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It is true his clothing might have looked fresher; but hardly the man himself. "Just in time!" he cried out genially, at sight of Tetlow. "Sit down with us. Waiter, a chair next to mine. Gentlemen, Mr. Tetlow. Mr. Tetlow, gentlemen. What'll you have, old man?" Tetlow declined champagne, accepted half a dozen of the huge oysters. "I've been after you for nearly a week," said he to Norman.
He kissed her with a carelessness that made her wince But she felt that she deserved it and was grateful. He said: "Why don't you go over and see for yourself? No doubt Tetlow gave you the address and no doubt you have remembered it." She colored and hastily turned her head. "Don't punish me," she pleaded. "Punish you? What nonsense! . . . Do you want me to take you over?
He waited, only mildly curious, as his mind was busy with some new business he and Tetlow had undertaken. Presently she stood squarely before him, her hands behind her back and her face upturned. "Won't you kiss me?" she said. "Sure!" said he. And he kissed her on the cheek and resumed operations with his military brushes. "I didn't mean that that kind of a kiss," said she dejectedly.
I'm really cured. I think the only reason I had the attack was because Mr. Tetlow so evidently believed he was speaking the truth." "No doubt he did think he was. I'm sure, in the same circumstances, I'd think of anyone else just what he thinks of me." "Then why do you do it, Fred?" urged she with ill-concealed eagerness. "It isn't fair to the girl, is it?"
"No, sir," answered Flossie. "Why, I spoke of it in all the rooms." "We wasn't here yesterday or the day before," said Flossie. "Freddie was sick." Mr. Tetlow began to understand. "I will look this up," he said, "and if I find " He was interrupted by a boy from one of the higher classes coming in with a note from his teacher. She wanted a new box of chalk.
"You've done me all the mischief you can do. I see you hate me for the injuries you've done me. That's the way it always is. But I don't hate you. It was at my suggestion that the Lockyer firm is trying to get you back as a partner." Then, as Tetlow colored "Oh, I see you're accepting their offer." "If I had thought " "Nonsense. You're not a fool.
"Oh, don't be so smart!" exclaimed Bert, stepping out from behind a group of girls. "I've told Mr. Tetlow myself that Snap is following us, and he said to let him come along. So you needn't take the trouble, Danny Rugg. And if you try to hit our dog I'll have something more to say," and Bert stepped boldly forth. "Huh!
Tetlow gazed at Norman in worshipful admiration. "What a brain! What a mind!" he ejaculated. "And to think that you could be upset by a woman!" Norman leaned back in his chair smiling broadly. "Not by a woman," he corrected. "By a girl an inexperienced girl of twenty." "It seems incredible." "A grain of dust, dropped into a watch movement in just the right place you know what happens."
"I thought perhaps he was interested in you." She laughed outright and he had an entrancing view of the clean rosy interior of her mouth. "In me? Mr. Tetlow? Why, he's too serious and important for a girl like me." "Then he bored you?" "Oh, no. I like him. He is a good man thoroughly good." This pleased Norman immensely.
Norman had often had occasion to feel proud of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of his brain. He had never been quite so proud as he was when he finished that speech. It pacified Tetlow; it lightened his own sense of guilt; it gave him a respite. Tetlow rewarded Norman with the look that in New York is the equivalent of the handclasp friend seeks from friend in times of stress.
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