It seemed he positively could not go no further! What he meant, his heart had now jumped up into his throat and was beating so fast it made spots in front of his eyes and the top of his head felt like it was flapping up and down, the same as a lid on a pot when it boils — on account of there is beautiful dolls and there is beautiful dolls, but once you had looked at this judy you knew that all the other coupla billion dolls were just something to scare the children with!
She had hair the same as yellow silk; she had very large violet eyes with lashes maybe an inch long; she had... steps sounded outside and there was a sharp tapping on the door.
“Annette! Are you awyke?” a voice demanded. “This is Potter. ’Ave you ’eard anyone running down this wye? There’s a burglar in the ’ouse and he just attacked Mr. Gannon, the master’s secretary. Open up!”
This wonderful doll was now moistening her wonderful lips with her wonderful tongue.
“No, I do not hear somezing whatever,” she said. “And I do not open ze door. I am ondress.”
“ ’E must ’ave gone the h’other wye,” the voice said and the steps hurried on. The doll was now looking very scared at Johnny Dolan.
“You are — b-b-burglar?” she chattered.
“See, baby,” Johnny Dolan babbled tenderly, on account of the longer you looked at this doll the goofier you got in the dome, “don’t be scared. I ain’t no burglar. What I mean, you are the Van Inkle doll’s maid, huh? Well, I am simply hired here to see she does not fly the coop wit’ the chuffer an’ her jewels, see?”
The doll was now very rapidly getting not scared. Her eyes got smaller and smaller and she smiled.
“What ees zis you say?” she asked. “M’sieu Van Inkle pay you zat Mamzelle do not elope? I cannot believe!”
“Oh, no? Well, look, first off, on account of it could be I am talkin’ out o’ turn. Is it somethin’ to you, does she or don’t she elope?”
“To me? To me?” the wonderful doll cried, and threw up her hands. “To me is nossing whatever, so I... me! — get out of zis crazee house I say today, I have enough, I go. She say, no, you stay! I say, no, I go, for you are crazee, I say, and your papa ees crazee, and I stay longer I am crazee myself. She say no, no, no, and ees very crazee again herself — so I go like zis, in middle of night,” she shrugged and pointed at a big suitcase.
“I get it, kid,” Johnny Dolan gurgled. “You are also flyin’ the coop. Gonna walk?”
“No, I do not walk. Ze... ze second chauffeur, M’sieu Paul, he take me to rain. He ees — what you say? — good guy, zis Paul. He get catch, he weel be fired. I... I go now through window,” she finished, with an odd glance at Johnny Dolan.
“Lissen, baby,” he drooled huskily, “I do not understand it myself, but it seems that somehow I have fell greatly in love wit’ you even in this coupla minutes, so I gotta see more o’ you, so where is it you go from here, kid?”
The little frog was now looking at him very surprised and somewhat peculiar. What he meant, her eyes were now sparkling very bright and intelligent, so you could see he was already making a great hit.
“Oh — I zink I go live wiz my sees-taire till I find othair job,” she murmured. “But I... I zink I should not tell you where zis ees for—”
“I get it, baby. Leave it lay like that,” Johnny Dolan panted on. “So how’s it for meetin’ me outside the Public Libery tomorrow night at eight, huh?”
It really seemed like she could no longer take her eyes from him which certainly showed you he was making more and more of a hit.
“Attends, m’sieu!” she said swiftly. “I weel meet you, yes, eef you will help me now to leave zis crazee place. It ees like zis: Paul say he theenk we mus’ push ze car a leetle way up ze service drive, so they do not hear ze engine start. I am not so beeg enough to push, but you — you, m’sieu, have ze great strength—”
“Say no more, baby!” Johnny Dolan cried gladly, as he snatched up the grip and opened the window. “Where is the slug an’ the bus?”
The wonderful doll was now hurrying into a light coat.
“Oh, darlink, you are ze — how do you say? — saver of life,” she breathed unsteadily and all but knocked him senseless with her eyes. “And now, once more, attends, if you please. We step from window to ground, but zen I mus’ go ahead a leetle. Paul, he ees nairvous and eef he see you and do not know who you are, he may do—, who knows what? So you follow and when I find heem I give little whistle — yes?”
“Yeah, only wait, baby!” Johnny Dolan said masterfully, as she threw one slim leg over the sill. “Before startin’, one kiss, huh?”
Well, you could tell how careful this doll was brought up by how scared she suddenly looked and the way she shut her teeth. Then, simply showing you what a hit the right guy can make with the right doll in five minutes:
“At... at zat, I zink you have eet coming!” she sort of gasped, closing her eyes tight so, naturally, he could not see all that was in them.
He had now been laying maybe twenty minutes on the grass beside the service drive and it seemed he could at last breathe again and even sit up. What he meant, you would never think a roadster that size would weigh six or seven tons and you would never think this service drive was steeper than Mike’s Peak. This Paul number, who said practically nothing, was quite washed up when they finally got to the level and started the engine and Johnny Dolan was the same as if he had been dipped in a tub of water — but so what? So any party which wished could give the razz to storology, but when this book stated you would be successful in your love affairs between ten and three — zowie!
The lights in the big house were now getting turned off again one by one and it seemed the excitement was dying down. Johnny Dolan giggled happily as he got to his feet. It could be the old palooka was quite sore about the slight mistake that had got made on his secretary, but at that everything was okay. What he meant, the Van Inkle doll and her boy friend would now probably wait at least another hour, till everybody was asleep again. He stole back to Annette’s room and listened; he climbed in and opened the door and listened again. Everything was nice and quiet. He glided up the back stairs. Everything was still nice and quiet. He glided into the closet.
“D-Dolan!” came faintly from under the trunk. “Is that — you?”
“Absolutely, Sniffy,” said Johnny Dolan, “so I will now lift—”
“Lissen, Dolan,” Mr. O’Toole croaked weakly, “I think it is too late, on account of I have been hear in’ noises like angels singin’ for several minutes now. So you will take the fifty grand, Dolan, only many’s the night you will be tryin’ to forget how you double-crossed a pal, an’ that will be impossible, on account of I will come back an’ haunt you an’—”
“Aw, save it, Sniffy!” Johnny Dolan whispered gaily. “How I feel at present, I am lucky if I do not chuck this trunk right across the hall. Hold it, kid, till I toss the box offen you.”
It was very strange, how you could lift this trunk, once you were greatly in love. The first pull, and it came a good foot offen Sniffy’s chest and you could hear the punk starting to gargle like he was taking in air again and — huh?
“I am very sorry, Sniffy,” Johnny Dolan hissed hurriedly, and dropped the trunk as gently as possible, “but it seems the lad is comin’ downstairs at last.”
You really had to hand it to this Duncan guy, having the brains to start off at this time, just when they would not be expecting no more excitement for a while. Johnny Dolan squinted through the crack. This was him, all right. He had on an overcoat and a cloth hat, pulled down on this side and — really, he was that full of vim and vitality, he hardly knew he was doing it, but Johnny Dolan shot out of the closet and through the air, almost like a bird, his hands reaching for this Duncan’s neck.