By JENNETTE LEE
THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
UNCLE BIJAH'S GHOST
THE OTHER SUSAN
THE CHINESE COAT
THE RAIN-COAT GIRL
THE AIRMAN AND THE TRAMP
THE GREEN JACKET
UNFINISHED PORTRAITS
THE SYMPHONY PLAY
AUNT JANE
THE WOMAN IN THE ALCOVE
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE





THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
JENNETTE LEE
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1922


HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
BY EXCHANGE
MAY 22 1924
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S Song
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, 1929
CRIDN


То
Gerald Stanley Lee








THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
CHAPTER ONE
HE woman sitting with her knitting
in her hands, her eyes following the
stitches with quiet glance, was as un-
like his idea of a successful detective as could
be found. . . . But he had been told she
could produce the goods—there would be no
notoriety-no bringing a case into court if
... He dismissed it with a little turn. He
cleared his throat.
The woman did not look up. She finished
a row of stitches and drew out her needle.
“You wished to consult me?" she said. Her
grey eyes did not leave the knitting.
"If you are not too busy." His glance
indicated the meshes of yellow wool in her
hands. She smiled and inserted the needle
and her finger caught up the thread of wool
with swift touch.
“It will not interfere, I think-unless you
object?"
[3]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
She raised her eyes for an instant and
John Geary discovered suddenly that this
woman he was trying to study and size up as
he would an employee, was disconcertingly
simple.
He stirred a little and placed his hat on
the table. The surface was of shining ma-
hogany and across one-half its length lay a
brown blotter. At the edge of the blotter
stood a vase of flowers—deep yellow with
dark centres.
His glance took them in and he wondered
a little vaguely what kind of flowers they
were. There were none like them in his own
garden, he knew. They seemed to harmonize
with the room and with the woman across
the table. He studied her a minute as she sat
absorbed in her flying stitches.
A lady, from the top of her hair to the soles
of her feet, he decided. If he had passed her
on the street he might not have glanced a sec-
ond time, but here in her own office, the sun-
shine through the big window falling on her
and lighting up her shining hair and grey
dress and the meshes of wool, she made a
pleasing picture. . . . Not exactly the new
-
[ 4 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
type of woman, but quite capable of manag-
ing her own affairs—perhaps even capable
of-
He broke off and picked up an ivory
paper-cutter from the blotter and bent its
flexible blade.
"Don't tell me unless you really want to,”
she said. “People often change their minds.”
She was counting her stitches. He watched
the counting a little grudgingly.
"I want to tell you. It is what I came for."
He paused. “I thought you might like to
take notes. Corbin did, and the others—"
The excuse halted lamely.
"Yes, I know.” She was smiling. “Did
they find your man for you?"
"I should not be here if they had,” stiffly.
“Of course not.” Her tone ignored the
stiffness. She glanced imperceptibly at the
watch on her wrist.
He straightened himself. “You ask if
they found my man. ... I did not say it
was a man.”
"It always is a man, isn't it-unless it's a
woman? That is the one certainty we start
out with.”
[5]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Poe used a gorilla in 'The Rue Morgue,'”
he said thoughtfully.
She glanced up. “You are interested then
in detective work?”!
“Theoretically. . . . But theory didn't
help much when it came to a case in my own
office. I didn't make much headway." He
smiled ruefully.
“You called in Corbin's ?”
He nodded. “Corbin's and then Hemen-
way's.”
“And they report~?"
“They're drawing out the case and draw-
ing their pay. That's all that's been drawn
so far. If you take the case I shall dismiss
them of course.” His tone was generous.
She knit on a few stitches. “I can not take
it-until I know what it is.”
"No." He considered a minute. “It is
money," he said at last. He hesitated and
seemed to overcome a reluctance to speak
before he gave her the details of a robbery
that had occurred in his private office six
weeks before.
When he began he spoke with detached
clearness. He ceased to grip the ivory paper-
[6]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
cutter and his glance followed her fingers as
if the scene he recalled were passing before
his eyes along the even row of stitches. But
underneath his quiet assurance was another
quality that Millicent Newberry's sensitive
mind caught up and her flying fingers knit
into the meshes of yellow wool passing
through them—not fear exactly, but some
quality that shrank from dealing harshly
with the culprit-if he should be caught
Briefly stated, a sum of money had disap-
peared one morning from his private office.
It was lying on the desk when he went out.
On his return an hour later it was gone. All
the employees in the outer office had access
to the inner room, and as it happened each
of them had occasion to go into the room
during his absence. This fact he had brought
out by discreet questioning as soon as he dis-
covered the loss. There was not one of them
he would not trust. The detectives he had
called in had thus far discovered nothing.
All the employees were being carefully
watched.
“There's some mystery about that room,”
he summed up. “It's as if the money went
[7]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
up through the ceiling or down through the
floor.” She seemed to consider it a minute.
“There is no other door then except the
one to the outer office?”
“One-but I carry the key.” He touched
his pocket. “It never leaves me and no one
else uses that door.
“So you do not suspect anyone?” Her eyes
were on her work. She was smoothing it
thoughtfully on her knee.
“If anyone in my office did it I shall lose
faith in my judgment.”
“But no one outside had access to the
room?”
"No-I questioned them carefully. No
one had been in during my absence.” He
waited again awkwardly. It seemed the ap-
propriate moment for her to take over the
case and leave him free to return to his
office. It was a busy day for him.
But she was knitting with quiet absorp-
tion, almost as if she had forgotten his pres-
ence. He relaxed subtly and there stole over
him a comfortable sense that things would
straighten out somehow. . . . It was very
quiet and pleasant here in Miss Newberry's
[8]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
office-quite unlike her other office, down-
town, where he had sought her at first—with
its typewriters clacking and messenger-boys
passing in and out and all the hurly-burly of
business. ... He suspected there was not
even a typewriter here. He glanced about
him a file-case across the room, the table
and two chairs—and the woman with her
knitting in her hands.
“I wish I had known of you sooner,” he
said slowly. "I should have called you in. I
only heard of you recently—the other day,
in fact.”
“Corbin's Agency does good work.” It
was non-committal and a little absent.
“Yes—” His fingers bent the paper-
cutter a trifle. “They are keen enough,” he
said. “Too keen, perhaps. They have come
on an awkward fact.” He was a little star-
tled at his words. He had not intended to
tell her. It seemed to come without his
volition.
The knitting went on with even touch. “So
you know ?"
"Of course not!” brusquely. "If I did I
should not be here.” He dropped the knife
[9]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
with an impatient movement. “I only know,
the one they are gathering the net around
cannot possibly be guilty. ..."He stopped.
“Then why not let them go on?”
“They could ruin a reputation. They will
prove nothing."
"I see.”
He nodded. “I have heard you have dis-
cretion. Can you follow a clue and keep still
about it ... Drop it—if necessary?” His
eyes shot a keen glance at her. Her own
were on the stitches.
"I do not shield criminals,” she said
quietly.
“No-no. I do not ask you to. I only want
you to take the case” To his surprise he
seemed to be almost pleading for it.
“I will think it over.” He felt a vague
withdrawal in the words and leaned for-
ward-
“If there is anything I can offer—any-
thing more I can say—anything you would
like to know—” He stopped.
“No, you have told me quite enough.”
She spread out the knitted wool and looked
at it thoughtfully.
[10]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
He sat an awkward moment. “I am sorry
the case does not appeal to you—"
“It does appeal to me-immensely."
“Then—
"It happens to be a busy time for me. It
would be more work than I can afford just
now to get at the facts.” She had dropped
her work and her hands were folded on it in
her lap. His eyes rested on them a minute.
He noted the firmness and strength of the
tapering fingers.
"I shall hope you will reconsider your
decision,” he said courteously. “I think you
would not be sorry if you took it. I do not
mean just money, but,” He broke off. “I
should like to send you a copy of what I have
told you, to think over.”
"It is not necessary. I have it here.” Her
fingers touched the wool.
He leaned forward. She lifted it and he
saw a little zig-zag pattern in the even
stitches.
He stared.
Her finger touched it. “That is your case,”
she said.
"Do you mean to say-everything I have
[11]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
told you is knit in there?” He reached and
touched it gingerly.
“Everything you have told me—and one
thing you have not told me.”
He dropped the mesh. “What do you
mean?”
.."Just that." There was a minute's silence.
He got up and walked to the window and
stood with his back to the room.
"You are right,” he said after a minute,
over his shoulder. "I am afraid the boy is
guilty. I want him to have his chance"
“A chance to pay back the money?” She
raised her eyes.
"A chance to tell me he took it.” He
wheeled about and came to her side. “To
tell me knowing that I will not prosecute
him—and no one else will be told of his-
mistake.”
She waited a minute.
"Why are you not letting the matter drop
-if you are not going to prosecute?” The
question was quiet. But he seemed to feel a
probe behind the quiet words.
He drew a handkerchief from his pocket
and wiped his forehead. He returned it to
[ 12 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
his pocket, thrusting it down hard. Some-
thing in the eyes of the woman regarding
him seemed to bring him to a decision.
"I had not intended to tell you—or any-
one,” he said at last. “But it may help you if
you understand what is behind it.” He drew
out the handkerchief again and wiped his
forehead. ... The woman did not look up.
Her fingers were knitting and he watched
them half-fascinated. . . . It did not seem
strange to be standing so long without speak-
ing. He had a grateful sense as he looked
down on her that she knew or half-guessed
beforehand. ... She would not be shocked
when he spoke. He had known many women
well, but he had never felt the surety this
woman's presence gave him. It was some-
thing apart from sex.
“I did the same thing when I was twenty-
five,” he said with a slow movement of his
hand. “I took a sum of money. I speculated
with it and returned it. That money was the
basis of my present fortune. ... I returned
the money-but I could not rid myself of the
sense of guilt. . . . I am the inferior of men
with whom I associate every day. I see my-
[13]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
self as they would see me—if they knew...."
He stared at something hateful.
He drew a long breath.
“I have always felt—that if there had been
someone I could have gone to—told the
whole story it would have been different. It
is the secrecy and loneliness that are hardest
to bear. ..." She did not speak and he was
not looking at her. He turned and walked to
the window and came back.
"I don't suppose you can guess the relief
-to speak after all these years. ..."
“Yes I can guess.” Her quiet voice
scarcely seemed to break the flow of thought.
"I never dared tell—even my wife.
...
I have lived with it, slept with it, carried it
every day of my life. I could tell no one.”
The office was very quiet.
"I do not know why I am telling you....
My God—the relief of it!" His voice was
low. He did not speak again.
Millicent Newberry knit a row and then
another. She opened a drawer in the table
and slid the knitting into it and closed the
drawer.
"You need one of these new expert ad-
[ 14 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
it in the drawer. “Remember I do not guar-
antee success. If the money was taken by
anyone in the office I think I can promise to
discover who it is and give the man his
chance. If it was someone outside the
office ”
“I tell you that is impossible.”
"Oh-very well. . . . Then I shall find
your man for you.”
“There are women in my office—as well
as men,” he reminded her again.
"Or the woman,” she assented cheerfully.
He moved to the door. Her eyes followed
him.
"By the way—how did you happen to hear
of me?"
“A man by the name of Sargent spoke
of you—"
“Alan Sargent?”
He nodded. He was watching her keenly.
He had fancied from something in Sargent's
manner when he spoke of her that he might
be in love with this Millicent Newberry, but
there was no answering light in her face.
"I carried a case for his father once
Emory Sargent.”
[ 18 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
on
"I thought, from the way he spoke, that
you worked for him personally.”
"It was his father's case. I saw the son
often in connection with it. He is a fine
man."
John Geary smiled. “I think he said the
same of you. He did not exactly call you a
good fellow, but he gave me every reason to
think I could trust. . . I wish I had spoken
frankly at first,”
"It does not matter. We understand each
other now. I am glad to take the case. You
did not hear of me through anyone except
Alan Sargent?”
“The assistant bookkeeper, Tolles, spoke
of you yesterday in some connection—I for-
get what. . . . Oh, and I nearly forgot—"
He brought out a typewritten paper and
handed it to her.
"Here is a list of the employees and a few
general facts about them. I suppose you
I want them. The other agencies did. And
I have added what they have found so far.”
"Thank you.” She took it from him.
But she did not glance at the paper when
he was gone. She laid it on the table and
[19]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
took out her knitting and regarded it very
thoughtfully. She studied the curious pat-
tern a minute. Then she made several notes
on a pad lying on the table. And after an-
other glance at the yellow stitches she filed
the notes and the paper he had given her in
a case across the room.
She would make first-hand acquaintance
with the owners of the names before she read
the paper. She did not want to blur her first
impressions by comments of the Corbin
Agency—or even of John Geary himself.
[ 20 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Well?” She was smiling.
"A case a man can't handle—not quite so
well as a woman,” he said slowly. “My men
are too quick—or too clumsy or something.
... And I'm afraid he'll call it off.”
“He—?"
“Geary-John Geary-Winter Street.
Know him?"
"I have seen him-yes.”
"Queer cuss. Lost some money the other
day—twenty-five thousand dollars. Called
us in. Clear case. Assistant bookkeeper-
fellow named Tolles. My men got on his
trail double quick. He'd been buying oil-
innocent stuff like oil! Made his first pay-
ment the day after the haul.”
Milly regarded him quietly. “You don't
need me, then.”
He paused awkwardly. “Well—fact is,
Geary don't half like the idea that Tolles
was in on the job. Swears the fellow could
have saved what he paid down on the deal,
from his salary–frugal—all the model-em-
ployee rot! Leaves us high and dry, you see!
We can't get the goods on him. Geary won't
let us lay traps. His model-employee scares
[ 22 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
him! I talked with him yesterday morning
and I saw that for two cents he'd call the
whole thing off.”
“Well—what harm? ... There wouldn't
be much more money in it anyway."
He looked at her a minute.
“Nasty cut, Milly! And you know it! It's
not the money. ... I'm not after money
always!”
"No—you are right. That was nasty,
Tom. But—you're such a bloodhound.
"Business!” said Tom briefly.
“What do you want me to do?” She was
looking at him thoughtfully. Tom was very
untidy! He needed someone to remind him
to keep his clothes brushed.
He glanced at the trim figure in its grey
dress.
“Come in on the case, Milly. I'll tell
Geary I'm putting in a new hand. Your real
job will be to placate Geary—make him see
light.”
"Oh~!"
He nodded condescendingly. “You can
do it all right. . . . We've got the goods,
you see. Just a casual temptation in the way
[ 23 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
of this Tolles, and the thing is done. Get
Geary's permission for that,”
“Why don't you do it without permis-
sion?” Her quiet eye was on him.
He reddened. “Well-fact is, I was go-
ing to, but he's practically called the case off.
Sent word this morning saying to wait till
we heard from him-might be better to let
the matter rest. Scared stiff!”
"You want me to save the case for you?”
“Yep!” He grinned. “Might just as well
have told you first go!"
“Just as well,” she assented. “Besides he
has just been in to save it himself.”
“Geary!" The tilted chair came to the
floor with a thump.
"Damn!” he said.
Her quiet smile was absent-minded.
“You're getting to be a menace to busi-
ness, Milly—if everybody comes running to
you the minute they get scared!”
“Why do you mind it so much, Tom—this
case?”
“Well—” he reflected. “It's that fellow
Tolles, I guess. He's such a pious noodle
saving his money and buying oil-stock.”
[ 24 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Men do—sometimes.”
He shook his head. "Not the next day
after. I've got a bet up with myself on Tolles.
I'd risk five hundred on him easy.” She
looked at him reflectively.
“I think I'll take you up on that, Tom.”
“What!"
"I'm not so sure it was Tolles.”
“What do you know about it?”
“Nothing-except what you'd call a
hunch.”
“Humph!” responded Corbin.
"Same thing,' said Milly. “Does Tolles
know the money was taken?”
He stared—then he grinned.
“May have suspected it while he was put-
ting it in his pocket. Seems to have for-
gotten about it since.”
She smiled.
“Does he suspect the office is being
watched ?”
His face grew thoughtful.
“That's what I can't make out-can't
quite make out. He's shrewd. ... I'd stake
my life he took it. . . . I could have found
[ 25 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
as
out easy, too—if Geary hadn't got cold
feet!” He seemed to strain at a leash.
“Good dog!” laughed Milly.
He reddened a little and got up.
“There is such a thing as professional
pride,” he remarked. “And—”
“Yes?”
“And duty to the state,” he finished with
a stern glance at her.
"Oh!” Milly laughed. Then her face was
thoughtful. “It is not always easy to decide
about one's duty to the state, is it, Tom-
whether it is a duty to save a good citizen-
or catch a criminal.”
“You have to do both,” said Tom senten-
tiously. “Catch the criminal to protect the
good citizen.”
"Not when they are both the same man."
“Rot!” He looked at her severely.
"You're a disgrace to the profession,
Milly! It's all right, dabbling in juvenile
cases and effeminacy. But this was delib-
erate theft. He deserves all that's coming
to him. If you and Geary between you let
him slip, you'll be accessories after the
crime!"
[ 26 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Awful thought!” said Milly. She re-
garded him a minute. “You never did any-
thing you were ashamed of, did you, Tom?”
His face reddened. She continued to gaze
at him impersonally and the color mounted.
“What's the idea?” he asked.
"Nothing-only I'm glad you had a
chance to make good.”
“How do you know I did-make good?”
“Of course you did. . . . But you couldn't
have—if they had clapped you in jail."
"It—" He bit his lip. “I have never been
guilty of a legal offense,” he said stiffly.
“That's very nice of you, Tom.”
The door slammed behind Tom Corbin.
His footsteps sounded down the empty hall.
After a minute the door opened again
quickly. Tom's head looked in.
“Any material we have you're welcome to,
you know, Milly.”
“Thank you, Tom. . . . I'll let you know
if Tolles is guilty.”
“Oh, Tolles is guilty all right!” said Tom
cheerfully. “Bet you the five hundred!" He
stopped—“I'll bet you five hundred against
another chance for-me.”
[ 27 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Her face flushed. His own had grown
intent.
“You will lose your five hundred, you
know."
"Don't you be too sure about that! So
long!”
And again his retreating steps sounded
down the silent hall."
[ 28 ]


CHAPTER THREE
SHE took up the receiver and called her
downtown office. Over the wire she heard
its busy hum as a voice responded.
"Is that you, Teddy? ... Yes I want
you to come up here, please. . . . I know-
I expected to come down. But I have a case
I want to think over. . . . Come up right
away, please.”
She hung up with a smile. Teddy's blur-
ring spluttering protest was cut off. She
stood a minute looking down from the high
window at the diminutive figures hurrying
in the street below.. . . It sometimes helped
her see a case, focus it-looking down on the
hurrying crowd like this. People ceased to
be individuals—they were hardly human be-
ings. She saw their long lines streaming
north and streaming south, caught here and
there in some whirlpool or eddy, and then
streaming on again—a restless, never-ceas-
[ 29 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
ing flood of humanity ... and the indi-
vidual who hurried his hot way among them
was bound on another errand than his own-
an errand unseen, unguessed, that the flow-
ing stream bore on its tide.
She watched the current flow, and the
“case” in John Geary's office flowed with it
-men and women and money—and the
eager, restless urge that sent them spinning
on its errand. . . . Money—to get it or keep
it or spend it in the ceaseless electric play of
life. . . . John Geary's office seemed to float
before her in clear space—a clairvoyant scene
-two women and two men at the desks in
the outer office—and the inner room beyond
vacant and silent ... and in plain sight
there on the desk a pile of bills—twenty-five
thousand dollars in clean crisp bills—not
even a paper-weight to hold them secure.
... John Geary was not a good man of
business—that was certain—to leave money
lying about like that ...
He could make money. But something of
the poet in his face and look scorned it. ...
He was a poet of golden dollars. He reached
out and seized his pile of gold and put it
[ 30 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
where it would breed more. But he could
not stand guard over it. : .. The poet had
covered the tracks of the thief. The money
had flowed back again into John Geary's
hands. He was a man of wealth and import-
ance. It was easy to gauge his importance-
even if his name were unfamiliar to her. ...
The office faded from her view and the
street below hummed on its endless traffic of
money-getting. She crossed to the table and
took up her knitting and looked at it. She
caught the trailing wool on her finger and
inserted the needle. ...
She was still knitting when Teddy's
breathless knock came on the door. It opened
quickly.
She looked up and smiled.
He nodded curtly and closed the door.
“I'm about fed up!"
“What is it, Teddy? Sit down.”
“I've got to hurry back. Ten people wait-
ing when I left-office humming."
“The girls can take care of them!”
He considered it a minute. "Maybe-all
but old Simons. He's on the war-path-out
to make trouble.”
[ 31 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“He signed the paper when I took on his
case.”
“That's all right-he didn't suspect then
it was his own partner. Wounded feelings,
he says. He's after Sanderson's scalp.”
"He can't have it—Sanderson needs it
more than he does.”
Teddy McClean nodded. “You better tell
him so. He's going to bring suit, he says.”
"But we hold all the evidence.” Her tone
dismissed it.
Teddy grinned. “Yep! That's what makes
him mad!”
Milly reached to the receiver. She gave
a number and waited. Teddy's eye scanned
her approvingly.
“Miss Newberry speaking-yes. If Mr.
Simons is still there, ask him to be kind
enough to come up here at three o'clock on
Tuesday. . . . Three o'clock-yes... Yes.
Tell him I am called away—but I can see
him on Tuesday at three.” She hung up.
“That's all right. He will have time to
think it over. There won't be any trouble.
He has sense.”
Teddy's face cleared. Under its shock of
[ 32 1


