The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 1) by N. S. Wikarski Page B

in two. He couldn’t seem to decide whether to bend down and scoop up the papers or show her in, and tried to do both at the same time. He bobbed back and forth between the two objects of his immediate attention until courtesy won out. Stepping over the debris, he welcomed his guest.
    “Here, m... miss, please sit down, w... won’t you.” He eagerly dragged a chair away from the wall for Evangeline. While she was arranging herself, he attempted to retrieve the evidence of the settlement’s debts. In an unexpected move, he dropped down on all fours to peer under the desk.
    “So sorry, Miss LeClair. Don’t m... mean to be rude, but I don’t know if I m ... missed any.” He was referring to the bills still scattered about. “It would be a t... terrible thing, w... wouldn’t do at all if one landed under the d... desk and I forgot to pay it. Well, what do you know...” He cocked his head to the side and rested it against the floor to spot anything lurking under the desk.
    “You see, j... just as I suspected!” He fished around up to his shoulder and emerged with a single piece of paper. “It’s the bill for the grocer.” He waved the slip under Evangeline’s nose for further emphasis. “We c... couldn’t have that now, could we? No f... food deliveries for a week! I’d never hear the end of it from M... M... Miss Ellen if this didn’t get paid.” He pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose in a final emphatic gesture and then resettled himself in his chair behind the desk, mopping his brow with a handkerchief at the same time.
    “Well, wh... what a surprise this is! I g... get so few callers and am so often immersed in my work that I f... forget how enjoyable a break in the routine can be.” He smiled nervously, apparently unsure whether his enthusiasm at her presence would be welcome or not. More formally, he added, “In what w... way can I be of service to you, Miss LeClair?”
    Attempting to put him at ease, Evangeline flashed her most disarming smile. “Why Mr. Sidley, we needn’t so hastily turn to business. While I do have a small matter to discuss, I thought it would be nice to chat awhile first. Both of us seem to spend so little time sharing in the Mast House community that I’m making it a point to get to know my colleagues on a more personal level. Is this an inconvenient time for such a visit?”
    Sidley flushed and stammered with pleasure. “No... uh... of course not... m... miss... not at all. I w... welcome such a p... pleasant interruption.”
    Evangeline paused as if a new thought had just struck her. “But perhaps this... isn’t the best place. Mightn’t we have our little visit elsewhere? Perhaps a stroll would do you good. Fresh air, you know.”
    At the invitation, Sidley jumped up out of his chair, this time upsetting a ledger book that had been hanging precariously over the edge of the desk. Mumbling, “Clumsy, so clumsy, f... forgive me,” he bobbed down on the floor to pick it up. Stepping over the other piles of paper, which surrounded his chair like an encroaching army, he walked over to Evangeline and extended his arm to her. In an inept attempt at courtliness, he said, “Miss LeClair, I am entirely at your d... disposal for h... however long you ch. .. choose to hold me c... captive.”
    Evangeline laughed airily. “Sir, you flatter me and confer a far greater value on my charms than they deserve.”
    Sidley blushed and shuffled his feet self-consciously. He tried repeatedly to formulate what Evangeline anticipated to be an elaborate compliment, but all he succeeded in mouthing were a series of incoherent syllables. “Miss, I... uh... oh yes, well, I assure you that... uh... I... that is...”
    “I think I know what you were about to say, Mr. Sidley,” Evangeline intervened smoothly.
    “ You d ... do?” The accountant appeared mystified.
    “Why yes. And a very pretty compliment it is, too. You were about to say that, being an accountant, you spend