“To come in, of course,” said a sweet voice through the keyhole. At this, Q. M. B. dropped the book and sprang to his feet, saying as he did so, with the sweetest smile imaginable, “Say, ’tis her, all right, and this is where I get it put all over me for fair.” He smoothed his hair, pulled down his cuffs and, straightening his necktie, he hastily brushed the wrinkles out of his trousers. Then, and not until then, did he open the door. The audience felt a bit flustered, too, for who could enter that office but the Juno?
“Good morning,” said she, with a merry flash of her fine eyes and a brilliant smile.
“Good morning,” said Q. M. B. with a short cough.
“Did they telephone from Culebra that I was to be moved to-day?”
“Yes, indeed,” said Q. M. B. “They telephoned that I was to put you into the most comfortable quarters in town.”
“Class quarters, I suppose?”
“Well, no; ’er not now, but later you’ll get ’em all right, if I’m on the job.”
“But at Culebra they said I was to get them,” stormed the Juno, getting very red in the face.
“Well, there, don’t go to gettin’ fussy about it. You ain’t the only one that’s got to put up with a house that ain’t good enough; but, I’ll tell you what: you won’t have to go without it long, for I’ll see to that.”
“Oh, shucks!” said the Juno disgustedly, “you’re a big bluff, that’s what you are.”