Show r H D U rosti chapters CHAP CHAPTER TERl I 1 1 early aji L the afternoon of a corton saturday jim stanley stood at ono ona ol of the windows of his big lofts lofti office looking dut dull nt at a panorama of which ho he seldom tired away through tile the hozo haze of tile the into inte afternoon he ha could see a glimpse of new york harbor with its busy raffle le arid in the far background a huge dim figure vaguely stabbed the murk with its uplifted torch lie ile gazed upon it t in silence for a time nod and then with a 0 sigh and a gesture of impatience lie he turned sat down and began to dictate somewhat irritably to the upon his desk of course there ts Is always tile the pos po sivility lity of error in these calculations and it would be wise to allow a con lerable margin of acty therefore but on the whole we are in a position to say that we think well ot tile lie prop it if you wish I 1 shall he glad to discuss the matter at length ono and in detail very sincere 13 yours lie ile switched off the machine took another letter from tire tho heap his attention and attempted to pit pil his mind on it for some reason he was to do so lie ile fidgeted a moment rose arid and walked again to the lie window and looked upon the lie far flung panorama of now this or better per tur wits was not ni all characteristic of this young man anyone who hanew blin well watching hill now would woul have hare sensed tint that something had disturbed film deeply he fie ran his hand through tits his brown hair with it a gesture of discontent and turning at length again to ills his desk no ne rang the bell and said to the gray haired little man who entered frank when you leave the billee this afternoon you will tind ind allara ouara waiting with the cur car I 1 shant need him again today take tile tho and all tills this heup of correspondence in the desk hand them to Ol litra and tell film alro to take tile the whole lot down to the country and anve active jefferson put them on tile the desk in it tile the library iut but I 1 understood sir objected tile the secret secretory nry atiat tl at you had find planned to spend the weekend week end playing golf nt at southampton so frank stun stan ley but I 1 field I 1 cant do it please Ile asLI get ajr kobetts robel ts on tile phone arid and ex es plain to him unexpected anti uni im pern perntice lve tive business will detain me ile he ira irti apologetic us its you know how flow grovel for or me ine frank grovel wilson smiled yes sir 11 lie he said 1 1 I shall grovel abjectly went invention the continued stanley ca castina stint un interest autere t ed d eye upon tile Ill achille you can dictate for or hours houis without having ii stupid around saying saving that sir or how do you spoil spell cot cat sir talk as net as yon yet please talu talk ns as slowly al us you please cleope tle tile machine achille ill get restless test less it dues nt ils its it hair or tup lie fie finiol with its foot nod thank god it chew galin yinny I 1 yes sir ei tilled wilson it er only line lias sortie over the demale of the species sp ecles hut but it lomet tines got get out of order I 1 well vell replied stanley the female of the species ims has hilen known to to do too no Falip loyel and employee ernp loyce skilled to ether jt at this feeble jest you would guessed that relations between hem were here not wholly donnul alq on 1 and you sou would wool have guessed ight wilson was wore than secre elal ary lie he was a thoroughly sst ssi stunt tit in fact lie fie knew much ore nore rubout tile business of the arril jian tan waterman who was not ill Ston leys partner but tits ills life frimid ur ar well anil and it wits not I 1 tile the business ol of tile firm with eily lie avas well acquainted tie fie bew av much mure about the lie private ves 08 of both the mer meriners ibers of thi birin on an either of thorn them guessed perhaps issod deul dealt more than linn one of them uld have hare liked anti and lie fie was thinking that particular one when stanley I 1 med and ills his raime trank he gold mr waterman it come in yet set not NO yet set sir 11 an instant and ll 11 tossed hla fits head with an air of ito when he be does say id like A we gee him 1 IM 74 sir sh I 1 will Ln tn answered the sec ary lf bednor 1 bor had ascani carvely ly closed behind t ou lien upon tile the other side of wil wi office another door doar opened A here ere entered briskly a young il alad fil n the business tweeds of street she was a dark good in earl ot of twenty three or twenty bichl b written large fr w yes alice and radiating ot eyes eye or nr black CIO I 1 1 I turned alln tier her entrance 11 s he salo said I 1 A aa letter she said tn in hot her voiced nr waterman lik ta kofl colt your aur attention to ahl alb rl LT he detlet and 1 read it swift td the with a glance ee S id Is he said why w te WIS aass I 1 ago sa it I 1 should 1 ned off to to before what j to 10 1 0 bald at way she on en id epif just crawled ta 11 I 1 late ll suppose just oil looked aft I 1 I 1 it bulkily at t he floor tl 4 loaf wat arrann abut IL t ko pa s secretary not by A E THOMAS by dom poja mead araj and nd company Coro pinT inc W N U tier stoyle 