Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/25

 for ten-cent bed-houses and traveling steerage!"

"This chase will not take you out of America," corrected Chief Blynn. "That much I can guarantee."

"But it will take me out of my club and my newer way of looking at things," explained the patient-eyed Kestner. "You see, I seem to be developing a sort of philosophic sense of humor, and that leads to self-criticism, and that in turn keeps whispering to me that gum-shoeing and gray hairs don't always go well together!"

"So what you want is peace with honor, the same as the rest of this country that's sleeping on a volcano!"

"I've had enough of the volcano, at any rate."

"Well, for a family man who's tired of eruptions, I should think an embassy secretaryship, say Rome for ten months, then London for a year, and then one of the quieter Continental Embassies itself, would be just about the right thing to keep the rust off."

Kestner turned and eyed the older man; but that older man disregarded his stare.

"This isn't loose talk, Kestner. We can't expect