Jump to content

Page:Speedy (1928).pdf/96

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

have to take his Jane out into the hall privately to talk to her! Who was he anyway?

He turned to ask Pop Dillon. The old man, finding Harold was shirking his task again, had got up disgustedly and left the room. In a few minutes Jane returned again, flushed and smiling.

"Who was that fellow?" Harold asked at once in a not-too-pleasant voice.

Jane pouted. "He's rented your old room, if you want to know. His name is Steven Carter and he's going to sleep and eat here."

"Where did he come from?"

"He's a very prominent Wall Street man. Rich too."

"Then what's he doing here?"

"How do I know? It's enough for me that he paid two weeks' board in advance—cash. He's a very nice man. He just gave me two tickets for Coney Island, one for Luna Park and one for Steeplechase. And if you're going to be so surly about him, Harold, I won't invite you to go there tomorrow with me and use them."

"I couldn't go anyway. I've got to look for a job."

"You mean you've got to go up to the ball game," said Jane with unaccustomed tartness. Then, attempting to hide her disappointment with an airy threat, "Maybe I can get somebody else to go with me. Mr. Carter said he'd be glad to go himself if he wasn't going to be so busy tomorrow on a very special matter. But I guess I can coax him to—"

"I'll go," Speedy cut in quickly.