1 I was about to suggest something of the sort sir air stanley looked at tier her with curiosity but whatever lie was thinking tie lie passed over the impudence alm ilm tie fie sold reflectively and then Is that nil all yes sir 11 good 11 she turned and went out he ele v r Js as still looking after tier her in a puzzled sort of way when the opposite door opened and rollin nellla waterman came in breezily ns as usual perhaps that was one of the secrets or 01 ills his charmye charm he always seemed to bring the oui our doors doore with htiu in the street chest two men were known variously among their fill antt mutes mates ris ns damon ond and flirk ald tilford Tl lford or liver and bocon nod W the rhe girl looked sulkily at the floor they silent more time toge together out of the office than in it their friendship dated from rom the ha day when they wore pinafores on one played together in tire the park whit their nurses gossiped on a nearby bench presumably if we credit the professional humorist with hand some policemen it Is true that tile the credit side of tho the ledger of this friend ship showed a heavy balance in favor of jim stanley but it Is equally true too that thai his opportunities for benevolence fur far exceeded those of at tits his friend jim arid and Water mau maii were about the some age they had man many points it in common they were both well born of 0 f an old new york stock they were tit at school together and nt fit college tims jims fattier however find dad been a carloy canny arid and suc successful cessN busin business ninn man und arid when lie he died had left a fortune of uncommon size entirely to tits his son SOD watermans Water mans sire ort on the contrary had been an able but erratic person who dissipated the fortunes of his family and left his son a heritage of debts not that anyone bourd ever see how ever that these debts weighed noticeably abayon on the le mind of their inheritor hello lello I holly said stanley a bit late inte dues does it matter lively day da on the floor door you know yes another million share day glad we held on to that B 0 las iasi spring yes that will do us ns a bit of good er valson said you wanted to see inc oh ob yes I 1 oh by the way why do you keep that secretary of yours the matter with aless morgan inquired waterman ath ith just the least indication of 0 surprise well said stanley thes care less leas and sties impudent aside from that sties first class waterman laughed and answered oh sties all right if you understand her and sties intelligent which covers a multitude of sins that what you wanted to see bee me about the smile died from Stan stanleys leys face no lie fie said shortly and then added slowly no no it well then shoot adjured his friend what the deuce Is it you look at as glum as I 1 a ani parsons sons face on a monday londay morn morning hig it was clear tint that stanley wits was embarrassed barras barr assed tills this was a tiling thing that seldom happened happ eneil to liliu him and lie fie like the feeling I however it hail had to he be idne done and now was the time holly lie said ive had find something 0 roy my chest for quite awhile arid and now im going tr it get it ort off weve been pals for a good ninny years I 1 hope we always shall be 1 I hope so too responded tits pa partner why not anything gone ihm 1 I 1 done anything no no not a blessed thing said stanley hastily dont misunderstand ini me I 1 think that ours la is tile the kind ol of friendship that nothing could spoil with possibly one except exception lo 1 I 1 cant imagine willit tile exception ilon could be laughed waterman Water ninn tile the possible exception responded the elie other Is an exception that ruined more than one friendship before now I 1 mean a bonvin oil said waterman blankly lie ile ercse from tile the desk deak on tile ho corner ut of which lie he tint been sitting took one turn up anti and down tire the room und stopped in front of fits fila friend 1 I 1 suppose youre talking of doris colby stanley shrugged his shoulders well said the other what about her just this here we are arc you and 1 I pals same school same college same clubs iod nd now for two years partners and as an it if that were not donough for us to hold in common it looks to me as if we had gone nod aud fallen in lue je with tile the same girl of course weve never talked about it people dont as a rule muttered red waterman true but bill we must wily why so ill tell yuu you holly it would be easy enough to lot let things drift along and take their ti natural course but ive been thinking a lot obort it and heres how flow still ship has been wrecked on i just this h kind hid of a reef now I 1 dont want our friendship to he be wrecked cd no mutter matter what happens I 1 may be nil all wrongs wrong when I 1 say any lint hill we both love tile the same girl I 1 con can only speak for myself and it if I 1 am wrong just say so and well drop it ile he looked inquiringly at his friend who presently dropped his bis eyes and shrugged his shoulders all right then stanley went on now it Is clear to me that its begun to get on our nerves we been ourselves in 0 eb others corn coin vany pany for