The Haunted Bookshop

appeari

vening, "I think perhaps we had better introduc

d Helen. "You know it isn't ever

nia. "I don't think anybody ever read

len to Roger, in a teasing mood, "and I'll take Titani

bookseller's downcast face that a visit to Tarzan would break his h

rroughs; isn't it? Oh, Mrs. Mifflin, I think it would be very tediou

aid Helen. "When anybody rings the bell

said Titania. "I want to

settle Miss Chapman in the den and give her

e reading. "Why don't we postpone the

tania. "I should think was

ng," said Helen. "Mr. Mifflin an

into the kitchen with his wife, whence Titania heard the cheerful clank of crockery in a dishpan and the splashing of hot water. "The b

over," and then seeing the morning Times lying on the table, picke

AND

nts an a

le pearl brooch, she ran hastily th

eeth. Call or communicate Steel, 134 E

he saw

g Street, Brooklyn, and the Octagon Hotel. If found before midn

what a funny kind of book for an assistant chef to r

a few minutes later she showed the bookseller

ing for it, and it wasn't on the shelf. Then the next night, Wednesday, I was up very late writing, and fell asleep at my desk. I must have left the front door ajar, because I was waked up by the draught, and whe

stant chef stole

e would he advertise hav

im joy of it. I tried to read it once, you talked

ssistant chef is so fond of good books that he has to steal them, the world is safe for democracy. Usually the only books any one wants to steal are shee

Titania. They sat down by the fire and took up their knitting while the books

said Helen, whe

rtisement again. "I wonder why he wants

guess," said Helen. "Perhap

to read it. I'd like to have known what he thought of

and forget about it," said Helen

s private shelves, and pul

s to Christmas, and Christmas means Charles Dickens. My dear,

very year at this time," she said to Titania. "Still, they're worth i

Carol?" said Titania. "We h

wouldn't be Christmas to me if I didn't read these tales over again every year. How homesick they make one for the good old days of real inns and real beefsteak and real ale drawn in pewter. M

talk you might think no one had had a square meal since Dickens

sure I couldn't ask for better potatoes, or a

nd many an all-night lunchroom to hear the chauffeurs talk. But they are too much on the move, you can't get the picture of them the way Dickens could of his types. You can't catch that sort of thing in a snapshot, you know: you have to have a time exposure. I'll grant you, though, that lunchroom food is mighty good. The best place

Titania. "Edwards is our chauffeur. I've bee

comes home from those places he smells so

shed I could get a job as a waiter or a bus boy, just to learn if there really are any such head waiters nowadays. You know there are all sorts of jobs I'd like to

Helen, "why don't you g

d with diligence, and the dog by the fender stretched himself out in the luxuriant vacancy of mind only known to dogs surrounded by a happy group of their friends. And Roger, enjoying himself enormously, and particularly pleased by the chuckles of his audience, was approaching the ever-deligh

nd that his caller was the young

something for you. It's a quotation

to me the other evening I took the liberty of bringing you round some tobacco.

t to let you off the Conrad qu

d the way back to his desk, where he rummaged among the litte

sing. Whatever evidence it offers of enterprise, ingenuity, impudence, and resource in certain individuals, it pr

id Roger. "You'll find that in

for the people who believe in it. Mr. Conrad has been reading some quack ads, that's all. Because there are fake ads, that doesn't condemn

g of the LOST insertion to which Roge

I missed the book from my shelves, and

o-night I had dinner at the Octagon with Mr. Chapman." "Is

a window-display campaign here in Brooklyn for the Daintybits Products. You know we handle all his sales promotion campaigns. Of course I didn't let on that I knew about his daughter coming over here, but he told me about it himself in the course of our talk. Well, here's what I'm ge

and have a talk with that chap. If he

with the book in his hand, I said to him jokingly, "I see you found it again." He was a foreign-looking fellow, with a big beard, which is unusual for a chef, because I suppose it's likely to get in the soup. He looked at me as though I'd run a carving knife into him, almost scared me the way he looked. "Yes, yes," he said, and shoved the book out of sight under his arm. He seemed half angry and half frightened, so I thought maybe he had no right to be riding in the passenger elevator and was scared s

ort him to the police for stealing the book,

e stea

somebody did, because i

chip campaign, and I showed him some suggested copy I had prepared. Then he told me about his daughter, and I let on that I knew you. I left the Octagon about eight o'clock, and I thought I'd run over here on the subway just to show you the LOST notice and give you this tobacco

d Roger, highly inte

y who came in to ask for the b

r how he insisted that I MUST have it, and I hunted all through the History shelves to make sure it hadn't got misplaced. He said that some friend of his h

n the street after I left the subway. I stopped in at the drug store on the corne

stunt pulled off by the publishers. You know they go to all manner of queer dodges to get an

and steal the formula for eggs Samuel Bu

young man made some feeble demur, but it was obvious to the bookseller t

little room where Helen and Titania were still sitting by the fi

that direction he had performed the most amazing feat of lightning calculation known to the human faculties. He had added up all the young ladies of his acquaintance, and found the sum total less than the girl before him. He had subtracted the new phenomenon from the universe as he knew it, including the solar system and the advertising business, and found the remainder a minu

inct was to make himself square with the hostess. Resolutely he occlude

to Mrs. Mifflin. "I was here the other evening and M

I hope he didn't poison you with any of his outlandish dishes. Wai

making the supreme sacrifice of keeping his

a queer experience," said

impaled upon a direct and interested flash of blue lightn

ce. Fearing to blow out a fuse, he turned in panic to Mrs. Mifflin. "You see," he explained, "I write a good deal of Mr. Cha

hard, don't you th

nto the parkland of Miss Chapman's family affairs; but Roger insi

ed Titania. "What fun! I had no ide

aid Mrs. Mifflin, "or he may walk off wit

, so keen about good books that he even pickets a bookstore on the chance of swiping some. It's

ou mustn't let me inter

r. "We were only reading aloud. Do y

raid I

go on readin

ase

flin was just reading about a most ador

coffee-room bill," he said, "I think it only right that we should have a little refreshment. This passage sho

ifflin can never read Dickens without having something to drink. I thin

hogsheads, I believe it was. Calculations of that sort are great fun. I have always intended to write a little essay on the rainstorms in the stories of Ro

llars which have a cachet all their own. The cellar of the Haunted Bookshop was, to Bock, a fascinating place, illuminated by a warm glow from the furnace, and piled high with split packing-cases whic

said Titani

I?" sai

ting. "Neither of you knows anything about the stoc

ed at each other with a

t was not what he had intended to say, but somehow he could n

should run into him just when you wer

usiness way, but he certainly is a co

crazy abo

h to do with them. I'm afraid you

omeone who doesn't think it's a crime n

er kind of pla

call it the Haunted Booksho

of great literature. I hope they won't annoy you. Th

id of ghosts,

wn account but he did not know just how to break it gently. And then Roger returned from the cellar with

of your old Cromwell, you'd better keep it in h

!" exclaimed Roger. "

was terribly absent minded, and that the other day he was in here looking at some books and just walked off with it without knowing what he was doin

that I had turned up a real booklover. Here we are

and they settled them

al which did not escape Miss Chapman's discerning eye. Roger then put out his hand for the Dickens. But fir

he said. "It's been rebound. T

Helen in surprise.

me. In the first place, there was a rubbed corner at the

there," said Aubrey, lo

long enough to know it by heart. Now what the deu

way and forget about it. We'll all be drea