s me tilted back with my heels up and the suds artist decoratin'
my map until it looks like a Polish weddin' cake. Don't it hit you
foolish the first time, though? I felt like everybody in the shop,
includin' the brush boy and the battery of lady manicures, was all
gathered around pipin' me off as a raw beginner. So I stares haughty at
the ceilin' and tries to put on a bored look.

I'd been scraped twice over, and was just bein' unwrapped from the hot
towel, when I turns to see who it is has camped down in the next chair,
and finds Mr. Robert gazin' at me curious.

"Why!" says he, chucklin'. "If it isn't Torchy! Indulging in a shave,
eh?"

"Oh, no, Sir," says I. "Been havin' my eye teeth tested for color
blindness, that's all."

Mr. Robert grins amiable and reaches out for the check. "This is on me
then," says he. "I claim the privilege."

As he comes in after luncheon he has to stop and grin again; and later
on, when I answers the buzzer, he makes me turn clear around so he can
inspect the effect and size up the new suit.

"Excellent, Torchy!" says he. "Whoever your tailor may be, you do him
credit."

"This trip I paid cash, though," says I. "It's all right, is it?"

"In every particular," says he. "Why, you look almost grown up. May I
ask the occasion? Can it be that Miss Verona is on the point of
returning from somewhere or other?"

"Uh-huh," says I. "Bermuda. Got in yesterday."

"And Aunty, I trust," goes on Mr. Robert, "is as well as usual?"

"I'm hoping for the worst," says I; "but I expect she is."

We swaps merry expressions again, and Mr. Robert pats me chummy on the
shoulder. "You're quite all right, Torchy," says he, "and I wish you
luck." Then the twinkle fades out of his eyes and he turns serious. "I
wish," he goes on, "that I could do more than just--well, some time,
perhaps." And with another friendly pat he swings around to his desk,
where the letters are stacked a foot high.

Say, he's the real thing, Mr. Robert is, no matter if he does take it
out in wishin'! It ain't every boss would do that much, specially with
the load he's carryin'. For you know since Old Hickory's been down South
takin' seven kinds of baths, and prob'ly cussin' out them resort doctors
as they was never cussed before, Mr. Robert Ellins has been doin' a
heap more than give an imitation of bein' a busy man. But he's there
with the wallop, and I guess it's goin' to take more'n a commerce court
to put the Corrugated out