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Show THIS MAN IS YOURS ' ------- Telegram Fiction by Rob Eden " She liked the way, too, that Donald Don-ald Burton looked around the homely home-ly cluttered file room, liked the quick nod he gave to her, and the nod he gave to Janice. Later in Huxley'a office, Huxley, Burton, Whelan and Hugh Jackson settled down together. Of the four of them Hugh and Burton were perfectly at home. Whelan was plainly nervous, and HuxUy was biting at hia underlip. "Whafa thia report you aent to Skinner, Whelan, on your latest suspect?" Burton lit fresh cigar slowly. He waa looking sharply at tha detective from under hia rather heavy gray brows. "Man by the name of Jim Yorke, sir. Was in the plant during two of the accident to machinery. Came here with false credential. Said he waa from the Elitabetii plant. I found out he wasn't I'm checking up on him now." "There were four accidente in all. I believe." "Yes, sir." Whelan returned quickly, quick-ly, "but thi man may be implicated impli-cated in some way. We haven't had any more aince he's oecn laid up. I explained to Mr. Skinner about hia accident in my report." "I read the report in full, Whelan." Whe-lan." Facts in The Report "Haven't been able to get much more than I wrote in che report, sir. Funny thing, too. because the man was friendly enough. Had quite a few friends in tha mill, and waa very well liked In the boarding house where he wa staying stay-ing until hia accident "Boarding housekeeper swears by him, but where he came from and what he did before he came here, I haven't been able to discover. Only a question of time, though. I gave the police hia fingerprints yesterday yester-day we were able to get them without his knowledge. Mr. Jackson helped us there only have the left hand, but that' all right "We'll get the right later. Police are looking the print up, but haven't found anything yet. I also sent a copy of the prints to Washington. Wash-ington. "We've definitely made up our minds that the sabotage was committed com-mitted by someone familiar with the machines, Mr. Burton. Someone Some-one who works' in the plant someone some-one who haa accesa to the machines." ma-chines." "What have you planned to do about this Jim Yorke, you ssy hia name hi?" "I waa talking it over with Mr. Huxley and Mr. Jackson this morning, morn-ing, sir, and we had about decided that the man should be put back to work." "I thought you aald he waa ill? Burton dipped a on of asb Into the tray on Huxley'a desk. "Right arm'a still in a sling, but we can put him on aa a watchman. Have someone watch him, too, I mean. Never let him out of alght for a minute. Mr. Huxley and Mr. Jackson thought" Huxley broke in. 1 was against the idea at first, Mr. burton. I fought against it I never wanted to aee this Jim Yorke again, but Jackson Jack-son and Whelan have finally got me around to their way ol thinking. "Since Whelan can't find anything any-thing definite on Yorae aa yet it might be the best thing to have him here at the plant where we can watch him. He won't know anything about the aurvelilance. He doesn't even know we suspect him. "If he had anything to do with the last two accidents, or the two before he came, or if he knows anything about tbem, we should be able to find out by watching every move he maket. Whelan tells ma that he'a having him watched at tha Trevora, where he is staying at present That hia mail is being read." Burton nodded. "A creditable scheme, I think. Fine. Put this Jim Yorke here where we can watch him, but don't make it obvious, ob-vious, Whelan, whatever you do." "He won't even know It." "Does he want to get back to work ?" e Anything to Get Touch "He aent word yesterday through a friend from the boarding house who visited him at the Trevors that he did. He'll take anything just to get back, and later when his arm ia right ha wanta to get his Job back in repairs. He'a a fine mechanic, they tell me. One of the best they've ever had In the plant." Later, when Whelan and Jackson had left. Burton looked at the chair that Hugh had vacated. "Bright young chap. Jackson. You're lucky to have hlin here. A level head on him. Ambitious." "Too ambitious. ,1 aometimea think," Huxley returned. "Doean't know enough about ailk yet to my way of thinking. Sometimes I think I pushed him too fast but I couldn't help myself. Came here from the main auditing department depart-ment you remember, four years ago. Terribly disappointed when that chance came up at tha Elizabeth Eliza-beth mill last year, and I wouldn't let him Uke K." "Oh. that was the man. I remember." re-member." and Burtaa'a brews met ever the brtdg of Bua aaae. "I remember tawre area same talk of Jarkaoa gat te