Read Online Romance Classics by Peggy Gaddis - Free Book Online Page A

typical gesture of the Tip they had known, the fact that he had entered the mills as an apprentice. The fact that he came to work in overalls, and that he brought a lunch-pail like the others in his department was commented on with an affectionate amusement.
    His mother was outraged but helpless. There was nothing she could do or say that would alter his mind one single iota. He was as pleased as Punch when, at the end of the first month, he was promoted and given a small raise in pay.
    Geraldine drove him in each morning, shopped for the day’s supplies, and came back for him in the evening. A day or so after he had been given his promotion, she saw him come out of the employees’ gate in earnest conversation with someone her heart would recognize in the most dense darkness, surrounded by hundreds of people.
    Tip and Phil paused at the gate, talking, and then Tip looked up and saw Geraldine. He said something to Phil, and the two men came towards the car.
    Tip was grimy from his day’s work, his grin shining through the dirt, which he had obviously forgotten. Phil was taut and quiet, his eyes holding Geraldine’s for a breathless, shaken moment.
    “Hi, Gerry,” Tip greeted her. “You know Mr. Donaldson, of course.”
    “I should,” said Geraldine and was surprised that her voice sounded so casual. “I was his secretary. Hello, Phil.”
    “Of course, that’s right,” Tip agreed and beamed at them both. “I’m such a nut I guess I’d forgotten. Or maybe it’s that Mr. Donaldson is a being from another world to the fellows in my section, and I sort of forgot that he could be called ‘Phil.’ “
    Phil said swiftly, “I can’t think of anything more ridiculous, Mr. Parker, than for you, part owner of the mills, to call me, a mere employee, Mr. Donaldson.”
    Tip laughed joyously. “Unless it would be for you, the august General Manager to call a mere hired hand Mr. Parker,” he pointed out.
    Phil nodded. “Right, Tip!”
    “Good, Phil!” said Tip and the two grinned at each other in frank friendship. “Look, why don’t you come home to dinner with Gerry and me, and we can go a little further into that discussion we were planning?”
    Phil hesitated and while he did not look at Geraldine, she knew that he was waiting for some word from her to indicate her wish.
    “Please do, Phil,” she said steadily. “We’d be so glad if you would.”
    “You see? Now you’ve no excuse,” said Tip happily and swung open the car door.
    “Unless, of course, he may have an engagement for the evening,” Geraldine almost desperately offered Phil a way out if he wanted it.
    Phil looked at her and answered quietly, “No, I have no engagement.”
    “Then what are we waiting for?” demanded Tip eagerly. “Here, you ride up front with the Missus and I’ll sit in back as befits a common day laborer, in all the glory of his greasy overalls.”
    Geraldine laughed a little as Phil got into the car.
    “To hear him boast about those overalls, no man in London-cut dinner attire was ever more fashionably dressed,” she said.
    “Oh, the Navy taught us that a little grease and grime and a suit of dungarees never hurt any man,” said Tip lightly. “And I’ve never had more fun in my life. Gosh, its great to find out what makes thing go round at the mill.”
    Phil turned to address him from the front seat.
    “You know, of course, that there are easier ways to learn, Tip.”
    “But none as certain and sure,” said Tip firmly. “That’s something else I learned in the Navy. You can learn to fire a big gun, or fly a ship just from looking at a chart, but until you’ve taken the gun, or the plane, apart and put it back together again and photographed in your mind where every tiny bolt and nut fits, and what each bit of mechanism does — you don’t really
know!”
    “Have it your own way, feller,” Phil laughed.
    “Don’t worry, he will. He’s a bit on the stubborn side,” Geraldine said lightly, though her