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Show A Matter of Dictation By NELLIE C. GILLMORE (Copyright, lillU, by Associated Uterary Press.) Cromlin entered his ofllce with a brisker step than usual. His face was flushed and an unaccustomed sparkle made his gray eyes look black. There was determination in every lineament, linea-ment, and a joyous confidence that spelled considerably more than mere hope. Me had made up his mind at last, and he felt with supreme gratification gratifi-cation that his period of self-restraint was going to net him compound interest in-terest on his future happiness. A pile of briefs was stacked up on bis desk, but Cromlin pushed . them aside and gave his attention to the letters that had arrived in the morning morn-ing mail. There were only a few, and he dismissed them after a hurried perusal of the most important ones. Two or three times he took out his watch waiting anxiously for the hands to get around to nine o'clock. At last, Just as the clock on the next corner struck the hour, the office door opened and closed quietly, and Miss tienson entered. He looked up and nodded a casual good mornin. The girl took off her hat and laid It on a table. Then sli-j' went to her desk and sat down. There were several sev-eral envelopes left over from the day previous, to be addressed, and without with-out a word, she pulled up her machine ma-chine and began the task. Cromlin, twirling his watch-fob and alternately fingering the leaves of a dog-eared reference book on his desk, wheeled suddenly In his revolving chair and studied the profile bent attentively at-tentively over the typewriter. Now, for the first time, Cromlin noticed that the girl's face had grown noticeably thinner and paler and that her eyes were shadowed by purple rings. "There are only a few letters this morning. Miss Benson," he said, "and I think after that you'd better go home and rest" She threw him a startled look, and the crimson suffused her cheeks. Something new and constrained in his voice, despite its tenderness. mmmsm 1 ' ''' ! JJVCX.&Pz J caused her an unaccountable heart-pang. heart-pang. Perhaps he meant to do away with her services and was trying to lismiss her as kindly as possible. "I do not feel in the least tired, Nfr. Cromlin. And I would rather not go home until the regular time." "Very well," Cromlin replied, 'but ' don't want you to overwork yourself, your-self, that's all. You don't look too strong." The hurt look In Vera Benson's eyes gave place to one of odd wist-fulness, wist-fulness, but she made no response. What a little idiot she was to let her reelings get the better of her this way. She controlled herself by an effort. If he should ever suspect her secret, she felt that she would die of mortification. In a moment, she was ler old, composed self. She opened ner tablet and reached for a pencil. Then she looked up to see If he was ready with his dictation. But Cromlin sat regarding her in a quizzical, abruptly uncertain manner that was disconcerting. Cromlin Interrupted her musing with a blunt, characteristic remark. "Dreaming, Miss Benson?" She colored again and covered her confusion with a smile. "I am waiting to take your letters, Mr. Cromlin." ."All, right. Take this: " 'My Dear Miss' no, that will not do. Say, rather, 'My Darling Girl' or better still, "My Own Darling'" The stenographer looked up with indignant eyes. "Is It exactly proper and and fair tor me to " "All matters between us are strictly strict-ly confidential, Miss Benson. I thought that was understood?" In a second she looked up with her pencil poised, as an indication for him ja proceed. ' 'I have loved you ever since the first day you came into my life. But until I could In some way be assured that you returned my affection. 1 hope I am not mistaken, but If I am, tell me the truth at once. If I am not, I want you to marry me and sail for Europe on June the first, devotedly, de-votedly, John Cromlin.' " Miss Benson took the letter with shaking fingers. But her lips were compressed and told nothing of the Inward struggle, to John Cromlin. His eyes were on the ceiling and hia mind running ahead for the next letter. "Now, take this," he eaid, as the girl looked up and signified that the other was finished. " 'Dear Miss Benson: I am to be absent from New York for the next six months, it will of course be necessary to close this office during that time, and I shall be compelled to dispense with your services for the present. However, if you care to be governed by my counsel I know of another place a more agreeable one, I hope which I can secure for you without any trouble. Kindly let me have your reply as soon as possible, so that it can be filed along "with other matters. Yours sincerely, " 'John Cromlin." Vera Benson went through with the second letter with a feeling of iron determination. It was just as she t.ad apprehendd ; she was to be dis' charged from the office, and her employer, em-ployer, always kind and gentle, was breaking the news as carefully as he could. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she dashed them away with 6elf scorn and bit her lips hard to brini the blood back to them. When the two letters had been folded and laid aside, she took ur. two envelopes, and ran one Into the machine, which she addressed to "Vera Benson, Care Cromlin & West, Attorneys at Law, "New York City." "Mr. West will return from the south soon?" she asked, doing her best to seem matter-of-fact. "Not until we. come home from Europe Eu-rope Mrs. Cromlin and myself." "You forgot to give me the address for for this other letter, Mr. Cromlin," Crom-lin," she reminded him, faintly, as ha seemed to be waiting for something. some-thing. "Oh, I did!" he exclaimed, in a tone of assumed surprise. "How careless of me, to be sure. But but" "Perhaps you didn't intend to, anyway," any-way," she supplied, stiffly, as he seemed to hesitate. For the first time, Cromlin felt something of uneasiness stir in hia heart. He could not understand hei coldness. He had thought he had been, in fact, so sure that she cared, and now He rose abruptly and went to her side. Suppose, after all, that there was someone else that he had been a a fool! "Vera," he broke out abruptly stung to speech by his fears, what is it? Are you do you care for for some one?" "Do I care for some one?" she demanded, de-manded, frigidly. "Yes." "And may I ask what right you have to put such a question, Mr. Cromlin?" "I thought I had," he said slowly. She looked up at him thoughtfully. "You have been good and generous to me always, and I don't mind admitting admit-ting that that I do care for &ome one," she replied. "Please forgive my curtness. Have you anything else to dictate, Mr. Cromlin?" 'No; I am tired of dictating. I want some one to dictate to me foi awhile. Are you ready to address that letter?" In silence she took up the other ev-velope ev-velope and fed it to the machine. Cromlin went to the back of hei chair and stood with one hand rest ing on the top round of It. He spoke in a concise, business-like tone. "Miss Vera Benson, "2345 West 97th Street, "New York, N. Y." A peremptory call on the tele phone interrupted his next movement. move-ment. When he came back, Misj Benson sat with both hands pressed to her scorching face. "Well," be said, "have you decided to accept the other place?" She gave him her eyes for a brlel instant; they were moist and dari and luminous. He bent and lifted her chin in his hands. "When do you begin your dictation?" dic-tation?" he asked. "At once," she replied, sternly: "gc back to your desk and take down mj answer to your lottr." |