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