Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 28, 1928 — page 79: what you’re looking at

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

RED just as short as that worn by any other girl in the Peacock Alley, and it dawned on him that there was class to Nora. “ Let’s eat here,” he suggested. He had planned an Italian table d’hoéte, but Nora looked as though she belonged under soft lights amid snowy napery. Those Brinker girls were worth mil- lions, but this damsel made as effective an appearance as they even if she did tickle typewriter keys for a living. The head waiter led them to a cor- ner table, and Lester ordered a dinner which made Nora’s eyes sparkle. “Now tell me, how goes the great enterprise?” she demanded. “I have been reading in the newspapers that it is sinful to eat hot dogs. It looks like enemy propaganda.” “Tt raised the deuce with business during the past-week. I’m in quite a predicament, Nora.” ** Oh, this talk will blow over.” “Yes, but that’s only part of it.” He told her the events of the past week, beginning with the incorpora- tion and winding up with the visit of the headquarters man who had ordered the removal of the sign and placed a taboo on red-hot cops. “T never heard such nonsense in my life,” she declared, “I agree with this Chipmunk person that there is some- thing back of the police interference. Somebody wants your location.” “Tt will just about ruin us,” he sighed. Nora buttered a morsel of bread and put it in her mouth. “ You have twenty thousand dollars capital,” she reminded him. “Ves, but I have no right to sink it”? “Why not? Everybody does. That is what capital is for.” ; “Darn it, I can’t waste Arthur’s money. It’s all he’s got.” The girl regarded him curiously. “You have changed a lot. Are you the man who wrote those sales letters for Laguna-by-the-Sea ?” HOT, 509 “That was different. Arthur is my friend. He trusts me. We went to col- lege together.” “TI have five hundred dollars,” said Nora casually. ‘“ Want to sell me some stock in your company.” “TI should say not.” “T think it would be a better invest- ment than Laguna. I don’t think your affairs are desperate, Les. Your slogan was a novelty and helped you attract attention, but your business is estab- lished now. People know you sell good stuff. “Change your line of talk through your megaphone; just confine yourself to describing how delicious your sand- wiches are, and you will continue to sell them. “As soon as Mr. Colter is able to run the stand, you find a good location and open another one. As for those Comet sausages, Filkin’s are just about as good. Those Brinker girls must be great fun.” “They are corkers,” he agreed en- thusiastically. Nora looked wistful. “It must be wonderful to be like them. Not to have to scrimp and scrape to make a decent appearance. Not to have to bang a typewriter eight hours a day. I sup- pose their father gives them for pocket money two or three times what I earn.” “They don’t look a bit better than you, Nora Creina,” he assured her. “ That’s all a man knows about it. With half a glance a woman would know that this dress cost eleven dol- lars; my hat, four; my shoes are sam- ples, and my pearls came from the ten- cent store. Are they very pretty, Les? That blond one sounds charming.” “T’m going to have you meet them,” he assured her. Nora laughed, not an amused laugh. “J suppose they seem very democratic to you. They would turn to stone if you introduced them to me. Society girls and stenographers don’t mix, Les.” CORMMICGLOOOKS (C@