United States or Zambia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Who can be callin' ME from long distance?... Yes... yes.... This is Miss Phipps speakin' now.... Who?... Oh, Mr. Bangs? Yes, he's right here. It's for you, Mr. Bangs." Galusha took the receiver from her hand. "Ah hello!" he hailed. The wire buzzed and sang. Then, in his ear and with surprising clearness and nearness, a voice said, brusquely: "Hello! Hello, there! Is that you, Loosh?"
The same queer ecstatic brightness was upon his face and he was looking now, not at the grinning cherub, but at the distant horizon line of gray-green ocean and slate-gray sky. Cabot's grip on his shoulder tightened. "So you really want to marry her," he said.... "Humph!... Well, I'll be hanged! Loosh, you you well, you certainly can surprise a fellow when you really make a business of it."
Loosh, are you in love with Miss Phipps?" Galusha started so violently as to throw him off his balance upon the fence rail. He slid forward until his feet touched the ground. His coat-tails, however, caught upon a projecting knot and the garment remained aloft, a crumpled bundle, between his shoulder blades and the back of his neck. He was not aware of it.
"I understand. Well, unless he has changed a lot since I used to know him, he needs some one to take charge of him. And it agrees with him, too. Why, Loosh, I thought you were an invalid; you look like a football player. Oh, pardon me, Miss Phipps, but don't trouble to take that coat away. I can stay only a little while.
Yes, I bought the ah stock." "You bought the YOU? Loosh, sit down." Mr. Bangs shook his head. "No, Cousin Gussie," he said. "If you don't mind I I won't sit down. I shall go to my room soon. I bought Captain Hallett's stock. I bought Miss Phipps', too." It was Cabot himself who sat down. He stared, slowly shook his head, and then uttered a fervent, "Whew!" Galusha nodded. "Yes," he observed.
Cabot turned and he, too, saw the expression. He burst out laughing. "See!" he cried. "Doesn't he look guilty? It IS a clam trust, Miss Phipps. By Jove, Loosh, you are discovered! Galusha Bangs, the Clam King! Ha, ha, ha! Look at him, Miss Phipps! Look at him! Did you ever see a plainer case of conscious guilt? Ha, ha!" He was enjoying himself hugely. And really Galusha was a humorous spectacle.
It was Cabot who broke up the tableau. His smile became a hearty laugh. "What's the matter, Loosh?" he demanded. "Great Scott, old man, I expected to surprise you, but I didn't expect to give you a paralytic stroke. How are you?" He walked over and held out his hand. Galusha took it, but he looked as if he was quite unaware of doing so. "Cousin Gussie!" he repeated, faintly.
It seems ridiculous now, as I tell it, but I certainly thought I heard you or some one call me by the name my relatives and friends used to use. Of course " "Wait. What was that name?" Even now, dizzy and faint as he was, Mr. Bangs squirmed upon the sofa. "It was well, it was Loosh or ah Looshy" he admitted, guiltily. His hostess' face broke into smiles. Her "comfortable" shoulders shook.
Bangs awoke from his faint or collapse or doze, whichever it may have been, to hear some one calling his name. "Loosh! Loosh! Loosh!" This was odd, very odd. "Loosh" was what he had been called at college. That is, some of the fellows had called him that, those he liked best. The others had even more offensive nicknames. He disliked "Loosh" very much, but he answered to it then. "Loosh! Loosh!
His face expressed only one emotion, great astonishment. And as his cousin watched, that expression slowly changed to bewilderment and dawning doubt. "Well, how about it?" queried Cabot. "Are you in love with her, Loosh?" Galusha's mouth opened. "Why good gracious!" he gasped. "Dear me ah Why why, I don't know." The banker had expected almost any sort of reply, except that.
Word Of The Day