Dick started and glanced consciously at Norris, who grinned back.
"Of course that puts another light on it," Mr. Percival said after a
decent pause, and trying to compose his face to a judicial expression.
"I'd hate to put a stumbling-block in the way of a girl like that.
Ah-um--I'll speak to my mother about it, Miss Huntress, and I dare say
I can persuade her to allow it."
"That's very good of you," Miss Huntress answered,--with sad
comprehension that a complexion like Lena's was a great aid to a
literary career. "You couldn't manage to let Miss Quincy go up this
afternoon, could you?" she went on with characteristic energy in pushing
an advantage. "It would be a good thing if she could get her first stuff
ready for the Saturday-night issue."
"My mother, I suppose, is driving this afternoon," Dick said
hesitatingly. He went through a hasty calculation and saw reasons for
cutting out certain of his own engagements. "See here, Miss Huntress, if
you're in such a hurry, I don't mind taking Miss Quincy up and telling
her what I know about old editions and rare folios. I'll make it right
with mother afterward."
Miss Huntress' face cleared perceptibly.
"You're awfully good, Mr. Percival. Won't you come down to my office
now, and I'll introduce you to Miss Quincy? This is a real favor." Dick
shot a glance of triumph at Ellery, believing himself a skilled sly dog
of a manipulator, and not knowing that he was the manipulated. Norris
spoke in scorn.
"I suppose righteousness and reform can wait now."
"You can bet they will. I'll call on you to-morrow afternoon, Norris."
"That's the usual fate of reform. Don't be a fool, Dick." But Dick was
already disappearing down the corridor in pursuit of the able woman
editor.
The girl waiting in the disordered office looked more than ever like a
bridesmaid rose, pink and ruffled and out of its proper setting, as she
saw Mr. Percival coming.
"Miss Quincy," said Dick, "I have a motor down stairs, and I'll take you
up to the house right away, if you don't mind."
If she didn't mind!
When youth starts out to revolutionize the world, it meets with many
distractions. Even in the hour that Dick spent in the quiet old library
with Miss Quincy, he met with distractions. He tried to keep her mind on
missals and Aldine editions, but she persisted in poring over old copies
of Godey's Lady's Book, which she found tucked away in a forgotten
corner. Nobody but Lena could have scented them out.
"The fashions are so funny, Mr. Percival!" she insisted. "Do look at
these preposterous hoop-skirts and the little short waists. Did you say
that no one knows how that gold leaf was put on that ugly old book? How
absurd! I must put that down. I suppose that is the kind of thing I have
to write up."