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
ruffled hair it regarded her a reflective min-
ute. He looked about him and sighed.
"Do you know, I'd like an uptown office
myself—just hold a few of 'em off—at arm's
length! I could do some business then.” He
rumpled his shock of hair.
"You're better placed where you are. I
can't spare you.” She met his cautious smile.
His face was relaxing subtly.
“Well, what is it you want?” he sighed.
"Just for you to take charge in the office
the next few days. I want to be free for a
case that has come up. It interests me.”
“Out of town?”
"No."
His face lighted.
“But you are not to call on me,” she said
quickly. "I want a free mind.”
“That's as may be,” he returned calmly.
“You let me have the number. I can work
all right if I have you on the end of the wire.
Otherwise, nothing doing!" His look was
firm.
She smiled and wrote a name and a num-
ber. “Remember you're not to use it except
in emergency."
[ 33 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Yep!” He tucked it into his pocket-
just over his heart and touched it lightly.
“I like to know it's there. ... You don't
want to talk over this new case with me? It's
good training for me and I might suggest
something quite useful.” His tone was hope-
ful.
Milly laughed out. “Go back to the office.
They need you there."
“That's right too!” he responded cheer-
fully. “Well, so long!” He got up and stood
a minute. The look in his face changed sub-
tly. He turned away.
Milly had a sudden vision of a great cathe-
dral and a young acolyte ascending the altar
steps, his candle borne with careful hand.
"Teddy!” she called. He turned back.
“Yes?"
“It's nothing-only you know it's a com-
fort to leave things to you. I've never had
anyone I could trust before not to be a
fool!” She held out her hand.
He took it quietly. “That's all right, Miss
Newberry. I'd go through hell for you, you
know. That's what it is some days, pretty
[ 34 ]


CHAPTER FOUR
THE secretary conducted the new em-
ployee to the ante-room and showed her
where to hang her hat and coat. If she were
jealous of the woman who had been called in
by John Geary for special work there was
no hint of it in her manner.
“This locker is free,” she said. She opened
the compartment. “You can leave your bag
and purse here and take the key. Not that
there is any need of locking things up. But
it is a convenience sometimes.” She smoothed
a strand of hair under its invisible net. “It is
always just, as well to be careful, I think,
don't you?"
"Quite!” said Milly.
The secretary nodded. “Everybody here
can be trusted-except Mr. Geary.” She
smiled in a businesslike way at her joke.
"He is always leaving things round and for-
getting where he put them. We all try to
[ 36 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
n26
look out for him. But sometimes things are
lost—for days! ... Now if you are ready
I will show you the Blake and Goodale ac-
count.”
Milly followed her into the main office.
It was a large pleasant room with six win-
dows. Two doors led from it-one to the
ante-room and from that to the corridor, the
other to an inner office. This door stood
slightly ajar.
The secretary glanced toward it.
“Mr. Geary has not come in yet. He asked
me to have this table ready for you and to
see that you have any information you want."
"Thank you.” Milly glanced at the papers.
"I think I will look these over first.” She
seated herself at the table.
The secretary returned to her work. She
was a tall thin woman with light hair and a
clear complexion. Milly noted that as she
opened the letters on her desk her fingers
holding the paper-cutter trembled slightly.
... She did not look like a nervous woman,
and except for the trembling of her hands
she had an air of quiet competence. When
[ 37 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
she scanned the open letters and made notes
on the margins her face was devoid of ex-
pression.
The other two desks were occupied by
men. One an elderly man with pallid skin
and grey hair, the other younger with dark
hair and a pleasant smile. He looked up as
Milly came in. Between the two men stood
a card catalogue that they referred to from
time to time. The only other occupant of
the room was a young woman seated before
a typewriter of the noiseless variety. Her
fingers played over the keyboard with flying
absent touch. She was simply dressed and
plain looking, and her absorption in her
machine had an almost poetic quality. There
was none of the flourishy grace and conscious
efficiency that Milly had learned to associate
with the marry-quick type of stenographer.
Evidently John Geary had an excellent
staff.
The office conveyed to her a sense of co-
ordinated efficiency—though no business de-
vices for this were in evidence. No cheery
mottoes on the wall—“Smile and think it
· over” or “Our time is money. How about
[ 38 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
yours?”—none of the employees had the air
of springing attentness that is supposed to
indicate devotion to business. But the spirit
of cooperation in the room was almost like a
presence. A little later when John Geary
came in she recognized the source of this
spirit.
He did not beam on them or wish them
a cordial good morning. He scarcely seemed
to notice they were there as he passed
quietly to the inner room. But Milly felt
a sudden change, a quickening in the atmos-
phere that made her glance again at John
Geary's retiring back. His shoulders were
a little bent, she thought. He looked almost
like an old man this morning. Yet his com-
ing in the room was electric. The faces held
a new light.
The bell from his office sounded and the
secretary gathered up a handful of letters.
As she passed the assistant bookkeeper she
gave an almost imperceptible glance. The
assistant shook his head.
Then Milly could have fancied his glance
strayed to her for a minute. But when she
looked up he was absorbed in his card cata-
[ 39 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
logue. The secretary passed into the inner
office and the door closed.
Milly waited a minute before she went
over to the assistant bookkeeper with a sheaf
of papers.
“If you have time to spare?” She held
out the papers.
“All the time there is,” he responded
pleasantly.
“These are to be filed by themselves.” She
laid them on his desk.
He glanced through them. “This is Miss
Somers' department,” he said. “She is in
there now with the Old Man. She will show
you when she comes out. It is the Blake
and Goodale account!”
“Yes—for an experiment. I do not fancy
Mr. Geary will want to adopt a new system.
Everything seems to run smoothly. What
system does the office use?”
He laughed genially. "I guess you'd call
it the John Geary system. I found it work-
ing when I came nine years ago. And Part-
ridge who was running it then had been at it
-how many years, Partridge?”
[ 40 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
The old bookkeeper came around the case.
He looked at her with mild eyes.
Tolles turned to Milly. “I haven't your
name,” he said.
“Brigham,” she replied. “Alice Brigham.”
“Miss Brigham-Mr. Partridge. ... I
was telling her you had been here—how
many years was it, before I came?”.
"Fourteen,” said Partridge, gently.
“That's it-pretty old system, you see!”
“And a very good one evidently.” She
was scanning the card catalogue. “I am
going to ask you to explain it to me more
fully when I get my notes in hand.”
"Pleased to,” said the old man. “Mr.
Geary said we were to give you all the help
we can.” His tone was courteous and even,
but a little tired, she thought-as if he had
been keeping books a long time.
“Mr. Geary seems open-minded to new
ideas,” she remarked.
“Best man in the world,” responded Part-
ridge.
She returned to her table. She knew that
the older bookkeeper had no suspicion of her
real business there, and that Tolles had.
nek
[ 41 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Throughout the morning she felt his glance
following her. But when she looked up it
was always fixed diligently on his work.
At luncheon time to her surprise he asked
her if she had any particular place in view,
and invited her to join him. They would go
to a little restaurant round the corner.
[ 42 ]


CHAPTER FIVE
“We often come here,” he said as they
settled down in their places. “Dutch treat."
“It looks clean,” said Milly. She glanced
down the long room with its shining tables.
"It's quick service. You always get waited
on right off.” He nodded in a friendly way
to the waiter who came for their order, and
picked up the menu. Milly duplicated his
order, then she took her knitting from her
bag and slipped the wool over her finger.
Tolles glanced across. “You don't waste
much time!”
"No. It all counts up.”
The table he had chosen was in an alcove
a little separated from the rest of the room.
All the tables were in sight from where they
sat, but anything they might say would not
be overheard.
"I like this table,” he said. “I always take
[ 43 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
it when I can get it. ... Besides, I wanted ..
to talk to you."
“Yes?"
He nodded. “You are Millicent New-
berry,”
She made no reply. Her fingers knit to
the end of the row. Then she looked up.
He smiled frankly. “I'm no Sherlock ...
only I knew-beforehand.”
“Mr. Geary?”
"No. He said an “expert.'” His smile
laughed out. “That was enough. I knew
only one thing would make John Geary
bring a young woman expert into the busi-
ness.”
“One thing?"
He nodded. “The stolen money."
She returned his look. “So you know?"
“We all know—” He hesitated. “We
knew—from the first—all except Partridge.”
“And why not Partridge?"
“Well-he just didn't happen to see the
money on the desk that day. It must have
been there when he went in, but he did not
see it. . . . So the rest of us decided to say
nothing. He's older than he was once. It
[ 44 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
might make him feel he was losing his grip
not to notice a big sum like that right before
his eyes.”
“But you saw it?”
"All of us saw it, I tell you, except Part-
ridge." His candid look met hers. “It's sure
to be cleared up, you know.”
"You think so ?”
"Sure to! You can't lose money, like that,
down a crack in the floor—without finding it
again. I'd bet you five hundred on it.” Tom
Corbin's five hundred flashed into her mind
and out as her eyes met the quiet ones across
the table.
“When did you know the money was
gone?”
'“When Geary came back. He went to his
room same as usual—that quiet way he has.
Then in a minute he came out looking wor-
ried. He was quiet enough about it and I
might not have suspected anything. But
somehow that twenty-five thousand stuck in
my mind.”
“You knew it was twenty-five thousand
exactly, did you?” She counted her stitches.
He smiled.
[ 45 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Looks like close acquaintance, you think?
... Well, I knew because I drew out the
money for him that morning myself. I
thought when I did it that it was pleasant to
sign a cheque and hold out your hand for
money like that. ... You see it represented
more than ten times all I have been able to
save in ten years. The Old Man could do it a
dozen times running—without missing it. I
thought of that when I saw it lying there on
the desk—”
“Just when was it-you saw it?”
"About half an hour after Mr. Geary left
I went in and it was lying there in plain
sight. I thought then it was a pretty careless
thing to do. I was going to put it away in a
drawer. Then—something made it slip my
mind and I didn't do it. ... The next I
thought about it, Mr. Geary was standing by
me and asking if I had left some figures he
found there on his desk. He might have
known they were not mine. He went on to
Partridge and Partridge looked at them and
said yes, he had left them. It popped into
my head then that the money was gone."
[ 46 ]


CHAPTER SIX
SHE glanced about the restaurant. Clerks
and shop girls and business men were eating
in swift haste, laughing and talking, lighting
. cigarettes as they got up to go. The table in
the alcove was out of ear-shot.
"It seems to me a legitimate question to
ask—whether the money was there when you
came out."
“Funny—all the same,” responded Tolles.
He shifted his position a little. “Unless you
mean to imply that I took it.” He looked
at her.
“I am not implying anything-I am try-
ing to find out. You did not say it was there
when you came away."
He flushed.
“I did not look at the desk when I left-
if you want to be punctilious. To the best
of my belief it was there."
[ 48 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Then how do you explain it, unless Part-
ridge took it?”
“I don't explain it. ... Miss Somers has
a theory.” He picked up his fork. “She
thinks Mr. Geary put it somewhere without
knowing he'd done it. Then when he looked
for it, of course it wasn't there.”
Milly's glance held it. “Miss Somers was
in the room and saw the money?"
"I told you we were all in—and that we
all saw it except Partridge.”
"And he says he did not see it?”
“He has not mentioned it one way or the
other. . . . If he had seen it he would have
been more worried than the rest of us. He's
older—and fussier. It's a good thing he
doesn't know. I hope he won't find out." He
looked at her keenly.
“You had no reason to think the money
was gone except that Mr. Geary ques-
tioned each of you about going in?”
He smiled a little. “Well—when Corbin's
force was let loose on us—and then Hemen-
way's—and now you!” His smile was frank.
“You see I knew what they were after and I
knew they would pitch on me.”
[ 49 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Someone down the length of the room
dropped a plate. It crashed into the stillness
of a sudden hush. Then the babel went on.
She met his glance. He nodded.
“I invested several thousand the next day
in Texas oil.” He smiled at her again
frankly. “Close coincidence!”
"You could explain it, of course.”
“I could, but I don't want to.” He spoke
slowly. “I am not at liberty to as it happens.
... So I've had to sit tight and let Corbin's
men suspect and tell Geary that they sus-
pect!" He gave the salt-shaker a rap and
shook it generously over his plate. He looked
at her with a twinkle.
Milly could not have told whether it was
utter frankness or consummate acting.
“Why not go and explain to Mr. Geary?”
He shook his head. “I am not free to.
... But I can tell you one thing without
betraying confidence—it was my own money
I invested. And I give you my word there
is no one in the office who would take a
penny from him. We are all too devoted
to him.”
[ 50 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"I am sure of it! That is what makes it a
puzzling case.”
“Too much for me,” said Tolles. He drew
out his purse and placed a careful tip by his
plate. “One of the advantages of coming
here,” he remarked. “Small tips thankfully
received. Good place to economize—if you
are saving up to get married.”
“Congratulations!” said Milly.
He shook his head. "I might as well want
the moon—rents in the air, prices out of
sight! Oh, well—” He shrugged his shoul-
ders. “May as well get back to work."
Milly noted that he did not smoke. And
his luncheon had been of the most frugal sort.
She liked his youth and frankness and she
found it hard to believe that he was deliber-
ately misleading her. Yet she could not
escape the fact that all his frankness had
revealed nothing she did not know before,
and that it concealed something he did not
mean her to learn.
They went back to their desks. She de-
voted herself to the account of Blake and
Goodale.
[ 51 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
curtain the space of red brick had a crimson
tone. Across the room from the window a
door led to the corridor.
She indicated this door. “Do you often
use it?”
“Very seldom. I like to come and go
through the office. It seems more homelike.
Gives me a chance to see things without
watching. . . . I think they like it, too,” he
added.
“I am sure they do.” She got up and tried
the outer door. It was locked
He smiled a little curiously watching her.
“No possible chance," he said. “I've gone
over everything. Besides no one would think
of coming here for money. I seldom have
even ten dollars in cash. I always use
cheques.”
“It was unusual then your having so
large a sum by you?”
For the first time Geary looked a little
embarrassed. His glance rested on her a
minute and flitted to the window.
"It was unusual,” he admitted. “I hap-
pened to need that amount-and I preferred
not to use a cheque for it.”
ye
[ 53 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
She waited a minute. But he evidently
did not intend to go into details regarding
the proposed use of the money. Either he
did not think it had bearing on the case or
he feared a possible bearing she might see.
"It is a little singular that Tolles should
have invested several thousand the next day,"
she said thoughtfully.
He looked at her quickly.
“How did you know that?”
“He told me at luncheon.”
"He wouldn't have done that if he were
guilty!" His face lighted.
"I am not so sure. You remember that
during the war it was a favorite dodge of
German spies to tell you they had been taken
for spies. They thought no one would be
clever enough to see through it.”
"Hm-m. ..." His face was thought-
ful. “But Tolles is not German. I don't
believe his mind works that way. He just
happened to mention it.”
She fancied his words were a little less
confident than they seemed.
“You trust him then?”
“Absolutely!” He brought his hand down
[54]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
on the arm of his chair. “I couldn't trust
him more if he were partner in the busi-
ness.” He waited a minute. “I don't mind
telling you I have had in mind to take him
into partnership-in a small way. The only
thing that makes me hesitate is that it does
not seem quite fair to Partridge and the
others. Tolles has been with me a shorter
time than any of them except Mary
Lacey.”
“The stenographer?”
“Yes—splendid record!”
She had a glimpse of the quality that
made people delight to serve him.
“You have an unusual office force," she
said.
His face lighted. “I was sure you would
see it and why I trust them all! I hate to
have a thing like this hanging over us. Cor-
bin's men and Hemenway's seemed to sus-
pect everybody in sight!"
“That is supposed to be the safe principle
—when in doubt, suspect everyone.”
“They doubted all right. Made Tolles
out a first-class thief! Why, Tolles is as
honest as the day!"
[ 55 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
button on the desk. The secretary appeared
in the doorway.
“Is there something I can do?" Her tone
was a little dry, Milly thought, as if the
muscles of her throat did not work with ease.
"I wonder if you would be kind enough
to stay a few minutes after office hours—if
you are busy now.”
"I am not busy—if I can be of any use."
She came in, closing the door, and moved to
the desk.
"I wanted to ask you to explain some-
thing,” said Milly.
She stopped, and Milly fancied there was
a slightly startled look in the quick glance
she sent her.
“Something a woman would be more
likely to notice than a man,” nodded Milly.
“Yes?” She was acquiescent now—and
on guard. She seated herself quietly by the
desk.
“Why is this room—” Milly's hand made
a movement. “Why is it so like a woman?”
“Oh!” Her face lighted vaguely. The
disquiet in it passed to a little laugh. “How
clever in you—to see it!”
a mover
[58]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“I am right then!”
“That it is a woman's room—and not a
man's. I've always felt that, but I could
never have put it in words. I only felt it
was a little queer for a business office.”
“And you don't know why?”
“I've no idea.” She looked about her.
“Perhaps his wife helped him choose the
things. It was like this when I came and
I have never questioned it.” Her glance
strayed from the tapestried chairs to the
heavy curtains of the window. “It is like a
woman!” she said softly, as if the discovery
pleased her.
Milly waited a minute.
"You know why I am here?”
"In connection with the Blake and Good-
ale account,” said Miss Somers quietly. She
did not lift her glance.
“I wonder how many in the office believe
that?"!
The woman looked up quickly. The smile
on Milly's face passed to hers.
“I think Mr. Partridge believes it,” she
said. Milly laughed out.
"And the rest?”
[ 59 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“The rest of us are glad you are here."
"I see. . . . You expect I will be able to
solve the mystery of this room?” She was
watching her face.
It hesitated.
"I think you will be able to keep the
wrong man from being suspected—even if
you do not solve the mystery.".
“You think then Mr. Tolles did not take
the money?"
"I know he did not nor anyone in the
office.”
"Have you any other explanation? You
need not tell me unless you wish to, of
course.”
"I am only too glad to tell you. There is
no possible explanation I can think of. The
money simply disappeared. It was there
when I came in after Mr. Geary left and it
was gone when he came back. ... He may
have put it away himself and forgotten.”
“He says not.”
"He often forgets. I remember hearing
Mrs. Geary say once it was the same at the
house. They would have regular hunts for
things he'd put away and said he hadn't.”
:
[60]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“How soon did you know it was gone?"
asked Milly.
“I knew something was wrong when
he came out. Later Jimmie spoke to me
about it.”
"Jimmie?”
"Mr. Tolles. We are all good friends in
the office.”
“I can see that. Everyone makes me feel
at home.”
“We think Mr. Geary was very wise to
call you in.”
"Mr. Tolles suggested it to him?"
The secretary smiled. “And I suggested
it to Mr. Tolles. That is what you wanted
to know?"
Milly laughed out. “We shall get on capi-
tally. . . . Were you as helpful to the
other Agencies?”
The woman shook her head. “They would
have done nothing but arrest the wrong
man.”
“Because all the evidence pointed to him?"
“Exactly."
[ 61 ]


