United States or Democratic Republic of the Congo ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The old gentleman fumbled a moment with the tie. "I think that's better," he said. He bowed as one man of the world might to another, and turned away. Under his breath, the dummy-chucker swore gently. "You'd think, the way he helped me, that I belonged to the Four Hundred." He glanced down the corridor. In the tea-room were sitting groups who awaited late arrivals.
This very day, the municipal ferry had landed the dummy-chucker, with others of his slinking kind, upon Manhattan's shores again. Not for a long time would the memory of the Island menu be effaced from the dummy-chucker's palate, the locked doors be banished from his mental vision. A man might be arrested on Broadway, but he might also get the money.
"The news just reached Rio Janeiro yesterday." The dummy-chucker lifted his glass of Scotch. "To a regular feller," he said, and drank. He set his glass down gently. "And the girl? I suppose she's all shot to pieces?" "She doesn't know," said the host quietly. The dummy-chucker's eyebrows lifted again. "I begin to get you," he said.
More than that he'd be a hero who had died upon the battle-field in a war to which she had sent him. His death would be upon her soul. Her only expiation would be to be faithful to him forever." "I won't argue about it," said the dummy-chucker. "I don't know her. Only I guess your whisky has got me. I don't see it at all." His host leaned eagerly forward now.
Over the heads of intervening diners, the dummy-chucker saw his host. The shaded lights upon the table at which the young man sat revealed, not too clearly yet well enough, the features of a girl. "A lady!" said the dummy-chucker, under his breath. "The real thing!" As he stood there, the girl raised her head. She did not look toward the dummy-chucker, could not see him.
I'll send the car back after you. Don't be afraid of trouble with the hotel people. I'll explain that I know you, and fix matters up all right. Just take the table at the right hand side as you enter " "Oh, I've got it all right," said the dummy-chucker. "Better slip me something on account. I may have to pay something " "You get nothing now," was the stern answer.
She stipulated that he go without drink for one year." The dummy-chucker reached for a fresh cigar. He lighted it and leaned back farther in the comfortable chair. "Jones," continued the young man, "had tried to quit before. He knew himself pretty well. He knew that, even with war-time prohibition just round the corner, he couldn't keep away from liquor. Not while he stayed in New York.
"One hundred dollars when I get back here. And," he added, "if it should occur to you at the hotel that you might pawn these studs, or the flask, or the clothing for more than a hundred, let me remind you that my chauffeur will be watching one entrance, my valet another, and my chef another." The dummy-chucker returned his gaze scornfully.
The young man drew back while his guest followed the valet into another room. Ten minutes later, the host seized the dummy-chucker by the tattered sleeve of his grimy jacket. He drew him before the mirror. "Take a look at yourself, you bum!" he snapped. "Do you look, now, like the sort of man who'd refuse to earn an easy hundred?" The dummy-chucker stared at himself.
In a month or so, of course, it will be published in the newspapers when letters have come from the explorers. But, just now, I'm the only one that knows it." "Except me," said the dummy-chucker. The young man smiled dryly. "Except you. And you won't tell. Ever wear evening clothes?" The dummy-chucker stiffened. Then he laughed sardonically. "Oh, yes; when I was at Princeton. What's the idea?"
Word Of The Day