New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-03-30
Is Madge Correct in Her Estimate OF
brakes Thought?


turned the leaves of his notebook and
jotted down figures and other SYM
bols upon the pad Of paper at his
side, l watched him with fascinated.
mystified eyes.
What he was doing ! hadn't the
slightest idea. OF course, ] had never
presumed to examine the mysterious
rice paper from my father which had
been in my care for 50 long. And
Mr.. Drake held his notebook in such
pOSition-Whether Intentionally or
not [ couldn't determine--that !
couldn't see, even if 7 had wished TO
do SO, the surface of the paper.
After he had made an apparently
endless calculation upon the pad Of
paper by his side he looked up alb
ruptly at me.
Take this, he said laConically.
There was no hint of courtesy--not
even a "please.'' It was as if he had
snapped command at some mental.
I stiffened in resentment at his rude
ness, then remembered that I wasn't
my own self in this expedition, that
l was under Lillian, q hum BILE mem
Der of the service in which this man
held a. high place. Then, too, 1 saw
from Mr.. brakes demeanor--to do
him justiCe-that he was so complete
ly absorbed in the work at hand I
was to him simply a human machine
sitting opposite him.
I made him no answer. simply lifted
my pencil and held it poised above
the paper.
Ten times ten dictated MI. Drake,
plus fifty times six, less tifty-nino;
take the square root, less one, divided
by four
"Ah, a Lightning CalcuIator:'
had made the calculation men
tally, and as he paused expectantly,
I wrote down the numbe 'seyen' and
waited for his next orders.
why didn't You put down those
numbers?' snapped Mr.. Drake.
II thought you simply wanted the
answer I replied.
what is your answer" There was
q tinge of disbelief in his voice that
stung me. 1 was beginning to under
stand the reason for my vague dis
like of and pique against Mr. Drake
Seven
"Ah, a lightning calculator" he an
swered, and I fancied that his voice
held a, sneer He made a rapid call
culation upon his own sheet, wrote
down a final number, and then looked
across at me.
You happened to get it this time"
he said, "but please don't do that sort
of thing again. Take down the fig
ures as I give them to you, and work
the calculation out on paper"
Very WELL" I answered meekly, al
though I 1onged to reach across the
table and box his ears.
And then, for O minutes he kept
me busy with computations that to
INV oH q Gil In
the multiplication table forward and
backward, but the results Of which
to him evidently were important, for
he invariably matched my answer with
one he had himself arrived at as Il
result of q similar computation, and
jotted the result down at different
points of his notebook, always re-
ferring back to the mysterious page
of rice paper so deity fastened upon
q page of the book.
No Real Confidence?
When mine host of the inn appeared
bearing the tiny CLAIMS which we're
the first course of our dinner, / saw
Mr. Drake quickly close his notebook
and slip it into his pocket, and at
almost the same instant turn the pad
of paper at his side downward so that
it presented a blank surface. With
out waiting for a hint from him I did
the same thing to the pad of paper at
my left, and We discussed our clans
as though there were no such things
in the world as mysterious papers and
ridiculous computations.
Mr.. Drake dropped his arbitrary
manner, and became once more the
polished, courteous man Of the world
] remembered from the dinner he had
eaten at our home. But his CONVEX
sation was of q distinctly different
favor from the highly interesting talk
| of world affairs with which he had
| dazzled Dicxy and me at that time.
! I had an unpleasant impression that
he was talking down to me as he
! would to a child.
AS we finished our CLAIMS he set his
! plate to one side, and without waiting
! for the landlord to remove it, pulled
| out his notebook and turned his pad
| of paper face upward again. I fol-
! lowed his example with outward
docility, but l was inwardly flami6 6
with indignation.
For there had flashed upon me tho