Humorous stories; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Private secretaries -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Fiction
Course, I was sayin' it mostly to kid Vee along. I expect I'm nearly as
strong for this suburban life stuff as she is, but whenever she gets a
bit gushy about it, which she's apt to such nights as we've been havin'
recent, with the moon full and the summer strikin' its first stride, I'm
apt to let on that I feel different.
You see, she'd towed me out on the back terrace to smell how sweet the
honeysuckle was and watch the moon sail up over the tall locust trees
beyond the vegetable garden.
"Isn't it a perfectly gorgeous night, Torchy?" says she. "And doesn't
everything look so calm and peaceful out here?"
"May look that way," says I, "but you never can tell. I like the country
in the daytime all right, but at night, especially these moony
ones,--Well, I don't know as I'll ever get used to 'em."
"How absurd, Torchy!" says Vee.
"Makes things look so kind of spooky," I goes on. "All them shadows. How
do you know what's behind 'em? And so many queer noises. There! Listen
to that!"
"Silly!" says she. "That's a tree-toad. I hope you aren't afraid of
that."
"Not if he's a tame one," says I. "But how can you tell he ain't wild?
And there comes a whirry-buzzin' noise."
"Yes," says she. "A motor coming down the macadam. There, it's turned
into our road! Perhaps someone coming to see us, Goosie."
Sure enough, it was. A minute later Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ellins were
givin' us the hail out front. It seems they'd come to pick us up to make
a call with them on some new neighbors.
"Who?" asks Vee.
"You couldn't guess," says Mrs. Robert. "The Zoscos."
"Really!" says Vee. "I thought they were----"
"Yes," chimes in Mrs. Robert, "I suppose they are, too. Rather
impossible. But I simply must try that big pipe organ I hear they've put
in. Bob thinks it's an awful thing to do. See how shocked he looks. But
I've promised not to stay more than half an hour if the movie magnate is
in anything more startling than a placid after-dinner state, or if the
place is cluttered up with too many screen favorites. And I think Bob
wants Torchy to go along as bodyguard. So won't you both come? What do
you say?"
Trust Vee for takin' a dare. She'll try anything once. I expect she'd
been some curious all along to see what this new Mrs. Zosco looked
like. "What was it you said she used to be called, Torchy?" she demands.
"'Myrtle Mapes, the Girl With the Million Dollar Smile,' was the way she
was billed," says I. "But them press agents don't care what they say
half the time. And maybe she only smiles that way when the camera's set
for a close-up."
"I don't care," says Vee. "I think it would be great fun to go."
As for me, I didn't mind, one way or the other. I'd seen this Andres
Zosco party plenty of times, ridin' back and forth on the train. He'd
even offered to pick me up in his limousine and give me a lift once when
I was hikin' up from the station. And I must say he wasn't just my idea
of a plute movie producer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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