Free Air - Page 84/176

"Nice Jeff!" she whispered.

"Oh, my dear!" he implored. He shook his head in a wistful way that

caught her heart, and dutifully went back to informing Mr. Boltwood of

the true state of the markets.

"Talk to Claire too!" she demanded. She stopped, stared. From outside

she heard a nervous pit-pit-pit, a blurred dialogue between Mr. James

Barmberry and another man. Into the room rambled Milt Daggett, dusty of

unpressed blue suit, tired of eyes, and not too well shaved of chin,

grumbling, "Thought I'd never catch up with you, Claire---- Why----"

"Oh! Oh, Milt--Mr. Daggett---- Oh, Jeff, this is our good friend Milt

Daggett, who has helped us along the road."

Jeff's lucid rimless spectacles stared at Milt's wind-reddened eyes; his

jaunty patch-pocket outing clothes sniffed at Milt's sweater; his even

voice followed Milt's grunt of surprise with a curt "Ah. Mr. Daggett."

"Pleased meet you," faltered Milt.

Jeff nodded, turned his shoulder on Milt, and went on, "The fact is, Mr.

Boltwood, the whole metal market----"

Milt was looking from one to another. Claire was now over her first

shocked comparison of candied fruits with motor grease. She rose, moved

toward Milt, murmuring, "Have you had dinner?"

The door opened again. A pink-haired, red-faced man in a preposterous

green belted suit lunged in, swept his broad felt hat in greeting, and

boomed like a cheap actor: "Friends of my friend Milt, we about to dine salute you. Let me

introduce myself as Westlake Parrott, better known to the vulgar as

Pinky Parrott, gentleman adventurer, born in the conjunction of Mars and

Venus, with Saturn ascendant."

Jeff had ignored Milt. But at this absurd second intrusion on his

decidedly private dinner-party he flipped to the center of the room and

said "I beg your pardon!" in such a head-office manner that the

pink-locked Mystery halted in his bombast. Claire felt wabbly. She had

no theories as to where Milt had acquired a private jester, nor as to

what was about to happen to Milt--and possibly to her incautious self.