quite a while it has both ered we me a lot this barrier been rising between us lets break it down I 1 think that doris la Is fond of both ol of us though perhaps in different ways arid and for the moment theres app ro no one else in tile the running no agreed waterman nut not since monsieur Ions leur le comte dEs trelles took ship fur for home with b a refusal tn in ill hi I 1 luggage u aga ge but continued stanley site she cant marry us both and it may bo be that sire she tile the slightest idea of marry ing ither either of us but I 1 have certain notions of my own upon the point ns as no doubt you have also sonia some time site she must make a choice so for as were concerned thy thu sooner tile the better tt it Is wy roy besotted idea that I 1 am the husband designed for tier her by an all wise providence and you appear to be nourishing designs of your own not precisely in line with that tant view Is that right it Is said briefly very well then I 1 propose this we shall each go to tier her this very evening one it nine abie ocl ocl and one fit at nine thirty ench ot of us shall ask her to marry him and the loser shall take his medicine as best beat he can what fir you say a nt akermon termon erman took another anether turn upon the rug then he fie thrust both hands bonds deep juto his trousers ts and thoughtfully jingled a few coins therein somehow lie seemed to gather determination from rom tile the sound at all events he turned again to stanley arid and observed succinctly its it a bet stanley breathed a sigh of relief good he said and whoever wins its to make n no difference whatever in his fits relations with the other waterman jingled the coins again I tight sold said he it fine arted stanley tits face lighting up oil uc put out tits ills hand water nuin took it and now sala waterman nion who goes first flir st well toss for it stanley decided suits roe me grinned Wilter nian producing ono one of if tile the jingly coins you crill it or shall I 1 you toss tom tos s directed stanley ill call right here goes gocal I 1 lie tossed the lie colo coin cried stanley us as it fell upon watermans Water mans stanley in the colt coin briefly br lelly then tits dla face fell a trifle rifle balls it la Is said tie you win all AH right old hoy boy you go first hut but I 1 know that forgive tile me if I 1 dont wish visit you tuck luck waterman grinned under tile hie circumstances cum culli stances yes said lie he 1 all I right said eald stanley briskly 1 I 1 kno know w rhes to he be at homo home tonight for she alie told luc inc so waterman grinned aguin yes said lie he so I 1 heard and they grinned together well suld stanley ati inley that tint aind made for or the alie wardrobe closet whence he took tits his tint hat and stick awful joke johe on oil us its tie he remarked if she turned us both down cain happen answered waterman philosophically anyhow ill be d n glad to get it over 11 me too all right then lien you at nine ind and tit nt nine thirty enter so fur far as youre concerned the villain of course it if youve won ill know it the moment I 1 como come in and it wont lie be feces nry for me to soy say anything hut but bless you my children hut best of all its going to bo be a square deal surest tiling thing you know I 1 till tonight then old man win or lose losa its all right and good luck to one of us and air with that stanley ot milled tilled again and tile the remaining partner gazed reflectively after him then he bo lighted u cigarette and sat down don lie ile had bad a good deal to think about CHAPTER 11 II well rolly holly do you wean it waterman started the speaker stood behind him film and he had bud not heard hear tier her enter it was one of her accomplishments ments thle this swift and silent ap pari partition tion sire she was not stealthy she was simply silent mean leao what dont stall I 1 happen mohave to have heard every word you two have been saying well what about it do you nican mean it she demanded once more hand was not to be forced do I 1 mean bhul lie fie suld said that youre going to ask miss bliss cot col by to murry you waterman blew the ash from his els cigarette what if I 1 am lie fie valid fuld the girls gills mouth tightened tier her face hardened her black eyes fla lashed sheil just fill this she said you cant to do that kind of thing to nie me no no mr rollin Witter nitin not lifter after uh till passed between us tic lio wily why he be said what could you ou tit about it though lie he spoke with W n jeer hp wila far from comfortable fot for ow hm am said waterman blackmail mall eh 7 he knew well enough that she could and would do sonje something thIng about it wherefore his remark was not so touch much a gibe at a a genuine request for anfor motion information was promptly forthcoming ill tell you what I 1 can do about it do you suppose a girl like doris colby would have any use for you it if she knew the truth about niel me po do you mean that you will tell tier just what I 1 menn mean YOU will promise me here and now to give up all attempts to marry her or ill go to tier her and fell ell tier her the precise truth about you and me iain said waterman blackmail ob eb TO VE BIE |