Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 14, 1928 — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

DAMMING HAIRPIN CANON. dain, seeming to take supercilious note of every fleck of clay or concrete that clung to his clothing as a result of his visit to the dam excavation that after- noon. “Will you please tell Miss Todd that Mr. Rich would like to see her on a matter of considerable importance ?” The butler suspiciously ushered him inside, and motioned him to a seat ina small reception room at the right of the hall, left him. Norman, however, strolled over to the window, and stood looking out. It was certainly a wonderful location that the old miner had chosen for this erie of his, high up on the slope of a lofty mountain. Off in every direction, as far as the eye could reach, lay tumbled peaks ris- ing in fantastic shapes against the sun- set sky, like the billows of an angry sea. It was a prospect indescribably wild and stark. But here close at hand the rugged, sterile country had been subdued by man to form a cultivated estate. Money must have been spent lavish- ly, Norman knew, to create on that arid shelf of land the grassy lawns that sloped away before him, the orchards and gardens, and to build in this re- mote spot a stately habitation, fur- nished with every modern convenience, even to an English butler. Water was the secret of it, of course —that unfailing, artesian well, which Todd when he chose this location as a home had first put in, so as to make it possible as a living place. No wonder, then, that Molly felt so deeply on the subject of irrigation; or that, with this miracle daily before her eyes, she yearned to transform the ug- ly, savage country all about her into the same sort of a garden spot. A sudden gleam of light from a win- dow in the northern wing of the big house just across from him drew Nor- man’s glance in that direction. He saw beyond the drawn curtains a handsome dining room with a rather elaborately ~~: 183 appointed table in it. Evidently dinner was just about to be served. The sight recalled Norman to the fact that food had not passed his lips all that day. He had hurried away from the junction on the relief train without even so much as a cup of cof- fee; and ever since he had been so keyed up with excitement, so caught in the web of thronging events, that he had never once thought of his stomach. But now hunger swept over him like a tide. Molly would, of course, invite him to take dinner with her; and he wondered, as he gazed longingly at that dinner table, if he would be able in his famished state to show decent restraint in her presence. A discreet cough from the doorway behind him apprised him of the return of the butler, and he turned eagerly in anticipation of the expected invita- tion. But there was no touch of hospitality in the butler’s frozen face. ‘“ Miss Todd is sorry,” he said stiffly, “but she is deeply engaged at present, and hopes you will excuse her.” “Eh?” Norman was even more stunned than he had been at the receipt of the telegram from the firm. The butler repeated his message even more icily than before. “Oh, all right.” groggily, and moved crestfallen for the door. He didn’t know what to think. It struck him that probably the butler had reported that he looked like a tramp, and having other guests to dinner, she had turned him down on account of his appearance. But that didn’t seem like Molly Todd. Anyhow, he hadn’t asked her to feed him. All he had asked was to see her, and she could easily have granted that without disturbing any other arrangements she might have on hand. He wasn’t so much angry for the moment as he was puzzled, chagrined, crushed. Then hot resentment flamed CORMEDOOKS Norman gulped — (E@)