Show th v Vike INNERS S ML JB JL L 1 JL JL JL A novel by henry kitchell webster copyright by the bobbs bobba marrill co service A CHAPTER VI continued 13 just now lie he was looking at her his gaze frankly curious seems to me he be said that youre a pretty live wire sister to be working in a dump like this give me the lowdown on it the answer A phrase of her fathers turned up cp providentially la in her mind A turnips bigger than an apple seed she said but it wont grow into a tree look here he said pretty good I 1 you tou ought to write advertising copy for a real business it if you vou ever want a new boss give me a look in how about the old man any chance that hell come back tonight it if wait a minute she said ill see she pulled up the telephone and called the number of mr willards WU lards office and there was quite a lot of red tape about it in order to keep her voice from slinking shaking she had to freeze it as hard as tee ice Is this the willard manufacturing company slie she asked id like to speak to mr willards Wll lards secretary miss baldwin this Is edith patterson she looked looking fit at jake gorman but she was pleasurably aware that he suddenly sat at up a little im trying to find my father she went on smoothly lie spoke of going in to see mr willard this afternoon ne ire there now Is he he there miss bliss baldwin said but hed telephoned mr willard there now either hed just gone out but she believed that arranged to dine dice together at the club 1 that would be the union league it edith asked and the secretary said she thought it would all right edith said au all I 1 need to know thanks very much without taking her hand from the telephone or letting so much as a glance stray away from it she called the club and asked it if her father was there lie he shed hardly hoped he would be but she left a message that he was to call his office when he came in slie she was still without a plan for holding jake captive until lie he could be delivered into dads hands but she felt it must somehow be done As she looted looked rather helplessly around at him be spoke that certainly was one on me miss patterson lie was looking very flushed ond and uncomfortable trying to apologize arid aid not quite knowing how she beamed at him but I 1 dont mind a bit she said im glad you thought I 1 was a live wire and im glad you thought I 1 was a re regular u stenographer what I 1 try to be the assurance make him look any more comfortable shed spoiled everything by letting him know who slie she was she wished as hard as aa shed ever wished anything in her life that she knew how to vamp people 1 I suppose he said it if your father Is way down in the loop and on the way to ills his club it much good my waiting for him out here well site ailie observed demurely that depends why she be brazen and flip would it do any good it she let her hand ban hang over his side of the desk probably not nol what does it depend on he asked why on how much of a hurry youre in for one thing she said well im not in a hurry I 1 athing to do ue ile said it doubtfully though as it if he make up his mind about something she getting away with it 1 I either she said eald desperately pera tely 1 I was just sitting around to see ee it if anything happened shed tried to make it sound inviting ap an audacious hint bint at possibilities bili billt ties ici but she blame him for not taking it that way the shop door opened and charlie franklin came in were just closing up miss bliss patterson he said 1 I just thought id see it if you wanted md me to stay for anything that finished everything of coarse coarse aed never survive any like ilke that sho could have slain charlie where he stood 1 not a thing she told him with her friendliest smile im going myself pretty soon it was exacts exactly y llie then that the idea cams came to her im going downtown to have dinner with father at the club that satisfied charlie he said good night and left it worked there was an awful silence for a minute while mr gorman german hung fire and by the time he spoke she ehe was trembling sho she had to simply clamp her teeth together but what he said was ive iva got my car right here lacre hiss bliss patterson id be glad it if I 1 could drive YO you u to the club oh that would be perfectly flue I 1 dad told IM what a wonderful car you have and id love to have a ride in it the only trouble JV Is she almost choked over this lor for it was risking everything on one throw the only trouble Is im not suli supposed to be there till half past six and that s more than an hour lie was looking at her now a little more as hed tooted looked when hed first come in and called her sister well lie said you yon cant scare me that way if you like to ride come along and ill show you what the little bus will dot do I 1 it was getting scary now a little like ike the first lip dip on a trip in the roller coaster she was afraid she betrayed that a little in the sound of her voice when she said oh be great 1 and went to get her things she was doing it all tor for dad that was the thing to remember the immense size of the car gave her a thrill too it looked gleaming there in the cold light of the electric street lamp like the cars heroines In trusted themselves to in the movies when they were being lured hired away her little black