And yet-- Well, what if I refuse?"
Nivens lifts his black eyebrows significant.
"I should hope I would not be forced to bring proceedings, sir," says he. "Under the Wage Act, you know--"
"Yes, yes," groans Ham, slumpin" into a chair and restin" his chin on his hands. "I know. You could send me to jail. I should have thought of that. But I--I didn"t know how to get along alone. I"ve never had to, you know, and--"
"Precisely, sir," says Nivens. "And allow me to suggest that another employer might not have the patience to show you your duties. But I shall be getting used to things myself, you know, and I sha"n"t mind telling you. If you say so, sir, we"ll begin at once."
Ham Adams gulps twice, like he was tryin" to swallow an egg, and then asks:
"Just how do--do you want to--to begin?"
"Why," says Nivens, "you might get my shaving things and lay them out in the bathroom. I think I ought to start by--er--dispensing with these"; and he runs a white hand over the butler siders that frames his ears.
Almost like he was walkin" in his sleep, Ham gets up. He was headed for the back of the suite, all right, starin" straight ahead of him, when of a sudden he turns and catches me watchin". He stops, and a pink flush spreads from his neck up to his ears.
"As you was just sayin"," says I, "don"t mind me. Anyway, I guess this is my exit cue."
I tries to swap a grin with Nivens as I slips through the door. But there"s nothing doing. He"s standin" in front of the mirror decidin"
just where he shall amputate those whiskers.
First off Mr. Robert wouldn"t believe it at all. Insists I"m feedin"
him some fairy tale. But when I gives him all the details, closin"
with a sketch of Ham startin" dazed for the back bathroom, he just rocks in his chair and "most chokes over it.
"By George!" says he. "Ham Adams turning valet to his own man! Oh, that is rich! But far be it from me to interfere with the ways of a mysterious Providence. Besides, in six months or so his income will probably be coming in again. Meanwhile-- Well, we will see how it works out."
That was five or six weeks ago, and not until Tuesday last does either of us hear another word. Mr. Robert he"d been too busy; and as for me, I"d had no call. Still, being within a couple of blocks of the place, I thought I might stroll past. I even hangs up outside the entrance a few minutes, on the chance that one or the other of "em might be goin"
in or out, I"d about given up though, and was startin" off, when I almost b.u.mps into someone dodgin" down the bas.e.m.e.nt steps.
It"s Ham Adams, with a bottle of gasoline in one hand and a bundle of laundry under his arm. Looks sprucer and snappier than I"d ever seen him before, too. And that sour, surly look is all gone. Why, he"s almost smilin".
"Well, well!" says I. "How"s valetin" these days?"
"Oh, it"s you, is it?" says he. "Why, I"m getting along fine. Of course, I never could be quite so good at it as--as Mr. Nivens was, but he is kind enough to say that I am doing very well. Really, though, it is quite simple. I just think of the things I should like to have done for me, and--well, I do them for him. It"s rather interesting, you know."
I expect I gawped some myself, hearing that from him. From Ham Adams, mind you!
"Ye-e-e-es; must be," says I, sort of draggy. Then I shifts the subject. "How"s Mr. Nivens gettin" along?" says I. "Ain"t married yet, eh?"
For a second Ham Adams lapses back into his old glum look.
"That is the only thing that worries me," says he. "No, he isn"t married, as yet; but he means to be. And the lady--well, she"s a widow, rather well off. Nice sort of person, in a way. A Mrs.
Grenville Hawks."
"Not the one that used to send you bunches of roses?" says I.
He stares at me, and then nods.
"It seems that Mr. Nivens had already picked her out--before," says he.
"Oh, there was really nothing between us. I"d never been a marrying man, you know. But Mrs. Hawks--well, we were rather congenial. She"s bright, not much of a highbrow, and not quite in the swim. I suppose I might have-- Oh, widows, you know. Told me she didn"t intend to stay one. And now Mr. Nivens has come to know her, in some way; through his cousin Mabel, I suppose. Knows her quite well. She telephones him here. I--I don"t like it. It"s not playing square with her for him to-- Well, you see what I mean. She doesn"t know who he was."
"Uh-huh," says I.
"But I"m not sure just what I ought to do," says he.
"If you"re callin" on me for a hunch," says I, "say so."
"Why, yes," says he. "What is it?"
"What"s the matter," says I, "with beating him to it?"
"Why--er--by Jove!" says Ham. "I--I wonder."
He was still standin" there, holdin" the gasoline bottle and gazin"
down the bas.e.m.e.nt steps, as I pa.s.sed on. Course, I was mostly joshin"
him. Half an hour later and I"d forgot all about it. Never gave him a thought again until this mornin" I hears Mr. Robert explode over something he"s just read in the paper.
"I say, Torchy," he sings out. "You remember Ham Adams? Well, what do you think he"s gone and done now?"
"Opened a correspondence school for valets?" says I.
"Married!" says Mr. Robert. "A rich widow, too; a Mrs. Grenville Hawks."
"Zippo!" says I. "Then he"s pa.s.sed the buck back on Nivens."
"I--er--I beg pardon?" says Mr. Robert.
"You see," says I, "Nivens kind of thought an option on her went with the place. He had Ham all counted out. But that spell of real work must have done Ham a lot of good--must have qualified him to come back.
Believe me, too, he"ll never be the same again."
"That, at least, is cheering," says Mr. Robert.
CHAPTER V
WITH ELMER LEFT IN
All I can say is that it was a busy day at the Corrugated. Course, I might go into details, just as I might put mustard in my coffee, or lock Piddie in the bond safe. Neither of them performances would be quite so fruity as for me to give out particulars about this special directors" meetin" that was goin" on. Speakin" by and large, though, when you clean up better"n thirty per cent. on a semi-annual, you got to do some dividend-jugglin", ain"t you? And with them quiz committees so thick, it"s apt to be ticklish work.
Anyway, Old Hickory has chewed up four brunette cigars the size of young baseball bats, two of the Board have threatened to resign, and a hurry call has just been sent out for our chief counsel to report, when Mr. Robert glances annoyed towards the door. It"s n.o.body but fair-haired Vincent, that has my old place on the gate, and he"s merely peekin" in timid, tryin" to signal someone.
"For heaven"s sake, Torchy," says Mr. Robert, "see what that boys wants. I"ve already waved him away twice. Of course, if it is anything important--"
"I get you," says I, pa.s.sing over to him the tabulated reports I"d been sittin" tight with. Then I slips out to where Vincent is waitin".