When he had got from me as much information as I possessed, he shook
hands cordially, said he was happy to have made my acquaintance, and
would try to drop in again some day. After he had gone, and I had had
time to review our conversation, I began to grow hot over the matter. I
grew hotter still when I read his report in the paper the next morning.
I could not understand why I had not kicked him out at first sight, and
I sincerely hoped that he would drop in again, that I might avail myself
of the opportunity.
He did drop in, and I received him with the utmost cordiality. There was
something entirely disarming about Terry's impudence. And so it went. He
continued to comment upon the case in the most sensational manner
possible, and I railed against him and forgave him with unvarying
regularity. In the end we came to be quite friendly over the affair. I
found him diverting at a time when I was in need of diversion, though
just what attraction he found in me, I have never been able to fathom.
It was certainly not that he saw a future source of "stories," for he
frankly regarded corporation law as a pursuit devoid of interest.
Criminal law was the one branch of the profession for which he felt any
respect.
We frequently had lunch together; or breakfast, in his case. His day
commenced about noon and lasted till three in the morning. "Well, Terry,
what's the news at the morgue today?" I would inquire as we settled
ourselves at the table. And Terry would rattle off the details of the
latest murder mystery with a cheerfully matter-of-fact air that would
have been disgusting had it not been so funny.
It was at this time that I learned his history prior to the days of the
Post-Dispatch. He was entirely frank about himself, and if one half of
his stories were true, he has achieved some amazing adventures. I
strongly suspected at times that the reporting instinct got ahead of the
facts, and that he embroidered incidents as he went along.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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