The
Trimming of Goosie
BY
JAMES HOPPER
Author of "Caybigan," "9009," etc.
NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
1909
Copyright, 1909, by
CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Copyright, 1909, by
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
Published, September, 1909
THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N.J.
THE TRIMMING OF GOOSIE
CHAPTER I
"Why, Goosie, what are you doing?"
Goosie, otherwise Mr. Charles-NortonSims, dropped his arms hastilydown his sides and stood very still, caged in thenarrow space between porcelain tub and gleamingtowel-rack. The mirror before which he hadbeen performing his morning calisthenics facedhim uncompromisingly; it showed him that hewas blushing. The sight increased his embarrassment.For a moment panic went boundingand rebounding swiftly in painted contagionfrom Goosie to the mirror, from the mirror toGoosie; the blush, at first faint on Charles-Norton'sbrow, flamed, spread over his face, downhis neck, fell in cascade along his broad shoulders,and then rippled down his satiny skin clearto the barrier of the swimming trunks tightabout his waist. It was some time before hemustered the courage to turn his foolish face[Pg 4]toward the door through which had sounded thecooing cry of his little wife.
The door was but a few inches a-jar; it letpass only the round little nose of the round littlewife, between two wide-open blue-flowers of eyes."What are you doing, Goosie?" she repeated ina tone slightly amused but rich with a large tolerance;"what are you doing, Goosie, eh?"
"Nothing, Dolly," he answered, his straight,athletic body a bit gawky with embarrassment;"nothing."
Then, as she peered, still doubtful, throughthe crack: "It's a new exercise I have—a dandy.See?"