The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

68 he was speaking himself into rapport with his fellow subordinate bookkeepers than {cr any real effect he had expected upon the man he addressed. “Sit down, Evans,” commanded the cashier, carefully shutting the door of his glass-incased room. _ As Evans dropped into a seat, Wheelock settled slowly, it seemed thoughtfully, into the swivel chair before the wide ma- hogany desk. Something moved within Evans. He felt that he was to be fired now inevitably. Bending before the tyranny of this man or Mercer could do no good. Wherefore, he was through bending. Wheelock gazed into his face. Evans gazed back defiantly. The cashier sud- denly dropped his gaze, and picked up a paper-cutter that lay upon one of the sliding tablets protruding from the desk’s front. This he balanced over a finger. It seemed a symbol of what he was doing ~ with something else in his mind. Evans concluded that his own fate was still balancing. 3 He had lost the faculty for trying to throw on something to weigh in his favor. He let Wheelock do his own thinking and stared on at the other’s face. Wheelock glanced up, glanced down again at the teetering paper-knife. Final- ly, with a sigh, he chucked the cutter to the back of the desk. He drew a long breath, expelled it, took another which seemed to shake a little as it sucked into his throat. “Evans,” he spoke at last, “I’m a little surprised at you.” Bruce made no response. were dulled, stunned. “ I—really, Evans—I thought you had a little more sense,’ Wheelock began again. And something in his voice puz- zled Bruce. more than the harshest of tones would have done. The cashier might have been arguing with a friend and equal about some mistake. ‘““'You’ve always seemed a pretty sane sort of man, Evans. I thought you’d be able to see that what I said was only for His faculties THE ARGOSY. the disciplinary effect. I’m a good bit disappointed that you should have blown up like this afterward.” And now Evans felt giddy. He had prepared himself for a kick into the supernal air; instead, he was being gently lowered—somewhere. “Tt wasn’t good business, Evans,” Wheelock went on. “A good business man doesn’t talk for nothing—nor just because his feelings are hurt. Of course Mercer is a good bit of an ass and all that; but I’m quite sure there’s no reason for thinking any worse of him than that.” Evans had not thought worse of him: He wondered what Wheelock meant. He wondered why Wheelock eyed him so queerly. ““T don’t know quite what you meant by what you said to him.” The cashier spoke with a little more sharpness. Evans felt that he had got over being frightened. He had faced the worst that could happen. ““T guess you do,” he heard himself saying with a flash of heat at the changed tone on the cashier’s part. And Wheelock stared at him again, not less than a full half minute, then dropped _his eyes once more. “Evans, you’re not feeling well,” the cashier suddenly remarked irrelevantly. ‘““’'You’ve been working and worrying too much. When is your vacation coming?” ‘““ August, I guess,” Bruce responded curtly. That there was a hint here of his remaining in the bank had lost its appeal as the fear of losing the place had lost its terror. ‘*Um-m-m,” hummed Wheelock. He was still a totally different man from the one Evans had thought he knew rather too well. ‘ That’s a long time off. Still, it upsets things dreadfully to change. Where do you live? What sort of a place is it?” | Bruce mentioned his boarding-house. ‘“ Not much of a joint, is it? You don’t look as if they handed you many mush- rooms around the side of big, juicy steaks, eh?” DOOLKS GOme (E@)