Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

150 And then there was a scene of hand- shaking and: smiling welcome such as any hero might be proud to receive. ‘Wait a minute,” Manning said at last; “that day I was hunting a paper, you know. If it was sent off there will yet be trouble from it. Has it been found, do you know, Mr. Wise?” “No; what sort of a paper?” “One of the stolen telegrams. It was concealed, I had reason to think, some- where in Gately’s desk.”’ “Do you know that?” “IT think so—wait—I had just thought I knew where to look for it when Gately said something that made me telephone for assistance in his arrest. I was waiting for an answer to my call—”’ “When you drew the snow crystal!” Zizi cried. “Yes,” he smiled. ‘“ And then I saw something that hinted at a possible hiding- place—ah, here it is!” He stepped to the door and picked up the heavy, ornate, gold penholder. He fussed with it a moment, and then un- screwing it in the middle, showed that it was a cleverly constructed place to hide a tiny roll of thin paper. There was such a roll in it, and pulling it out, Manning grinned with glee. ‘“ All right,” he cried joyfully, ‘‘ this is the pa- per—a government secret! See, you read it by that carriage-call check, and it’s safe now!” It was a paper filled with rows of let- ters, such a paper as had been found in Sadie’s possession and also in that of Rod- man. ‘““ Now, I am satisfied,’ Manning de- clared; ‘‘ and now I must go straight down to the Federal bureau to make a report. But first—”’ “Sure!” said Zizi, reading his thoughts, “‘ we’re excused.” And with a saucy smile she flew over and kissed Olive heartily. Then, with an im- perious air, she took command, and almost before we knew it she had herded every last one of us, except Olive and Manning, across the hall to my office. ' I was the last to go, and Manning smiled broadly as he called after me: “I want THE ARGOSY. Miss Raynor to say once more that she exonerates me, and then I'll report to my other superior.” Laughing happily, I entered my office, | and found it a scene of hilarious gaiety. Mrs. Vail was positively cavorting about as Norah waltzed her up and down the room; Pennington Wise was sitting on the corner of my desk whistling dance music for them, and Zizi, her arms waving, exe- cuted 3 sort of glory dance of her own making-up. After a time the door of the Gately room opened, and Olive’s blushing face appeared, followed by that of the man who fell through the earth. ‘““T want to correct a misstatement of mine,’”’ she said; “I told you I wasn’t en- gaged to Amory Manning—but—but—I am!” The two came over to my office, and the ovation we gave them was second only to our reception of Manning himself a few moments before. ‘“Are you sure it is Manning?’ Wise teased her. ‘ 'Yes,”’ said Olive most seriously. ‘‘ You see he was in disguise when he was himself, and so—”’ Her voice was lost in the shout that went up at her remark, and she looked around in bewilderment. ‘“‘She’s right,” said Manning, smiling, ‘“‘I was. You see, when I became a secret service man I had certain peculiar duties assigned me, and it was important that I shouldn't be known. So I adopted a per- manent disguise—oh, nothing much— merely a mild dye for my hair and beard, which washed off easily, and a pair of big, horn-rimmed specs, which were really rather becoming than otherwise. But Olive, and many of my acquaintances knew me only in this way. I wore a Van- dyke beard, and a small mustache of the Charles I type. “Then, you see, when I was taken in at the -hospital, and shaved, I continued to adopt a clean-shaven face. Also, the dye was thoroughly washed out in the sewer, and as my memory was washed out with it, I experienced no surprise at finding a light-haired man in my mirror. GOMIIGIOO S Eo