COMLETE TALES

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 263, 10 November 1906, Page 13

COMLETE TALES

BY EVELYN VAN BUEEN".

THE NEW STENOGRAPHER.

HE law firm of Allison, Badger, 1 HP an a Carr required a new steno- | grapber. The lady who had |j cr editably held that position dur- j ins the entire existence of the r ■ jjjn was forsaking it for matrimony.! Twice she had considerately allowed her- j if to be persuaded to postpone the j event, but the calls of an insist- j , plover arc of some moment, and now | B ie was going. jlessrs- Allison. Badger and Carr were ; assembled in Mr. Allison's private room. ! „ ffa s a very hot day, business was ■ odd, and they agreed that their steno- ] Liter's departure was a bother. | He senior partner snid he knew where te could lay his hands on one, a good 0, but she was pretty expensive. Mr. Carr believed a friend of his knew of j Mc , but she W inexpert-need. •call him up,' , suggested Mr. Allison, "and fa d mlt aboll{ ner '" "Now, look here," said Mr. Badger ! the window-ledge. "H we're going to chance a beginner. I know a girl." j He thoughtfully brushed some lint from I fcjs trousers. "That X" he added, "I bow her brother." Jlr. Carr smiled, while Allis n laughed blatantly. '•Ha. ha!" echoed Badger mirthlessly, j A breeze rumpled his fair hair, and the emwl deepened between his brows. '•if either of you can do any better, go ahead," he advised. "We've got to have some one in here to-morrow mornjug," He was departing, with his hat ai a rakish angle. "Get the girl, Badger," called the senior partner. '-We'll leave it to you." Hγ. Badger was the youngest and | most pushing member of his firm. His i abilities for getting business were little I short of miraculous. lie moved in a j very good set, was popular, and his . liking for the opposite sex was un- | bounded — also, quite apparent, and | never a point of sensitiveness with him. I He was extravagant in his habits and fastidious in costume. The next morning Messrs. Allison and Carr arrived in their office-building at identically the same moment. Together they ascended in the elevator. "Nuisance, this breaking in a new stenograph er.' J observed the senior partner. The other agreed. They found Mr. Badger at his desk. Near him sat a prepossessing young woman, to whom he was dictating a letter. At their entrance, she looked up \rith eager attention. Mr. Badger was too engrossed with work to do more than Mi. lie went on with his dictation. In tius afternoon, after a late lunch, , Mr. MnaoTi, returning to the office, found onh' ihc. new stenographer. He retired j to his private room,, and presently thrust forth his iead, slick and shining. ■'Will you step in here?" he asked her, and held open the door while she passed through. "I hope," he began politely, "that you will not find our work too bard. It is pretty heavy for a beginner. You—are a beginner ?" "Yes, I am, but I shall do my best," Ehp answered, regarding him from eyes j child-like and brown. The window buck of her admitted a generous square of light, against which her bio'nd head framed itself, and her hair shone like a mesh of gold As Allison looked he decided that he would undertake to acquaint her with her work. It would not be such a troublesome job after all. "My name is Morse," she enlightened kirn. "Xarcissa Morse." 'Nareissa," he mused. "Narcissa suits lw." Aloud he said, "Have you known Mr. Badger long?" "He is a friend of my brother. They tfere at Harvard together," she answer- , cd. '"Then I should know your brother. Morse " he pondered; "I do not re- : call the name, i wss at Harvard with ; iißd ff er " "Well, I must be wrong; you sec. I i how very little of Mr. Badger." i The girl spoke with quick emphasis, and her face became very pink. There ( v as a sharp rap on the door; it opened, jffld Mr. Badger himself stepped in ] Wskly. He glanced from his partner to ; we stenographer. To her he said curtly, ] "lease come to mc for some notes as \ Won as you are disengaged," and with- i drew. j Hot and busy days followed. The new ■, stenographer worked with earnest in- _. te %nce. Mr. Allison, humane and un- 1 elfish, did all that was possible to i "gntcn her labours. He often found that ( to himself could whisk off a business **« on the typewriter. It helped the t P"; one so young and willing deserved encouragement— la tpr, when she had had • Inore experience, let her go ahead and \ fork. , " '. too, was at. some pains to i "Plain things. It was no trouble to c Pat out more than once where certain Papers were filed, or to repeat that a 1 TOioular client was not just pkin G. 1 but Gregory-Jones, and preferred i 815 letters addressed Gregory-Jones. i ton Was alwa .VS grateful—besides, he ( k •' T dS '' uot a pleasure J usl to c sat a girl with such eves, such dainty Ea ft-like beauty? " i wight, good-looking girl," he had I* I *, 'observed to his senior partner. f J should say so." was the emphatic t "fjjfit. "But why does Badger go , mean thp wa y he always has 1 methmg for l, Pr to' do?"' questioned r iis fl c other nodded. He squinted at s jf r el S ar ette, and wanted to know, too, didn't think Badge.r sometimes ttferaally sharp to the girl ? . ' tarr had noticed it, snd wondered i ■*ai r USe " he fnid > "Badger is so, £ De is usually polite, at least." r tw ,?; s one unusually warm afternoon Senior msh ° f WOrk bein 3 r,ver > the l B t«nr Pa . rtner sa-lv no reason why Ihe i "grapher should not go home. Ho t^ 0 ' hi mself, Mr. Carr was out of *01lM v at was P ro bable that Badger i da y be drained for the rest of the to ';,., asked her into his private room 1 cli !S jo', of his considerate eon- j I fe lT ,ankal hira and said it Weil Bhe turne d to go, then J P * mth apologetio hesitancy, >

