The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

THE GILDED TRAP. tial, pleading. He was prepared to do almost anything short of going on his knees before Wheelock or the president to retain that job. It might hurt his pride. He had long since learned that he could not afford much of that. His sister had needed medicine more than he needed his inde- pendence. And now a girl who had loved him all too faithfully deserved the meager little reward of her patience he could give her. He was a moment ahead of the other bookkeepers, but not ahead of Wheelock. The cashier stood staring, glowering at the pile of unmailed letters. At Bruce’s approach he turned his black gaze upon the humble culprit. “Do you mind telling me what the devil_this means?” he demanded. Evans swallowed rage that. all but choked him. He had decided on his course. . “Well,” he said with a touch of indig- nation he had to keep from being the real rage he felt, “ I can’t mail letters without stamps. And I can’t get stamps if they’re locked in the drawer in the safe and the key lost.” “Where’s the key?’ Wheelock de- manded, as is the wont of men in a wrath at an inferior. “JT don’t know. All I know is that it’s not where it’s supposed to be, or anywhere else where I could find it,” Evans maintained his injured tone. It was at this moment that Mercer en- tered. Wheelock turned upon him with what appeared to be unmodified anger. ‘“‘ Mercer, where’s the key to the stamp- drawer in the safe? Evans says it wasn’t where you always keep it.” _ Mercer went to his desk, felt of the ‘hook behind it. ‘‘ Deuced funny,” he said easily. ‘I hadn’t had it all day.” - The other two bookkeepers came in. Wheelock halted them before they could go to the clothes-lockers to hang up their hats. “Which of you’ve taken the stamp- drawer key?” he roared at them. 5A 65 They all looked nonplused. All ex- pressed surprise at the query. They had none of them been to the stamp-drawer in a week or more. - “Well, some one’s taken it.” Four clerks drifted in. ‘‘ Have you fellows had the stamp-drawer key?” Wheelock fired at them. They hadn’t. They were unanimous in being sure -of it. Mercer went through the motions of looking behind his desk. ‘“‘T pulled the desk clear away from the wall Saturday,” Bruce stated. The result of the search corroborated — that statement. “Oh, well, the key’s somewhere,” snarled Wheelock. “It can’t walk off of its own accord. Some of you fellows have it in your desk, I suppose, or in your pockets. Get busy. Those letters— My Lord!” Wheelock had suddenly re- called his own mail being with the other. ‘“‘ Say, didn’t you get my letters off?” “Couldn’t get any of them off,’ Bruce | protested. Wheelock appeared on the point of bursting as he hurled unprintable words at the unfortunate young man and de- manded why in the subcellar of Tophet Bruce hadn’t gone out and bought stamps. Evans had turned, like the rest, to his desk and the task of searching its drawers. He could not have looked into the cashier’s face without throwing an ink-bottle at it. His hand trembled more with rage than with fear of the dread con- sequences of his misfortune. ‘““] didn’t have any money with me,” he explained. : “Didn’t have the price of a few stamps? What the devil do you do with your pay?” thundered the irate cashier. “T don’t know as I’m expected to carry . about enough money to buy stamps for the bank,” Bruce permitted himself to protest. ‘As a matter of fact, I’ve been paying for my sister’s funeral and al- lowing myself about car-fares. I took enough out of that to telephone your “house, and all I could get was a maid ‘ GComicbooks (E@)