Hearts of Three

chair, ticker flung aside and forgotten as with the exultant joy of a boy he examined the toys and, one after another, began trying them, switching them through the air till they made shrill whip-like noises, moving them gently with prudence and precision under the lofty ceiling as he made believe to cast across the floor into some unseen pool of trout-lurking mystery.

A telephone buzzed. Irritation was swift on his face.

"For heaven's sake answer it, Parker, he commanded. "If it is some silly stock-gambling female, tell her I'm dead, or drunk, or down with typhoid, or getting married, or anything calamitous."

After a moment's dialogue, conducted on Parker's part, in the discreet and modulated tones that befitted absolutely the cool, chaste, noble dignity of the room, with a "One moment, sir," into the transmitter, he muffled the transmitter with his hand and said:

"It's Mr. Bascom, sir. He wants you."

"Tell Mr. Bascom to go to hell," said Francis, simulating so long a cast