FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  
ay as though he had been caught up with. And he could not understand. Directly the exchange called his name and he responded quite sharply and briskly. Then her "Just a minute," and he was feeling suddenly taut and tense. And then the voice was switched on again. Like a dream it came. He could barely make out the syllables. The voice was broken--seemed very far-away--very weak. It was telling him that his uncle--his uncle, Mr. Mosby--"Brrr! Brrr!"--and had not been seen since. There was a moment's pause. And then--would he come? Another pause and he had vague notions that that was all. And yet he had not heard. Yes, he would come. There was a click and then silence, and there he was, sitting just as though he had dreamed it all. Then a voice called, "Did you get them?" And he mechanically put up the receiver without a word. Something had happened--just what, he could only guess--make out piecemeal. There was trouble--he could feel that. Uncle Buzz had somehow stepped beyond the pale. He had heard the words "all night" and "no trace of him." This was no ordinary trouble. This was not a matter of trial balance. He opened the door and stepped out into the office. It was a changed place. Over there was his long flat-topped desk with the opened ledger upon it. A sheet of paper had blown to the floor and was sliding over toward him, its edges curling lazily. These seemed live, vibrant features. One of the clerks across the way had thought of something humorous and was leaning forward to tell his vis-a-vis. It had been so vital that he had laid his pen down to tell it. He was talking with half-shut lips, with eyes that shifted back and forth alert for a glance of disfavour. His rusty black derby sat on the back of his head: his white pique tie had slipped away from a bright brass collar button.... Through the open door he could see Mr. Boner hunched up over his desk and as he watched, that gentleman suddenly plunged his head in a ducking motion toward the cuspidor on the floor and just as quickly bent down again over the desk. Like fire-flashes of consciousness all these things were. These were things going on outside of him. There was a world moving on outside of him, a world that took little count of the creatures in its path. All this--all this about him--was like a bit of stale, flat, slightly greenish backwater--the big wheels churning away just beyond and paying it no attention, letting it grow staler an
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

stepped

 
trouble
 
things
 

opened

 
called
 
suddenly
 
button
 

Through

 

collar

 

slipped


bright
 

responded

 

leaning

 

forward

 
sharply
 
talking
 

glance

 

shifted

 

disfavour

 
watched

slightly
 

creatures

 

greenish

 

backwater

 
letting
 

staler

 

attention

 
paying
 

wheels

 
churning

ducking
 

motion

 

cuspidor

 

quickly

 

exchange

 
plunged
 

hunched

 

humorous

 

gentleman

 
caught

moving

 

understand

 

Directly

 

flashes

 
consciousness
 

clerks

 

receiver

 
Something
 

mechanically

 

happened