CHAPTER III
HARD HIT
Drew was not surprised to find that his employer was not alone. A manwhom he now recognized as the agent of the estate controlling thebuilding was seated at one end of the desk and was drumming upon itwith his fingers.
Tyke was hunched up in his big revolving chair with a look of agitationon his face. His hands were clenching and unclenching rapidly. It wasevident that something much out of the ordinary had occurred to rob himof his usual placidity.
He motioned Drew to a seat.
"Well, Allen," began Grimshaw, in a voice that he tried in vain torender calm, "it's come at last. We've got to get out of the oldplace."
"What?" cried the young man; yet this only confirmed the suspicionwhich his recognition of the visitor had suggested.
"We're sorry, of course," purred the agent, who had tried to break theunwelcome news to the old man as easily as possible. "But, of course,you know that you held the place on the distinct understanding that weshould take possession at will."
"I ain't denying that, Mr. Blake," admitted Tyke. "There's isn'tanything underhand or wrong about what you're doing. I kept on herewith my eyes wide open and I'm ready to take my medicine. But all thesame, it comes as a shock. I'd hoped to hold on to the old craft aslong as I lived."
"I wish you could, both for your sake and ours," returned Blake. "Wehaven't a tenant anywhere who pays his rent more promptly and bothersus less about repairs. But the trustees of the estate have had anoffer from parties who want to put up a more modern building on thissite, and it was too good to decline."
"When are they going to start?" asked Drew.
"They're in something of a hurry," replied the agent. "You see this isthe right time of the year for construction work, and they want to havethe foundations laid by fall."
"It's only a matter of days then before we have to find another place?"went on Drew.
"Oh, I should hardly say that," replied Blake, soothingly. "You knowhow those things are. They'll have a lot to do in the way of plans andcontracts before they get down to the actual work of building. Still,"he went on, more cautiously, "they may get busy on wrecking the oldbuilding at almost any time, and I'd advise you as a friend not to letthe grass grow under your feet. You've got a lot of stuff here, and itwill take a good deal of time to move it. If I were you, I'd figure onbeing out in a week or ten days."
"Ten days!" groaned Tyke. "An' I haven't even got a place to go to."
"It may take some hustling," admitted the agent. "But a good deal canbe done in a short time when you have to. I'll look around, and if Ilearn of any place that would suit you I'll let you know."
There was little else to be said, and after another expression ofregret at the unpleasant duty he had had to perform, Blake took hisleave.
The two men left in the office, contrasting types of age and youth,looked at each other for a moment without speaking. Allen Drew had areal affection for his employer, who for some time past had treated himmore like a son than an employee, and he was genuinely shocked to seehow this blow had affected him.
"Don't mind, Mr. Grimshaw," he said cheerily. "It doesn't mean the endof the world. We'll find another place that is just as good. And thistime we'll get a lease, so we won't have to worry about being routedout in this way."
Tyke shook his head dismally.
"That's all very well for you youngsters," he replied. "You're at anage when you'd as soon change as not. But I've kind o' stuck my kedgedeep into the old place, an' it's like plucking my heart out to have toup anchor and make sail for another port."
The younger man thought it would be best to leave Grimshaw alone for awhile, and he rose briskly to his feet.
"If you say so, I'll go out and look around," he suggested. "I've hadthis thing in the back of my mind for some time past, and I know of twoor three likely places that may fill the bill."
"All right," assented Tyke apathetically. "Jest tell Winters to lookafter things in the shop while you're gone. I reckon I won't be muchgood for the rest of the afternoon."
Drew went out, and after imparting the news, which shocked Winters andSam, put on his hat and left the office.
That morning he had been hoping for a change. This afternoon he wasgetting it with a vengeance.
It was desirable from every standpoint that the new place should be asnear to the old one as possible. This consideration limited his choiceto two buildings which he knew were vacant, and toward these he benthis steps.
The first place he visited had just been rented, but at the second hehad better luck. He returned about four o'clock and burst into thestore, flushed and jubilant.
"I've found it," he announced, going into the private office. "Justwhat the doctor ordered. Plenty of room, a better pair of show windowsthan we have here, and a long-time lease for a rent that's only atrifle more than we're paying now."
Tyke looked up with the first sign of animation he had shown sinceBlake's visit.
"Where is it?" he asked.
"Just on the next block," answered Drew. "Turner's old place."
"We'll go right over now an' look at it," said Tyke, rising and puttingon his hat.
After inspecting the three floors thoroughly, Grimshaw agreed with hisyoung manager that they were in luck to get the building. A visit tothe agent followed, and before they left his office Tyke had handedover a check for the first month's rent and had a five-year lease inhis pocket.
"A good piece of work, Allen, my boy," he said, as they parted outsidethe shop that night. "I don't know what I'd do without you. But I'mmighty sorry to have to leave the old place. No other will ever seemexactly like it."
"Poor old Tyke," mused Drew, as he looked after the retreating figurethat suddenly seemed older than he had ever seen it. "He's hard hit."
In all the stir and bustle of that crowded afternoon, Drew had beenconscious of a glow at his heart that was not due to mere businessexcitement. One name had been upon his lips, one thought had sought tomonopolize him. And now that business was over for the day, he yieldedutterly to the obsession of that meeting on the wharf.
Instead of striding uptown as usual, he turned in the other directionand went down to the Jones Lane pier, now for the most part desertedand quiet in the waning light. Here and there a watchman sat on a balesmoking his pipe, while occasionally a sailor lay a more or lessunsteady course for his ship.
Drew made his way to where the _Normandy_ was moored, and asked forCaptain Peters.
"Gone ashore, sir," said the man he addressed. "Some friends of hiscame aboard this afternoon and he's gone off with them to celebrate."
There was a grin on the man's face as he spoke, and this, together withhis recollection of the decanter, left no illusions in Drew's mind asto the character of the celebration.
"Any message to leave for the captain, sir?" the man inquired.
"Nothing important," returned Drew carelessly. "I may drop around andsee him to-morrow." And he blessed the belated windlass which wouldgive him a reasonable excuse for returning.
But even though the captain was absent, there were other things at handthat spoke of the girl with the hazel eyes. There was the place whereshe had dropped the letters. There was the post against which she hadleaned as she watched him recover them. And there, as he bent over theedge of the pier, he saw the little boat that had played its part inthe day's happenings.
How musical her voice was! And she had smiled at him once--no, twice!Smiled not only with her lips but with her eyes.
He thought of her as he went slowly uptown. He thought of her until hewent to sleep and then his thinking changed to dreaming.
Decidedly, Tyke was not the only one who was hard hit on that eventfulday.