Elimbelh aa amtataat sjtaaa r eaesr Fields, and then mm WH her. rteUta waa diaapieusu4 He bawd Jackaoa. Met him sea flare, ke teld about '" "I refu-rd te rks Jackson. I did It for hia ret good. Mr. Burton, Bur-ton, yen uaderetastd that and Fields underetood It. too. He waa fine about It But the Elisabeth mill ia twice as large aa this one, and Jackson waen I ready yet for that promotion. "Ha thought ha waa. but I knew differently. I work with him constantly. con-stantly. And he took it well In the CHAPTER 17 The atmosphere at the mill waa quickened. There was an excitement, excite-ment, that quivered ever through the looms weaving the cloth and ribbons. It pervaded the yards vhere hampers of raw silk from Japan were being unloaded from freight cars. Face Has Slight Ruth On""Myrtle Phillips' race was a slight flush that made her decidedly decid-edly handaome, a flush that waa deeper than tha touch of rouge on her cheeks. Her eyes wore brighter, her voice warmer. Benjamin Huxley's eyes were worried wor-ried and his color waa worse than usual Ha looked older than he had the day before. Even Hufch Jackson was affected, but only a little. "It'a Donald Burton," Janice announced an-nounced to Terry in the file room. "He'a here. His car'a outside. You can aee It from the window outside the door, a 'great big limousine, black. I saw him, too, wnen I went in to aee Mr. Huxley's secretary. "He was just going into the office, of-fice, and Mr. Huxley was with him." Her eyea were large with excitement excite-ment and her voice lowered with awe. "Ha doesn't come here much, you know. Only once in a great while. Last time he was here was two months ago. A big man, as big as Mr. Jackson. Older, of course. Now what's he here for, do you think?" Terry shook her head. She had no idea why the great Donald Burton was here, why he should come to visit one of his mills, and she had no idea wh hia mere presence in the mill would make such a decided change in everybody. Donald Burton, the great Donald Burton could make no difference to her. He didn't know 'he existed, and if he found out he probably wouldn't bo interested, she and all the other men and women in his Fulton City mill were not even names to him. He had other mills larger than the Fulton City mill, other mills that wove more cloth, hired more men and more women, made more money for him. There was the Elizabeth. N. J, plant Terry winced when aha thought of it there was the Allison, N. J., plant; the Camden, Cam-den, N. J., plant, and the Providence, Provi-dence, R. I., plant Burton Silka, woven Into the aelvage of hia yardage yard-age with a faint toucn of blue. Burton silks. Worn Silks for Years She bad worn Burton silks for years before she had come to work in thia mill, worn them and thought nothing about them. "It's Burton silk," salesgirls would say when aha bought a dress, or when they were ahowing her the fine lining lin-ing of a coat "It's Burton silk." She knew, too, that in New York there waa a akyscraper built by Donald Burton and named the Burton Bur-ton building, 47 stories tall. She must have seen the building when she visited there two springs ago, but aha didn't remember it any more than she had been conscious con-scious of Burton hose on her slim legs, and Burton ailk on her slim body, and pagea of Burton advertising adver-tising in the magazines. Even Fulton City boasted a Burton Bur-ton park which four years ago Donald Don-ald Burton had bought and presented pre-sented to'the city. "Must be a surprise visit," Janice Jan-ice waa mumbling. "Nobody aaid anything about Mr. Burton coming yesterday, and don't you tnink there wouldn't have been a good getting ready for him, if anybody had known ha waa coming! "Why the plant would have been turned inside out last night! They aay It'a like him, thougn, to simply sim-ply come." Tour of the Plant Terry saw Mr. Burton .'ater when on hia tour of hia plant he came into the file room for a moment He was tall, alender, dressed in a gray auit which waa the color of hia gray hair. Hia face she thought looked kindly, kind-ly, fatherly, and there was a dignity dig-nity about him that reminded ber of the judge, a dignity that he brought with him like . the judge did, wherever he went and a dig- Inity that lingered awhile after he ge-as gone. end, and he'a been perfectly satisfied satis-fied ever since. I told him at the time that ha ahould have two or three years mora here plugging, and then he'd be ready for anything. any-thing. Talked to him Uke a father. "These young colts, you have to hold them down, or they'd run away with everything. But some day Jackson's going to be a fine executive, ex-ecutive, and we're going ta be proud of him." (Continued Saturday) |
