Come Out of the Kitchen! A Romance

								


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Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

COME OUT

                             OF THE KITCHEN



                              A ROMANCE



                                   BY

                           ALICE DUER MILLER



                         WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

                              PAUL MEYLAN

                                  AND

                          SCENES FROM THE PLAY



                             NEW YORK

                            GROSSET & DUNLAP

                               PUBLISHERS

                          Copyright, 1916, by

                            The Century Co.



                          Copyright, 1915, by

                     International Magazine Company

                          (HARPER'S BAZAR)



                        Published, April, 1916

                                COME OUT

                            OF THE KITCHEN!

                                   I

THE window of Randolph Reed's office was almost completely covered by
magnificent gold block lettering. This to any one who had time and
ability to read it--and the former was more common in the community than
the latter--conveyed the information that Reed dealt in every kind of
real estate, from country palaces to city flats. The last item was put
in more for the sake of symmetry than accuracy, for the small Southern
town contained nothing approaching an apartment house.
From behind this pattern of gold, Reed peered eagerly one autumn
afternoon, chewing the end of a frayed cigar, and listening for the
sound of a motor. He was a stout young man, of an amiable though
unreadable countenance, but like many people of a heavy build, he was
capable of extreme quickness of movement. This was never more clearly
shown than when, about four o'clock, the wished for sound actually
reached his ears. A motor was approaching.
With a bound Reed left the window, and, seated at his desk, presented in
the twinkling of an eye the appearance of a young American business man,
calm and efficient, on an afternoon of unusual business pressure. He
laid papers in piles, put them in clips and took them out, snapped
rubber bands about them with frenzied haste, and finally seizing a pen,
he began to indite those well-known and thrilling words: "Dear Sir:
Yours of the 15th instant received and contents--" when the motor drew
up before his door.
It was an English car; all green and nickel; it moved like an expert
skater on perfect ice. As it stopped, the chauffeur dropped from his
place beside the driver. The driver himself, removing his glasses,
sprang from the car and up the office steps, slapping the pockets of his
coat as he did so in a search which soon appeared to be for cigarettes