Page:Christopher Morley--Tales from a rolltop desk.djvu/45

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THE PRIZE PACKAGE
25
O beauteous rose! O shrub without a thorn!When wilt thou realize my love in sooth? I touch the windowsill with heart forlorn,Hoping the guerdon of thy bounteous youth. After the grief and teen of bitter days,Troubled by woes that cicatrize and burn, Ever at eventide I seek thy praise,Yearning thy maiden bliss—I yearn, I yearn! Over the rotten fruit of buried years Unbar the bolt—have pity on my tears!

The discerning reader will spot the glittering falchion of malice lurking in the initial letters. Read them downward, they convey: O MY HOW I HATE YOU! Lester had but to convey this poisoned comfit to his chief: then, playing upon the artless Pearl, persuade her to show it to him—point out the murderous duplicity of the love token; and she would recoil into his arms. Greenwich Village would sound the timbrel of joy, and even the Oblique might find a softer-hearted papyrus vendor. Vos plaudite! With such thoughts, amid the wailing matin song of boarding-house steam pipes, our hero fell into a brief slumber.

That morning Lester hastened to the office. He waited feverishly until the hour when the chief usually arrived, then visited the private office. There he found the vice-president going over the

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