"I"m sorry," says he, hangin" his head, "but it must have been."
"Then, why didn"t you say so, you silly boy!" she asks.
"How could I, Betty?" says he. "You see, I hadn"t heard the rest of the story until just now."
"Oh, Nicky!" says she.
And the next thing I knew they"d gone to a clinch, which I takes as my cue to slide back into the house. Half an hour later they shows up smilin" and tells us all about it.
As we"re leavin" for home Mr. Robert gets me one side and pats me on the back. "I say, Torchy," says he, "as a raconteur you"re a great success.
It worked. Nicky will sign up tomorrow."
"Good!" says I. "Only send him where they ain"t got the settin" hen habit and the taxi drivers ain"t so willin" to take a chance."
CHAPTER IX
BRINK DOES A SIDESLIP
Mostly it was a case of Old Hickory runnin" wild on the main track and Brink Hollis being in the way. What we really ought to have in the Corrugated general offices is one of these "quake detectors, same as they have in Washington to register distant volcano antics, so all hands could tell by a glance at the dial what was coming and prepare to stand by for rough weather.
For you never can tell just when old Hickory Ellins is going to cut loose. Course, being on the inside, with my desk right next to the door of the private office, I can generally forecast an eruption an hour or so before it takes place. But it"s apt to catch the rest of the force with their hands down and their mouths open.
Why, just by the way the old boy pads in at 9:15, plantin" his hoofs heavy and glarin" straight ahead from under them bushy eye dormers of his, I could guess that someone was goin" to get a call on the carpet before very long. And sure enough he"d hardly got settled in his big leather swing chair before he starts barkin" for Mr. Piddie.
I expect when it comes to keepin" track of the overhead, and gettin" a full day"s work out of a bunch of lady typists, and knowin" where to buy his supplies at cut-rates, Piddie is as good an office manager as you"ll find anywhere along Broadway from the Woolworth tower to the Circle; but when it comes to soothin" down a 65-year-old boss who"s been awake most of the night with sciatica, he"s a flivver. He goes in with his brow wrinkled up and his knees shakin", and a few minutes later he comes out pale in the gills and with a wild look in his eyes.
"What"s the scandal, Piddie?" says I. "Been sent to summon the firin"
squad, or what?"
He don"t stop to explain then, but pikes right on into the bond room and holds a half-hour session with that collection of giddy young near-sports who hold down the high stools. Finally, though, he tip-toes back to me, wipes the worry drops from his forehead, and gives me some of the awful details.
"Such incompetency!" says he husky. "You remember that yesterday Mr.
Ellins called for a special report on outside holdings? And when it is submitted it is merely a jumble of figures. Why, the young man who prepared it couldn"t have known the difference between a debenture 5 and a refunding 6!"
"Don"t make me shudder, Piddie," says I. "Who was the brainless wretch?"
"Young Hollis, of course," whispers Piddie. "And it"s not the first occasion, Torchy, on which he has been found failing. I am sending some of his books in for inspection."
"Oh, well," says I, "better Brink than some of the others. He won"t take it serious. He"s like a duck in a shower--sheds it easy."
At which Piddie goes off shakin" his head ominous. But then, Piddie has been waitin" for the word to fire Brink Hollis ever since this cheerful eyed young hick was wished on the Corrugated through a director"s pull nearly a year ago, when he was fresh from college. You see, Piddie can"t understand how anybody can draw down the princely salary of twenty-five a week without puttin" his whole soul into his work, or be able to look his boss in the face if there"s any part of the business that he"s vague about.
As for Brink, his idea of the game is to get through an eight-hour day somehow or other so he can have the other sixteen to enjoy himself in, and I expect he takes about as much interest in what he has to do as if he was countin" pennies in a mint. Besides that he"s sort of a happy-go-lucky, rattle-brained youth who has been chucked into this high finance thing because his fam"ly thought he ought to be doing something that looks respectable; you know the type?
Nice, pleasant young chap. Keeps the bond room force chirked up on rainy days and always has a smile for everybody. It was him organized the Corrugated Baseball Nine that cleaned up with every other team in the building last summer. They say he was a star first baseman at Yale or Princeton or wherever it was he was turned loose from. Also he"s some pool shark, I understand, and is runnin" off a progressive tournament that he got Mr. Robert to put up some cups for.
So I"m kind of sorry, when I answers the private office buzzer a little later, and finds Old Hickory purple in the face and starin" at something he"s discovered between the pages of Brink"s bond book.
"Young man," says he as he hands it over, "perhaps you can fell me something about this?"
"Looks lite a program," says I, glancin" it over casual. "Oh, yes. For the first annual dinner of the Corrugated Crabs. That was last Sat.u.r.day night."
"And who, may I ask," goes on Old Hickory, "are the Corrugated Crabs?"
"Why," says I, "I expect they"re some of the young sports on the general office staff."
"Huh!" he grunts. "Why Crabs?"
I hunches my shoulders and lets it go at that.
"I notice," says Old Hickory, taking back the sheet, "that one feature of the entertainment was an impersonation by Mr. Brinkerhoff Hollis, of "the Old He-Crab Himself unloading a morning grouch". Now, just what does that mean?"
"Couldn"t say exactly," says I. "I wasn"t there."
"Oh, you were not, eh?" says he. "Didn"t suppose you were. But you understand, Torchy, I am asking this information of you as my private secretary. I--er--it will be treated as confidential."
"Sorry, Mr. Ellins," says I, "but you know about as much of it as I do."
"Which is quite enough," says he, "for me to decide that the Corrugated can dispense with the services of this Hollis person at once. You will notify Mr. Piddie to that effect."
"Ye-e-es, sir," says I, sort of draggy.
He glances up at me quick. "You"re not enthusiastic about it, eh?" says he.
"No," says I.
"Then for your satisfaction, and somewhat for my own," he goes on, "we will review the case against this young man. He was one of three who won a D minus rating in the report made by that efficiency expert called in by Mr. Piddie last fall."
"Yes, I know," says I. "That squint-eyed bird who sprung his brain tests on the force and let on he could card index the way your gray matter worked by askin" a lot of nutty questions. I remember. Brink Hollis was guyin" him all the while and he never caught on. Had the whole bunch chucklin"over it. One of Piddie"s fads, he was."
Old Hickory waves one hand impatient. "Perhaps," says he. "I don"t mean to say I value that book psychology rigamarole very highly myself. Cost us five hundred, too. But I"ve had an eye on that young man"s work ever since, and it hasn"t been brilliant. This bond summary is a sample. It"s a mess."
"I don"t doubt it!" says I. "But if I"d been Piddie I think I"d have hung the a.s.signment for that on some other hook than Hollis"s. He didn"t know what a bond looked like until a year ago and that piece of work called for an old hand."
"Possibly, possibly," agrees Old Hickory. "It seems he is clever enough at this sort of thing, however," and he waves the program.
I couldn"t help smotherin" a chuckle.
"Am I to infer," says Mr. Ellins, "that this He-Crab act of his was humorous?"
"That"s what they tell me," says I. "You see, right after dinner Brink was missin" and everybody was wonderin" what had become of him, when all of a sudden he bobs up through a tin-foil lake in the middle of the table and proceeds to do this crab impersonation in costume. They say it was a scream."
"It was, eh?" grunts Old Hickory. "And the Old He-Crab referred to--who was that?"
"Who do you guess, Mr. Ellins?" says I, grinnin".