414 ANGEL PAVEMENT

letters I must get off to-night. Somebody's got to earn
some money for this firm, y'know."

When she returned to the private office, Mr. Golspie,
meditating over a cigar and occasionally jotting down
some figures, motioned her towards a chair and did not
speak for several minutes. She heard the outer door
bang behind the other people, going home, heard other
doors banging and noisy footsteps on the stairs, and then
everything suddenly sank into silence.

"Now then," said Mr. Golspie, 'let's make a start.
You can take the whole lot down at once, if you like, or
you can take two or three, go and type 'em, then come
back for more, just as you please. All I care about is
that they go to-night/'

She took down several letters, then went to type them
out while he looked at his figures and thought about the
rest of them. It was very strange to be at work in the
deserted general office, to go back to the private office
and find Mr. Golspie there, almost lost in his cigar
smoke, to return again to her machine under the solitary
light. As the quarters of an hour slipped by, so many
little noises from outside disappeared into the silence
that at last she did not seem to be working in a place
she knew at all. The instant the familiar and now cheer-
ful clatter and ping of her typewriter stopped, every-
thing turned ghostly, until she found herself again in
the private office, which was not at all ghostly. There
was nothing spectral about Mr. Golspie.

But what about copying them?" she cried, when they
were all done, all signed, and ready for their envelopes.

"They can stay uncopied," replied Mr. Golspie.

"But, you know, we always copy all letters."

"Well, this time we don't. It isn't worth the bother,