One 19
III. Torchy Pulls the Deep Stuff 37
IV. A Frame-up for Stubby 56
V. The Vamp in the Window 73
VI. Turkeys on the Side 91
VII. Ernie and His Big Night 108
VIII. How Babe Missed His Step 126
IX. Hartley and the G. O. G.'s 145
X. The Case of Old Jonesey 164
XI. As Lucy Lee Passed By 182
XII. Torchy Meets Ellery Bean 200
XIII. Torchy Strays from Broadway 222
XIV. Subbing for the Boss 238
XV. A Late Hunch for Lester 256
XVI. Torchy Tackles a Mystery 272
XVII. With Vincent at the Turn 290

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TORCHY AND VEE

CHAPTER I

THE QUICK SHUNT FOR PUFFY

I must say I didn't get much excited at first over this Marion Gray
tragedy. You see, I'd just blown in from Cleveland, where I'd been
shunted by the Ordnance Department to report on a new motor kitchen. And
after spendin' ten days soppin' up information about a machine that was
a cross between a road roller and an owl lunch wagon, and fillin' my
system with army stews cooked on the fly, I'm suddenly called off.
Someone at Washington had discovered that this flying cook-stove thing
was a problem for the Quartermaster's Department, and wires me to drop
it.

So I was all for enjoyin' a little fam'ly reunion, havin' Vee tell me
how she's been gettin' along, and what cute little tricks young Master
Richard had developed while I'm gone. But right in the midst of our
intimate little domestic sketch Vee has to break loose with this outside
sigh stuff.

"I can't help thinking about poor Marion," says she.

"Eh?" says I, lookin' up from the crib where young Snookums has just
settled himself comfortable and decided to tear off a few more hours of
slumber. "Which Marion?"

"Why, Marion Gray," says she.

"Oh!" says I. "The old maid with the patient eyes and the sad smile?"

"She is barely thirty," says Vee.

"Maybe," says I; "but she's takin' it hard."

"Who wouldn't?" says Vee.

And havin' got that far, I saw I might as well let her get the whole
story off her chest. She's been seein' more and more of this Marion Gray
person ever since we moved out here to Harbor Hills. Kind of a plump,
fresh-colored par