Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

NOT SUFFICIENT FUNDS. the machine, will you, while I go over these four or five.” The manager obediently seated himself before the adding machine and started to tap the keys, rather clumsily. As Florence bent again to the task be- fore her, her husband glanced once more at the clock, looked with an expression of furtive glee at the two pre-occupied backs, and then slipped quietly through the door which had been left open. ‘““ Ah-hah!” exclaimed the bookkeeper triumphantly, a moment later. ‘“ Here’s your brace of ducks, Mr. Gilchrist. It’s that girl at the glove-counter, Number 237, again. The big dumb-bell makes her sevens with a loop, so that they look like nines, and two of ’em together make a difference of just twenty-two cents. Now I can charge that off ‘ account saleslady’s clerical error.’ That keeps the books straight and saves you twenty-two cents. See!”’ “Well, by George!” exclaimed the man- ager admiringly. ‘Say, do you know— twenty-two cents is just exactly the amount I started in business with, thirty-odd years ago. Bought ten boxes of shoe-blacking and sold ’em for a dime apiece.” Mr. Gilchrist was given to boasting a little about his rise from poverty, but he had a right to be proud of it. “Youre certainly a crackerjack, young lady,” he continued. ‘‘ You’re too smart to be still working in this store.” ‘No, you mean I’m smart enough to hold my old job in the store, and, believe me, I’ve got to do it—when my husband can’t stay in any one place long enough fis Turning to see that the young man got the rebuke which he amply deserved, she found her last words justified by his defec- tion. She ran to the door and peered down the empty hall. “Oh! O-oh!” she exclaimed with bitter exasperation. She dropped into her chair and buried her face in her hands. “There! There!” said Gilchrist, sympa- thetically. ‘‘ He’s just in a huff, I guess, because you’ve been panning him pretty hard. Haven’t you?” “Well, by criminy, he’s got it coming to him, and then some! I swear I just can’t 267 stand it much longer, Mr. Gilchrist. Frank’s got lots of ability. He’s pretty slack in some ways, but he really isn’t afraid of work, and he hasn’t a mean hair in his head. He’s a willing boy, a good boy. He’s—he’s a good fellow. That’s the trouble with him. He doesn’t drink— much—but he’s absolutely irresponsible. And he will gamble. He plays poker all night with Covert and his gang. He’s lost three jobs in three months, one because he was garnisheed, and one because he showed up late at work several times, and the last one just because they found out that he gambled. He promised to go out to the country with me this evening, to spend Sunday with dad and mother. I think dad can do something with him. But if he’s left me I know he’ll be with those tin- horns again to-night. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, damn!” She threw herself forward on her desk and sobbed several times. But almost im- mediately she pulled herself together with a snap. She went to the wash-bow!l in the corner of the room and washed her tear- stained cheeks. Then she proceeded, with the modern young woman’s indifference to observation, to apply a not excessive amount of artificial adornment to a face which needed none whatever. ‘Where are you going now, may I ask, Mrs. Hathaway?”’ “Tm going home, and if that big ninny is there, I’ll shake the living daylights out of him and cook his dinner for him and then take him out to the country. And if he isn’t there [ll hunt up that skunk of a Covert and give him hell, and jerk Frank away from him before he loses any more money that he hasn’t got.” “Say now, let me help you. It’s this late work that has interfered with your plan. You let me run you home in my car. We’ll wait long enough for your hus- band to come, if he’s coming. And if he doesn’t come—well, you’ve saved me twenty-two cents. I'll take you down town and buy you a good dinner. Oh, it’s perfectly all right. Ill get Mrs. Gilchrist to come too, though, of course, she’s had her dinner before now. And then we'll look for Frank. If we can find him I'll CORMICLOOKS (E@) ty ie a } 1h Aa a leet Wud ale stad milla , weer de