Silly! Don't you tumble yet? It was a bachelor's apartment, and the
Bachelor Beauty was out, and Princess Nancy had the place all to
herself.
I suppose I really ought to have left my card--or he wouldn't know who
had waked him--but I hadn't intended to go calling when I left home.
So I thought I'd look for one of his as a souvenir--and anything else
of his I could make use of.
There were shirts I'd liked for Tom, dandy colored ones, and suits with
checks in 'em and without. But I wanted something easy and small and
flat, made of crackly printed yellow or green paper, with numbers on it.
How did I know he had anything like that? Why, Mag, Mag Monahan, one
would think you belonged to the Bishop's set, you're so simple!
I had to turn on the electric light after a bit--it got so dark. And I
don't like light in other people's houses when they're not at home, and
neither am I. But there was nothing in the bedroom except some pearl
studs. I got those and then went back to the parlor.
The desk caught my eye. Oh, Mag, it had the loveliest pictures on
it--pictures of swell actresses and dancers. It was mahogany, with
lots of little drawers and two curvy side boxes. I pulled open all the
drawers. They were full of papers all right, but they were printed,
cut from newspapers, and all about theaters.
"You can't feed things like this, Nance, to that shark of a lawyer," I
said to myself, pushing the box on the side impatiently.
And then I giggled outright.
Why?
Just 'cause--I had pushed that side box till it swung aside on hinges I
didn't know about, and there, in a little secret nest, was a pile of
those same crisp, crinkly paper things I'd been looking for.
20--40--60--110--160--210--260--310!
Three hundred and ten dollars, Mag Monahan. Three hundred and ten, and
Nance Olden!
"Glory be!" I whispered.
"Glory be damned!" I heard behind me.