Evening star., 1920-11-21

in the Tombs to take a telegram from
a prosperous-looking elderly gentle
man in handouts. 1t was chiefly from
the memories of these two expert
ences that Barney constructed his
expectation Of what he was to find
when he should enter the private ofs
fees; and operatives rooms Of the
Babbing detective bureau. to report
for duty.
AS. for example--Rabbing. in, his
sanctum. at a makeup table. gum
ming a false mustaehe to his lip. his
dresser waiting to hand him wig
and a revolver. the room 4petur-
csqueiy hung with costumes and dis
guises, handouts and leg-irons. dodg-
ers that offered rewards for desperate
captures ,("dead or alive"o and sets
of burglars' tools and the weapons of
outlawry, the latter arranged deco
ratively on. the wall after the man
ner of collection OF trophies.
And Barney's better judgment ac-
cepted that picture from his inebriat-
ed young imagination without really
knowing that he had accepted it
until he was called from the outer
public office of the bureau into Bah
bing's private room, and found the
famous detective sitting at a table
desk, in a swivel chair, reading his
morning mail like the manager OF
any successful business at work in
the Office of any successful business
manager. "Sit down." Babbing said,
without looking at him. .
Barney sat down. against the wall.
He was conscious Of the stimulating
disappofntment-the interested sur
TO the alert romantic mind 50 to
speak.
The Office was as commo onplace and
syerage as Bahbing's conventional
business clothes. There was nothing
graphs Of office groups. There was
no furniture on the desk but tele-
phone Instruments. pens and ink, pa
per weights. and some shallow wire
kilograms and typewriter reports.
Ihefe was. in fact. nothing interest
Ing in the room but Babbing; and
Bahbing looked as uninteresting and
sHs HIS letters s ths hsa rSe Sssn opened for him
the pages fattened out, and the en-
velopes attached to them with paper
clips. His right hand reached q sheet
from wire basket at one side Of the
him. his left hand held 1t a moment
for his eyes to read It, and then car
ried it to one OF the baskets on the
other side of the desk and dropped 1t
right hand meanwhile. had, produced
the next letter. His eyes moved only
from sheet to sheet Did you tell
your mother about the case you were
on yesterday.
mo, sir"
The left. hand. passed q letter back
TO the tight The right hand dropped
IT in the waste basket. what did
you tell herr
II tor her Lbs, had J.. new job"
ct was scared to tell her that Shed |
a thought it was. the same as q police
Nv Weir" The left hand pressed q call |
button. Suppose she did7'',
shed "a thought was soin' to set |
Babbing turned his head to look
over his glasses at the boy. Like
Barney smiled: an apology for the
absurdity of mothers. "1es. sir -
A clerk opened the door. Babbing |
tossed a letter across the table to |
him. Find out who that fellow 10.
The clerk reported: Mr.. snider has
Just come in" Babbing continued |
with reading. The clerk went out !
ignored even by Barney-as the COM |,
,iiander's civilian secretary would be
ignored by a young Uniform.
so you told her whatT'
II tof her was waitin' in an office |
with a telegram yeste'day n'--they |,
wanted an office boy. 'n.-they Of
IeIeo me tweiSe ~eeh. All tooh
Babbins apparently forgot him in !
the perusal of a two.pAge letter |
closely typed. His eyes parted with it |
reluctantly: Did you tell any one |
else?"
"No.. sir"
~ see" Babbington said And Bar
ney was not aware that he had stood
test of character and passed an ex- i
smination in m, discretion s had ass.nt no
minded manner was almost as much
of a disguise as II It had been put on
with spirit.gum. He was waiting for
Babbing to finish with the letters and
Don't use the public ONCE here
after" Babbing said. Come in at
1855" He turned to phone; Tell
Snider I'll see him" He pressed a call
ing to speak the English language" he
asfmonished Barney. I'VE haven't cases
enough on the Bowery to keep you
working where people say toler
her was wsis9n'.- II. changed the
switches on an once phone. Bring
me my schedule" He said to Barney:
'tStay where you are. Ill have some
thing for you in a moment"
nooRS began to open. Unexpectedly.
on all sides. A stenographef ap-
pcafed with . notebook, sat down to
face Babbing across the desk and pre-
pared himself and his fountain pen to
take dictation. Archibald. the ONCE
manager grizsled old man with the
LEAN mouth of q prelate-brouGht .
list Of Babbing's appointments for the
day and discussed them with him. def.
erentialiy. An opArative who proved
to be .'Char' snider. from Chicago,
drifted in as II he were casually inter.
estsd. and shook hands with .The
CHIEF and drew a chair up at one side
Of the desk and made himself at home,
on his ankle. The days work had
begun.
To Barney, watching. It became as
bcwildering as the smoothly intricate
activity of complicated machine.
Babbing dictated letters in a leisurely
undertone that was continually inter-
mitted for telephone calls. the arrival
of opened kilograms. corroboratory
references to filed records. consulta-
tions with Archibald. directions to op-
eratives. and, above and around and
under II all. an interested reciprocal
ton Of talk with Snider. Hello? Yes.
Where are you? Have you got the
Can you get in to see met I'll relieve
you with Corcoran Three-thirty this
afternoon" Take this. William
r, SarTow, and 30 forth. Dear Sir.
YAurs Of the 18th. Regret that I'm
unable to meet. you. and so forth.
that date. Suggest the 27th." -
Wire that fellow to stop sending me
kilograms or he'll queer the whole
plant. Sign II Adam Hansen" -
Yes. Chal? Did he bite?"
And because Sntder was telling q
cd ctn Ant ANt-