All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 92: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

= ee et c a alt Th Paes - eas a Se eee: - °S ~ -s c= ? > ~ALL- STORY. WEEKLY. - of ieiters which he placed on the desk be- 2 - fore Jefferson for his signature. Jefferson — - paid no attention to the stooped old figure at his elbow. : a read the topmost one. Abruptly he laid it 3 e down. As abruptly he rose to his feet. - Nathaniel Stone stepped back a pace and — jooked up inquiringly. _° “They can wait until to-morrow,” said _ Jefferson. ““T have an appointment with Mr. ,Gr ay.’ As he strode out of the office without ' Seeming to hear the faltering attempt of his _chief-clerk to congratulate iis: Jeff hurried up to the bar in the Mecca Café. A half dozen acquaintances greeted ‘him loudly. Everybody was proud to hail him these days. ee “Have one with me,” Jeff said, laying a 5 bill on the bar and including in the invita- - tion the half dozen men nearest him. Be- fore Jeff could decently leave he found it necessary to have “ one” with each of the - Mary Lawrence, her trim figure clad now in the shepherd plaid that was the season’s vogue in ready-to-wear garments, left Compton Gray’s private office to find a cer- tain letter in the files just a moment or two before Helen Lee was ushered in. Gray was busy making lead-pencil mem- oranda as Helen entered the office. He rose quickly and greeted her warmly. She explained she had = to meet Jefferson there. eae We are conspirators,” she added, her eyes dancing. “ We have plotted together to drag you home to dinner.” ~ “ Rescued from a lonesome evening,” Gray laughed, by way of acceptance. And __ then he picked up from the desk a check and handed it to Helen. 3 thousand dollars, and made payable to Jef- __ ferson Lee. - * “ A bonus,” Gray explained. ‘“ He saved us a quarter of a million to-day.” : — _ Helen’s lips quivered as she tried to voice ae her gratitude. “It means so much,” she faltered, “ for us—for us and the boy.” “ Especially the boy, eh, little mother?’’ ~ asked Gray, looking her in the eves. Some- ae _ tin he saw there made him turn and pick >) te ~ -* Seo — ~ = ~ He picked up the letters and started to. It was for ten | ape = ee = pes etn . S m5 <a: OE SS Ce ee >= « te ~~ _- a < up the pen lying on the desk. He took the check from her and quickly wrote “ Ju- = nior ” after “ Jefferson Lee.” oS Then he handed it back to her. Tears filled her eyes, and the room swam before = her. In spite of herself she swayed— against him. His arm went about her. ; Mary Lawrence had opened the door ——— quietly. Neither of them saw her as she a stood in the doorway, her eyes wide with = amazement and horror. She drew back | into the outer office, closing the door with out a sound. : : A moment later Jefferson entered, his ie face flushed and his big voice booming a a greeting to Helen and Gray. Impetuously she put her arms around her husband’s neck and gave him a hug. Ra Then she showed him the ae cand. - 23 told him, almost hysterically, how the sight 5 of it had almost caused her to swoon. = In the outer office Mary Lawrence heard be: the sound of Jefferson’s voice, and once = again entered her employer’s presence. She laid the letter on Gray’s desk, and started ee to withdraw; but before she reached the ae door she heard Gray say, laughingly: a “And now Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Lee, =e the victim of your plotting is ready to be 3 led to his doom!” And thus they left the room. Mary Lawrence sank into Gray’ s chair.. ‘So that’s the way it is,’’ she told her- self. The dinner that evening was a genuine success, There was a special vintage cham- pagne that Gray praised highly—and of which he drank sparingly. Jefferson, tak- ing the cue from the temperate guest, and ~— sensible of the fact that he had already had as much as was good for him, also tmerely sipped the wine. Dinner over, Gray insisted that Helen accompany them into the library while they ae drank their coffee and smoked cigars— ae Gray’s cigars, the rich Havanas with their wide red bands and Gray’s proud crest. At just about the time Gray was taking his. leave, Mary Lawrence, in her little room, had come to a comforting solution of _ her problem. Since Mrs Lee was “ the woman,” there was no possibility of Gray’s marrying her. That much was certain, h ” ali ‘ Rahs pt *, SAMY r i nub ete Sah Aare 7, Pe rey. . ft “{ / PTL Sari hin Eds 4) Manes tale HO bad a Peay mi A te $e 4- vee yh! ts Oe Pe