CHAPTER EIGHT
THEY faced each other in the friendly
silence. The room surrounded them with its
mellow golden light. Even the brick wall
opposite caught the gleam of late sunshine
and glowed dully between the curtains.
"How did you know of me?" asked Milly.
"Alan Sargent told me he is always
talking ...” She smiled. “I thought you
must look like a queen. I wasn't expecting
you would be small!” Milly gave a quick
look at the tone. The woman nodded.
"I think I was a little jealous—till I saw
you."
“Jealous—?"
“I am engaged to Alan.”
“Oh!” Milly held out her hand. “I am so
glad!"
The other smiled. “He said you told him
to marry someone who would look up to
him.”
[ 62 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"That would not be hard—to look up to
him!”
"No." The woman's hand clasped hers
firmly. "I know what you did for Alan—"
Her eyes were misty.
“What he did for himself!” said Milly
quickly. “He is worth any two of the color-
less men who never go wrong!”
"He is the finest man in the world!” said
Marion Somers. “I am proud of him.”
"Any woman might be ...” Milly gave
a look of content about the room. “It makes
things easier for me—that you are here.
You can tell me everything—all the things
I need to know.”
“I wish I could.” Her look was thought-
ful. “It is the most puzzling thing I ever
knew. I am convinced he put it away
himself.”
“No,” Milly spoke with decision. “Not
only that,Jimmie Tolles knows.”
Miss Somers faced her. “You are sure!”
"Absolutely.”
“But you don't know Jimmie!”
"I am trying to."
“He is devoted to John Geary.”
[ 63 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"More devoted—or more afraid of some-
one else. He is shielding someone-keeping
back something."
"I-see!” She held it. "But who ?"
“That's what we must find out-what I
want you to help me with.”
The other woman shook her head.
“Why not Mr. Partridge?” asked Milly.
“He couldn't do such a thing! He doesn't
even know it was taken."
“So you all tell me.” Milly's tone was
dry. "I'd like to talk with him.”
“Shall I send him in?”
“Wait a little. I will ring when I am
ready."
The secretary left her and Milly in the
inner office sat looking straight ahead. She
followed an unseen course. The threads she
was beginning to gather up to guide her
were curiously twisted. ...
She trusted Marion Somers. That left
the stenographer and Jimime Tolles and
Partridge. . . . Partridge was the picture
of innocence. On the movie screen he
would make his fortune as the victim of
unjust suspicion. No one could look at him
ro
[64]


THE MYSTER
FICE
THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
and not believe in his goodness and gentle-
ness . . . and Partridge had the opportu-
nity. He must have known to a certainty he
would not be suspected-after his years of
service. ... Milly shook her head. She
must keep an eye on Partridge—but for the
present she ruled him out. She trusted him
as implicitly as a movie audience would trust
him and for much the same reason—for the
look in his face.
So that left the stenographer and Jimmie
Tolles.
She pondered it. She wished Jimmie
could be brought to trust her. She was con-
vinced he knew more of the affair than any-
one in the office. ...
Tom Corbin might be right after all! Per-
haps her hunch would cost her five hundred
_Tom's five hundred that he risked on a
"chance.” She smiled—How Tom would
chuckle! She was getting too sure of her
intuition-relying on it entirely instead of
making her common sense keep tab on
it! ... Stern common sense told her that
Jimmie was a clever young man-quite ca-
pable of double-crossing her if it suited him.
[65]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
... And Jimmie had made his investment
the next day-several thousand, he said, and
he was in love and engaged, with no prospect
of money enough to marry on. . . . Young
men had been known to yield to sudden
temptation. John Geary had yielded—and
made good. Some such thought might have
been in Jimmie's mind—to take the money
as a temporary loan—replace it. . . . Any
morning John Geary might come in and find
the money there on his desk—or tucked away
in some drawer. She drew out a drawer
of the desk and looked in a few papers
neatly arranged. She lifted them and looked
under them and ran her fingers along the
back of the drawer.
The golden light of the room seemed to
pulse a little. She looked at a spot on the
rug where flecks of light like motes danced
in a sunbeam-they fluttered vaguely and
were lost in the deep pile of the rug on the
floor.
She withdrew her hand from the drawer
and looked behind her—to her quickened
sense the golden light of the room seemed
alive. . . . She recalled John Geary's
[66]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
words, “There's some mystery about that
room—it's as if the money went up through
the ceiling or down through the floor.” ...
She glanced up at the ceiling with its smooth
remote surface-unbroken except for the
electric fixture of curiously wrought pattern
that depended from it. She touched a button
at the side of the desk and the globe flooded
the room with yellow light. When she
snapped it off quick flickers of light seemed
to remain and flutter for a moment like
moths before they sank in the depths of the
rug. The room seemed dusky after the soft
brilliance of the light.
She looked down at the rug that extended
from the desk to the window. She touched
it lightly with her foot, pushing it a little
aside. The floor beneath showed no break in
its waxed surface, but as she replaced the
rug crinkling flecks of light seemed to run
over it. They merged in the deep pile as
she straightened it. She stood up looking at
it thoughtfully. John Geary was right.
There was something mysterious in this
office of his ... a perfume that her senses
only half-guessed — some curious play of
[67]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
forces that called on every quickened instinct
in her to meet and solve them.
She went to the window and drew back
the heavy curtains to their full width and
rolled the shade to the top of the window
and stood back surveying the room. In
the late afternoon light that came between
the curtains the room was again detached
and beautiful. All its appointments were
rich, but commonplace. It was without a
trace of the mystery that seemed a moment
since to flicker through it.
She shrugged her shoulders. She would
make a systematic search. There was no use
trying to follow a will-o'-the-wisp-until
every reasonable clue was exhausted.
[68]


CHAPTER NINE
SHE began with the desk, taking out each
paper and replacing it precisely. The top
drawer at the left she found was locked and
she made a note to ask John Geary for the
key.
Except for the desk the rooni offered few
places of concealment. She opened and shook
out the leaves of the books on the mantel.
Then she went and stood in the window look-
ing across to the building on the other side
of the air-court. She scanned the distance.
Fifteen feet-twenty, perhaps. No board
could span it. And there were windows
looking down into the court. Anyone who
attempted to escape that way in broad day-
light would be seen. She moved nearer and
looked down.
A fire-escape coming from near the ground
stopped five feet below the sill. An agile
man could draw himself up. And she saw now
ma
w now
[69]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
that all the windows looking into the court
were of ground glass or were covered by
shades—except one above, a little to the right
.... As she looked up studying it, some-
thing flitted across this window. . . . It
might have been a bird's wing flying above
the roofs—or the light on some cloud re-
flected from the surface of the glass. She
looked up to the sky between the roofs. Great
banks of cloud were moving swiftly, their
tops touched with sunlight. The sunlight
fell on the upper windows of the building
opposite but the lower windows lay in
shadow, like the room in which she stood.
She drew back into the room. The cur-
tains fell in place behind her. She remained
motionless.
Her eyes on the rug followed a train of
thought - it evaded her, and each time it
ended in the blank wall of the court—broken
by the upper window with the cloud shadows
crossing it. . . . She traced the pattern of
the rug. Suddenly her look started—a spot
of light was dancing on the rug. It traveled
to the grate—her eye followed it up the wall
till it flashed on the mantel-shone a minute
[ 70 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
on the paneled mirror above it, flickered to
the ceiling and was gone.
She went quickly to the window. The wall
opposite was blank and the lower wall lay in
shadow, but the sun was shining on the
window above to the right. . . It must
have been the sunlight reflected from this
window that shone for a moment in the room.
She glanced at her watch. She would take
a look at that room. She would like to see
what was behind the blank surface of the
window with the cloud shadows in it.
As she turned away, her glance dropped
to the fire-escape below and halted-a bit
of white fluttered there in the grill work
-something wedged in between the iron
staple and the wall. A current of air drew
through and fluttered it teasingly and she
reached to the long window-pole that stood
in the recess and poked at it. The pole
caught in the twisted folds. She lifted it
carefully and drew it up and smoothed it
out-a man's handkerchief, soiled with soot,
and grimy from long exposure to the
weather. She bent to initials that were
faintly traced in the corner.
[71]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"J. T.”
She lifted a thoughtful look. ... A young
man who was saving up to be married ought
to be more thrifty with his handkerchiefs.
It fitted in with the solution that seemed
thrusting itself upon her at every turn. ...
Tom Corbin's bet was beginning to look un-
comfortably safe—five hundred against an-
other chance. . . . It looked a little as if
Tom would keep his five hundred—and he
would make the most of his chance. ...
She could trust him to do that! She
smoothed the crumpled handkerchief. There
was nothing strange in its being there —
except that Jimmie was a methodical young
man who would be likely to miss a stray
pocket handkerchief ... unless something
important drove it out of his mind. ...
She looked up.
The door had opened noiselessly. Jimmie
Tolles was crossing the room.
He stopped.
“Oh—!” He laughed. “I beg your par-
don—I thought you were gone. I came to
leave these.”
He laid a handful of papers on the desk,
[72]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"I am nearly through now."
“Through!” He cást a quick glance.
“For the day. I only want to see Mr.
Partridge—”
"He's gone,” said Jimmie. She could al-
most fancy the tone was relieved.
“So early! Does he go at four?”
“He said he had a headache and I told him
I'd finish. I do sometimes. ... He's not so
young as he was. But he's game. Always
does more than his share.”
"I liked his looks,” said Milly.
"He's fine—real old sport. I don't know
how we'd get along without Uncle George!
... It's what he is, helps you—some people
are like that!”
“I've noticed it,” said Milly.“Well, I
won't stay any longer if he's gone. Perhaps
I have done enough—for one day.”
"Found anything in particular?” It was
careless.
"Nothing but your handkerchief, I'm
afraid."
“Well, I'm much obliged for that even
if it isn't valuable.” He held open the door
for her and they passed into the outer room..
as
[ 74 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
To her surprise it was empty.
“Why, everyone has gone!”
He nodded. "We quit half an hour early
Mondays. Mr. Geary does little things like
that_they count. a lot!"
Milly brought her hat and coat. She
glanced at his papers spread over the desk.
“You are not through yet?”
“Just a little more.” He was sorting the
papers absently. "I like to leave things in
shape.”
“You lock up when you go?"
“Nobody locks up. It's a spring lock and
we all have keys."
“Then I can't get in if I come back.” She
was plainly disappointed.
"Didn't they give you a key? Here, take
mine.” He held it out.
“But you may want it yourself.”
"Not likely—besides, the janitor has a
pass-key."
"Oh-has he? To both doors?"
“Why—” He stopped-he looked at her.
“Say—you don't think?”
“No-it has to be considered. What kind
of man is he?"
[75]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Jackson? Honest as daylight!”
“Colored?”
“How did you know?”
“The name and his being a janitor—and
something in your tone when you spoke of
him—something a little dusky and smudgy.”
He laughed out, but there was a shade of
trouble in the laugh.
“Gee I wouldn't want you on my track!”
he said softly. "I'd expect any minute to
have the sheriff's hand clap me on the
shoulder!”
“Oh, I don't do that, you know. The sheriff
doesn't have to be called in—not often, in my
work.” She spoke with quiet intention; she
was not looking at him.
His face lighted. “I know. I'd forgotten
for the minute. Miss Somers told me. That's
why we thought you'd better come in on the
case.”
“We?"
"Miss Somers and I. She told me about
you—when she got afraid the Corbin men
would arrest me on suspicion. And I said
right away–have you in.”
Milly laughed out.
[76]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“You're too deep for me,” she said. "I
only wish you had done it. It would be
simpler.”
“Well, I wish I had. . . . I'd do it now-
to accommodate you!" His eye twinkled.
"No. You've done quite enough as it is!”
She was smiling. “I'll take the key, thank
you. Then I can come in if I need to. Good-
night.”
"Good-night,” said Jimmie Tolles ab-
sently. He was deep in his file-case, hurry-
ing to finish work.
[77]


CHAPTER TEN
SHE took the elevator to the street and
went directly around the block to the build-
ing at the rear of the office. It was a large
ten-story building called the Hitchcock and
occupied for the most part, as she saw from
a glance at the wall-board in the lobby, by
lawyers and real-estate dealers.
An elevator was ready to go up and she
entered it, naming the sixth floor, where she
stepped into a vacant corridor, with a win-
dow at the farther end.
At her left a transverse corridor ran at
right angles to the main one. The rooms that
faced the Geary office must be on this trans-
verse corridor. She strolled along it, looking
at the doors—all real estate apparently. The
rooms behind the ground-glass doors were as
quiet as the corridor, but as she turned back
she saw behind the one that faced the main
[78]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
WO
corridor a shadow moving hazily. She had
noted before that there was no name on this
door. Whatever name had once been there
had been painted out.
She moved away a few steps. She wanted
a look at that room and she had intended to
frame an inquiry to suit the nature of the
business. She needed a minute to think. She
walked to the window at the end of the cor-
ridor and looked down into the street. Below
her the traffic roared.
A faint sound clicked behind her. She
turned quickly. The door was open and a
woman closely veiled was coming from the
room. A descending elevator paused and she
entered. Milly hurried forward. But the
elevator door slammed shut and it shot down.
She pressed the bell sharply.
There was no pause in the descending flight.
She waited vexed. She had let slip a clue
that might be important. In the brief glimpse
of the room as the woman came out she had
seen that it was nearly vacant of furniture.
Whatever business was carried on there, she
had looked into what might have been an
unused room.
[79]


CHAPTER ELEVEN
She stood a moment in indecision. Then
she pressed the button of the elevator. She
would go back to the Geary office and see if
Jimmie Tolles were still there—perhaps if
he had gone she would have another look
around, undisturbed.
There was no one in the lower hall of the
Geary building and no one on the corridor
of the fourth floor. But as she approached
the private office she fancied she caught for
a moment the murmur of low voices and she
paused.
The hall was breathless.
Her imagination played her tricks some-
times. ... There was not a sound in the
office.
Against the opaque glass of the door-her
imagination was not playing her false this
time-two heads were bent in close juxta-
position-Listening? Conferring?... They
[80]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“I've no idea,” she responded equably.
“But they would not be seen except for
that one window up there. Who has that
office, by the way?" If she meant to trap him
it was a failure.
His glance was casual.
“Real estate probably. Either that or
some law firm. They're small offices in that
building. Nobody in particular, I guess.”
They looked at the brick wall. Milly,
turned from it and faced the room. “I sup-
pose dozens of people come in here every
day?” she said reflectively.
He shook his head. "Most of the business
is transacted at the factory office. We handle
only the records and correspondence here.
As a matter of fact—" He stopped.
“Yes? You were going to say—?"
He laughed. “I was going to say I could
count on one hand the people, besides John
Geary, who have been in this room since I
came here—but of course that's foolish!”
“I am not so sure!” She was looking at
him. “There is Miss Somers and Mr. Part-
ridge and Mary Lacey and you—that's
four—” Her fingers checked them off.
[82]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
II
“And one to spare.” She held it up.
"Oh, well—” He waited a minute. Was
he thinking fast? “There was the stenogra-
pher that was here before Mary Lacy.
... I guess that's about all-maybe one or
two others. Some of the firm from the down-
town office or clerks they send up—but
then the clerks don't often come in here. We
see them in the outside office—” Was he
drawing a herring across his trail with all
these hasty details? She looked at Jimmie
Tolles and Jimmie Tolles looked at her with
serene gaze.
"Was a clerk sent up the day of the theft?”
She fancied he winced at the casual word.
"Don't think so and anyway he wouldn't
come into this room.
“Then there is the janitor,” she said.
"I tell you he doesn't count!” He spoke
sharply.
“Why are you so sure?” She looked at
him keenly.
He flushed. “I'd stake my word on it.
People are always accusing servants! If any-
thing's missing, that's the first thing they
think of. It makes me mad!”
[ 83 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
They descended to the street and walked
a block together. At the subway station he
took leave of her.
“Good luck to you!” he called as he ran
down the iron stairs.
[ 85]


CHAPTER TWELVE
SHE walked around the block and turned
back to the Hitchcock Building. Employees
were streaming out of the doors of the down-
coming cars. She took one going up, to
make undisturbed inquiries of the operator
at his crowded hour. But he could not tell
her who occupied number 624. The janitor
would know. She would find him on the
ground floor back—if he hadn't gone home.
The operator was courteous, but indifferent.
He was evidently tired after a long day.
She thanked him and stepped out at the
sixth floor. The corridor was filled with
figures hurrying to catch the down-going
car. They jostled and crowded her and she
turned to the transverse corridor that was
vacant for the minute. All the offices except
624, she noted, bore the names of the occu-
pants on the door.
She sought out the janitor. He was a one-
[ 86]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
legged man, untidy in his office and a little
disposed to be surly. The offices were all
taken, he announced.
“624 is vacant,” said Milly. “There is no
name on the door.”
"It's taken.” He was pawing over the
confusion of papers on his desk. He picked
up a memorandum. “324 is free next week,”
he said grudgingly.
“That is just under 624. Does it get the
sun?”
"Don't know. Don't think so. Never
noticed.” He tossed the paper aside.
"I need the afternoon sun and I don't
want ground-glass windows. 624 has clear
glass, I noticed. I need it—for my work.
Perhaps I could get the man in 624 to ex-
change—if I paid him a bonus.”
His look was unresponsive.
“Of course, I don't want to cut in on your
commission.” She took out a bill. His face
lighted.
"I'll see him about it-if he comes. He
doesn't use the room much. It's generally
his secretary I see coming and going after
hours when the building's about empty.
CO
[87]


CHAPTER THIRTEEN
By the telephone booth in the lower hall
she paused. She looked again at the address
the janitor had given her. No, it was too
late to get Ethridge and Harmon tonight.
Already the Hitchcock Building was empty
except for occasional figures passing along
the corridors. At the end of the transverse
corridor she saw the janitor beginning his
rounds, going in and out of rooms with his
pass-key. Scrub-women with pails emerged
from dim holes and began their sloppy clean-
ing of the building. The grime of business
was shoved ahead of brooms and mops or
smeared along the marble floor.
Milly stepped across the line of dirt into
the booth and rang up a number. She knew
she might be too late ,. .. but to her relief
Alan Sargent's voice came to her over the
wire.
“Can you spare me ten minutes, Alan?"
[ 89 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Her face lighted with a little smile at his
response.
"No—that would be too long! Ten min-
utes will do very well. . . . Yes, at my office,
please. Thank you, Alan.”
She hung up and stepped out into the cor-
ridor. The janitor had reached the room op-
posite the booth. He nodded good-naturedly
and she paused.
"I don't suppose you could let me look
into 624-in case I make the deal?”
"Why, yes—no trouble.” They stepped
into the elevator and he preceded her to the
door of the room on the sixth floor.
“Good thing he hasn't got his name
painted on-if you want to take it,” he said,
as he fitted the key. He swung back the door.
She stepped into a fair-sized room with a
table and a wooden chair. On the table stood
a small portable typewriter. There was no
other furniture in the room. She moved to
the window and looked down. Two stories
below, behind the closed glass, the buff cur-
tains of the Geary office could be clearly
seen drawn back as she had left them. ...
When the office was lighted anyone standing
[ 90 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
here could see all that went on in the room
quite as far back as the desk, she decided.
Now in the half dusk the space between the
curtains reflected only the brick wall oppo-
site. Below the window she noted the fire-
escape in its grill-work extending nearly to
the ground. She turned away.
“This would do very well.” She turned to
the man who waited with the waste-basket in
his hand. “Thank you for showing me.”
“That's all right.” He cast a glance about
the room.
"Easy enough to shift. Nothing much to
move here.”
“Yes. I hope he will be willing to do it.”
"Can't say.” He limped to the door and
opened it for her. As she went past him her
eye fell on a slip of paper in the torn scraps
that filled it-"Dear Jim "
The rest of the word was torn across, and
the paper she saw, in her flitting glance, was
blank except for this beginning. Evidently
the writer had discarded it for a fresh sheet
—but her swift look took in the torn word
and the coarse ruled paper that a stenogra-
pher uses.
[91]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
The key in the lock stuck a little, and as
the janitor bent to extricate it the bit of
paper was transferred swiftly from the
waste-basket to the safe protection of Milly's
knitting-bag. She tucked it under the yellow
wool, and thanked the Janitor, whose re-
sponse was almost cheerful. She knew as
he limped away that such secrets as the
Hitchcock Building might hold were hers
for the asking. . . . Perhaps the torn bit of
paper under her knitting would suggest the
clue she sought.
She did not look at the paper till she
reached home and laid aside her hat and coat.
Then she drew it from her bag and smoothed
it and studied it a minute before she stabbed
it with a pin and anchored it to the cushion
on her bureau. She was going out for the
evening. Her knitting-bag would be left
behind. She wanted to remember to file the
paper in her office with the others of the
Geary case when she went to keep her ap-
pointment with Alan Sargent.
She turned on more lights and glanced
hurriedly at her watch as she took down a
gown from the wardrobe and shook it out-
[ 92 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
it was later than she had thought. In the
dining-room she heard little clinks of glass
and silver that told her the table was being
laid, and when she emerged from the bath-
room a voice called through the half open
door of the next room-
"Ready, Milly?”
“Five minutes, Mother!" She took up
the gown from the bed and slipped it over
her shoulders. It was of soft oriental stuff,
gold-woven and shot with lines of color that
gleamed where the light touched it. The
shimmering surface brought out the smooth
pallor of her face and shoulders. No one
would have guessed that the figure standing
before the mirror adjusting the folds with
swift touch and surveying the effect in the
glass was the expert accountant of John
Geary's office or the grey detective of the
Hitchcock Building. . . . She turned her
head a minute, studying her softly massed
hair — then she took up a tiny gold dagger
and thrust it through the topmost puff and
nodded. The little stones glimmered in the
light.
The voice called again, a little impatient,
[ 93 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
and she seized a scarf and threw it about
her shoulders-
“Coming, Mother.” She stepped into a
room that glowed with subdued light. The
shaded candles on the table were reflected in
its polished surface.
Her mother in the dimness beyond the
candles came forward with gentle eyes.
“How charming you look, dear!”.
“It is a nice gown, isn't it. How are you
tonight?” She kissed her and led her to the
table and drew out her chair.
"I am better, thank you. Much better!
Mollie takes good care of me.”
The maid standing by the sideboard smiled
drily. “She needs it all right! Went out
today without any rubbers on!”
Milly looked inquiry and her mother
smiled faintly.
“It was rather slippery,” she admitted.
“I didn't know till I got out. Mollie followed
me a block.”
“And brought you back?”
“No—she made me sit down on a hydrant
while she put them on.”
Milly laughed out. The maid had departed
[94]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
through the swinging door. Milly's glance
followed her with amused light.
“You are making a new girl of her,
Mother.”
“She is making a new woman of me!” The
mother sighed. “I don't dare breathe-un-
less she permits!”
Mollie returned with the roast. She moved
with light quick step and there was a quality
of gentleness in her service, as if she liked
to wait on them. . . . Milly had a fleeting
glimpse of Mollie Skelton a year ago—her
chewing-gum and movies, and her young
men marshaled around her. . . . All the girl
had needed was someone to love and take
care of and scold—a sense that she was
needed somewhere in her chaotic whirling
world. . . . She had found a centre to focus
the restless energy that drove her. The
energy seemed fairly to purr now—a soft-
humming dynamo, as she moved about the
table with light step.
Milly watched her with appraising eyes.
If half her cases turned out as well as Mollie
Skelton the work was worth while. She gave
a quick sigh.
[95]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Tired?” asked her mother.
“No-only thinking. I shall be late to-
night. Don't wait up for me.”
"No."
"I shall be here.” It was Mollie's voice,
competent and firm.
· "Thank you, Mollie. But I don't need
anything."
“Nothing but some hot drink and your bed
warm, and to see that you go right to bed
and to sleep. You can't work nights the
way you do, Miss Newberry—not and days
too.” She disappeared from the room. Milly
glanced at her mother and smiled. The
shaded candles glowed. From the city below
came up a soft faint sound like a surge of
distant waves. They were shut away from
it all. They sat in quiet happiness, speaking
· or silent as the mood held them.
“Well, I must go.” Milly drew her scarf
about her.
“Business?” asked her mother.
"Partly. An appointment with Alan Sar-
gent.”
Her mother's glance sought hers quickly.
“You don't see Alan as often as you used to.”
[96]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“He is engaged,” said Milly. “I just
learned it today.”
A little sigh met it and Milly laughed out.
“I'll bring you home a nice young man some
day, mother dear, if you will only have pa-
tience! You wouldn't want Alan.”
"He is a fine man,” said her mother defen-
sively.
Milly nodded. “And engaged to a fine
woman. I'll tell you about her some day-
or bring Alan to tell you. I must hurry
now. I meet the Cushmans after I see Alan.
They have asked me to sit in their box. It is
“The Flying Dutchman' tonight.”
“Remember me to them.” She sighed.
"I am glad our old friends don't desert you.”
Milly laughed. “They like it—they think
it's interesting to be a detective. I'm more
in the swim than they are!” She bent and
kissed her and went out. The room in the
shaded light held its quiet glow. Mollie
came and removed the last plate and doiley
and passed her cloth over the shining sur-
face of the table and drew it a little aside,
folding down the leaves. She arranged a
chair and a reading light by the fire, and
[97]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
left the room. The mother settled down to
her reading. ... There was the latest novel
and beside it a volume of essays and the
evening paper Milly had brought with its
record of news and crime. She took up the
newspaper.
"And through and over her reading hov-
ered a sense of a shimmering gown and the
little dagger of twinkling stones that
threaded its way through the puff of shin-
ing hair.
[98]


CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THERE was a block in the traffic at a cross-
town street and her taxi was delayed. ...
She saw that after all she would be late and
keep Alan waiting. The line slid forward and
she came abreast of a magnificent car held
firmly in check by the official arm. She leaned
forward a little to look more closely at its
shining sides and massive weight and per-
fectly proportioned lines. The chauffeur’s
livery and the glimpse of upholstery seen
through the heavy glass were in harmony
with the rich exterior. . . . A young man,
his hat pulled well over his eyes, dodged
between the waiting cars. . . . Milly bent
further to watch him disappear—there was
something familiar in the well-set head. ...
A policeman called—the line moved, the car
beside her slid forward and a sudden radi.
ance filled it. The occupants had turned on
the lights. The woman with absorbed gaze
[ 99 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
was arranging the scarf at her throat. The
man beside her looked up and met Milly's
glance and lifted his hat with a quick look
of pleasure.
The woman turned at the motion-but
the car was past. Milly watched it recede
swiftly. Horns called and the rush of traffic
swept on. . . . She sank back with a sense
of exhilaration. In John Geary's eyes as
they held hers for a long minute she had seen
unquestioned pleasure and a quick expectant
motion toward her. He had nothing to con-
ceal from the detective he had called into
his office to help him solve his difficulties.
If the pleasure in his look conveyed more
than this, she did not for the moment choose
to think of it. She was elated at the chance
encounter that had swept from her mind in
a minute every vestige of suspicion that John
Geary was keeping something back-some-
thing of importance to her solution of the
mystery. The pleasure had been too quick
to hold even a shadow of doubt. ... The
face of the woman beside him came to her,
illumined in the light of the car as it flashed
for a minute out of dimness. ... It would
CLICU
a
[100]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
not be a pleasant thing to cloud that serene
look with the burden of a man's shame—to
watch it change to doubt and scornful with-
drawal. ...
A new sense of the loneliness of the man
swept through her. She saw him standing
in her office, his head bent, his face stern with
self-accusation. ... The sternness vanished
before the look of quick pleasure in his glance
in the congested traffic as it caught hers and
held it a moment before the block gave way
and his car moved swiftly on.
She glanced up at her office building. A
light gleamed from an upper window. Alan
was there and waiting.
[ 101 ]


CHAPTER FIFTEEN
No one would have guessed that the tall,
well set-up young man who sprang to his
feet as she came in had ever been in danger
of criminal proceedings. His look was frank,
his dark clear eyes surveyed her happily.
She took the outstretched hand in a quick
clasp. The elevator was off duty and the
long climb left her breathless.
"I am sorry I am late, Alan!” She took
off her long cloak and threw it across a
chair. His gaze was frankly admiring.
“That's a stunning gown you have on. ...
Do you know, I'm going to do something
desperate—to make you take me on again-
something criminal! I've been planning it
while I waited for you.”
She smiled. “When are you going to be
married?"
He looked at her keenly.
“Now who told you—I wonder?”
[102]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"Marion Somers—”
“No—? You've seen her then!”
“We had a long talk the other day.”
"She didn't tell me!”
“She couldn't. It was business-in John
Geary's office. I am working there now.”
He whistled softly.
“What's up?"
"I'll tell you some day—when I know.”
She smiled. “I want you to do something
for me.”
“Just say the word!”
She took up her note-book. “I need a list
of all the shares of 'Big Geyser' that
changed hands in the week beginning August
25th. It's the output of a big Texas well, I
understand.”
“That's right — Ethridge and Harmon
control that stock.”
She gave him a quick look. “You are sure
of that?”
“Certain! They've kept the control in their
hands. It's a big deal. They offered me a
chance to go in with them on it, I may do
it yet.”
[103]


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“They're a good firm then?” Her face
was thoughtful.
"First-class. Tip-top men, both of 'em.
You must have heard of them.”
“Yes—what is their address?”.
He gave it to her—the same downtown
address the janitor had hunted out and she
had copied in her note-book. She held it
thoughtfully.
“They haven't any other address ?”
"Don't think so.”
"And they wouldn't be mixed up in any-
thing queer?”
He shook his head. “Don't believe it-
far as I know. What's up?"
"I'll tell you when I know. Just now I
want to find out about some shares they
sold to James Tolles on August 25th-what
he paid for them and in' what form-by
cheque or in cash.”
He made a note. “All right, Milly. I'll
look it up tomorrow and let you know. It's
gook stock—went like hot-cakes. But Eth-
ridge and Harmon keep the controlling in-
terest. Want me to get a few shares for you?
I think I could do it.”
[ 104 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“No. I haven't any money to speculate
with.”
“See here, Miss Newberry—” She looked
up quickly. “Well, Milly then-If you can't
let me do a little thing like that-carry you
along a few days!”
“It would be weeks-months perhaps.”
“Let it be years if you like. I'll set it over
against the years you made me a present of!”
His face was gentle and his eyes looked at
her straight.
“Thank you, Alan! That pays me twice
over. You may get me the shares if you can.
Perhaps this Tolles' stock could be bought.”
"I'll let you know in the morning. Any-
way, I'll pick 'em up somehow. They're sure
gold for you.”
“My—but I'm glad to do it!" He sat
looking across at her.
“You don't know how I miss coming here.
... Oh-that's all right-about Marion—"
he said quickly as she made a movement.
"It's not the same thing—you know.” He
gazed at her, a little puzzled. “I don't want
to marry you any more. You were right
about that!” He gave a quick rueful smile.
[ 105 ]


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“It would have been a big mistake to let
me marry you. But all the same, there's no
other woman in the world—Make what you
can of it!" He threw out a hand.
“I don't want to make anything of it,”
she said softly. “But I am less lonely be-
cause you've told me!”
“You—lonely!” he protested.
“Always!” She raised her eyes. “And
most at night-when I am through work—
like this. . . . So you see you chose a good
time to tell me.”
She sat looking down. Her quiet face
caught a little glow from her gown, and with
her bare shoulders and arms and the dagger
of gold thrust in her hair, she was like a
picture, he thought-a beautiful, shining pic-
ture with a little sadness underneath the
glow of light.
She roused herself and reached to the
paper beside her. “Tomorrow you are going
to see about this sale to Tolles and see if
you can buy the block of stock for me. Call
me up at John Geary's office about noon.
Ask for Miss Brigham.”
"All right. That means I'm dismissed.
[ 106 ]


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Well, good-night-and bless you always!”
He hesitated a minute and lifted her hand
to his lips and was gone.
She sat looking at her notes. Then she
gathered them up and filed them in the case.
She would be late if she did not hurry. She
wanted especially to hear the overture.
She lifted her hand to snap off the light-
and paused. The telephone whirred sharply.
She took it up. “Who is speaking, please?”
Her face lighted.
"Oh! . . . Yes. I am at the office. ...
No-I am sorry. I am just going out.” She
glanced at her wrist. “I must hurry—I'm
sorry. ... No, I haven't found out any-
thing. There's a new clue tonight. I must
go now I am going to hear "The Flying
Dutchman.' ... What is that?—I didn't
quite get it? ... that five hundred? Oh, I
wouldn't spend it yet—if I were you.” Her
face listened and twinkled.... "Yes, I re-
member now,I was to have the five hundred
--nºt you!” She hung up with a laugh. Tom
was so sure!
[107]


CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It was only three blocks to the opera
house, and she chose to walk as she stepped
into the half-deserted street. It would clear
her brain. She wanted to gather up the
clues of the day, before she gave herself over
to the music. Many difficulties had been un-
tangled for her through the harmonies of
sound. Problems she could not solve would
suddenly become clear, as music stole
through her and took possession of her mind
and senses. . . . She had scoffed at Tom
Corbin's bet—but she was not so confident
about Jimmie Tolles. . . . He had bought
the oil shares—and his frank bringing this
to her attention might be only dust thrown
in her eyes, his shrewd way of double-cross-
ing her—the pose was openly ingenuous, he
knew nothing about anything—yet his crum-
pled handkerchief had been fished up out of
the grill-work of the fire-escape. True,
[ 108 ]


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se
Out of the rhythm and sound of the sea
that beat through the orchestra, something
moved-pressing toward death with quiet
insistent joy—the thread through the maze
—the soul behind the toil and the crime and
longing. . . . Mary Lacey with her heart
waiting, Jimmie, Partridge, John Geary-
the woman flawless while his loneliness
touched the rocks at her feet. ... The
music ceased on a stillness of death. . ..
Lights sprang up. Applause ran through
the house—then an unappeased clamor of
sound.
Milly sank back. They were talking in
the box about her. She heard vague words
and responded to them. ... In a box at
her right she saw a man's head and shoulders.
The head was bent to the woman beside him.
She was very beautiful—more beautiful in
the circling light than she had seemed flashed
from the dimness of the car. . . . His hand
lay along the back of her chair and his face
was quietly happy as he listened to her. ...
She swept the galleries with her glass-
Jimmie Tolles was probably in the topmost
tier-somewhere up there out of sight. The
[111]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
glass dropped to her lap. . . . She was
looking across the house. In the box oppo-
site, a glance caught hers. . . . Jimmie
Tolles smiled gaily and bowed and spoke
a word to the man beside him. Partridge's
short-sighted gaze was turning toward her,
seeking. It lighted up with a courteous
smile. She returned his bow a little coolly.
... John Geary's office force out for holi-
day!
She turned to talk with her hostess till the
intermezzo broke in and moved toward the
rhythmic whirring motif of the spinning
song, and the lowered lights opened on
Senta's chamber and her maidens at their
wheels. . . The violins took up the song
on the breathless silence of the house. The
restful charm of the scene, the beauty and
presage of the love that moved tranquil to
its fate held the audience in pensive mood.
There was only faint clapping and a light-
drawn breath as the curtain fell. ... Milly
looking before her, her mind still tuned to
the lightly whirring music of the violins, be-
came subtly aware that someone was watch-
ing her. She turned her head. Her glance
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YS
OFFICE
met John Geary's—and for a moment his
glance seemed to pass through her and merge
in her mood—then with a smile he bowed.
Something in his smile seemed to challenge
her. ... The woman beside him spoke to
him and he turned to her, the smile still on
his lip. She saw that his face was full of
tenderness.
She caught herself with a breath of com-
mon sense. ... What had she fancied was
in his look as it rested on her and seemed to
pass through her and mingle with her happi-
ness in the music! She shook it off. If she
were going to be sentimental, she might as
well give up her detective offices and darn
socks like any hausfrau. . . . And suddenly
she wondered if anyone darned Tom Cor-
bin's socks for him. . . . The house had
darkened and the chords of the orchestra
swept across her mood. Tom was a baby-
a great helpless baby—pathetic about his
"chance," willing to risk five hundred dollars
for it-Tom was not lavish with his dollars
.... But then he might not lose his
bet! She smiled and shook it off. Across
there in the dark of the box she felt Jimmie's
[113]


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e
rapt gaze fixed on the stage, aglow with
love and youth. ...
The music of the final scene drew to a
close. The sentimental and glorified reunion
of the Flying Dutchman with his spinning
maiden was consummated in a romantic halo
of musical chords. The lights sprang up.
She looked across to Jimmie Tolles. He
was applauding with vigorous hands and
smiling and nodding to someone, and Part-
ridge was smiling and bowing in the same
direction. . . . Milly looked quickly along
the row of boxes. There was no evidence of
response to the delight in the faces of the
two men. The occupants of the boxes were
standing up, gathering their wraps and
going out slowly. . . . Her eye rested on
John Geary. He lifted a beautiful coat
and wrapped it about the radiant figure
that stood passive to receive it. His careful
fingers drew it up to the white throat and
fastened it and seemed to linger a minute.
They passed from the box.
The lights in the house began to grow dim.
Before she fell asleep she marshaled her


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
facts, going over them as they came to her
out of the day's happenings. . . . Alan had
told her that Ethridge and Harmon could
be trusted. But why had they a private office
in the Hitchcock Building, and one with so
little furniture, and looking down on John
Geary's office, and a stenographer who
worked after the other occupants of the
building had left. The janitor always saw
her leaving late. Did Mary Lacey do double
duty-work after hours for Ethridge and
Harmon? And who was John Geary's sten-
ographer before Mary Lacey came to him,
and where was she now? ... She must have
a talk with Mary Lacey and with Partridge.
... Jimmie had bought stock of Ethridge
and Harmon the next day."... Who had
been whispering with Jimmie in the inner
office, and why had Jimmie stayed late? Did
he always stay late? ... John Geary and
Marion Somers both trusted Jimmie. And
her own hunch had given him a clean bill—
but something was wrong with Jimmie. ...
She could not collect her five hundred from
Tom if Jimmie had shared in any way in
the twenty-five thousand. Was he shielding
[115]


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someone? Tom would make the most of
Jimmie as an accomplice. She felt a little
indignant at Tom. . . . She must clear
Jimmie. . . . John Geary believed in him
and she believed in him-as for Tom. . .,
She was asleep.
[116]


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE office force were at work the next.
morning when she arrived, but a glance from
Marion Somers indicated to her that John
Geary had not yet come in. She went over
to her table and arranged the papers that
had been placed there. Partridge nodded
pleasantly as she passed him.
"I saw you at the opera—a fine perform-
ance!” he beamed.
“Yes.” She took up her papers.
“Nice morning,” he said courteously.
“Very,” said Milly.
She saw Jimmie Tolles cast a glance at
her and take something from his pocket and
raise the lid of his desk. Under its cover he
unfolded a half sheet of paper. He read it
hastily and thrust it into his pocket.
Milly's glance sought Mary Lacey. Above
her typewriter the girl's face was pale—her
eyes were on Jimmie Tolles, breathless. He
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
turned casually and his glance met the sten-
ographer's. He smiled good-naturedly. Her
faint smile returned it. Her flying fingers
on the keys did not cease their noiseless
touch.
Milly gathered up her papers and went
into the inner room. The light in the room
seemed touched with golden warmth as she
stepped in. The heavy curtains and carved
furniture and the deep-piled rug gave a
sense of almost oppressive comfort. She
crossed to the window and raised it and
filled her lungs with the keen fresh air that
rushed in. She stood a minute looking at
the blank wall and the window higher up.
The sun seen just over the edge of the roof
made a kind of radiance. Her mind was as
clear and refreshed as the crisp October
morning. She had planned her campaign
and set her facts in order as she walked
briskly to the office.
Jimmie Tolles was shielding someone. He
had not taken the money, but he knew who
had—or if he did not know he made a shrewd
guess, and he was determined she should not
find out. . . . Her eye rested reflectively on
[118]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
the window higher up across the court-Did
the stenographer who came after hours and
scribbled hasty notes to Dear Jimmie on
ruled office paper have anything to do with
her problem-or was the one that Jimmie
was shielding at so much inconvenience to
himself at work now out there in John
Geary's office, one of his own trusted staff
workers, who smiled breathless when Jimmie
Tolles read a note written on the same
coarse ruled paper she had extracted from
the basket in the Hitchcock building?
She walked to the desk and touched the
bell. Marion Somers came in promptly.
She glanced with a little shiver at the open
window.
“Close it,” said Milly smiling. “I forgot.
I don't suppose this room has been aired out
in ten years."
Marion Somers laughed and crossed to
the window. She glanced into the sunlit
court. “Oh, yes, Jimmie puts it up every
time he comes in nearly. He says he can't
stand stuffiness.”
"It's not exactly stuffy.” Milly glanced
about the pleasant room. “Only one does
[119]


