laire had dug up her heroine.
And, no matter how strong Auntie protests that she ain't that sort of a
party now, and hasn't been for years and years, Claire keeps right on.
She's a consistent admirer, even if she is a little late.

"If I had only known it was you!" says she.

"Then--then you'll come to Meadowbrae with me?" asks Mrs. Parker Smith.

"You bet!" says Claire. "Between you and me, this art career of mine has
rather fizzled out. Besides, keeping it up has got to be rather a bore.
Honest, a spaghetti and cigarette life is a lot more romantic to read
about than it is to follow. Whether I could learn to run a dairy farm or
not, I don't know; but, with an aunt like you to coach me along, I'm
blessed if I don't give it a try. When do we start?"

"But," says Vee to me, later, "I can't imagine her on a farm."

"Oh, I don't know," says I. "Didn't you notice she couldn't smoke
without gettin' it up her nose?"

CHAPTER X

ALL THE WAY WITH ANNA

Believe me, Belinda, this havin' a boss who's apt to stack you up casual
against stuff that would worry a secret service corps recruited from
seventh sons is a grand little cure for monotonous moments. Just because
I happen to get a few easy breaks on my first special details seems to
give Old Hickory the merry idea that when he wants someone to do the
wizard act, all he has to do is press the button for me. I don't know
whether my wearin' the khaki uniform helps out the notion or not. I
shouldn't wonder.

Now, here a week or ten days ago, when I leaves Vee and my peaceful
little home after a week-end swing, I expects to be shot up to Amesbury,
Mass., to inspect a gun-limber factory. Am I? Not at all. By 3 P.M. I'm
in Bridgeport, Conn., wanderin' about sort of aimless, and tryin' to
size up a proposition that I'm about as well qualified to handle as a
plumber's helper called in to tune a pipe organ.

Why was it that some three thousand hands in one of our sub-contractin'
plants was bent on gettin' stirred up and messy about every so often, in
spite of all that had been done to soothe 'em?

Does that listen simple, or excitin', or even interestin'? It didn't to
me. Specially after I'd given the once-over to this giddy mob of Wops
and Hunkies and Sneezowskis.

The office people didn't know how many brands of Czechs or Magyars or
Polacks they had in the shops. What they was real sure of was that a
third of the bunch had walked out twice within the last month, a