, 295 rine, Jerry. She wants the certainty of keeping money. That’s why I don’t intend to marry any of. these wasters. I know just how long they'll keep the pile their fathers worked ten hours a day to earn. Do you see? Now, Jerry, go ahead and win! Win big! And when you do—well, I'll see. You’re-a good sort, and I know ‘you ‘wouldn’t quibble about the allowance. ‘But you’ve got to have an established status first.” “George! You’re a cool one!”’ Jerry gained possession of her hands while his eyes admired her exquisite face with the red flame of her mouth shining from the half-obscurity of the taxicab. ‘ You’re as selfish as the devil!”’ he went on. ‘“ But I like you.just the same. You’d make a man either as wretched as hell or as happy as heaven, and I’m gambler enough to take the chance! All right! J’ll come again. Don’t forget!” ‘“T won’t forget,” promised Norine Lawton. _ : ‘“ And now—a kiss or so, girly! Come on! Don’t be a welsher!” Norine put her hand between his mouth and her. own red lips. ‘‘ No, Jerry!” she ‘* Let’s keep it business a while long- er. I want it.” Jerry’s arms released their hold on her taut little body; his breath was coming a bit heavily. From the corner of the cush- ioned seat her eyes flared out, tempting yet withholding him. He half leaned toward her again, but something restrained him— some inward pristine trait of her that he could not overcome; the knowledge that she, unreservedly as she might give herself to him, was yet of another stratum. The thought vaguely put in his own mind was, “ She’s still’ trying to be a high- brow,” and his instinct was to crush that from her with the strength of his desiring arms. But, in the face of her eyes, he stopped. He would never think of her as the figure in a Watteau fan or in the frame of an old master, and yet the elusive old- world quality of her that had impelled Ranfield Masters to make a rare request to call had reached the subconscious per- ception of Jerry as well. The young man settled his overcoat well GEomichbooks (EO)