wrist bag was a familiar comfort she clutched it like a talisman what it was really it had a note from roger morgan in it hidden in a little private pocket but now suddenly it gave her a terrible pang she wai was being unfaithful to roger roge r 1 0 0 she was so tired when mr WU lard brought her home that though it was hardly nine she went straight to bed she tell mother a thing dad could do that when he got home after his talk with jake she been sure until almost the last minute of her drive whether her stratagem would come to anything or not shed begun by insinuating as gradually as she could the idea into jakes mind of dining with her and her father at the club then shed had biad to prepared prepare 7 him for mr air willard the last step of the campaign she bad decided not to divulge to him at all until she had him safely inside the club this was to detach agathas rather father from the party and get him to take her home leaving dad to work his will on sir air gorman even with this feature of the program undisclosed she been a bit sure when they drove up to the ladies entrance to the club that mr gorman german say good night to her and drive away however it had worked down to the last detail yet she felt awfully flat about it somehow its as if after all nothing had happened theres been no pulling in up at a roadhouse no turning oft off on lonesome country roads jake had stuat to the boulevards boulevard and kept both hands on the wheel and he had delli delivered ered her at the club promptly at halt half past six she quite like to admit that she felt defrauded about this she wanted to be obliged to struggle with him furiously or even to have to plead with him re call him to his better self aad she tired as she was when she went to bed she found she get off to sleep she was restless but she feel like reading even her one and only daydream day dream it had been the one ode aud only ever since she got rogers note worked very well the note lust just a penciled scrap had come enclosed in III a long ion g letter etter 1 from ed written soon after hed heard from mother the alie to him astonishing fact that edith had been studying stenography for a month and had gone to work for dad in the office roger must have been up in eds room while ed was writing the letter and ed must have told him what shed done and site she could fairly see the thoughtful frowning smile that must have been in his face as ho he wrote on a bit of eds yellow scrap paper that message to her dear edith you are a brick im not a letter writer but im looking forward to our next nest chance for a talk when we can go on from where we left off last time it roger there was a delicious touch of impudence in the way lie he must have handed banded it over with a stick that in will you right under eds nose for him to read it ed know what that phrase from where we left olt off last time meant hed certainly have been one surprised brother it if lie be could have guessed where they had bad left boffl 1 it was after taking much thought that she decided on oa the little private pocket in her wrist bag as a repository for the treasure she take it out very often she knew it by heart of course and want to bitout in the bag it went wherever she did and was hardly ever out of arms reach other people might scorn her tor for having left school tor for having to go to work in an office but roger was proud of her for having done it IL roger thought she was a brick she heard dad come home not very lat late el and kor for quite a while she listened to the tha murmur of his and mothers voice in the sitting bitting room then she heard dad coming upstairs and called to him how aid it go she asked lie ile came straight into her room and sat eat down on the edge ot of the bed why I 1 dont know lie be told her iles hes still enthusiastic I 1 guess but hes very wary about getting ting down to anything definite well owe it mostly to you I 1 think thick if we get him theres no doubt ot of his being enthusiastic about you lie ile asked more questions about you than he did about the choke lie he said perfectly frankly if lie found you in the office this afternoon hed have gone away and never come back so you did a good job anyhow I 1 dont quite see how bow you managed it oh I 1 do any managing to speak of she told him disingenuously im glad it if it helps that he be liked me though jake remained for weeks hanging upon the verge of putting his money I 1 into U to the business some som sort of money anyhow it it seemed seemed a his exactly frequently he dropped into the office sometimes lie he brought edith a box of candy once he invited her and mother and dad to a show he had uncounted conferences with dad some of them coming to a point where it seemed that tomorrow would see the signing of a contract and the real launching of the enterprise upon the grander scale but something always happened to 1 put it off dad was getting blue again ile he get the same thrill any more out of going out and selling two 1 dozen I ozen chokes to a small supply dealer or converting a ormah flo in a garage into an enthusiastic it if not disinterested advocate it was about this time that they got a maddening sort of letter from mr mariner it was written from los angeles shortly after he reached reache d there the choke he be cal