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Page 20
"Very well, sir."
She appeared shortly. If Fitzgerald admired her beauty he yet more
admired her perfect poise and unconcern. Many another woman would have
evinced some embarrassment. Not she.
"Laura, what's the meaning of this hoax?" the admiral demanded sternly.
"Mr. Fitzgerald tells me that he had no idea you were hiring him as my
secretary."
"I am sure he hadn't the slightest." The look she sent Fitzgerald was
full of approval. "He hadn't any idea at all save that I asked him to
come here at eight this evening. And his confession proves that I
haven't made any mistake."
"But what in thunder--"
"Father!"
"My dear, give me credit for resisting the desire to make the term
stronger. Mr. Fitzgerald's joke, I take it, bothered no one. Yours
has put him in a peculiar embarrassment. What does it mean? You went
to the city to get me a first-class secretary."
"Mr. Fitzgerald has the making of one, I believe."
"But on your word I sent a capable man away half an hour gone. He
could speak half a dozen languages."
"Mr. Fitzgerald is, perhaps, as efficient."
Fitzgerald's wonder grew and grew.
"But he doesn't want to be a secretary. He doesn't know anything about
the work. And I haven't got the time to teach him, even if he wanted
the place."
"Father," began the girl, the fun leaving her eyes and her lips
becoming grave, "I do not like the noises at night. I have not
suggested the police, because robbery is _not_ the motive."
"Laura, that's all tommyrot. This is an old house, and the wood always
creaks with a change of temperature. But this doesn't seem to touch
Mr. Fitzgerald."
The girl shrugged.
"Well, I'm glad I told that German chap not to leave till he heard
again from me. I'll hire him. He looks like a man who wouldn't let
noises worry him. You will find your noises are entirely those of
imagination."
"Have it that way," she agreed patiently.
"But here's Mr. Fitzgerald still," said the admiral pointedly.
"Not long ago you said to me that if ever I saw the son of David
Fitzgerald to bring him home. Till yesterday I never saw him; only
then because Mrs. Coldfield pointed him out and wondered what he was
doing with a tray of statuettes around his neck. As I could not invite
him to come home with me, I did the next best thing; I invited him to
call on me. I was told that he was fond of adventures, so I gave the
invitation as much color as I could. Do I stand pardoned?"
"Indeed you do!" cried Fitzgerald. So this was the Killigrew his
father had known?
"David Fitzgerald, your father? That makes all the difference in the
world." The admiral thrust out a hand. "Your father wasn't a good
business man, nor was he in the navy, but he could draw charts of the
Atlantic coast with his eyes shut. Laura, you get the whisky and sugar
and hot water. You haven't brought me a secretary, but you have
brought under my roof the son of an old friend."
She laughed. It was rich and free-toned laughter, good for any man to
hear. As she went to prepare the toddy, the music echoed again through
the hall.
"Sometimes I wake up in the morning with a new gray hair," sighed the
admiral. "What would you do with a girl like that?"
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