“Yes?”
“Are you through with that rabble? Can you 'tend to a friend?”
Redfield Pepper Burns wheeled around in his revolving chair and glanced sharply at Arthur Chester. What he saw made him follow the moment's inspection with a direct question.
“Sit down. What have you been doing?”
Chester sat down. His face was white. He held up one shaking hand. “Red, what's the matter with me?”
Burns continued to study the man before him. He made no move to examine into his condition, just looked steadily into the other's face with a gaze before which his patient presently shifted uneasily.
“Well, of all the ways to treat a fellow!” He tried to laugh. “Is that the way you do with the rest of the bunch that come to you every day? Or are you trying to hypnotize me?”
“Look me in the eye, Ches. What have you been doing?”
“Working like a fiend in that infernal office. If there's any hotter place—”
“There'll be a hotter one for you right on this earth, if you keep on the way you're going.”