"Mr. Badger might havo something ' for mc to do," she murmured. Her face became rosy, and she looked attentively at the toe of her small shoe. "'Scared to death of Badyer, poor little thing," thought the kindly Allison. "No," he said firmly, "liadger won't be back to-day, I'm sure." She was going, when he- looked up from some papers that ho vcas scowling over. "I was going to say. Miss Morse," he : becan lightly, "■ice-cream for a clay like this; won't you come and have some?" He observed that she did not. heed him. She seemed to be listening. Without, a door banged. Quick, firm steps approached; a sharp rap on Mr. Allison's door, and Mr. Badger promptly admitted himself. "Oh," he said. He looked warm and j cross. "Hardly expected you'd get bavjk here I to-day," said his partner. "IVe just told Miss Morse that she may go. I aon't suppose yon— —" j "Well, the.re are several imiwrtant ' letters I should like to get out at once." Mr. Badger turned and looked sliortly and sharply at the stenographer, and ' hurried away. As she followed to do the bullying Badger's bidding, Allison pondered over i the cruel fate that admitted of anything j so young and lovely drudging in a Ib."w- I office. With hands pocketed, he might j have been counting the boats dotting the j gleaming river, for he stood long, look- j ir.g from his window upon them, giving ; rhythmical nods of his head. I "Of course, marrying one's steno- i grapher isn't the thing," he concluded, I ""but " He began to whistle "Ich | Liebe Dich," and. taking up his hat, de- • parted. j The next morning Mr. Badger arrived at nis office somewhat late. Both his partners were there. There was to be a general going over of a trying case. Mr. I Allison referred to some papers; Mr. j Carr said he had given them to the j stenographer to copy. i "Where is she?" thundered Mr. J Badger. At that moment the door \ opened and she appeared; a dainty I vision in fluffy white. Mr. Badger, blind to the dim young prettiness, drew I forth his watch. "You are late," he stated with loud emphasis; "very late. We are waiting for the papers in the Kendall case." "Yes," was the nearly inaudible answer. The vision in white turned away, and a queer little, movement of the shoulders convinced two gentlemen that she suppressed a sob. Mr. Badger evinced no interest. The next afternoon the heat was becoming unbearable, when a storm came up quite suddenly. To Mr. Allison, dictating letters, the rumbling thunder and cool rain were a welcome relief. 'Tine, isn't it, Miss Morse?" he inquired with enthusiasm. ' She winced at a RjcLrlt.-j flash of lightning, and there was a wistful eagerness in her beautiful eyes. Finally, "Mr. Badger will get wet."' she began. "I mean" —she paused sihyly —"if he is out in this rain." "Yes." agreed "\fc Allison, "he will, anybody would." There was anothsr flash of lightning, and she moved her chair into a corner. "I am afraid of lightning," she admitted. "I can hear you from here." "We'll wait till it's over," he said, and proceeded to place himself in the window, as though a defiant target for the lightning, while the girl remained silently in her corner. Presently the office-boy appeared to say that Mr. Badger had just come in and wanted Miss Morse for a few minutes, if she wore not busy. ■"Yes, 1 will come." She rose, with what appeared to be eagerness. Then she paused, glancing at Mr. Allison for permission. "We can finish this later," he said. He thought she smiled, and he was sure of the eagerness when she passed him on her way to Badger. The significance of the old saying seemed perfectly true, about a woman, like a dog. caring for the man who beats her. "Can it be possible," he mused, "that she's in love with Badger? Surely not; they've both got yellow hair." And Mr. Allison stroked his own brown and curling locks. She came back to finish his work, looking very calm and pretty. The storm had passed. The bullying Badger looked in to say that he would not be at the office any more during the day. His partner glanced up to reply, observed that the top button of Mr. Badger's coat was entwined with a lily-of-the-valley. Allison's eyes sotipht the bouquet worn by Miss Morse. It appeared to be intact, but. it. certainly consisted of lilies-of-tho-va] leyLater in the day Allison related this strange happening to Mr. Carr. "Pooh!" that gentleman remarked. "Plenty of lilies -of - the - valley. He bought it." "1 tell you,"' insisted the senior partner, "he wasn't -wearing it when he first came in." Mr. Carr could not, of course, explain how the flower got into Badger's buttonhole; but be knew that the girl could not have given it to him. Badger was not overnice to her, and, moreover, Mr. Carr reflected, shrugging his big shoulders, there were others besides Badger. The time drew near for Mr. Allison's vacation. In spite of a year of hard work, he found that he felt very fit, and he offered to let either of his partners take their turn first. He said he" could wait. They both, however, declined ungratefully.' Therefore he was going. The day previous to his departure, he put his papers in shape and sent for the stenographer. He had some things to say to her. "I am going away to-morrc*w for a vacation. Miss Morse," he beganShe regarded him with childlike di- : rectnesf. "It seems unfair, doesn't it, when you musi stiy here and drudge?" i This was not one of the things be had | meant to say, nor was the thing tna.t followed. "Won't you come and lunch with meY : "I think I ought to tell you," was Lhfc ! reply, "that I am married." "Married!" echoed Allison loudly. His mouth remained open and his fixed upon the girl's face. "Married '."\ i he repeated. (. 1 should have told you before," she j i said. "I am sorry I did not. You see, ] my husband, has an uncle." [i

