“It’s typewriter supplies,” he would say as he handed it to Joan, with a grin upon his bulldog features.
Expecting to find a new ribbon for the machine, she would open it always to find that it was candy.
“Aren’t you a typewriter?” he would explain, amused at his own joke. He was always surprised to realize that she could type.
Joan would pass the candy all around, to the girls in the front office, to the business staff and to the men out back. Dummy always wrote a polite “Thank you” on his pad, when he took a piece, and always gave her a smile.
Poor old Dummy, he might seem innocent enough, as Mr. Johnson appeared to believe, but it was he, Joan was sure, who had changed the name and address on the story she had typed for Tim his second day at the Journal and had brought about all the trouble. For Tim was still on trial.
Tim’s probation brought one good result, however. He was working harder than ever and turning in more and better copy, and at the end of the week he got his first real assignment.
CHAPTER VII
CHUB GETS AN IDEA
Joan happened to be in the Journal office that morning when Tim got the assignment.
“Martin, get a picture of this girl that’s going to marry Judge Hudson,” Editor Nixon said over his red date book. “We’ll use it to-morrow. Now, don’t fall down on this.”
Tim reddened a bit at this, but he said nothing. He had never been sent out after a bride’s picture before. But Joan guessed that Editor Nixon was giving him an opportunity to retrieve himself for the mistakes. Therefore, she knew immediately that he simply must get that picture.