FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103  
104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   >>   >|  
man were gifted with prescience Dr. Dohl would have stared out of countenance the tall young man who sat on a bench in the outer office of the state's overlord and nursed a broad-brimmed hat upon his knees. XIII THE CODE AND THE GAGE OF BATTLE "I appreciate zeal in public affairs," mused Colonel Dodd, gazing at the door which Dr. Dohl had closed behind him. "But once there was a retriever dog who chased his master with a stick of dynamite that had a sputtering fuse." He set his broad hands upon the arms of his chair, derricked himself up, and went over to the mirror. He peered at himself and seemed to rearrange his countenance, much as a woman would smooth the ruffled plumage of her hat. "We're not murderers," he informed the composed visage which the mirror held forth to him. "But we haven't got to the point where we're letting lunatics who break up city government meetings, or crank doctors, tell us how to spend a million or two of the money we've worked hard to accumulate. There's getting to be too much of this telling business men in this country how to run their business. If we're peddling typhoid fever in spite of what our analyses tell us, then we'll go ahead, of course, and clean up." Colonel Dodd was willing to acknowledge that much to himself, surveying his countenance in the mirror. "But we'll continue to run our own business," he added. Then he sat down again in his chair and pushed a button. "Briggs," he directed, "send in those three men from Danburg." He whirled his swivel-chair and sat there at his desk, his rectangular front squared to meet them. The three men who came in were of the rural businessmen type, and their faces were not amiable. Two of them halted in the middle of the sumptuous apartment and the third stepped a couple of paces ahead of them. He carried a huge roll of engineers' plans under his arm. "My name is Davis, as I suppose you know, Colonel Dodd," he reported. "Have seats, gentlemen." "We are tired of sitting," stated the spokesmen, with sour significance. "I understand, Mr. David. But mornings are very busy times for me. I was attending to appointments made beforehand. You made no appointment, and I was not expecting you." There was silence, and the three men glowered on him. It was evident that settled animosity emboldened these country merchants even in the presence of Colonel Symonds Dodd. "I was not expecting you, I say." The colonel's dem
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103  
104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Colonel
 

business

 

countenance

 

mirror

 

country

 
expecting
 
middle
 

halted

 
Danburg
 

amiable


pushed

 

sumptuous

 
stepped
 

couple

 
continue
 

apartment

 
Briggs
 
squared
 

rectangular

 

businessmen


directed

 

whirled

 

swivel

 

button

 

reported

 

appointment

 

silence

 

glowered

 

appointments

 

attending


evident

 
Symonds
 

presence

 

colonel

 

merchants

 
settled
 

animosity

 
emboldened
 

mornings

 
suppose

engineers
 

surveying

 
significance
 
understand
 

spokesmen

 

stated

 
gentlemen
 

sitting

 
carried
 

retriever