{"product_id":"2940013745094","title":"Gabriel Samara","description":"Miss Sadie Loyes, the manageress of the Hotel Weltmore Typewriting\u003cbr\u003eand Secretarial Bureau, set down the receiver of the telephone\u003cbr\u003ewhich had its place upon her desk and studied thoughtfully the\u003cbr\u003eeleven young ladies who comprised her present staff.  She stood\u003cbr\u003ethere, an angular, untidy-looking person, tapping a pencil against\u003cbr\u003eher teeth, unconscious arbitress, not only of the fate of two very\u003cbr\u003einteresting people, but also of the fate of a great nation.\u003cbr\u003ePortentous events depended upon her decision.  A man's life in this\u003cbr\u003eteeming city of New York was a small enough matter of itself.  The\u003cbr\u003elife of this prospective client of hers, however, waiting now in\u003cbr\u003ehis suite on the eleventh floor for the help which he had summoned,\u003cbr\u003ewas hung about with destiny.  Meanwhile, Miss Sadie Loyes continued\u003cbr\u003eto tap her teeth with the pencil, and reflect.  Which should it be?\u003cbr\u003eThe nearest and apparently the most industrious?  Her eyes rested\u003cbr\u003edisparagingly upon Miss Bella Fox's golden-brown coiffure.  These\u003cbr\u003ewere dressy days in New York and style was all very well in its\u003cbr\u003eway, but there was no mistaking the abbreviations of the young\u003cbr\u003elady's costume--very low from the throat downwards and displaying a\u003cbr\u003elength of limb in a manner which, although perhaps sanctioned by\u003cbr\u003efashion, paid no excessive tribute to modesty.  Miss Fox's\u003cbr\u003ejewellery, too, was a little in evidence, and there were rumours\u003cbr\u003eabout dinners at the Ritz!  On the whole perhaps it would be better\u003cbr\u003eto keep this particular young lady back for one of these western\u003cbr\u003emillionaires.  Dorothy Dickson might do: a young woman of far more\u003cbr\u003emodest appearance, but a little careless with her shorthand.\u003cbr\u003ePossibly it was as well not to risk her on an important assignment.\u003cbr\u003eThen there was Florence White--expert enough, but a little\u003cbr\u003emysterious in her private life, and the recipient of too many boxes\u003cbr\u003eof candy and offerings of roses from her clients to inspire her\u003cbr\u003eemployer with thorough confidence as to her commercial ability.\u003cbr\u003eThen the pencil stopped.  Miss Borans!  Nothing whatever against\u003cbr\u003eher; efficient, self-contained, reserved alike in dress and\u003cbr\u003edemeanour, but with an air of breeding which none of these others\u003cbr\u003epossessed.  Absolutely an obvious choice!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Miss Borans,\" the manageress called out, in a shrill tone, \"just\u003cbr\u003estep this way, please.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe young lady addressed rose with composure, pushed her chair back\u003cbr\u003einto its place, and approached her employer.  Space was limited in\u003cbr\u003ethe Hotel Weltmore and the Typewriting and Secretarial Bureau was\u003cbr\u003ereally a railed-off portion of the lounge on the first floor\u003cbr\u003ereserved for \"Ladies Only.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I guess you'd better slip up to number eleven hundred and eighty,\"\u003cbr\u003eMiss Loyes directed.  \"I'll send a machine and the rest of the\u003cbr\u003estuff right along--gentleman there in a hurry--his secretary caught\u003cbr\u003ethe fever while he was in Washington.  Samara, his name is--the\u003cbr\u003eGood Lord knows where he got it!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe girl seemed to stiffen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Samara, the Russian envoy?\" she asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You've got it, honey.  Speaks with an English accent, though, you\u003cbr\u003ecould cut with a knife.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I would rather not work for Gabriel Samara,\" the girl declared.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt took a great deal to surprise Miss Sadie Loyes, but this newest\u003cbr\u003erecruit to her secretarial staff had certainly succeeded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How?\" she exclaimed.  \"What's that?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiss Borans had not in the least the appearance of a young woman of\u003cbr\u003emercurial or changeable temperament.  Nevertheless, she seemed\u003cbr\u003ealready to be repenting her rather rash pronouncement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I beg your pardon, Miss Loyes,\" she said.  \"That was perhaps a\u003cbr\u003efoolish speech of mine.  Number eleven hundred and eighty, you\u003cbr\u003esaid.  I will go there at once.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Say, do you know anything of this Mr. Samara?\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47163926184176,"sku":"2940013745094","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013745094_p0.jpg?v=1763589693","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013745094","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}