THE MYST
TO
FICE
THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
not expect so much comfort in an office-it
gets on one's nerves!”
Marion Somers nodded. “Mr. Geary likes
it and that's the main thing.” She closed the
window and came back to the desk.
“Alan said he saw you last night.” Her
grave face was luminous.
“Yes. He is going to help us.”
“I thought it was that, but I didn't ask.”
"Nor tell him what you know, I suppose.”
“No.”
Milly's amused look laughed. “And yet
they say women can't keep a secret!”
“We tell things that don't matter,” said
Marion Somers absently. Milly nodded.
"That's it 1-Well, I want to know about
things that do matter—about Mary Lacey,
for instance.”
The face of the other woman clouded. She
hesitated. “I wish I knew-about Mary.
I am not quite sure about her.” She paused
a minute. “I suppose I ought to tell you—”
“Yes.”
“There may be nothing in it. . . . But
I've wondered sometimes just why she came
to us—what there is in it for her. I happen
[ 120 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFTICE
II
to know she was getting twenty-five dollars
more at the place she left-and a chance of
a raise.”
“So you think she came here expecting to
rob him?" Milly's tone was light. The other
glanced it away.
“Of course not! I am only telling you
what puzzles me. Something I've hardly let
myself think ... only I've wondered.”
“That's what I want—the things you've
wondered about and haven't said even to
yourself. Could I see her in some natural
way?”
"She takes dictation capitally."
“That will do. Send her in, please and
explain about the Blake and Goodale ac-
count if she doesn't know.”
Marion Somers laughed. “Oh, we all know
about Blake and Goodale and what you are
here for! Mr. Geary spent half an hour ex-
plaining it to us.”
The door closed behind the secretary and
Milly sat thinking. Her glance rested on
the outer door. She got up and went over
to it. She put her hand on the knob. To her
surprise it gave way under her touch. The
er
[121]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
door opened and she was looking down an
empty corridor. She closed the door thought-
fully and looked at it. The explanation was
simple. It was the lower knob she had tried
before and the catch was on then. It was on
now—but the upper knob could be opened
from the inside by anyone. . . . But how
did that affect the problem?
She stood looking at it.
Anyone could open it from the inside.
... Take the money, go out with it, leaving
the door ajar, and come back. That meant a
confederate?
She turned.
Mary Lacey stood in the center of the
room waiting. Her eyes were looking down
at the shorthand pad she carried in her hand.
Milly's quiet glance scanned her. It took
in the pad of ruled paper and matched it
unerringly to a piece torn from another pad,
with “Dear Jimmie” on it. . . . She opened
her bag and took out her knitting. She
spread the stitches along the needle.
"Sit down,” she said. "I want a copy of
something I am thinking over”
The girl seated herself and lifted her eyes.
[122]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
In a flash Milly saw that she had been crying.
The eyes dropped to her pad. The pencil
adjusted itself. Her hand trembled a little
on it.
Milly's hand reached over and closed on
the trembling one.
“You are in trouble!” she said.
The eyes glanced half defiantly. Then the
girl's head fell forward to the desk. She
was sobbing-quick repressed breaths.
Milly did not speak. The minutes went
by. Once her hand touched the girl's head
and a spasm passed through the bent shoul-
ders. She looked up at last, half ashamed.
"I could not help it,” she said. “You
must excuse me.” She dried her eyes.
“That's all right!” Milly's tone was ab-
sent. “You needn't mind me.”
“No” She took up the pencil. “I am
ready now.”
“Take this, please,” said Milly. Her fin-
gers knit rapidly as she dictated, as if they
followed the quick-moving thought-
“The only ones having an opportunity to
take or conceal it are—Space. Paragraph.
"1-Marion Somers, secretary. Excluded
[123]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
by my personal knowledge. Space. Para-
graph.
"2—Partridge, bookkeeper. Excluded by
presumption that he did not take the money
and knows nothing of theft. Space.” The
pencil moved swiftly.
"3—James Tolles, assistant bookkeeper.
Open to suspicion,”
"No!” The pencil dropped sharply. “I
tell you he did not do it!—He did not! He
did not!” She was sobbing violently, bent
over her pad.
“Then who did?” Milly's voice was quiet.
“I–I-did!” said the girl slowly. Her
voice choked. She had stopped crying now.
She seemed to be listening—for something
to come.
Milly sat looking down at her. A dry
tender smile came to her lip. She bent over
and touched the shrinking shoulder.
“Why are you lying to me?” she asked.
The girl cast a frightened look.
“I am no-t.” The word checked itself.
“What do you mean?” she asked sullenly.
“You did not take the money,” said Milly.
“Who did?”
[ 124 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"I don't know.”
“Is that the truth?”
“Yes.”
They waited. On the shelf the clock ticked.
The girl's head was bent over her pad. Her
pencil made meaningless marks. Milly's eyes
followed them.
Presently she began to speak.
"I am going to tell you what I see. ...
You must correct me if I am wrong.
"You came here to work for Mr. Geary
because you knew Jimmie Tolles
“No!” said the girl sharply.
Milly's look smiled. “Then because you
wanted to know him—”.
“I'd rather tell it myself!” The girl lifted
her eyes. She spoke swiftly.
“I saw him in the subway. I-1-wanted
—to know him, just as you've said. ... I
followed him I found out where he worked,
and came here. It was silly! I knew ..."
Her eyes suddenly flamed.
"Were you ever lonely?”
"Yes,” said Milly. Her quiet eyes met
the defiant ones. “I am lonely all the time.
I am lonely now.”
[ 125 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
The eyes stared at the quiet voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Only that—what you asked me. You
thought I would not understand? Why, any
woman understands. . . . Only most of us
do not do what you did—we only think of it
-and wish ..."
The girl's lip was breathless-
"I've always been alone,” she said, "since
my father died.”
“Yes.”
“And when I came to the city I thought
I would be with nice people have friends”
“Yes."
“And no one cared.... I've walked
around just looking at the outsides of houses
-till I was ready to drop!”
“I know.”
“And then I saw Jimmie. I took the
same car every night. . . . And one night I
followed him. I got to know everything-
where he had his shoes blacked and bought
his shirts and took his laundry—and he
never knew I was in the world !” She
stopped, looking blindly before her.
"You ought to be a detective,” said Milly.
[ 126 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
The girl cast a wistful glance. “Oh, it
wasn't 'detecting.' I couldn't keep away from
him! So I gave up my job and came here.”
“Was it better then?” asked Milly. Her
tone was gentle.
"Not much. ... But I saw him every
day-every time I looked up—and he always
said good-morning to me. ... Once he took
me to luncheon. . . . I thought then things
might come right. Then something hap-
pened—”
"You mean the money was taken. It dis-
appeared and he was suspected—”
"I can't tell you.” Her head sank. “But
I knew. . . . I can't tell you.” The obsti-
nate tone was low.
“Very well. You have told me a great
deal, as it is, and helped me. I know now
that you did not do it.”
The girl cast a swift grateful glance. “I
didn't say so.”
“And that you think Jimmie Tolles did
not.”
“I know he didn't!"
“Is that because you trust him or because
you know that someone else did it?”
[127]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
The girl was silent a minute. Then she
looked up. Her eyes were wistful.
"I'd tell you in a minute if I knew-hon-
est I would! But I can't-it wouldn't be
fair!” She whispered the last words.
“It would be safe—with me.”
"I know-oh, I know! If I come to know
surely, I'll tell you. I can't now-I just
can't-hurt anyone !” Her eyes looked away.
“Very well. Remember I am depending
on you. You are going to help me all you
can.”
“Oh, I will!” She looked at her with
clear eyes. “I would do anything for you—
anything! But you will see I am right not
to tell ”
“Then I will wait.” Milly held out her
hand and Mary Lacey took it. There was
something frail and girlish about her, but
„under it a look of courage. Milly smiled
at her.
“We are going to be friends, you know!”
“You say that just because you are sorry
for me?” The look was wistful.
“No, because I could easily be very fond
of you.”
[128]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Oh-!” She put out a hand. "I—I'm
afraid of it-I am afraid of you! You're so
clever and-persuasive!”
Milly laughed out. They faced each other
smiling.
“Keep your little secret!” said Milly.
“There are bigger ones—right here in this
room under my hand!” She touched the of-
fice desk.
“You don't think it was Jimmie, chen?”
"I'll tell you what I think-in three days,”
said Milly.
“Three days!” She cast a startled look.
Milly nodded. “Or four at the latest. ...
You ought to give me four days to find out
what you are not sure of-even after six
weeks.”
The girl's smile was relieved and friendly.
“Oh, I am glad you're here! I am glad! I
wasn't at first,” She looked startled and
paused.
“I believe I'd be glad, no matter what you
find out-if it's the truth!”
Milly smiled. “That's what we all want
-all of us only we don't quite know. We
cover it up and fool ourselves. We think
Lare
Ure
even
[ 129 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
we want something else. But all the time we
are searching and searching for it.”
"I make things up!" said the girl impul-
sively. “I can't help it!"
Milly nodded. “You are a born detective.
I saw that."
She stared. “You mean a detective makes
things up? I thought they found them out!"
"It comes to the same thing in the end,
doesn't it—like every science? If you guess
right, everything falls into place—if you
guess wrong, you throw it away and try
again."
"I'd love it!” said the girl.
“Of course you would!” laughed Milly.
"Every woman does. It's only gossip carried
to the nth degree-gossip up to date.”
The girl started guiltily. “I am taking
your time. You ought to be finding things
out this minute.”
Milly looked into her eyes. She returned
the look with clear gaze.
“You may see—anything that's there!”
she said. “I am not afraid of you any more
- now.”
For a long minute the gaze held. Then
[ 130 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Milly bent forward and kissed her cheek
and smiled.
“Run along!” she said..
The girl turned away with a wistful smile.
[ 131 ]


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MILLY glanced at the ormulu clock ticking
on the shelf. Its gilded hands pointed to
twenty-five minutes past the hour. There
would be time before luncheon if she hurried.
She opened the door to the corridor. Then
she stepped back and passed her finger along
the catch and shifted it. The door clicked
behind her. She could come back that way
if she chose. It might be convenient to have
her own way of getting in, and no one would
know the catch was off. She need not fear to
leave the room exposed—there was nothing
valuable now in John Geary's pleasant office.
The man in 624 looked up from his type- .
writer and smiled faintly. His courteous
glance held inquiry. Her expectation halted
a little. She was looking into a pair of grey
eyes that had a singularly clear and straight-
forward gaze.
[132]


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“I was told that this is the office of Eth-
ridge and Harmon?" Her look traveled to
the scanty furniture of the room and back
to his straight gaze—it met hers frankly..
“I am John Ethridge. Can I do some-
thing for you?”
"I wanted to inquire about ‘Big Geyser'
stock.”
He shook his head. "We are not selling
any more 'Big Geyser.'” She showed her
disappointment.
"How about some other oil stock?” he
asked.
"I think I will wait. Mr. Sargent told me
about 'Big Geyser'--so I came in.”
His face lighted. “Alan Sargent! You
know Sargent?”
“Very well.”
“Won't you sit down, please?” He placed
the one chair and stood by the table looking
down at her.
“We wanted Alan to go in with us,” he
said.
“Yes, he told me. . . . And I heard of
‘Big Geyser' through another young man,
[ 133 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
location. Her eye dropped to John Geary's
private office across the court.
He stared at her with a puzzled frown.
“That's funny, you know! Another party
wanted it-for the same reason. . . . In
fact I have sublet to them.”
She turned from the window. “Can you
give me the name?” she said quietly. “His
business may be the same as mine."
His glance held the question. Let me
see. . . . Funny—bird ..." His glance
broke. That's it! Partridge—that's the
name!”
“George C. Partridge?”
He nodded. “That's it! I've sublet to
him for alternate days of the week-with
the privilege of using it the other days,
after three o'clock. I'm not here often-as
I told you.... But what has the afternoon
sun got to do with everybody's business-
beats me!” He looked at her frankly. “First
Partridge—then you!"
"I don't know-in his case. In mine, I
am conducting a series of experiments.”
She gauged him with a look. "I am a detec-
tive,” she added.
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He looked up quickly—and glanced about
the room. “What is going on here? It looks
innocent!”
"Almost too innocent—with these sticks of
furniture! If it had not been for Alan I
might have you on the list too. As it is, I
would like to have the use of the room if I
may for a few days. Can you manage it?".
"You can have my key of course.” He
handed it to her. “And I'll leave a note for
Partridge saying I'm wanting the room my-
self all day on my days. That was only a
privilege—their using it after three—not in
the lease.”
“He has leased it then?"
“For three months—said he might want
to renew. I told him we'd talk about that
when the time came. I'll leave the note here
on the typewriter. His secretary will find it
when she comes today or tomorrow.” ·
"He will not come himself then?”
“It's generally the secretary. I've never
seen him since he engaged the room.”
He passed into the hall with her and waited
while her car ascended.
“You don't look in the least like a detec-
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tive, you know.” He was looking at her
attentively and a little admiringly. “I'm
wondering whether I've ever heard Sargent
speak of you?”
She smiled. “My name is Newberry.”
He stared quickly. “Not—?”
“Millicent Newberry. Yes.”
He laughed out.
“I suppose it is funny.”
He nodded. “You can't guess how funny!
Why, I've heard of Millicent Newberry for
years—you don't look in the least like her!”
The door slid open and she stepped into
the car. He watched it descend. It was not
till the last glimpse of the small close-fitting
hat disappeared down the shaft that he real-
ized he had not learned anything of the busi-
ness for which Miss Millicent Newberry
wanted his room and the afternoon sunshine
for her work. She had talked with the ut-
most frankness—and she had revealed noth-
ing. . . . Well, she was welcome—she was
welcome to the room and the sunlight. ...
Miss Millicent Newberry was welcome to
anything he had.
[137]


CHAPTER NINETEEN
WHEN she returned to the Geary office
she did not enter by the unlatched door, but
passed directly to the outer room. It was
vacant except for the old bookkeeper bend-
ing to his desk with short-sighted gaze. He
looked up and smiled genially.
“You are back early,” he said.
"I haven't gone,” laughed Milly. "At
least I haven't had luncheon. I came back
for a telephone call that I am expecting.”
He shook his head. “No one has called up
yet. I have been here right along. I should
have heard.” He returned to his work.
“You take your luncheon late,” said Milly
glancing at him.
"You might say I don't take it at all.”
He smiled gently. “I have an apple or an
orange and a few nuts. I save my appetite
for dinner.” His eyes were on his papers
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“I wish I could find out more.”
"It's quite enough-thank you. It is just
what I wanted to know.”
“They both say he's a fine fellow !”
“Yes, I know he is.” She hung up with a
smile. She saw Jimmie make a quick motion
and Partridge lift his hand.
Jimmie wheeled—There was an arrested
look in his face. He glanced casually at the
inner office and moved on to his desk. Part-
ridge brushed imaginary crumbs from his
knees and climbed down from the stool.
Milly waited a few minutes in the inner
office. When she went out to luncheon both
men were busily at work. They did not look
up as she passed through the room.
She went a few steps down the hall and
stopped. The door of the private office was
close at hand and the knob gave under her
touch. She stepped in noiselessly, closing the
door behind her. From the next room came
the sound of voices—one quick and boyish,
the other in a high thin tone of command.
She had not thought Partridge could speak
like that! ... She did not catch the words,
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el
but it was evident that Jimmie protested, and
Partridge's voice rose on a higher note-
“I tell you—I can't take the risk! It's got
to stop, Jimmie!”
And Jimmie's quick laugh and protest
—“Be a sport, Uncle George!” The voice
was clearer now-close to the door of the
private office. . . . "Don't you worry!"
With a breathless touch Milly swung the
door to the corridor and stepped out. She
drew the door shut and turned
She was face to face with John Geary.
Her hand released the knob without a
click..
He nodded in understanding and they
stood a moment close together waiting ...
a shadow fell on the ground-glass door. A
voice was singing—a snatch of last night'.
opera. John Geary's look met hers gravely.
Jimmie broke off—the Sailor's Song paused.
"I say, Uncle George—I'll do anything
you say—Don't you worry about our being
found out!” Jimmie's voice receded to the
next room—the words became indistinct ...
John Geary made a swift movement-but
Milly's hand on his arm held him-
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opened. He stepped back. The door of the
elevator slammed shut. He turned toward
the office.
Partridge was coming out, a look of dis-
turbance on his face. He stopped when he
saw his employer. The disturbance in his
face deepened.
“Hello, George!” Geary spoke with quiet
friendliness. “Off for luncheon, are you?”
“I've had my luncheon. I was going out
a few minutes. I don't feel quite right.”
Geary nodded kindly. “Better not come
back-tomorrow is a holiday, you know.
Take a good rest.”
“Thank you. It might be better. I can
make it up later."
"Oh, you've made it up before-a dozen
times!” The words laughed—but John
Geary's face was not laughing as he passed
on and opened his office door.
Jimmie Tolles turned carelessly. The
whistled tune on his lips stopped.
“I'm glad you've come, sir. I was going
to try to get you on the phone. Partridge
isn't well. Do you know, I think a vacation
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
he
would do him good. I can carry his work
for him all right.”
Geary looked at him gravely a minute.
“What is the matter with Partridge, Jim-
mie?” There was no reply.
"Do you know? ... What is the mat-
ter?” he repeated.
The young man looked up. “I think it's
just worry,” he said.
“Worry-about what?” The question was
a little sharp.
“Well—about me!” said Jimmie. He
laughed. “He's old-fashioned, you know.
He thinks I've been speculating.”
“Have you been speculating?" John
Geary's voice was harsh.
Jimmie waited. “I call it investing,” he
said slowly. “I've put some money in oil-
it's safe.”
“Safe-oil!” Geary laughed queerly.
Jimmie smiled. “I know you don't think
so, sir. But I've had the chance to sell out-
twice. At a good profit.”
"Better do it then-right away. How long
have you held it?”
"Six weeks—maybe a little over.”
.viva
[145]
www


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"Six weeks?” He looked at him keenly.
“You bought it in August then?”
“Yes, sir, the 25th. I bought it the day
after I drew out that twenty-five thousand
one morning for you—do you remember?”
John Geary nodded. He turned away.
“Yes, I remember that,” he said. “I remem-
ber. . . . Better sell out if you have another
chance.” He passed on to his office.
Jimmie Tolles looked after him with a
reflective smile. He took up the receiver
and called a number and gave orders that
his holdings in Texas “Big Geyser” be sold
and the amount credited to his account. He
would call later to settle up.
In his inner office John Geary sat with
sombre eyes. The mellow room surrounded
him with its glow. The sun that had left
the narrow court seemed to linger in the
folds and hangings and spread its delicate
sheen of gold across the rug at his feet. His
eyes dwelt on the pattern of the rug. Little
motes of gold seemed to dance through it.
They lost themselves in the deep pile. He
put a hand over his eyes—to shut out the
room and the light of gold.
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mie was urging Partridge to some step he
dared not risk. ... Why not make an op-
portunity? Plant a good sum of money in
the office and wait developments?
No, if Partridge were clever enough to
cover the theft of the twenty-five thousand
he was clever enough to avoid any trap she
might set for him.
She thought again of his mild face bending
to its work—the gold eye-glasses perched on
the aristocratic nose—a gentleman every inch
of him, a man who had seen better days
and had not lost the memory of them. And
the figure on the stool eating its frugal
luncheon rose before her grotesquely. What
use could Partridge have for twenty-five
thousand dollars!
She opened the notes slowly.
“George C. Partridge. Age 63. Tall.
Grey hair, thin at temples. Blue eyes. Wears
gold eye-glasses with chain attached to vest.
Slow and accurate. Rooms at The Arling-
ton, sometimes eats there. Expensive place.
Quiet in his tastes. Fond of the opera. Once
engaged to Annie Pelton, the singer. Tickets
for opera given him occasionally. Sends
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
flowers to members of the profession. Ab-
sent from city three days soon after money
disappeared.”
She read the notes through twice. By
themselves they were unimportant. Taken
in connection with the room in the Hitch-
cock Building and her present knowledge,
they might be significant. She read them
through again and filed them in the case.
Tomorrow she would go through Partridge's
desk and make a thorough search. The office
would be vacant for the holiday and she
might not have such a chance again. . . . It
was too bad-she had promised her mother
a long holiday drive in the country. But
there would be time now after old Simons'
appointment—if she hurried him a little.
She glanced at her watch. She would give
Simons ten minutes. Then they would go
for the drive.
She called up the car and ordered it
brought round to the office and telephoned
her mother to be ready. She was sitting
with her knitting in her hands when Simons'
knock came on the door.
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FICE
a hurry—not in state's prison!” His hands
on the cane shook it.
"He won't steal from you again out of
prison. And he can earn enough to pay back
what he has taken-”
"Stole!” interjected Simons.
“Stolen-if you like better. But I am not
so sure that is the word. ..." Her look was
thoughtful. “Stealing is taking what does
not belong to you.”
"That's it!” Approval looked at her. She
was a small plain woman, but there was some-
thing about her Simons liked. He always
had liked her—in spite of her being a woman,
and she certainly had got on to Sanderson's
game good and quick-made him squeal, too!
He nodded over his cane.
“Taking what don't belong to you—that's
it!”
“But there is always the question what
does belong to a man.”
He shot a look at her.
“This is Sanderson's position, as I under-
stand it,” Her voice was very quiet. He
started, but she put out a hand— “You
offered Sanderson a partnership when he
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
was very young, hardly more than a boy. He
had no idea what he was worth. You had.
He was more than glad to go in with you
with a fifth interest in the business."
“Tickled to death!”
Milly nodded. “As time went on he began
to see that at least half the money that came
in was due to him, due to his work. . . . It
was literally due to him—but he got only
a fifth.”
Simons' feet shuffled.
“He asked for a fairer deal, but it was
always put off. He had a growing family,
he needed money. So he took a little of what
was 'due' him-only a little at first. And
because he is a very clever man, he covered
his tracks. You did not find him out. You
would never have found him out-except for
me.”
“You did good work,” he admitted.
“And my fee is not exorbitant."
“No-o.” He looked up a little anxiously.
"But it includes the right to say what
shall be done with the offender when he is
found out. This paper gives me that right.”
. [153]


