Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 4, 1926 — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

: A536 whole world might have gone crazy and he himself might be a hopeless egoist, but he couldn’t conceive Dot as Mrs. Frederick Budlong. Presently a mumbled laugh rattled mo- rosely, deep down in James’s throat. A vast difference that made, whether he could con- ceive the horror or not! The fickle pair themselves were only too apparently satis- fied, and he—well, he counted for just about as much as Irma, the other undesired one, counted. The hands had been dealt and examined, and James and Irma were merely among the discarded cards! So there may have been something new, something softer than usual, in the smile with which James Cranning greeted Mrs. Fred Budlong, perhaps two minutes later, as she answered his ring. “Jimmy!” she cried. ‘“‘ Come in!” “Tsn’t that Mrs. Harkness on that porch over there?” “Watching? Of course it is. Let her go hang, Jimmy! Perhaps we’ll give her some- thing to watch and talk about, later on,” Irma laughed rather remarkably. “ Come in, Jimmy.” “ Fred’s home?” Mr. Cranning inquired, as he closed the door after him. “Fred is not. And I take it that your dear wife isn’t, either?” “She was a minute ago.” “ Then she’d just come home?” “No, I think she’s been there all day. I didn’t ask,” James sighed. Mrs. Fred Budlong’s eyes opened. “That’s funny! I supposed that my husband was waiting for her in the city. I saw him biting his nails in the Grand Central, although he didn’t see me. He was standing by the information desk, peer- ing at the door and all alert. I thought of course—”’ “He was waiting for me,” James sup- plied drearily. “He wanted to go out with me while I got the car, and—oh, I wanted to go alone.” “Because you might have yielded to temptation, and blown his head off in a lonely spot—yes,” Irma said cheerily, as she settled at Mr. Cranning’s side and pat- ted his hand meditatively. “ I’m glad you didn’t, Jimmy. Paying for that wouldn’t ARGOSY-ALLSTORY RELAY. have been quite worth while. Had they finished repairing the thing?” “TI just backed it into your garage.” “You did? Is it all right?” “It’s in perfect shape,”’ James sighed. Mrs. Budlong’s magnificent eyes snapped. ‘We're going to learn a lot when he sees that car, Jimmy!” 4 Eh?” “T can’t help trying to think even now that maybe things aren’t as they seem, you see,” the girl laughed drearily. “I’ve grown so used to Fred as he was before this, and I was so sure that he was the one dependable man, Jimmy. ‘If he should calm down as soon as he finds the thing back, if he makes a lot of fuss over it, and all that—why, maybe there is something wrong with him. Maybe he has some nervous disease or—something, or—oh, what’s the use?” “There isn’t any use,” James said grim- ly. “I’ve just been looking at Dot for five minutes, Irma. She’s different—entirely different. She glares at me as if she hated me, and when she said something about Fred—why, her whole face seemed to light up!” James cried savagely. “S-ssh, boy!”” Mrs. Budlong said sooth- ingly, and caught his hand. “ Getting ex- cited over it isn’t worth while, either. I’ve settled that much to my own satisfaction. We'll wait and see how he takes the car, if he happens to come home.” James did not cast aside the hand this time, even if it was the hand of another man’s wife. Nay, James gripped it hard, for at least it was a friendly hand; and his stricken eyes fastened upon Irma, and Irma smiled softly, and—well, by golly, she was a darned fine, sane, handsome girl, and a friend! James choked. And it seemed to him, as he gulped at this latest unpleasant sen- sation, that he had been doing nothing but choke for days and days. Outdoors thick gray clouds were hasten- ing the dusk as they waited, speaking now only infrequently. Minutes dragged along to a quarter hour—to a half hour—and still dragged along. Irma sighed repeatedly, for she, too, was weary, and James sighed sym- pathetically, for he understood this weari- MmiGbooks (E@) SS SS ee ee - 7 ——s es —-. Eom ee ee ee LS ot ae Oat