Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

a 192 Bill gave a whoop of joy and both pounced upon Harry. A college reunion followed; exclamations, reminiscences, do- you-recalls ad nauseum—at least, to the simple stranger who had been interrogating Harry. “What you’re doing to-night doesn’t matter. You’re with us,’ cried the chap who had seen him first. ‘‘ Meet the girls. Girls, this is Harry MHilwin, Princeton, twenty-one. Played on the varsity, pitched for the baseball team. Regular guy. He’s coming with us. Miss Mabel Boardman, Miss Helen Swan, and Miss Ruth Simpson. Hilwin acknowledged the introductions with a little embarrassment. He was shak- en by his interview with the fellow ferry- boat voyager, and he felt that the interrup- tion was very opportune. Surely the recog- nition by a wealthy party of this sort must convince the sharp-visaged man that he didn’t owe his apparent prosperity to the suicide’s bag. “ Wher> are we going?” he demanded. “Dinner here. Then theater. Afterward we're bound for a Russian joint. Ruth knows it. What’s the name of that place, Ruthie?” “Club Petroushka.” “ That’s it. Tough on false teeth.” Chattering noisily they entered the din- ing room, leaving a much puzzled young man sitting alone. ‘““Name’s Harry Hilwin. Seems to be- long all right. However, won’t do any,harm to investigate.” These were his musings. He rose and strolled carelessly toward the phone booths. From one of these he called the hotel desk. “T want to talk to Harry Hilwin. What’s his room number, please?” “ Hilwin. Just a minute. Room 1004.” The unknown hung up, and jotted down the number in a little memo book. “ Well, Harry, old socks,” he said under his breath. ‘I'll just take a look through your bridal suite while you’re whispering sweet nothings into the shell-like ear of one of those wrens.” Then he chuckled silently. In the dining room meanwhile Harry was sitting between two distractingly pretty girls who kept asking embarrassing questions. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ‘Where have you been keeping yourself, — = Mr. Hilwin? Dancing men are scarce, and _ you have been very mean not to let your — college chums know how to find you.” - Hilwin smiled, a little bitterly. These men were classmates, but hardly chums. They had parted after commencement with- out regret, for they had never traveled the same paths in college. Even there men with money and those with none found little in common. He knew that in his ca- pacity as a clerk in lower Broadway he would be lucky if he got a cool nod of recog- nition from these fellows. To-night at the Mastodon, after a couple of cocktails, in a party where one man had failed to show up, they had fallen on his neck because he was presentable and apparently prosperous. “I hope you'll let me make up for lost time,’ he parried. “I am going to be in New York right along, and I’m unmarried and undoubtedly a great catch for any girl.” This sally was greeted with peals of laughter, and all four girls proposed to him at once after the brazen manner of the girl of 1924. ‘ T'll watch you all work this evening and reserve my decision,” he informed them. Bill Cromwell nodded approvingly and whispered to Jimmie Slaven: “ Hilwin was on the teams, but not in the societies. Don’t remember seeing much of him.” “ Always a good sort,” indorsed Slaven with the pride of a discoverer. ‘‘ Knew he would fit in all right. That’s why I an- nexed him.” The dinner was a very elaborate affair. Hilwin quivered with fright at the prices on the menu and could not prevent himself from doing problems in mental arithmetic to estimate the total amount of the orders. And then he recalled that his pockets were bulging with money and he could afford to pay for many such dinners. ‘Did you ever meet my father down town?”? demanded Ruth Simpson, having — extracted from Hilwin that he had been in business in lower Manhattan. ‘“ He’s a cot- ton broker. They say he’s a hard man to beat in a deal.” Old Simpson’s daughter! That was a coincidence.. Hilwin could imagine the old man’s face if he thought his daughter was : A Gom Ebooks Eom a