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"I didn't dream it was Sanderson-I tell
you!”
"No—but it happens to be Sanderson.. ..
Now this is my decision-Sanderson is to
pay you all he has taken-to the last penny,
with interest."
His face relaxed subtly.
“He is to remain in the partnership on
equal terms—if you agree to it.”
"Equal—?"
“Fifty-fifty."
"No, sir!" His feet drew in.
“Then he sets up for himself—I fancy
some of the custom will go with him.” She
paused. His look was reluctant and grim.
There was something like admiration in the
small eyes looking at her under bushy brows.
“Whether he goes or stays, the terms of
the partnership as I stipulated them are
retroactive—for seven years. I think that
is a fair ratio."
He was on his feet.
“So I am to pay Jim Sanderson for steal-
ing from me!”
“For tempting him to steal. Do you sup-
pose he has had an easy time these last seven
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]


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“You'd got it settled a'ready—and got
left!” He chuckled grimly.
“Four thousand would have gone to help
set Sanderson up in business—tide him over
when he came out of prison-and the other
thousand into my fund to help put wrong-
doers on their feet.”
"My money!”
“That Sanderson earned and you—took.”
He digested it.
“How long you been doing this sort of
thing?” he asked cautiously. The grudging
admiration was again in his little eyes.
"About seven years—by myself. Before
that I was in the Corbin office.”
"I'll bet Tom Corbin never let ye spend
any five thousand on thieves and rascals.”
"No. . . . He wouldn't.”
“I had him on the case before I had you—”
He caught the laughing look in her face
and stopped-his mouth came together.
"He might ’a' got on to Sanderson if I'd
kept long enough.”
"He might,” admitted Milly. “Now, Mr.
Simons, I have an engagement if you will
excuse me.”
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
He got slowly to his feet. He looked at
her awkwardly and half held out his hand
and withdrew it.
“Good-by,” said Milly. She gave him her
hand. “Talk it over with Sanderson. He'll
be straight. He's a good man.”
He took the offered hand and shook it
and turned to the door—and looked back.
“I wish you wa’n't a woman,” he said
slowly. “I'd take you into partnership to-
day, 'stead of Sanderson!” He chuckled.
His feet shuffled through the door.
Down the hall she heard the chuckle and
the shuffling feet moving away together.
[157]


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE car was waiting when she descended,
and there was still time to take her mother
for the drive. Tomorrow the roads would be
filled with the long procession of holiday
seekers, but today they were comparatively
free and there was time for a good run before
the dark came on. It would refresh them
both and she knew from experience that she
might come back with an entirely new angle
on the case—the fresh air, her mother's gen-
tle humor, the easy motion of the car, were
sometimes more effective than her most
strenuous efforts in giving her the clue to a
difficult case. ... Tomorrow, with what
Partridge's desk might reveal, she would
piece together the scattered bits of evidence
and see what sort of case they made out
against him. Today should be holiday.
In ten minutes they were driving along
a country road that led to the mountain ten
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rated—safe from contamination. ... Then,
alas, came a day when she was too ill with
influenza to watch over the spotless home,
and Mollie Skelton entered. ... Mollie,
she privately felt sure, was one of the worst
of Milly's cases—though Milly assured her
there was no real harm in the girl-only a
sense of loneliness that drove her to gum-
chewing for solace.
That was Milly's diagnosis of Mollie's
case—a lonely heart that needed someone
to take care of. And the mother had to
admit that it was fairly correct. Certainly
Mollie was a treasure. She sighed.
Milly glanced up.
“Tired?”
"No-o. I was only thinking about Mollie
—what a treasure she is! She doesn't let me
do my own thinking!”
Milly laughed. Her hand reached to her
mother's and patted it and remained on it
contentedly.
“You know you like it,” she said.
“Oh, yes—it's comfortable.”
“And it has saved Mollie. I could trust
her anywhere now.”
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THE THT
MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"You don't mean she is going?” There
was almost a note of alarm in it and Milly
laughed.
“I couldn't drive her away. You are pro-
vided for, mother dear, as long as you live-
if I should die, or get married."
"If only you would!” She breathed it
helplessly.
“Either one would do, I suppose?”
"Mr. Corbin called you up today—I nearly
forgot to tell you.”
“Tom?” Milly's eyes danced.
"Mr. Thomas Corbin, yes. ... I can't
say I like him. There is something almost
rude about his way of speaking. . . . And
his clothes are disgraceful—really disgrace-
ful. I wonder whether they're ever brushed!”
"I'm sure they're not,” said Milly. The
car was climbing the mountain and the trees
on either side were a blaze of scarlet and
gold. Her eyes were on them tranquilly.
“That's why I've thought of marrying him,"
she said softly.
“Milly!”
"Only thought of it, Mother dear.” She
patted the agitated hands. “He needs some-
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
one to take care of him. ... But I should
make a proviso that he must appear at the
altar thoroughly brushed for once-or no
wedding! So you see you don't need to
worry!” She laughed comfortingly.
The mother sighed. “I never feel surel
It wouldn't be any queerer than some of the
things you've done!”
“That's true, too!” laughed Milly. “Look
at the larches, and the laurel below and the
flame-tree up there! Isn't it worth coming
for?” The car turned a curve and the whole
open country lay spread before them. ...
In the early dusk it seemed a dream land-
scape. Milly's hand on her mother's tight-
ened.
“That's the worst of being a criminal!"
she said softly.
“What-dear?” Her mother's bewildered
face turned
“To see a thing like that—have a thing
like that spread out before you and not be
able to enjoy it—be filled with the joy of it
till you want to cry out. ... They only eat
and drink!” Her voice dropped.
“That's all they really care for, Milly.”
[162]


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The tone was judicial and kind and Milly's
hand tightened on the frail one. Her mother
belonged to the old order that divided society
evenly into "them” and “us," and ruled with
firm hand. “They” must be kept under as
evil in one's own nature must be kept down
and repressed. It never occurred to her
mother's time to bring evil to the light and
let the winds of heaven blow through it-
face it and try to understand it and use and
control it-to the glory of God! Milly
smiled and patted the hands. What nonsense
it would all seem to her mother!
“We must go back," she said. "I have an
errand to do before dinner.”
"Not another case? I cleaned your skirt!"
“No—just to stop at a perfectly clean,
aristocratic house for a key. It won't take
me a minute.”
The car rolled noiselessly through the quiet
dusk. The air grew cooler and rushed past
with the feeling of coming chill. They
drew closer together under the warm rug.
... Houses straggled past and began to
gather toward denser close ranked streets.
Milly gave a direction to the chauffeur and
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the car drew up before John Geary's house.
“Here is the place. I shall not be long."
She went quickly up the steps.
A few minutes passed and a servant came
down the steps and spoke to the chauffeur.
... Miss Newberry was detained. The
chauffeur was to drive her mother home and
not return. She would walk home or take
the subway.
[164]


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SO
SHE looked about her with quick pleasure.
She stood in an exquisite place. The high
walls, clear of drapery, were bathed in faint
light and from some concealed source a warm
radiance filled the room. The rug on the
floor, the few pieces of bric-à-brac, the fur-
niture and a single picture at the end of the
room blended in quiet harmony.
A presence seemed caught in the room-
something that waited, quietly assured.
Milly walked to the end of the room and
stood looking up at the picture
It was the portrait of a woman of perhaps
thirty-five—a rare and gracious personality.
Milly gazed at the clear eyes. . . . They
must be the eyes whose look John Geary
feared—the woman he dared not reveal his
weakness to. ... No, it would not be easy
to confess to that serene gaze that the man
it trusted was a thief. . . . Milly could see
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him each day retreating further into himself,
ashamed and suffering and afraid. She could
understand his determination that no man in
his office should suffer as he had suffered
under the serene look of those fearless eyes.
A step sounded on the rug and she turned.
John Geary stood beside her. He was plainly
disturbed.
“I am sorry! They should not have kept
you waiting.”
His evening clothes and the quiet courtesy
of his manner seemed to remove him a little.
She had a new sense of the fineness of his
nature as he stood looking down at her an-
noyed that she should have been kept
waiting.
"I only came for the key. They said you
were not in—so I waited.”
He frowned. “That is Jackson's little way.
He thinks he protects me.” He touched a
bell. “I will have the key brought at once.
Then you must let me send you home.”
“It is not necessary."
"It is necessary—for me.” Jackson ap-
peared in the doorway and he gave quick
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“We have friends for dinner,” he said,
"or I should ask you to stay and dine with
us and tell me afterwards what it is you
think you have discovered.”
"That can wait,” said Milly.
“Better perhaps than I can!” Jackson
with a bunch of keys announced that the car
was at the door. Geary took the keys and
disentangled one and handed it to her.
“That is the one, I think. I don't know
myself what is in that drawer, or why it
should be locked. I haven't used it for years,
that I remember.”
She rose to go and for a moment as they
turned they faced the portrait at the end of
the room. Her eyes rested on it and his
glance followed.
“That is a portrait of my wife,” he said
courteously. "It is considered rather fine-
as a painting.”
“It seems to me quite wonderful!”
“As a painting perhaps. As a portrait it
does not do her justice.”
“She is very beautiful!”
“Beautiful—and flawless.” He spoke the
words under his breath and something in
,
[168]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
them chilled her. They moved down the
room. The laughing voices grew clearer.
... Through a doorway she had a glimpse
of a lighted room and shimmering gowns.
The brightness of the colors of the women's
gowns gleamed like jewels in the subdued
light of the room beyond the hall.
Jackson's hand was obsequiously on the
door. He flung it wide and John Geary went
down the steps with her. He stood a minute
beside the car.
"I shall see you tomorrow,” he said. “No
-tomorrow is a holiday.” He seemed half
vexed that the holiday should delay her work.
“But I shall be there,” she said. "That is
why I wanted the key. I will return it to
you.” His face cleared.
"No need. Give it to me when I am at the
office-or leave it in the drawer. There is
nothing valuable there to lock up." He
laughed happily. He spoke a word to the
chauffeur and turned to her.
“Good-night!" He held out his hand and
she felt in the quick clasp the trust he put
in her. The car moved silently forward.
She saw his face as he turned away. It
[169]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
W
was still smiling happily. ... Through the
soft dusk—between rows of winking lights
that sped by the rushing car the face of the
portrait followed her. ... The portrait had
never known temptation. ... John Geary
was fortunate to win a woman like that. But
she might be difficult to live with. . . . A
little touch of cynicism brushed her ear-
“beautiful—and flawless."
[170]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
would have a quiet day to think things out.
Then as she turned from the window her
ear caught a sound. She held her step and
listened
Someone was in the outer office-crossing
the floor softly. She heard a lid raised. Then
a tenor voice, high and a little thin in timbre,
singing. It ceased.
Milly smiled thoughtfully. It would seem
that someone besides herself wanted a quiet
day in the office.
She inserted the key noiselessly in the
locked drawer and turned it—the lock did
not give to her quick touch. She withdrew
the key and looked at it and laid it on the
desk. ... Did John Geary know so very
little about his keys? Her hand touched her
hair thoughtfully and her fingers drew out
a hair-pin and bent it a little. She knelt be-
fore the drawer, inserting the bent wire in
the lock—something gave and she withdrew
the wire and pulled at the drawer. It came
open in her hand. She looked down.
The drawer held a curious assortment-
a card-case, a small gold pencil of delicate
workmanship and, thrown lightly across
we
[172]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
them, a woman's half-worn glove. She lifted
them one by one. Beneath lay a slip of paper
that she picked up and scanned.
It was a list of figures in John Geary's
hand. She recognized the peculiar sixes. The
numbers were added and the amount entered
below. Milly turned over the paper thought-
fully. There was nothing on the other side.
... It was only a list of figures in John
Geary's hand.
Added up they amounted to twenty-five
thousand dollars.
A step was crossing the floor. The door
drew open with a quick motion and the man
stepped in. He was humming a light air.
It stopped.
He swung his glasses to his nose and
peered at her.
“Why-Miss Brigham!” His face beamed
with simple pleasure. “You are working too?”
“Just a little while. How is your head-
ache?”
His look was blank.
“They told me you had a headache and
went home early yesterday.”
“Oh-yes! It's better, thank you. I came
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in to finish the work I left. I didn't expect
to have company!” He beamed on her again.
"I had some work to finish, too.” She re-
placed the paper in the drawer and closed it.
Partridge chuckled genially. “Always like
that in this office! I wouldn't be surprised
to see the whole force come sneaking in-one
by one!" His glasses laughed.
"Not Miss Somers,” said Milly. “I know
where she is spending the day.”
“With Sargent-yes.” He looked at her.
“She told me. And Jimmie Tolles—I hap-
pen to know he is off for the day too."
“With the young woman he is going to
marry, I suppose?” asked Milly.
He cast a quick look. It held reserve and
a question. “The young woman?” he said a
little stiffly.
“Yes—isn't he going to be married?"
“I don't know.” He twiddled his glasses
with a quick sigh. “I hope so. I'm sure I
hope so!”
“Of course he will-give him time!" She
looked at him and hesitated-
"Mr. Partridge, I want to ask a favor of
you—”
[ 174 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"Anything in the world,” he said cor-
dially. “Anything to help Mr. Geary—or
you.”
“Thank you.” She waited. “This happens to
be for myself. I want to rent a small office.”
He stared at her blankly.
“And I thought you might be willing to
share 624 with me” She moved a hand
to the wall of the Hitchcock Building across
the little court. His thin cheeks flushed.
"I am sorry," he said with dignity. “I
already share my room with a friend. I don't
know how you came”
“Very simple,” she smiled. “I was look-
ing for a room at the Hitchcock and they told
me you had sublet 624. I was surprised
and pleased.”
"Pleased—?" He looked up sharply.
"I thought you might be willing to share
it with me.”
“Oh! No-I told you. I already share it
with someone.”
"Then I must look further. There is a
room vacant on the third just below.” She
moved to the window. “But I want to be
where I can get the afternoon sun. You
[175]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
wouldn't be willing to exchange, I suppose?”
She looked back at him. “I would pay a good
bonus to anyone for the room higher up that
gets the sun."
He looked at her helplessly. Then at the
windows in the opposite wall—the one above
and the one below. He took out his hand-
kerchief and wiped his brow.
“I don't know what to say,” he murmured.
"I'd be glad to do it—if it was just myself.
... But I don't know about my friend. I
must talk with my friend.”
“Will you do that?” Milly waited.
“With pleasure, Miss Brigham!” His face
cleared. “If my friend is willing you shall
have the room, I'll do it in a minute and
nothing extra to pay.”
"But I am quite—"
"No." He put it aside. “I do not need the
money. I have enough—more than enough
for my needs."
“But you work for it like the rest of us.”
He hesitated. It might have been only the
reserve of an elderly man.
"I have been able to save,” he said. A
curious look crossed his face discretion and
[176]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"Do you know why I am here, Mr. Part-
ridge?”
“On the Blake and Goodale case, yes.”
His tone was pleasant.
Milly motioned to a chair.
“Will you sit down, please. I want to
tell you something."
She seated herself in John Geary's chair.
From across the desk his mild aristocratic
glasses smiled at her.
Milly laid a hand on the desk. She tapped
it.
“Six weeks ago," she said, “twenty-five
thousand dollars lay here—in plain sight.”
He gazed at the hand without expression.
“It was taken,” she said, "stolen ”
“What!” He leaned forward. -
“Stolen while John Geary was out of the
room. The last person to see it—the last
one who admits having seen it is Jimmie
Tolles."
“My—God!” he breathed. He sat back
in his chair. They were both silent, looking
at each other across the desk.
"Jimmie said it was here when he was in
the room. You were in immediately after
[178]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
he was--and you did not see it. If it had
been here you would have seen it. You are
an observing man?”
"I should be likely to see twenty-five thou-
sand dollars. You don't often see that sum
lying around loose.”
"Fortunately not!” said Milly.
Partridge sat silent. His shoulders were
hunched forward and his face was grey.
When he looked up his forehead was marked
with tiny lines.
“When did this happen?” he asked slowly.
“Six weeks ago. August twenty-fifth. Mr.
Geary left it here on the desk when he went
out that morning. When he came back it
was gone.
"The twenty-fifth—? That must have
been-” His mind made a rapid calculation.
“That was on a Wednesday?"
“Yes."
His eyes stared at her-
“It's damnable!” he said with swift em-
phasis, “damnable!”
“What do you mean?"
"Damnable to make young men fall in
[179]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
love—when they can't afford to marry!” His
look was stern. It was fixed on her.
“But what? Who makes them?”
“The Lord, I suppose! Though it might
be the Devil,” he added thoughtfully.
She laughed out. His look did not change.
“You mean Jimmie Tolles is in love?”
"He has been in love for years. He has
saved and scrimped! . . . My God!" He
looked at her. “Can't you see what this means
for him!” He got up. She was watching
him keenly.
He moved to the door.
“I must go,” he said. His hand trembled
as it felt for the knob. “I must see Jimmie!”
He went out, closing the door carefully
behind him. She sat looking at it thought-
fully.
She waited till the outer door closed and
Partridge's step had died down the hall be-
fore she opened the door to the outer room.
She crossed the room and lifted the lid of
Partridge's desk. It yielded to her touch
and Partridge's neat soul lay spread before
her—to the inmost nook. She took them up
one after the other—piles of theatre bills
O
[180]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
ridge's dismay—not the theft of the money-
but the sudden discovery that events were
shaping to make Jimmie seem guilty—while
Partridge knew to a certainty that Jimmie
could clear himself by speaking a word?
Had he gone to make him speak the word?
... Then with the swift leap that she knew
she must recognize and trust, her thought
dropped to the drawer beside her in John
Geary's desk—the woman's glove and be-
neath it the figures in his curious hand—that
stood for the exact sum of twenty-five thou-
sand dollars. ... What did John Geary
know of the drawer his key failed to fit? She
smoothed her hair and tucked the pins in
place. . . . Why had he not removed the
contents of the drawer? ... Something in
the happiness of his look as he turned away
from the car smote her. He trusted her-
with whatever she might find. His look said
it more plainly than words. Yet the locked
drawer held a secret. He would have to
explain that secret to her.
[183]


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
On the door of the outer room there came
a light tap. She looked up quickly. She
had heard no step in the room beyond. ...
The door opened. She met John Geary's
smile.
He came over and placed his hat on the
table. There was no mistaking the quiet
pleasure in his glance.
"I was afraid you would be gone!”
“You were anxious ?”
“Not exactly anxious.” A smile touched
the words. “I wanted to talk with you. ...
May I smoke?”
"It is your office."
“Not till you can tell me what is the mat-
ter with it,” He looked about him. “What
uncanny power there is here to waft good
money out of the window or up in the air!”
His hand followed its flight and he blew a
light whiff of smoke that drifted in the room.
[ 184 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Her eyes over her needles followed the
floating spiral.
“I can tell you soon—I hope.”
“You are on the track of something?" He
looked at her.
"I think so.”
His face showed satisfaction. “Good!” he
said softly. “Good!”
"Everybody is helping me.” She indicated
the outer office. “They all know the money
was taken-or disappeared.”
He stared. “Who told them?"
“Apparently you did.” She smiled. “You
don't need to mind. There is not anything
they would not do for you.”
“But you are here to find out which one
of them did it!” he said in vexation.
"And they are all helping me. One of
them has owned up to it already.”
“What!”
She nodded. “Because she thought I was
suspecting someone else Mary Lacey said
she took it.” She looked at him. His eyes
were a little misty.
"So she owned up!” he said.
[185]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
me!” She smoothed two little zigzag lines
and looked at them. i...
“One thing is sure” She pointed to a
straight line with little branching arms that
ended in yellow balls—“I am sure about this
one.”
"Looks like a tree,” he said shortly, bend-
ing forward, “a tree with little apples of
gold.”
"It is a tree,” she conceded. “—but not
apples of gold. It is the tree of Jimmie
Tolles—and each of the branches stops short,
you see— leads nowhere. ... You were
right about Jimmie. I would trust him with
anything.”
She knit a row and looked up. “Why is
this room so like a woman?” she asked
abruptly.
He turned a little in his chair and knocked
the ash from his cigar.
"Because a woman furnished it,” he said.
He looked at her quietly. “Why do you ask
that?”
She knit on a minute. Her needles paused.
Her hand dropped to the drawer of the desk
and drew it open.
[187]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"You mean you will not admit that it
does.” She began to roll up her work. “Then
I am afraid I must drop the case here."
He put out a hand. “Please Miss New-
berry . . . Miss Millicent Newberry!" He
said the name softly. "I give you my word
of honor that whatever this means, it is a
personal matter. It concerns no one but me!”
She did not speak. Her fingers reached
beneath the glove and drew out a slip of
paper. She laid it on the desk beside the key.
He leaned to it and his look changed. He
glanced quickly at her and then at the
drawer.
“Those are your figures?" she said quietly.
“Yes.” He was smoking now. His eyes
were on the blank wall across the court
“You know how they came there?”
“No, I don't know. ..." It was short.
He got up and went to the window and
stood a minute. His hands were thrust deep
in his pockets.
"It is just twenty-five thousand dollars,”
she said.
He did not reply.
"—the sum that disappeared.”
[ 189 )


