Argosy, Vol. 119, No. 2 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

SEVEN MINUTES AFTER, axiom of his father’s occurred to him: ‘© When in doubt ”—old Abraham Fane had often thundered—“ don’t.” It was a pretty good hint to work on. Tony was in doubt what to say, how to ask anything. He’d let David do the talk- ing, and if David didn’t know how to talk or wished to be silent, that was enough for Tony Fane. He wasn’t supposed to be brainy, or anything like that, but, by Jingo, he could be loyal to his intends, and a friend down and out—his jaw set grimly. He’d show them! By “them” he meant the world that had treated David badly. Taking a sudden turn to the right after they left Washington Square, Tony drove rapidly through a side street. To David it looked unutterably dreary and drab. Bits of paper were lying about, unwashed chil- dren ran shrieking across the street, play- ing tag, apparently, with the low blue car driven with such reckless ease And as if he read his thought, Tony turned to him with a grin. “Tt’s fashionable to have a studio or something in this region,” he said; ‘“ two years ago I was bitten by the Greenwich Village bug, and came down here. Then I got used to it, and never moved out. Foo Chah lives here all the time; I only come now and again. But it has its merits as a place to chum in. At the club you are everlastingly interrupted. Since dear old dad died I haven’t opened the house much. The old place doesn’t seem like home with- out him.”’ pi L serote to you-——when I heard,” said David, “ but it was months after, in an old paper, before the news came to me. We didn’t get much at first.” ee anes not, ” said Tony. we are.’ He drew the car up before a high brick house with square windows picked out in vivid green, and whistled. The door opened almost at once, and Foo Chah, his emaci- ated Chinese body. clad in the decorous black silk garment of the Oriental house- ‘Well, here man, ambled swiftly down the irregular pathway to the sidewalk. ‘Foo Chah, you remember Mr. David?” said Fane. ‘‘ He’s back again, you see. -Now, hurry to the garage with the car and 163 then get us breakfast; could eat you almost!”’ : Foo Chah grinned. “ Bleakfast all leady,” he said; and, climbing into the blue devil, he headed away down the street. Looking after him, the two friends laughed. There was something anomalous in the sight of the Oriental seated at the wheel of that up-to-the-minute racing car, tooling her with the surety of a professional chauf- feur, a ‘See my tree?” said Tony, as they stood on the door-step while he searched for his latch-key. ‘‘ They charge me fifty dollars a month extra for that, unofficially, of course.” He nodded at the struge sling, smoking maple that grew in the pocket-handkerchief of green before the house, and threw open the door. David stepped into a high, nar- row hallway, from which, shut off by solid oak doors, the. living rooms opened. Abey walked into the studio. David stopped on the threshold, and laughed. “Whew!” said he, drawing a long breath. “You certainly got ’em bad.” “ Everything,” said Tony delightedly, “futuristic stuff, cabalistic, erotic, all the fads. Sure, 1 got ’em; what else makes I’m ravenous; [ them think me an artist, I’d like to know? You’ve got to bluff the commercial public.” He drew forward an easy chair uphol- stered in vivid orange velvet, and patted the back invitingly. “‘ Horrible to look at, I know, but deuced comfortable to sit in, ‘Fay it,” | David sank back with a sigh of relief. For an instant he closed his eyes. Then he opened them again—those wide, gray eyes that somehow reminded Tony of Rob- _ inetta, David’s little sister—and sat up. *““'There’s one thing I want to ask you, Tony, old man—”’ “You can’t—until after breakfast,” ‘Tony said positively. “I’m a bear until I’ve eaten, Foo Chah will tell you. If it hadn’t been for my friendship for you—old-time stuff, and all that kind of thing, don’t you know—I mevet should have got out so early this morning.”’ David interpolated ironically. ‘‘ But I thought you were surprised to see me.” com (@ IOOKS (E() be