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52
KEEBAN

those stairs; he knew where to turn in the dark; he found the light switch by feel and without fumbling. There was not the slightest doubt, when the light came on, that I was with my brother Jerry. My trouble was simply had I been with any one else?

Of course I had seen some one else in a Mackinaw coat who had fought with Jerry; but all I saw was his size and his coat; I never saw, together, two faces which were Jerry's. I could not help thinking this as we sat down; I could not help wondering if all that business down there beside the river was a set stage play of Jerry's to fool me.

He opened the drawer where I kept cigarettes and took one and lighted it. "How're sales?" he asked me.

"Oh, fair."

"Tell me, did Smetsheen, in Minneapolis, pay his account?"

"In full, yesterday. You keep on thinking about the office, Jerry?"

"To tell the truth, not once till just now."

"Where have you been keeping yourself?"

He smiled. "Moving mostly." He walked to the door of the room which had been his office and looked in. "Who's there now?"