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
He came back to the desk. “It is a memo-
randum of what I drew the money out for
I told you that I drew it for a special pur-
pose. . . . Then I changed my mind.”
"It was in the drawer—with these other
things.”
“He was looking into the drawer, his face
deeply disturbed. “I think it may be as well
to drop the case-after all.” He spoke the
words slowly.
"No." She knit on. His face darkened.
“I suppose I have the right—” He spoke
stiffly.
“You do not care to tell me what the
figures stand for?”
"No." He took up his hat.
"Perhaps you will listen to me a minute,”
she said. “Will you sit down?” ..
He seated himself, but he still retained
his hat.
"You leap to conclusions,” she said. “You
see these things—” she motioned to the
drawer, "and you think that the woman to
whom that glove belongs took the money.”
He looked at her but he did not speak.
[190]


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The next morning a bunch of pansies lay
on her desk. She picked them up and smelled
them and tucked them in the front of her
dress.
Partridge was not at his desk.
Had she made a mistake in not having
him watched, she wondered. The Canadian
border was accessible, and Partridge had no
reason to suppose the law would spare him.
... She wondered whether she had blun-
dered.
But Jimmie Tolles when he came in a
little later, smiling and unflustered, set her
mind at rest.
“Partridge? He'll be here pretty quick.
I've been talking with him. He was terribly
afraid somebody would be arrested—when
he learned about the money. I explained to
him the kind of patent detective you are and
it's cheered him up a lot!” He smiled and
unlocked his file-case, whistling a little.
Milly retired to the inner office. There
was something in Jimmie's gaze that eluded
her. What was he up to?
She rang the bell sharply.
Mary Lacey came in.
[193]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Never mind that. I know he has been in
love a long time and can not afford to marry.
... I suspect that is the discovery you
made.”
“Yes, it is,” she admitted slowly. “I saw
him with her once-just saw him—and I
knew!” She stopped. Then she went on
quickly with a look at Milly's face that made
the sacrifice gladly. “They were in the street
car and he was looking at her—I saw just
his back, but I knew. I seemed to know
everything about them all in a minute...”
Her hand clinched. “He's too poor, Miss
Newberry, and he's got his brother to take
care of.... You ought to see the shirt-
bands he wears—” She touched her throat
vaguely. “You know the place where they
wear out just here? He sticks 'em together
with surgeon's tape-chalks it to make 'em
look decent!” Her face was flushed with
Jimmie's makeshifts. Milly watched it.
“And you think money wouldn't tempt
him?"
The girl's answer was indirect. “I saw his
face when he turned around in the car. ...
It seemed as if I hadn't ought to see it
[ 195 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
as if anybody hadn't ought to!” Her lip
trembled. “I got out of the car quick as I
could. He didn't see me, he was looking
at her.”
"How long ago was this?" asked Milly.
The girl's absorbed look broke. “I don't
know—six or seven weeks maybe. I don't
just remember.”
"It was before the money was taken?”'
The girl's brow wrinkled. “It might have
been.... I can't remember. ... The
worst was—I knew he couldn't marry her."
“No—he can't afford to marry,” he says.
“That was what scared me about the
money — when I knew. ... He might
have thought it was all right—” She broke
off. She seemed not to know the admission
she was making. She was intent on excusing
Jimmie Tolles. “You see if he used it all for
her, it wouldn't be stealing—not for him-
self.” She looked at her pleadingly.
Milly laughed.
"You don't need to excuse Jimmie-to
me. He didn't take the money."
"No?” Happiness suffused her face. “Who
did then?”
[196]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Milly shook her head. “I can't tell you
just yet. But if Jimmie did it he's a bigger
rascal than I think he is!”
“Oh. Jimmie isn't a rascal. He's good!”
“That's what I think," said Milly. “I
have thought so from the first. And all the
evidence is pointing now to another man—"
The girl started—
“Not Mr. Partridge!" she breathed.
“I told you you were a detective," laughed
Milly.
But the girl shook her head.
“I couldn't believe that!”
“He came into a large sum of money re-
cently. He told me himself.”
“I know. He made me a present then. He
gave me this.” She held out her wrist.
Milly glanced at the tiny watch and
smiled. “It is beautiful, isn't it! Half-past
ten. I want to talk with Mr. Partridge when
he comes in. If he has come will you tell him,
please, that I want to see him?"
The girl got up, looking at Milly wist-
fully.
Milly put a comforting arm about her
[197]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
and drew her to her. “Don't worry, child!
Things are coming right. We are going to
make them come right!"
"I didn't think that was being a detective!”
said the girl.
"It's one kind of detective. It takes all
kinds to make a world, you know-blood-
hounds and sheep-dogs.” She turned her to
the door.
“Just tell Mr. Partridge, please, if he is
there, that I want to see him. Say when he
is at liberty. Don't hurry him."
The girl left her and Milly took her knit-
ting from the bag at her side and gazed at
it. A little pattern was beginning to show
in the yellow knots and stitches. She saw it
shaping in the golden wool. . . . And the
two curious zigzag lines she had puzzled over
were coming together. . . . She inserted her
needle and knit a row thoughtfully.
So that was it! Partridge had played the
rôle of providence to the two young people.
He had made up his mind to get the money
for them to marry on. He had taken it and
doubtless justified it to himself much as
Mary Lacey did. It would be used to make i
[198]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Jimmie Tolles and the girl happy. It wasn't
stealing for himself. ...
Mary Lacey returned. She carried a sheet
of flimsy yellow paper in her hand. “Mr.
Partridge hasn't come yet,” she said, “but
here is something I wanted to show you.”
She laid the paper on the desk.
"It was in my mind when I woke up this
morning. I was thinking last night—"
“Yes—worrying about Jimmie?"
"Not worrying. ... I don't—since you
came.” She smiled at her shyly. "But I
was wondering how the money could have
got away-out of this room—and nobody
to touch it-nobody that would touch it!
They'd sooner cut off their hands!” She
paused, looking at it with soft indignant
eyes.
“So you were thinking about it,”
“But this morning I just woke up and
remembered something I took down for Mr.
Geary one day, and I looked up the carbon
as soon as I got here” She put her hand
on the paper.
"You see—it's this."
Milly took it in with a glance-the same
[ 199 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
list of figures she had found in John Geary's
desk with the crumpled glove and the dance
program. But this list was neatly type-
written, and opposite each item was a certain
number of shares. It represented evidently
a memorandum of stock bought or sold. She
or sold. She studied it thoughtfully.
The girl waited in silence.
“What made you think this has anything
to do with the disappearance of the money?"
"It's just the same—twenty-five thou-
sand.”
“No other reason?”
The girl shook her head—“Except maybe
you'd call it a—hunch.”
Milly's hand reached to the girl's and
patted it. “When we are through with this
business, would you like to come in with me?”'
“Come in?”
“Work for me with me? Learn to be a
detective?”
A soft glow suffused the girl's face. "Do
you mean it? I'd love it! I'd love anything
with you!”
“That's settled then.” Milly folded the
paper and put it in her bag.
[ 200 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
oil. She called Alan at his house and got him
quickly.
Yes, he could find out for her—if she
would give him the details. He would have
the information for her by six o'clock. She
read him the items and he repeated them on
the phone. He would bring it to her office
“No—I shall be busy all day. Come to
dinner, can't you, Alan? Mother will like it.
She wants to ask you a hundred questions
so come prepared!” His laugh answered
and it was quickly arranged.
She rang off with the feeling that a long
step had been taken. ... When Alan
traced the sale of the list of shares that Mary
Lacey had copied for John Geary she would
know perhaps why he had planned to pay
twenty-five thousand dollars to some woman
unknown whose glove was in the locked
drawer of his desk—and why he had changed
his mind, and perhaps what had become of
the money when it disappeared so mysteri-
ously from this room.
She closed the window of the court and
snapped on the catch of the door leading to
the corridor. There was nothing more she
[ 202]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
and the order was a long time in coming and
they were a long time eating it and talking
over Teddy’s “case.” By the time the coffee
came Teddy's cigarette blew tranquil
wreaths of smoke.
He smoothed the shock of hair as he rose
from the table. “You'll do fine, Miss Lacey!"
His tone was approving. He nodded to
Milly. “She won't be long catching on!”
“Oh, she is worth teaching!” They all
laughed happily. The common low-ceiled
room was friendly in the smoky haze.
The girl's eyes followed the swinging fig-
ure down the room. She turned to Milly.
“Doesn't he ever comb his hair?" she
gasped.
"It wouldn't do any good if he did,”
laughed Milly. He uses his hair to think
with, and he never stops thinking. Now I'm
going back to the office with you to see if
Mr. Partridge has by chance come in.”
He had not come, she saw by a glance at
his desk. Jimmie Tolles came over. His
look was grave.
“I can't see what's happened to him. He
said he had a little business to do. It needn't
[ 205]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
have taken him half an hour and he's not in
yet. But he's sure to come. He wanted to
see you, he said.”
"I'll wait a little,” said Milly. “Tell me
when he comes.” She passed in to the inner
office.
[ 206 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
She took up her knitting thoughtfully.
... So that was it—sunlit wireless! `And
John Geary might have seen it a dozen
times, that dancing bit of sunshine playing
across his rug—without suspecting the signal
it conveyed. ...
The door opened silently. The old book-
keeper stepped in. He stood waiting.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked.
Milly looked up. “Come in, please.”
He hesitated a minute. Then he closed
the door and walked to the desk. She saw
that his shoulders sagged and his face was
drawn. He seated himself by the desk.
She looked down at her knitting. The zig-
zag lines were almost together. They were
closing in. . . . When Partridge owned up
the rest would be simple knitting. She fin-
ished the row before she looked up.
His eyes were fixed on her somberly.
“I want to tell you about that room,” he
said. He moved a hand toward the wall
across the court,“—all about it.”
"Yes?” Her eyes questioned a swift in-
stant.
“I've been thinking things over,” said
[ 208 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Partridge slowly, “and I've had a long talk
with Jimmie.”
Milly's needles slipped a stitch quickly
and knit it in.
"I saw him last night. I waited for him
at his room till he came home. I told him
I'd learned all about it—the money—and
that I wanted to tell you—everything. He's
agreed to it.”
Milly's fingers knit rapidly. She was not
sure just where her stitches were leading.
Her mind surveyed a dozen threads at once.
Partridge's eyes regarded the fingers
mildly.
“I kept back something yesterday about
the room,” he said with gentle courtesy. “I
told you I must ask my friend-about your
having it.”
“That meant—?"
He bowed gravely. “It meant I must ask
her and I must ask Jimmie Tolles.”
"Both of them?” Her fingers knit in a
swift look.
“Both of them,” he answered. They really
had more to say about it than I had.”
[ 209 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"That I am paying it back?”
“That you took it?”
“Oh—” He winced a little. “No. He
doesn't know,” His voice lowered. “No
one knows—but you.” He looked at her
almost pleadingly.
Milly laid down her knitting. He was
holding out the envelope.
“You will give it to Mr. Geary,” he said,
"—and tell him—” The hand trembled a
little.
“You will tell him yourself in the morn-
ing. . . . You said you were ready to ?”
“Of course.” A faint sigh escaped him.
He got up. She saw he stood like an old
man. She glanced away.
“I am only going to ask one thing of you
—that you will not tell anyone else—till you
have seen Mr. Geary."
"Oh, I shall not tell anyone I am not
so proud of it.” He smiled sadly.
“—not even Jimmie Tolles,” she added.
He glanced at her sharply.
"Jimmie! Jimmie is the last person I
want to have know what I have done”
“I thought so!” She leaned forward and
w
[ 218 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
held out her hand. "I want to tell you how
much I appreciate your-owning up to it.”
He blinked.
"I couldn't do anything else, could I?
You wouldn't let me pay it back without
confessing.”
“No—the one who did it must own up.
It is his right. Mr. Geary believes that and
I believe it."
He looked at her a little uncertainly and
left the room.
[ 219 ]


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
In the inner office she settled down to her
knitting. Since everyone in the outer room
knew why she was here, there was no longer
any need of pretense and she sat and knitted
while they came and went on various errands.
The pattern grew under her fingers, and her
eyes followed it with searching glance. ...
The old bookkeeper shielding the two young
people, giving the protection of his name to
a room where they might exchange signals.
... She glanced across the court.
The girl could doubtless see when John
Geary was at his desk and when the room
was vacant. She would like to try that out
for herself. She would ask Partridge for the
key to number 624.
She passed into the outer office. Partridge
bending over his figures looked up with a
startled glance.
As she made her request for the key he
[ 220]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
shrank a little. She had a sense that Jimmie
Tolles was hovering near. As she turned
away she saw him glance sharply at Part-
ridge and bend to speak to him.
Two minutes later he burst into the inner
room.
Milly's work paused. He scowled.
“Of all the idiots—!” he said.
"Me?” She was smiling.
“Partridge!"
“Oh!” Her look deepened.
He came over to her, a little menacing-
“A nice third degree you must have put him
through!” he said tensely.
“Yes?”
"I might as well tell you, right now—that
I took that money!” He stood straight and
stiff, his hands in his pockets, looking at her.
“Yes?” She returned the gaze. “Then
where is it?”
He flushed and withdrew his hands
quickly.
"It's invested. I've ordered it sold. I
can't get it out right off-or I'd have re-
turned it before ever you were called in-to
queer things!” He spoke hostilely.
[ 221 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Milly's gaze held him a minute.
“Partridge says he took it,” she returned
equably.
He nodded.
“He told me what you made him own
up to!”
"He promised not to tell you."
“He's a baby!”
He came over and seized a chair and
whirled it and faced her. His arms were
folded on the back.
"If you will listen to me, Miss Millicent
Newberry—you can finish your 'detecting'
and go home!”
She smiled. He nodded gravely.
“I've had to come to it! You're keener
than I thought!”
“Thank you!
“It isn't a compliment,” he said quickly.
"You laid a trap for me—with Partridge!"
“You are keen too Jimmie.”
"I am keen enough for that—not to let
my friends suffer for what I've done!”
“I noticed you didn't want me to suspect
Johnson.”
"Nor anyone else!” he said hotly. “And
[ 222 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
you knew it when you forced Partridge—"
"I don't think I 'forced him. He seemed
rather eager to own up."
"To shield me—of course! He would do
anything for me--for any of us. He's like
a father to us. ... A father—!" He
laughed shortly. “You know what some
fathers are! ... Well, that's the whole
thing in a nut-shell! I knew I'd got to have
money. I took it. I should have paid it back
all right-"
"You knew Mr. Geary would follow it up,
didn't you?” She was looking at him keenly.
“I had to chance that. I knew he'd be
ashamed—leaving the money lying round
that way. I thought perhaps he'd hold off
a while—long enough for me to clean up.
All I needed was time. I knew a good thing
- I could have pulled it off, too. . . . And
now you come along and turn the screw on
Partridge—and of course it's all up!"
“Partridge has the money—twenty-five
thousand. He showcd it to me.” She studied
her web.
“Of course he has! It was left to him—"
He bit his lip. “You think you're clever
[223]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
- but it's the truth. He told me about it
himself. She was an opera singer. He
couldn't marry her—too poor. It all hap-
pened years ago. She married someone else,
and she died this last year-willed him a
legacy. He's just come into it.”
"It sounds romantic,” said Milly.
“It's the truth, I tell you! He's been
trying to lend me money ever since.”
"I don't doubt that,” said Milly. "He is
the soul of kindness.”
“It's more than kindness—when a man
is willing to be called a thief! ... I tell
you I took that money!”
"Yes?” She looked at him thoughtfully.
"You are willing to own up to it—to Mr.
Geary?”
“To anybody in the world—and the sooner
the better!” he said with emphasis. “I'd a
sight rather confess it to him than to you—
if you want to know!” He flung it at her.
“I have the option of saying what shall be
done with the one who took it, you know."
He flushed hotly.
“You can do any damn thing you like!
I don't care!"
[ 224 ]


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINL
SOMEONE at the next table smiled and
nodded and waved a hand. Then Tom Cor-
bin took up his dishes and came over carry-
ing them in both hands. A coffee cup bal-
anced precariously on one arm. He shifted
it and set it down with skilled touch.
“I had to be a waiter my last case-got it
down fine!”
“Fair,” she admitted. “Just a little flour-
ishy, wasn't it?”
He scowled. “That's the art! ... Well
-what's doing?" He settled himself and
looked at her.
"Not so much. . . . Jimmie Tolles has
confessed—”
“Oh—has he?" He chewed on it with sat-
isfaction. His eyes twinkled.
She looked across at him and they both
laughed.
“I don't say you're not a good scout,
[ 228 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
III
Milly—when it comes to the confessing
game-turning the screws on ’em!”
“I don't know how you do it,” he mused.
... “Come on in with me, why don't you-
I've got a dandy case on!”
She shook her head.
"I've told you a dozen times, Tom-you
don't let me have my own way.”
“Way!—What's way got to do with it?
What's 'way'—if you can catch 'em with the
goods on-get 'em to confess, the 'way' you
do!” He looked at her admiringly.
"All you need is someone to show you
where to look —You do the rest. . . . So
Jimmie Tolles owned up, did he? I won't
say I told you so!” He chuckled.
"He owned up to it just before I came
out to luncheon.”
“Well — that's finished! . . . Wonder
what the old man thinks about Corbin's
Agency now.”
“I haven't told him yet.”
“You're going to?” quickly.
“Oh, yes—when I'm sure about Jimmie
Tolles.”
[229]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
She shook her head. "Two of them, the
stenographer and the bookkeeper, think
Jimmie Tolles did it.”
“Jimmie thinks so, too."
“No—he only says he did it.”
“Humph! Trying to cover someone else ?"
"I don't know—As nearly as I make out,
he is afraid I am close on the track of some-
thing he doesn't want me to know. So he
kicks up a flurry and throws dust in my eyes
-by getting mad about Partridge's confess-
ing—and then finally saying he did it him-
self.”
“Maybe Partridge did do it—and Tolles
is covering him?”
She shook her head. "No. It's the other
way round. Partridge is trying to shield
Jimmie, and so is Mary Lacey—”
“She's the little stenographer?”
“Yes.”
"Pretty girl,” said Corbin.
Milly glanced at him—and ignored it.
“Jimmie is not thinking of Partridge or of
the stenographer. He is trying to cover up
something else—I am not quite sure what.
[ 231 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
... All I am sure is that he doesn't mean
I shall be sure!” She laughed.
Tom Corbin laughed too.
“Well—I bet on you, Milly. ... Too
bad it wasn't Tolles though!".
"Oh, no! Tolles is much too nice!” said
Milly with decision. “You wouldn't want
him mixed up in a vulgar theft.” She nodded
to a waiter and received her check and they
passed out to the street into the crowded
bustling throng.
At the door of the Hitchcock Building
she paused. “I have an errand here."
“So long!” said Tom. “Let me know how
the thing comes out."
“Yes.”
"And when you need a partner?”
Milly nodded absently and smiled. Al-
ready her thoughts were ascending the ele-
vator to Room 624
She had planned her time to avoid meeting
anyone. She made a shrewd guess that the
girl did not come to the room till nearer
closing time when she could wait till Jim-
mie signalled that the coast was clear and
she could come to the other office.
[ 232 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
She inserted her key in the lock of 624 and
the door swung open on a vacant room as
she had expected-only the chair and table
and typewriter. Nothing else to betray the
occupant—but in the air a faint impalpable
scent that charmed the nostrils. Milly drew
it in with a quick breath. Then she crossed
to the window and looked down. The window
of John Geary's private office stood open
and the curtains, drawn well back, let in the
afternoon light.
The room lay in shadow, but she could see
the desk and chair and the space between the
door and desk and a long mirror let into the
wall by the outer door. She took a small
mirror from her vanity case and moved it
in the light. The sun flashed back and she
opened the window and raised and lowered
the dancing spot of light and played it along
the opposite wall till she could control it to
an inch. Then she shot it skillfully between
the curtains of the lower window.
She watched it dance along the rug and
play on the desk and chair and door with
flitting light.
The door opened and she covered the mir-
[ 233 ]


