Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Women -- Fiction
He went to Stewart’s that afternoon. The store had been enlarged and
greatly changed. He had not seen it for years—hardly since the day
when he arranged, or thought he arranged, that they were to “send him
word.”... Perhaps he had misunderstood. How foolish he had been not
to inquire before.... Regretting it all these years—and never
asking—when perhaps he had only to walk in and say casually: “You
don’t happen to have a coat—a Chinese coat—that I left an order
for—blue and gold, I think it was—with dragons on it?”
But when he asked the casual question, the girl at the counter only
shook her head. She was indifferent.
“Was it this week?” she asked. “I’ve only been here a week.”
“No—it was... some time ago,” said Richard More.
“Perhaps they will know in the buying department. I will ask.”
She was gone a long time. And Richard More looked about him. He would
not have known it for the same place—a great skylight had been put in
and the floors cut out from roof to basement, letting down a flood of
light. And the stairs and elevators were changed—they used to be over
there to the left.... It must have been just about here that she
stood when she tried on the coat. He half-closed his eyes and saw her
there—and all the hope and freshness came back to him—and the look
in her face.
The girl returned, efficient and indifferent. “They have not had an
order. I can take it again.” She reached for her pad.
Richard More looked at it distrustfully.
“I think I will see Mr. Stewart himself,” he said slowly. He
half-started to take a card from his pocket. Then he changed the
gesture. He was suddenly thinking of the gold coins he had carried
there....
“Tell Mr. Stewart, please, that the gentleman who left an order for
a Chinese coat—several years ago—would like to speak with him about
it.”
There was another long wait—then a boy with buttons and a little proud
air escorted him to the top of the building.
“Mr. Stewart don’t see many folks,” he volunteered, as they
approached a door.
“Doesn’t he? Then I am fortunate.”
The boy nodded gravely and rapped.
XVII
THE gray-haired man at the desk looked up with a sharp line between the
bushy eyebrows. He stared a moment and got up.
“Is it you!” He held out a cordial hand.
He served on a dozen boards with Robert More—and was proud of it.
“I never supposed you were interested in the Chinese coat!” He
touched a paper on the desk.
“Sit down. They said the man who left the order was here—and
I happened to have kept the name, ’Richard More.’ But it never
occurred to me it was you!” He was still standing and staring at him
as if he could not quite believe his eyes.
“I did not expect you to remember the order,” said Richard. “I
merely sent up word—on the chance.”
The other nodded. “Oh, yes. I remember it quite well.... You see I
took personal interest in the coat. I never really meant to sell it....
It was a curious garment....”
The two men of business sat silent—as if seeing it before them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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