U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [555]
. . . Wel , I'm going to bed."
Dick went up to the big bedroom hung with English
huntingscenes. Thompson brought him up a new noiseless typewriter and the bottle of whiskey. Dick sat there work-ing al night in his pyjamas and bathrobe smoking and drinking the whiskey. He was stil at it when the windows began to get blue with day and he began to make out be-tween the heavy curtains black lacy masses of sleetladen trees grouped round a sodden lawn. His mouth was sour from too many cigarettes. He went into the bathroom frescoed with dolphins and began to whistle as he let the
-493-hot water pour into the tub. He felt bleary and dizzy but he had a new layout. Next day at noon when J. W. came back from church
with the children Dick was dressed and shaved and walk-ing up and down the flagged terrace in the raw air. Dick's eyes felt hol ow and his head throbbed but J. W. was delighted with the work. "Of course selfservice, independ-ence, individualism is the word I gave the boys in the be-ginning. This is going to be more than a publicity cam-paign, it's going to be a campaign for Americanism. . . . After lunch I'l send the car over for Miss Wil iams and get her to take some dictation. There's more meat in this yet, Dick." "Of course," said Dick, reddening. "Al I've done is restore your original conception, J. W." At lunch the children sat up at the table and Dick had a good time with them, making them talk to him and tel -ing them stories about the bunnies he'd raised when he was a little boy in Jersey. J. W. was beaming. After lunch Dick played pingpong in the bil iardroom in the basement with Miss Simpson and Staple and little Gertrude while Johnny picked up the bal s for them. J. W. retired to his den to take a nap.
Later they arranged the prospectus for Miss Wil iams to type. The three of them were working there happily in front of the fire when Thompson appeared in the door and asked reverently if Mr. Moorehouse cared to take a
phonecal from Mr. Griscolm. "Al right, give it to me on this phone here," said J. W. Dick froze in his chair. He could hear the voice at the other end of the line twanging excitedly. "Ed, don't you worry," J. W. was drawling. "You take a good rest, my boy, and be fresh as a daisy in the morning so that you can pick holes in the final draft that Miss Wil iams and I were working over al last night. A few changes occurred to me in the night. . . . You know sleep brings council.
. . . How about a little handbal this afternoon? A sweat's
-494-a great thing for a man, you know. If it wasn't so wet I'd be putting in eighteen holes of golf myself. Al right, see you in the morning, Ed." J. W. put down the receiver.
"Do you know, Dick," he said, "I think Ed Griscolm ought to take a couple of weeks off in Nassau or some place like that. He's losing his grip a little. . . . I think I'l sug-gest it to him. He's been a very valuable fel ow in the office, you know."
"One of the brightest men in the publicrelations field," said Dick flatly. They went back to work.
Next morning Dick drove in with J. W. but stopped off on Fiftyseventh to run round to his mother's apartment on Fiftysixth to change his shirt. When he got to the office the switchboard operator in the lobby gave him a broad grin. Everything was humming with the Bingham account. In the vestibule he ran into the inevitable Miss Wil iams. Her sour lined oldmaidish face was twisted into a sugary smile.
"Mr. Savage, Mr. Moorehouse says would you mind meeting him and Mr. Bingham at the Plaza at twelve
thirty when he takes Mr. Bingham to lunch?"
He spent the morning on routine work. Round eleven
Eveline Johnson cal ed him up and said she wanted to see him. He said how about towards the end of the week. "But I'm right in the building," she said in