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"Oh," interjected Allison, as though the matter suddenly became clear to him. "I mean," the girl continued in explanatiou, "a doting uncle, with a lot of money tbat he will leave to my husband if he marries some one v/hom he doesn't want to, or doesn't marry at all. He -is supposed not to be married at all. We are deceiving , his uncle, who is very old and infirm. She spok" shamelessly of her conduct. "Of conii.ii," she went on, "I'm not made to work; it isn't bread and butter, I mean it's just" —she smiled, and Allison thought he had never observed a more wilfully eccentric dimple than the one. high up on her cheek—''that I liaVe notions of a woman's independence. Mv husband did not want mc to do this, but I insisted, and he gave in. I've promised to retire when ho inherits the fortune." "You have no idea how much you surprise mo," said Allison, regarding her gravely. "I'm sorry," she said, looking in no way repentant. '*I forgive you," he answered, and offered his hand. She placed hers, very small and white, within it, and looked at him from laughing eyes. •'You are not Miss Morse, at all, then?" he accused. She hesitated. "I'm —I am a Mrs. — you see, but," she added anxiously, '■must you tell the other3'i" He said he would keep the secret, ana pressed her hand in a friendly grasp. adding that bo knew of one lucky husband, "who," he reflected, "'probably would not leave her hero a minute if once he heard Badger.'" On the cop.st of Maine Mr. Allison •enjoyed his holiday, and with grateful Tenu-.mbranee thought of those who had declined a certain generous offer that he had made. "Poor old Carr," he pondered. 'TBrown eyes are bewitching." He Teturned to town to find Mr. Badger absent upon a sad mission; i> ttending the funeral of a relative. '■Whose?" he asked. "Uncle," said Mr. Carr. ''TMdn't know he had one," observed the other thoughtfully. Mr. Badger was not expected to return nnitil the next day. Thus it happened that in the afternoon Messrs. Allison and Carr, having occasion to adjourn to the private room of their partner, opened his door without knocking. In the centre o fthe room, with his back to them., stood Mr. Badger. About his neck were the arms, upon his shoulder the blond head, and clasped in his embrace the pretty form of the new stenographer. ''Oh. darling, your poor, dear old uncle," she was murmuring, and raising her head to look into the eyes of Badger, she saw over his shoulder Messrs. Allison and Carr. "Oh!" she cried. Badger turned. His face went slightly pink, but he said 3 holding her by the hand: "Boys, Mrs. Badger."