calmly in told dad had proved to be no good it might work well enough in flat country but in hills it was worse than useless hed had to take it off his car even as a selling proposition hed found it disappointing ile he had turned his attention to the vaporizer which on the trip across the continent had gone beyond its inventors fondest hopes edith had bad laughed at the letter and had spoken of the writer as a poor nut and dad himself had tried to take late it that way but she could see that it had staggered him rather ue lie kept wondering whether it was true that the thin thing really work in the hills lie had no really convincing proofs that it true she began to suspect too about this time that there was some sort of strain jn in the relations between her father and mr willard wallard Wll lard when the question arose of editha going to asheville with mr and mrs wll 1111 lard it was plain right tit at the start of the discussion that he want her to and not because lie he needed her at the office either she go to the office anyway just then because she was laid up with mith a cold and dad had bad a pry ary girl in her place that cold Is likely to haug hang on to edith for weeks with the kind of weather we have around here this time of year mr ali wallard had said suddenly one night why dont you loan her to us for the trip well show her a good time tor for two weeks and bring her back blooming dg mother after a quick buic k glance at dad had been noncommittal atal about it see how it would be possible to get her ready on such short notice her clothes would need a lot of going over but this the girl felt the real issue she went to bed a as a SO soon on a as 3 t the 11 e willards left awara aware that something would have to be talked out between her parents in connee connection flou with the trip that she hear dad told her next morning at breakfast that she could go but there was a look in his bis face that made her feel like saying she want to she say it M and lie he act after that as though he wished she had bad lie he saw her off on the train with the injunction to have the best kind of a good time and he and mr willard joked with each other until the train left in a way that ought to have removed the last of her misgivings only it somehow she was left feeling sort of queer about it she had a perfectly level lovely y time got over oner her cold played golf danced had bad her first llast experience riding horseback find found it awfully exciting and reveled in a luxurious usurious bed and a big bathroom all her own and la in never getting up for breakfast until she felt like it letters from mother were the worst she got one every two or three days always affectionate rejoicing in the wonderful time her berr daughter was having but economical of home news there anything to ti walte alte about really she had dad were both well busin business ess was going on just about as usual mr gurmari come in yet but there were were still hopes that he would on some basis at any rate there anything she said that made the girls throat ache with sympathy tb vo it was what she say all told when t the he two weeks were over she found herself in a passionate hurry burry to get home their train got in in the middle of the morning and it surprised her to find dad waiting for her on the platform ue tie impressed her as looking rather pale but this was probably because all the people she had been seeing lately were so brown lie told her emphatically when she asked how he was that hed never felt better in his life he seemed to be watching the wiliarts Wll WIlI lards ards who had bad got a little ahead to make sure they get away away that was funny because of course course wait it struck her as they drove away leaving the two men behind that it had really been to see mr willard rather than herself that dad had hald met the train there was no doubt though for whom mother was waiting she must have been watching tor for the car for she opened the door the minute they stopped and came flying out to meet them there was something thrilling in the way she swooped down the steps edith was always forgetting how pretty she was they hugged each other on the sidewalk stood with their arms around each other thanking mrs willard while the chauffeur was carrying in the bags and when they got safely inside they embraced again the girl felt her eyes gettins getting wet but she care they went to together ather rather nimi they C 17 le ess asly y into the sitting jooa om A aria now there fell a momentary stiffness there was nothing in particular to do yet it seemed silly to sit down donn in a couple of chairs like callers mother mu mut must t have felt it po too for her 0 bolce o ice when she spoke the next nest minute had bad sort of a cora company pany sound youre looking beautifully well she said no need asking it if you had a good time im feeling great edith said and I 1 had a gorgeous time mother do we have to wait and lead up tip to things I 1 want to know how its going n nf the office been happening to dad of course you do mother mothe r agreed instantly lost antly and you shall sha 11 all the same she paused a moment there and the next thing she did was to ask a question did your father get hold of bert willard ue wanted to have a talk with him tills this morning 1 I |