dictate some of the mornin' correspondence to her, I swung round with
a grin on my face and took a second look. She was fussed and scared.

No wonder; for Mr. Robert has a shorthand system of his own that he uses
in dictatin' letters. He'll reel off the name and address all right, and
then simply sketch in what he wants said, without takin' pains to throw
in such details as "Replying to yours of even date," or "We are in
receipt of yours of the 20th inst." And the connectin' links he always
leaves to the stenog.

Course that don't take much bean after they get used to his ways; but
this fairy in the puckered black velvet waist and the white linen cuffs
hadn't been on the Corrugated staff more 'n three days, and this was her
first tryout on private officework. She'd been told to read over the
last letter fired at her, and she was doin' it like this:

BAILY, BANKS & BAKER, Something-or-other Chestnut, Philadelphia.
Look up the number, will you? Gentlemen--and so on. Ah--er--what's
that note of theirs? Oh, yes! Shipments of ore will be resumed--

Which was where Mr. Robert stops her. "Pardon me," says he, "but before
we go any further just how much of that rubbish do you mean to
transcribe?"

"Why," says Ruby, starin' at him vacant, "I--I took down just what you
said."

"Mm-m-m!" says he sarcastic. "My error. And--er--that will be all."
Then, when she's gone, he growls savage: "Delightful, eh? You noticed
her, didn't you, Torchy?"

"The mouth breather?" says I. "Sure! That's Ruby. Nobody home, and the
front door left open. One of Piddie's finds, I expect."

"Ring for him, will you?" says Mr. Robert.

Poor Piddie! He was almost as fussed as Ruby had been. He admits takin'
her on, but insists that she brought a good letter from some Western
mill concern and was a wonder at takin' figures.

"Keep her on them and out of here, then," says Mr. Robert. "And if you
love peace, Mr. Piddie, avoid sending her to the governor."

Which was a good hunch too. What Old Hickory would have remarked if them
letters had got to him it ain't best to imagine. Besides, that stare of
Ruby's would have got on his nerves from the start; for it's the
weirdest, emptiest, why-am-I-here look I ever saw outside a nut fact'ry.
Kind of a hauntin' look too. I couldn't help watchin' for it every time
I passes through the front office, just to see if it had changed any.
And it didn't--always the same!

Then here one day when I has t