GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Made in the United States of America
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY McCLURE's MAGAZINE, INCORPORATED
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY P. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY IN THE UNITED STATES,
GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE CROWELL PUBLISHING COMPANY,
AND THE PICTORIAL REVIEW COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
| PAGE | |
| The Afternoon of a Faun | 1 |
| Old Man Minick | 34 |
| Gigolo | 69 |
| Not a Day Over Twenty-One | 106 |
| Home Girl | 150 |
| Ain't Nature Wonderful! | 188 |
| The Sudden Sixties | 222 |
| If I Should Ever Travel! | 259 |
Though he rarely heeded its summons—cagy boy that he was—the telephonerang oftenest for Nick. Because of the many native noises of the place,the telephone had a special bell that was a combination buzz and ring.It sounded above the roar of outgoing cars, the splash of the hose, thesputter and hum of the electric battery in the rear. Nick heard it,unheeding. A voice—Smitty's or Mike's or Elmer's—answering its call.Then, echoing through the grey, vaulted spaces of the big garage: "Nick!Oh, Ni-ick!"
From the other side of the great cement-floored enclosure, or in muffledtones from beneath a car: "Whatcha want?"
"Dame on the wire."
"I ain't in."
The obliging voice again, dutifully repeating the message: "He ain'tin.... Well, it's hard to say. He might be in in a couple hours and[Pg 2]then again he might not be back till late. I guess he's went to Hammondon a job——" (Warming to his task now.) "Say, won't I do?... Who'sfresh! Aw, say, lady!"
You'd think, after repeated rebuffs of this sort, she could not possiblybe so lacking in decent pride as to leave her name for Smitty or Mike orElmer to bandy about. But she invariably did, baffled b