Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/188

 and pencil! For we had a code at the Convent that used to stump 'em ev'ry time!"

Then straight down the card, Chinese style, she smilingly penciled the words: "Roses have tin ears!"

She smiled again as she looked down at her minutely inscribed column. She was still smiling as she passed it over to Kestner, who for a moment hesitated about taking it.

He glanced at the card for only a second or two. Then shook his head with disapproval.

"Sadie, that's indecent!" he angrily announced, as he proceeded to tear the card into shreds, and having tossed these pieces contemptuously toward the center of the table, he turned deliberately away from her, once more facing Andelman. "We're here to discuss Service business, and not make jokes!"

For the third time that evening a flush mantled Sadie's sophisticated young face. Andelman noted it, and not without approval. For a moment, too, his hungry eyes rested on the scattered fragments of pasteboard. It was the waiter, who, having carefully placed plates before each of the guests, turned to remove the litter of paper-ends from the table-cloth.