Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine, Vol. 107 No. 3 — page 55: what you’re looking at

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

ALIAS THE ANGLEWORM. 397 Jimmy bowed. Then, with a ghost of his old facetiousness: ‘ You took it excel- lently, considering the glare of my necktie, which is enough to strike a strong man blind. I had to take it off in one of my interviews this afternoon. ‘““Some of these days,’ he continued, glancing furtively at the shoes under the bookcase, ‘‘ something is going to happen to me or to some one, while I wear that necktie. I hope it don’t happen in Coal- port.”’ “Oh, nothing ever happens in Coalport, except pay-day,” returned Miss Baldwin, with a feminine finality éminently ingenu- ous. : ‘“‘T may have brought it into town with me,”’ murmured Jimmy; “ and if it hasn’t happened yet, it may be that it’s merely delayed—or overdue. Anyway, I have a feeling that something not only may but will happen,” persisted the quondam Ulys- ses, enjoying hugely the “ kick ” his state- ment might have for the big-footed eaves- dropper. ‘“‘ You mentioned pay-day. What happens then?” She-had risen and was closing her desk. The proceeding automatically caused the typewriter to dive into the interior of it, submarine-fashion. - “Well, if the day is bright and sunshiny, the foreign residents go out to do their shopping. Then, for a few hours, Coalport looks more picturesque.” Jimmy “stalled along,” resolved to see her safely out of her office, at least, in spite of the furor sight of her surname had roused in him. The size of the shoes the eavesdropper was wearing argued that the man filling them was at least his own size. ‘You mean these—what do you call ?em soft-shelled Slovaks? —-who are my only rivals in picking cravats,” he jocosely returned. ‘I’ve seen ’em out in Pitts- burgh.” She was reaching for her hat. Under any circumstances save those which her name awoke, the enticement her sheer grace exercised on the late self-appointed Ulysses would have been at least equal to what Circe cast on the Greek original. Miss Baldwin was a girl with both in- dividuality and personality. Her half smile gave her face an in- souciant lure—and the source of its magic came from within. Jimmy had admired her profile on the street-car. Its vivid beauty intrigued him because it required no adornment. Her dress was a simple serge, yet, as she raised her arms to pin on a hat which Jimmy knew never “ trotted faster than 2.39,” her unconscious pose was that of a Greek nymph. — : He turned away his gaze to turn it on those nefariously suggestive shoes. They moved again, this time uneasily. Tense and troubled moments Jimmy had known before, although none comparable to this, as he picked up his case and fol- lowed her to the door leading into the hall, which she opened, while her other hand hovered over the electric switch. _ Jimmy stopped short and stared at the bookcase. ‘** World’s best literature,’ ”’ said he al- most dreamily as she inserted the key in the lock from the outside. ‘ That’s nice! I wonder—” - His voice trailed off while he still stared at the volumes with a speculative eye. ‘“Of what are you wondering?” she asked innocently. . “Qh, nothing much. Just wondering that the good people of Coalport don’t sus- pect what a lot of exciting things might be hidden behind the covers of books — like these!” CHAPTER IV. NEXT ADVENTURES OF AN ANGLEWORM. HIS soft-spoken but no less Parthian arrow, barbed with a hot double en- tendre so deliberate, seemed merely to con- firm Miss Baldwin’s recent statement that ‘nothing ever happens in Coalport.” Nothing happened with regard to his re- cent amanuensis, who evinced no sign of discerning anything in her late client’s re- mark beyond the words themselves. Jimmy couldn’t say what effect those same words had on the individual wearing the large and disreputable shoes behind the bookcase, for the back of the bookcase was COMICEDOO© ‘eo S (C(O) mM