Page:O'Higgins--The Adventures of Detective Barney.djvu/68

 come in.” Babbing continued with his reading. The clerk went out, ignored even by Barney—as the commander’s civilian secretary would be ignored by a young uniform.

“So you told her what?”

“I tol’ her I was waitin’ in an office with a telegram yeste’day, ’n’— They wanted an office boy, ’n’— They offered me twelve a week. An’ I took it.”

Babbing apparently forgot him in the perusal of a two-page letter closely typed. His eyes parted with it reluctantly. “Did you tell any one else?”

“No, sir.”

“I see,” Babbing said. And Barney was not aware that he had stood a test of character and passed an examination in discretion. He had no suspicion that Babbing’s absent-minded manner was almost as much a disguise as if it had been put on with spirit-gum. He was waiting for Babbing to finish with the letters and direct him to his work.

“Don’t use the public office, hereafter,”