The Holly chieftain., 1924-04-17

me If he lets anything slip Have yoa
seen him since rou got homer
NO." Henry said blankly. Il thought
l would come straight to you first"
Glad you did," said John, getting
up by way Of ending the audience.
But you had better 60 over and hook
, up with him as soon as you can. We
are depending on you from now on,
you know" This was genlally, almost
humorously. said. but 1t ratified Henry
worse than ever.
Il don't think you ought to rely ON
me-" he began, miserably.
But John, with laugh and thump
on the back. cut him short. Don't
you worry about It," he said. did
you have good trip7 How's Violet
looking? She wired me from New
York that she was feeling whole lot
better. She's coming home FridaS, !
believe"
Evidently she did. for she tele-
phoned Henry Friday night, apparent
ly for the mere couslnly purpose of
saying Hello" and Of telling him she
meant to fulfill tomorrow a promise
she had made Margaret to look over
his fiat and see what condition It was
in, after having stood housekeeperless
SO long.
The meeting went Off with an ap.
peaFance Of unanimity and goodwill
which Henry found almost farcical in
the light Of the bitter antagonisms he
knew were bristling about the board.
Prosperity of course is wonderful
unguent, and Joe's report was 80 elo-
quent Of the prospect of 1t that the
development Of any friction upon the
surface Of things would have been Inn
possible. Nothing short Of a volcanic
eruption could have broken through
and this didn't happen.
Joe was able to report the organiza.
tion of forty-two subsidiary companies.
with normal capacity of four thou
sand tons Of straw each, which meant
that nearly ten per cent of the entire
straw crop of the tiax-growing country
would be processed next year under
their patents. 1t wasn't possible, Of
course, to compute the profit In ad-
vance, but with market conditions az
they were today, 1t would be very
large indeed
The formal routine of winding up
the business of the meeting was clicked
off under Jennie's practiced hand as
rapidly as possible. AS soon as the
adjournment was taken, John with
Gregory and Frank Crawford went
away. There was no disposition on
their part to linger for an informal
discussion Of affairs, or for the bottle
of ancient Scotch which Joe offered to
produce. They would be having a
confab of their own, Henry supposed.
and was glad they hadn't invited him
to take part in 1t. There was momen-
tarily thoughtful look in Joe's eye
as he watched their broad top-coated
backs recedIng down the corridor.
He produced his bottle. Jennie,
though invited, declined to join them
over 1t. She wanted to get her min
utes in shape, she said. Henry e1-
claimed in frank astonishment at the
enormous size of the drink Joe poured
for himself-an ordinary tumbler It
was, and he had filed 1t more than
two-thirds full. He got up as soon as
Henry had done slipping his drink, say.
Ing "If you're going home I'll drive
you up"
1t occurred to Henry that Violet had
spoken of running In for few min
utes after lunch, but 1t was now well
after four. Assuming that she'd car
ried out her intention at all, which was
not any too likely. she'd almost GER
tainly have gone by now. He'd have
to chance 1t.
Oddly enough, after the first horri-
fed moment when he saw the two
coming face to face. he was enormous
ly relieved that 1t had happened. Joe
happened to be standing where Violet
couldn't see him as she came down
the corridor to the sitting room, and
she called gayly to Henry that she
had him in her power now. She could
blackmall him with Margaret to any
tune she liked, after this look about
the fiat.
She flushed like a schoolgirl at the
sight of Joe, threw him rather cav
alier nod Of greeting, and then. seem
ing to change her mind about 1t. went
deliberately up to him and held out
her hand.
II wonder II you ever got message
from me" she said. composedly enough
but without trying to make the words
sound completely casual. II left one
with your butler one day last winter
when you were hurt. hope you're
quite all right again. I've known, the
last two or three months, how miser.
able 1t Is to be ILL.,"
Joe remarked, without answering
her question, that he'd heard she
hadn't been well, but that. apparent
ly, her trip had done her good.
II don't know whether 1t was going
away or coming back that did It," she
| Raid 20 lightly and swiftly that Henry