“But I wrote ’em why I was coming home!”
“Sure. To work for old man Corinth at the paint company. They were pleased as punch you got a job right here in town.”
“I mean, the Corinth plant can do certain things and I knew it, and the British agreed to lend me to the U. S. because I’m sort of a specialist on some lines—”
“Oh, that!” Biff grinned. “Mother and Father don’t know the difference between chemistry and astronomy.”
“Still, they know there’s a war going on—”
“Yeah,” said Biff. “And do they resent it! All except the dramatic part. Mom goes for that in a big way. She is to battles what an affecionado is to bulls.”
Jimmie winced.
The Corinth Paint and Dye Works loomed on the penumbral fringe of the town—a haphazard agglomeration of low buildings. Behind the buildings, chimneys poured smoke across the gray sky—black smoke and bright yellow smoke. There was a high fence around the plant and around the fence two uniformed guards, portly and important, paced back and forth, carrying revolvers on their fat stomachs. Biff and Jimmie were stopped at a gatehouse and allowed to pass after stating their errand. The office which received them was time-battered—a big place, full of ticking typewriters and people hurrying in and out with sheafs of papers. Biff said he’d wait there, but Jimmie insisted he’d take a cab home; so Biff went away, a little angered by his brother’s concentration on his errand and its importance.
Jimmie followed Mr. Corinth’s secretary between the rows of clattering desks into a small, dusty room. A man with vague gray eyes and a white mustache sat there, behind the ruins of a mahogany desk. He wore a suit of clothes a tramp would not have taken as a present. He frowned fustily at Jimmie and muttered, “Your name is somehow familiar, so I asked you in, but I’m in a hurry, young man, and I—” Suddenly he threw back his head and opened his mouth. He looked as if he were roaring with laughter, but he did not utter a sound. “Jimmie!” he exclaimed in a moment. “Lord! Am I glad you’re here! Been expecting you for weeks!”
Jimmie found himself resuming the smile he had worn on the train, coming home.