Burning Daylight

ential, and only clerk, and all the rest of the accessories of a superman's gambling place of business. Had he been asked any time during the first months she was in his employ, h

nor was he interested. He took it for granted, in the lack of any impression to the contrary, that she was dressed some how. He knew her as "Miss Mason," and that was all, though he was aware that as a

. The I shall was alone. It stood out conspicuously. He pressed the call-bell twice, and a moment later Dede Mason entered. "Did I say that, Mis

sorry. But it's not a mistake,

enged Daylight. "It sure don't so

and now turned the offending letter i

all those I wills wro

audacious answer. "

ave, serious air, listening intently to the sound of his own voice. He shook his head. "It don't sound right, Miss Mason. It

nd passed out to her machi

y other time it would have passed unnoticed, but, fresh from the tilt with his stenographer, Daylight was struck immediately by the Engli

the members whom he knew to have been a col

ht, I shall be over to look that affair up on Monday

lly for a minute. "Blessed if I know,"

ill, of

, depend upon it. I alwa

uned aloud at the end of the session. For the first time it struck him that there was something about his stenographer. He had accepted her up to then, as a female creature and a bit of office furnishing. But now, having demonstrated

ss was satisfying. He knew none of the details of women's dress, and he saw none of the details of her neat shirt-waist and well-cut tai

r," was his verdict, when the o

she did her hair, though for the life of him he could have given

olden bronze. A pale sun, shining in, touched the golden bronze into smouldering fires that wer

on which had caused the trouble the day before. He r

you halfway th

waiting to go on with the dictation. But in that moment of her glance Daylight had noted that her eyes were gray. He was later to learn that at times there were golden lights in tho

d, with a sheepish grin that sat incongr

nd an acknowledging smile, and this time he

st the same," he complained.

to make amends, and then spoiled i

wardness, and the sun would persist

an to be fun

. But it is right, and

d the dictation went on. He discovered that in the intervals, when she had nothing

's poems and glanced bepuzzled through the pages. "You l

s her answer;

lls', The Wheels of Change. "Wha

She stopped, but he still stood waiti

falls in with a young girl very much above him. Her mother is a popular writer and all tha

her?" Dayli

he point of i

all them pages, hundreds of them, to find

s nettled as

g and financial news by

s business, and it's different. I get mone

view, new i

th a cen

th more than ca

ce, "so long as you enjoy it. That's what counts

like that of a barbarian face to face with the evidence of some tremendous culture. To Daylight culture was a wort

ized the cover. It was a magazine correspondent's book on the Klondike, and he knew that he and his photograph figured in

a lady-killer,-he, Burning Daylight,-and to have a woman kill herself out of love for him. He felt that he was a most unfortunate man and wondered by what luck that one book of all the thousands of books should have fallen into his stenographer's h

vent his personal grievance against Miss Mason

e to work with in the office, of course, but sh

e that out?" Da

anything to do with a fellow, you see. I've asked her out repeatedly, to the theatre and the chutes and such things. But nothin

sfaction. She was a bit above the ordinary, and no dou

hem. I've heard it pretty straight that she goes to all their hops and such things. Rather stylish and high-toned for a stenographer, I'd say. And she keeps a horse, too. She rides astr

r people?" Da

re he died. Her mother died long before that. Her brother must cost a lot of money. He was a husky once, played football, was great on hunting and being out in the mountains and such things. He got his accident breaking horses, and then rheumatism or so

new, for he heard the chaffing gossip of the club; but he did not think much of such men and felt sorry for the girls. He had a strange notion that a man had less rights over those he employed than over mere acquaintances or strangers. Thus, had Miss Mason not been his employee, he was confident that he would have had her to luncheon or the theatre in no time. But he felt that it was an imposition for an emplo

o with a good-looking, gentlemanly fellow like Morrison. Also, and down under all his other reasons, Daylight was timid. The only thing he had ever been afraid of in his life was woman, and he had been afraid all his life. Nor was