CHAPTER THIRTY
As her elevator shot down she fancied for
an instant that she caught a glimpse in an
ascending car of a veiled face. But the car
passed swiftly. She only heard above her the
faint clang of a closing door as she stepped
into the lobby. ... If it were the girl she
would have to wait a long time for a signal
from Jimmie.
She smiled regretfully. She had a liking
for the two young things, that might inter-
fere with action.
She understood how Partridge felt and
how he had been willing to make a big sacri-
fice for their happiness.
She was not surprised to find him patrol-
ling the corridor of the fourth floor when
she stepped from the elevator.
“Isn't it early?" she asked. “Are you
through?"
"I came for a breath of air,” he said stiffly.
[ 235 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"It was close inside. I have a headache." He
moved toward the elevator shaft.
Milly passed on to the office. Only the
two women were at work there.
She glanced at the closed door to the inner
room and then at Marion Somers. “Mr.
Geary is not here?”
“No. Jimmie is in there. Mr. Geary
hardly ever comes as late as this. Did you
want him?"
"I will go in.” She took off her hat and
moved to Mary Lacey's desk. The girl
glanced up with a quick smile.
"I want to tell you something,” she said.
“Yes? A little later, when the others have
gone."
She opened the door to the inner office.
Jimmie Tolles looked up with annoyed
glance.
"I thought you were through!”
"No I came back.” She smiled, but his
face was unresponsive. He seemed listening
with intent gaze for a sound from the corri-
dor outside.
She moved to the desk.
[ 236 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
when all the office force was at work—when
John Geary himself had only stepped out
for a minute.
She took her knitting from her bag and
knit a row and then another and looked at it.
She had thought her work was nearly done.
... But there was a curious tangle in the
upper left-hand corner of her web that she
could not account for. She spread it out
and studied it-Jimmie Tolles and the girl
whose mother Partridge had loved. ...
Jimmie and Partridge were trying to shield
some secret together-each afraid of the
other.
Well—if all else failed she must bring
Jimmie Tolles and Partridge together before
John Geary and rely on the moment when
each confessed to the theft in his presence
and each denied the other any share in it. She
would like to see John Geary's face when
this happened.
Meantime she had a dozen things to do
before she could go to his house to dinner.
She finished the row and put away her
knitting and passed into the outer office.
Only Mary Lacey remained at her desk.
[ 238 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Milly went over and sat down by her.
"Jimmie gone?” she asked.
The girl nodded. “I was terribly afraid
he wouldn't go. He always stays late these
days. But he came right out and went off.
... What you been saying to him, Miss
Newberry?"
"He did most of the saying," said Milly.
“I listened. He told me he took the money"
“Oh—!” Her fingers gripped the bar of
her machine.
“Oh-h!” she whispered. “He didn't do it.”
"Not if he says so ?”
She shook her head. Her throat swallowed
quickly.
"He wouldn't own up-if he'd done it,”
she said low.
“Good!” Milly held it under her breath.
"Do you say that just because he is Jimmie?"
Her voice was curious.
“Not just because It's the way any-
body'd do that was honest and was trying
to cover up something."
“What do you think he's trying to cover
up? What could he?”
"I don't know—It might be something
[ 239 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
ner
about Mr. Geary maybe. He just worships
Mr. Geary.”
"I am going to dinner there tonight,”
said Milly.
“Are you?” The girl's face held some-
thing Milly could not quite gauge. It turned
to her half wistfully. “I know why they
asked you,” she said. “_because they like
you! Everybody likes you!"
[ 240 ]


CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
In her host that night she saw a new man.
She was a little puzzled at first at the look
of assured pride in his face and bearing as
he greeted her. He had come down at once
as soon as she was announced, and as he
stood by the fire talking with her she saw
that if he had not solved the mystery of his
office he had put it aside or it had been sup-
planted by some matter of greater interest
to him.
She referred to it tentatively and he moved
a hand
"Please let it go-for tonight."
“But I thought ..."
"That I wanted to talk about it. I do
but I am not in the mood. ... I am in the
mood to be very happy—".
She looked up.
A woman in the doorway at the other end
of the room was coming toward them. Milly
[ 241 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
Geary's wife did not intend to meet her. Her
look gathered it and she glanced at the face
of her host for what it might reveal. His
face was full of quiet happiness. Evidently
he did not find it necessary to explain his
wife's absence or excuse it. His eyes were
on the girl laughing at her sallies. He
glanced at Milly and again she read the invi-
tation to share his pleasure in the girl's
charm.
She found herself watching with detached
interest the happy interplay between the
two. . . . The girl was not an echo of her
father. She contradicted or agreed with him
as if together they were accustomed to
thresh things out. But Milly noted that while
John Geary led the conversation, it was the
girl's hand that turned it this way or that
with sure skill, but always with a little laugh-
ing deference to his opinions that kept the
relation of affection and pride intact between
them. She felt herself surrounded and drawn
into the atmosphere of gentleness and good
understanding. And when the conversation
turned on modern business methods and the
value of the personal equation in business,
[ 243 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
to her across the table. ... And behind it
all, a little in the shadow, John Geary re-
garding her with kindly intent eyes. ...
Then Tom Corbin's skeptical laugh broke
across it, disturbing and defiant.
Tom would say, “Don't mix business with
pleasure, Milly!”
She turned a golden shoulder on Tom.
But even while she turned it she felt a little
sorry for Tom. ... John Geary sitting
quiet in his shadow did not need her pity.
The servant bent to speak to him and he
rose, reluctant.
"I am wanted,” he said.
"I'll send your coffee in to you?”
“Yes. Don't wait for me. I'll join you soon.”
The daughter gave directions that a cup
of coffee be taken to him and then rose from
the table.
“We will have ours in the library," she
said. “It is cosier there.” They passed
through the long reception room and toward
the portrait that faced them at the end. In-
stinctively their steps stayed before it.
“They say I am like her—a little,” saiu
the girl.
[ 245 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“You are very like her. I noticed it at
once in fact, for a minute I though you
were the portrait.”
“Did you!” Her face flushed with pleas-
ure. “I would rather be like her than anyone
in the world. ... But I am not really like
her—a little in looks, perhaps, but that is
all, . . . She was always so—right!” The
word was wistful and Milly glanced quickly.
The girl's face had lost the radiant joy of
her father's presence. She was gazing at the
portrait with troubled eyes.
“It nearly killed me,” she said softly. “I
have not been the same since. Nothing is
the same—it couldn't be without her!”
Milly turned—“She is not dead?”
“You didn't know? Last year—more than
a year ago. I thought you knew!”
Milly's gaze was on the portrait. She
moved a hand. “You can not think of her-
except as living!”
"If only she were!” There was a murmur
of something deeper than regret in the words
and Milly stirred subtly. She felt the girl's
movement toward her as if in understanding.
"She was so wise—so poised! Father and
[ 246 ]


CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
THE room they entered was smaller than
the one where the portrait hung, and fur-
nished with the same bare simplicity, but
with richer coloring that the soft binding of
the books brought out and made homelike
in the firelight.
“This is my own place,” said the girl. She
settled down before the fire with an air of
contentment. While they drank their coffee
she seemed to study the woman across the
fire with a little look of detachment.
“Well?” Milly turned with a smile. The
girl nodded.
"I can't imagine you in the office. . . . I
am seeing why-now.”
"You had heard of me before?”
“And the Blake and Goodale account,”
She laughed musically. “Father calls you
his new-fangled idea. That is really why I
wanted him to ask you to dinner.”
[ 248 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"So it was you who gave me the pleasure?”
Her glance took in the girl and the room
with the firelight playing on the books in
gleanıs of gold.
“I wanted to see what you were like. I
was curious to see any woman whose new-
fangled ideas had impressed him so that he
thought even for a minute of introducing
them into his office. That office is a special
place, you know!” Her smile touched it
affectionately.
"It is a delightful place!” said Milly.
“Everyone is so interested and loyal.”
“I know!—That is my father. He trusts
everyone so and believes in them.” Her face
held quiet pride. “You heard him talk to-
night. He is always like that! I don't believe
he knows the meaning of temptation him-
self!"
She was looking thoughtfully into the fire.
“I often wonder how he understands every-
one—criminals, cowards, thieves and liars.
There isn't one of them he does not believe
in. He thinks everyone has a good spot
somewhere—if you can find it.”
“That is only common sense,” said Milly.
[ 249 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
"Do you think so?” Her eyes were dream-
ily on the fire.
"He is so rare in every way!” she said.
The eyes suddenly laughed. “Why, he will
not touch things that seem to me quite inno-
cent! I think he is a good deal shocked at
some of the things I want to do. But he
generally gives in in the end. I get my way!”
“What sort of things?” asked Milly. She
was smiling, but her wakened instincts were
suddenly alert. “I can't imagine anything
so very bad—that you would want to do.”
“Oh, they are not bad at all—just the
usual sort of things—investments. But he
has old-fashioned ideas about creating
wealth. He calls the stock exchange sky-
rockets and Fourth of July!" She laughed.
"Sky-rockets can eat up a great deal of
money,” said Milly. Her pulse was stirring.
“The stock exchange makes money for
me,” said the girl contentedly.
Milly looked about the beautiful room-
the harmonious coloring and books and pic-
tures, and the leaping fire. “I can not imag-
ine your needing money!” she said slowly.
The girl shot her a straight glance. “I
MC
[ 250 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
like the excitement!” Then as Milly's glarice
did not lower, she flushed a little.
“And I need money, too.” She spoke in
a low voice. She leaned forward with quiet
intensity
“You can understand! You are hardly
older than I, yet you seem so understanding
-as my mother might understand!” She
glanced behind her quickly at the long room
where the portrait hung.
"I am in love!” she said swiftly, "and my
father will never consent—he worships me!”
“Jimmie Tolles does too, doesn't he?”
She moved subtly—her eyes wide. "How
did you guess?"
"It was not so hard! Only I have been
stupid—I didn't know till a minute since!”
“My father does not know!” She shook
her head. “He will never consent—he does
not dream!”
"How do you know he will not consent?”
"His pride!” said the girl, “—pride for
me, not himself!” She spread her hands.
“Nothing is good enough for me. . . . I am
to marry a prince or a duke at the least. ...
[ 251 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
He crossed and stood looking down at
them contentedly. Milly stirred a little un-
der the kindly possession of the glance.
"I must go,” she said. “I have work this
evening and a busy day tomorrow.”
John Geary moved to order the car and
she turned quickly to the girl beside her and
touched her shoulder. It shivered a little.
“Tell him tonight,” she urged in a low
voice. “Tell him everything!” The word
paused.
The girl shook her head. “I dare not!"
"In the morning then—Come to the office.
You will never be sorry!” She spoke swiftly
and got up.
John Geary escorted her to the door and
put her in the car. He bent forward to say
good-night. The door closed. The car glided
into the busier street . . . and she saw his
face still, courteous and kind and subtly
stirred, looking at her with the little smile.
... and across it the face of Tom Corbin
--stubborn and ill at ease, admiring her
grudgingly—and needing her.
[ 254 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Yes.” The word assented absently. He
looked at her.
“You are worried about this case ?”
“No-only puzzled. . . . There is a piece
that doesn't fit in quite."
"Perhaps this will help.” He drew a paper
from his pocket and laid it on the table.
“These are all the shares on our records
of United Wire that changed hands between
August 25th and September 3rd. It's pretty
complete, I guess. We carry a hčavy block
of the stock ourselves and keep our eye on it.”
"I know. That is one reason I asked you
to help me with it.” She was running her
finger down the column. . . . She paused —
a little startled.
He waited, smiling-
"Found something you didn't expect?”
“Well—” She studied it. “Here are two
hundred shares on August 25th—bought for
J. A. Geary. And here on August 30th,
one hundred shares sold for him.”
“That's right-far as I know. Old Geary
been doing something he hadn't ought to?
... I'd sooner suspect Bunker Hill Monu-
[ 256 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS
FFICE
THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
ment—though he generally gets what he
wants—by hook or by crook.”
“What do you mean by that? Isn't he
honest?”
“Oh—honest as daylight! Only he man-
ages to get what he goes after.”
"I see. ... Do you happen to know how
the order came through and whether it was
paid in cash or by cheque?”
"Can't say offhand. Probably the usual
way—phone order and cheque from his
broker.”
She sat looking at the list. Presently she
took from her bag the list she had found in
the locked drawer and laid is beside the one
on the table. On that one John Geary had
bought on August 25th two hundred shares
of United Wire. ... There was nothing
strange in that. It was a good investment.
The puzzling thing was that the two hundred
shares of United Wire added to the other
items on the list made the exact sum of
twenty-five thousand dollars, and they had
been bought by John Geary himself.
Was John Geary forgetful? Did he make
out lists and dictate them to Mary Lacey
[ 257 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
and promptly forget them? Had he bought
the other items that added amounted to
twenty-five thousand dollars, in the same
way—and forgotten about them. ... Was
it possible that the years of repressed guilt
had induced in him a form of aphasia with
regard to money, that he was helpless under?
Had he returned by the outer door-taken
the money from the desk and gone out again
to invest it with no memory of the trans-
action?
Was John Geary perhaps a rascal? Play-
ing some game too deep for her. . . . She
looked up with a quick thought. She gazed
at the thought—and smiled.
Alan Sargent, watching her, smiled back.
“Tell me,” he said.
She shook her head. “Let me sleep on it!
I think I see” She drew a quick breath
and picked up the lists. “But I must talk
with John Geary first.”
[ 258 ]


CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
John GEARY in his private office reached
to the top letter of the pile the secretary had
laid there. ... The sun shining into the
mysterious office touched the rug and glinted
on the long mirror. A ray of light traveled
to the desk. Motes danced in it.
John Geary watched them dumbly. Then
his eyes dropped to the letter in his hand.
He could not have told whether he read it.
He saw only a face lifted in the firelight-
and the girl speaking, breathless-
“I love him, Dad!... I shall never love
anyone else—You must let me marry
Jimmie!”
He got up impatient and moved to the
window. Over the top of the building across
the court the sun was shining. He stared
at the blank wall—her face came between,
half-pleading, half-laughing. ...
[ 259 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
His own was stern. The secretary came
and looked in and drew back.
He glanced brusquely-
“No-not yet—I am not ready. Has Miss
Newberry come?”
“She is just here, I think.”
“Ask her to come in, please.”
She withdrew and he waited in grim
silence.
His daughter should not marry a thief —
even she had her pride. ... And if that
failed, there were other means—thanks to
Miss Newberry! His hand clinched....
She had telephoned him, an hour since, that
her work was finished. The money had been
traced. The thief would be ready to confess
if John Geary would be at his office at ten
o'clock.
Then just at the last, before she hung up,
her voice came low and quiet-
"I think I ought to tell you, Mr. Geary,
that you will perhaps he disappointed.” ...
Only that before she rang off.
So it was Jimmie Tolles! His smile waited
grimly.
The door opened. It was Millicent New-
[ 260 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“Then perhaps you will understand how
I feel about her. She has had the best there
is so far. She always will—if I can manage
it. Some day she will marry a man of pres-
tige and power.” He sat looking at his
daughter's future.
“Not such a man as her mother married!”
he added a little bitterly.
She glanced up quickly. "You will not
consent, then?”
“Never!” His hand came down on the
desk with firm light touch. “I would see her
dead first!”
Milly knit a row before she looked up.
The two zigzag lines were close together.
The last stitch joined them.
“There are worse things than death,” she
said gently. She drew out her needle. “I
want to tell you about the money.”
He leaned forward. His hand holding
the desk trembled a little.
"I will tell you what happened. You can
judge as well as I what the facts were—
perhaps better.
“The money lay here—as you left it.” She
[ 262 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
touched the desk. “Jimmie Tolles came in
and saw it lying here—and was going to
put it away for you. That was his first
thought-to protect you.”
He stirred a little—but his face did not
relax.
“Then there came a knock on that door—"
She nodded.
He wheeled and glanced at the door-and
then at her quiet face. It was intent on her
work.
“Well—?" he said sharply.
She looked up. “You know they have had
to meet when and how they could. . . . They
dared not face your pride.”
"You mean she came in—?”
"She saw you go out, and took the chance.
There was only a minute. They knew you
would return—they could only whisper-
listen-exchange a quick kiss perhaps. Then
Jimmie was back at his desk.”
"She was not here when I came in,” he
said huskily. He looked about the room.
The sunlight seemed suddenly uncertain.
"She remained a few minutes. Then she
left, as she came—by that door. No one
[ 263 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
saw her come-no one saw her go. The
only one that knew—was Jimmie Tolles.”
He moistened his lips a little.
“Well—?"
“When Partridge came a little later to
leave some papers for you, she was not here
-and the money was not here.” She laid
a hand on the desk.
He stared at it. His face was dull.
"Who said—this?” he asked harshly.
"No one. . . . But you will find it is true.
It is what happened.”
“That my daughter stole from me?" He
laughed shortly.
“She took the money-yes."
“And she is coming to confess it?" He
looked about him.
"No. Jimmie Tolles is coming to confess
it-when you are ready to hear him.”
His hand dropped to the desk. The dry
smile on his lip remained fixed.
"He will say-he took it?”
“Yes—you have only to accept his word
for it.”
He got up, his hands thrust in his pockets
and moved to the window. He lifted his
[ 264 ]


THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
gaze to the building across the court and
stepped back swiftly. ...
He stared at the detective and put out a
hand-
“What is she doing there?” he said
hoarsely. He lifted the hand in a quick ges-
ture to the window.
Milly came to his side. The blank window
looked down on them coldly. She smiled at it.
"She was looking for you, I think.”
His face was hard. He came back to the
desk and sat down.
“Go on!” he said. “I want the facts now.
Give me the facts!”
She took up her knitting and looked at
the golden web and knit a few stitches. The
clock ticked sharply in the silence. She looked
across at him.
“The facts lie,” she said.
“Give me the truth then!”
She took a paper from her bag and laid
it on the desk.
“These investments stand in your name.
I have verified all but three of them.”
"Anne bought— But she did not have"
His lip went pale.
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
“You think perhaps he did take it—" He
looked away——“and gave it to her?”
"I think if you let Jimmie speak—you
will find out the truth. Shall I call him in?”
He nodded gravely and she stepped to
the door.
He came in with a half-defiant look at the
detective and a nod to his employer.
“Sit down,” said Geary. He seemed
searching the boy with new kindly eyes.
“I'd rather stand, sir-if you don't mind.”
He held his head high. "And I'd like the
others to hear what I am going to say. I
don't want things gossiped about behind my
back!”
He cast a cool look at Milly. She met it
with a smile and looked at John Geary.
He nodded.
“Ask them all to come in."
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He turned to John Geary
“You see how it is, sir. He thinks it doesn't
matter, because he is an old man-and he
wants to give me my chance. He doesn't
quite understand the chance you are giving
me—to live it down and make good with the
help of all of us." His glance swept them
affectionately. It rested last on the girl
standing by her father.
Her little puzzled smile flashed to him.
Her father's face was white. She turned
to him.
"I don't know just what it is all about-
but whatever has happened, I know Jimmie
is lying. . . . Why—” A flush spread over
her face lighting it vividly-
“Jimmie could no more do a thing like
that than-than-I could!” She spread her
hands.
Her father wheeled.
“Go on!” he commanded swiftly.
She faced him.
His finger touched the desk.
"You were here—and the money was here
-on the desk. Twenty-five thousand dol-
lars.”
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bir
“No.... I had changed my mind. I
had decided to stand by you—whatever you
did. And I wrote out my cheque instead.”
He looked at her. “I meant to give it to
you that night.”
She stared. “But you did not do it!”
“Because you did not ask for it. I hoped
you had given up the idea. Instead—” His
hand made a movement to the desk. “In-
stead—”
She caught the hand and held it,
“Instead, I had taken your twenty-five
thousand! ... Why, I thought you meant
it for me! Oh—” Her look flooded the
room-
"How you all lied for me!” Her look
rested on Jimmie Tolles.
“And you thought I did it!” reproach-
fully.
“I knew you didn't!" His face was serene.
“I didn't care whether you did or not. Only
the facts lied—somebody had to lieto keep
up with 'em! I didn't do it very well. I
couldn't produce the goods. ...
"You never really believed me" He
turned to Millicent Newberry.
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THE MYSTERIOUS OFFICE
-with the full and unqualified consent of
John Geary.” She glanced at him.
“You approve the sentence?"
His eyes were on her with a look of quiet
possession and happiness. She flushed a
little under it.
“With my full and unqualified consent!”
he replied.
Her fingers folded the golden web. "Then
that is finished.”
She turned to Jimmie Tolles—“Better
get your license today,” she said. With Un-
cle George between them, a hand on either
arm, the two young people passed from the
room.
Mary Lacey's finger touched the golden
web—
“What has it made?" she asked wistfully.
“I hardly know myself—yet! Run and
tell them you wish them happiness. Then
you are going home with me.”
She went out with shining face.
Milly picked up her web. “I am taking
Mary Lacey. You will forgive me?”
He smiled. Something in the look held
itself in check. “May I come and see you
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