The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-02-17

50 you bought the hilltop?" The old man chuckled. Crazy young fooll Taking away the best secretary I ever had, in the bar gain Well, suppose I'll have to make the best of it get used to that hatchet-faced Miss Meade. Bless my soul, the way you young folks rush into things nowadays!"
 But he was pleased, neverthe- less.
 He was still chuckling to himself this morning as he came in through loans office.
 50 you're running off on Sat- urday," he said, for the 20th time. Think you can get all that work cleared up first? I doubt it. Not with your mind in the clouds the way it is Heaven help you, young lady, if you get my invest ments all muddled. I'll take it out of your husbands pocket, so help me, will"
 He laughed, continuing on into his own office. At the door he hesitated, and called back: I'm expecting a MT. Norton - Charley Norton - from Sacramento. Show him right in, will you?"
 Remembering what Bob had said, Joan pondered over MT. Nor ton. A close friend of MT. Hen dry's, yet this matter of the Bella Terra mine might be little shady. Since Bob's return, he had said little about it, and she had not asked, probably because they were so completely involved with their own personal plans.
 Norton arrived shortly after 10 o'clock. As he entered her office, she looked up in sudden surprise. She caught her breath sharply, remembering an old womans words: "A tall, dark man. And Death"
 Charles Norton was unquestion- ably the tallest, darkest man she had ever seen. He must have stood every bit of six feet four - a powerfully built giant of a man. He had a heavy mass of black hair, and his eyes were dark and piercing. AS he looked at you, they seemed to burn deep into your mind, as if they could read ones most secret thoughts.
 He was rough and rugged, and his tailored town clothes did not seem to sit well. Joan guessed that he fitted more easily into the careless, outdoor apparel of a mining camp. The curious thing, she thought, was that there was so little indication of age about him. He might have been a young man in his middle thirties, his skin coarsened and weather beaten from constant exposure to the out doors. Or he might have been man in his sixties, permanently hardened against the ravages of time and the elements. Consider ing that he was a lifelong friend of MT. Hendry's, it was more likely that he was in his sixties.
 Joan ushered him into MT. Hendry's office and the two men greeted each other heartily. She shut the door and returned to her desk. For a moment she stood there, thinking, against her will: "A talk, dark man. And Death" !"
 She forced herself, presently, to get to work. She was being ridic- ulous. Utterly ridiculous. It was the man himsslf, she decided, whose personality haunted her. He was so strong, so dark, so un- fathomable. She understood why Bob did not like him. She did not like him either. She smiled at that, realizing that if St. Peter himself came down and walked the earth, and Bob did not like him, she would have found an instant reason to substantiate that dislike.
 Ar hour or so later, MT. Hen dry's buzzer over her desk sound- ed. She picked up her notebook and went into his office.
 Norton got up graciously and offered her his chair
 Wed like to draw up an agree ment," MT. Hendry stated, "a sort of tentative option on the Bella Terra mine. Oh, this is MT. Nor ton, Miss Barrett There's a chair for your, Charley. Bring it over."
 To Joan, he remarked, jovially, You wouldn't think, would you, that Charley Norton and I pros pected together 40 years ago? No, sir. I tell you, there's nothing like living in the open mountains to keep a fellow young .. Now, about this option"
 He dictated for several minutes, interrupting himself occasionally to discuss some point more fully with Norton. Joan took the notes quietly