Snow White and the Giants Read Online Free PDF Page B

breakfast next morning I was back in the wood. Sheila didn't

come with me. She said that if I found anything I could tell her and

she'd take my word for it.

I found absolutely nothing. The copse was exactly as it had always been,

and in daylight no radiance could be detected. By the time it occurred

to me to look for footprints or other signs that people might have been

there recently, I'd done so much stamping around that the search was

futile. Besides, hardly anything grew under the trees, and the thick,

springy leaf-mold did not retain tracks well.

When I got back, Sheila merely said: "It must have been some kind of

natural phosphorescence. One egg or two?"

"Phosphorescence has a source, like any other light," I insisted.

"Well, look again tonight. I wonder if Dina will be down in the next

ten minutes? It's no use calling her, of course."

Nobody at the office mentioned any unusual incidents the day before. Being

the boss, I didn't hear the gossip. If Sally Henrey, my secretary, hadn't

been on holiday I could have asked her about the morning's topics. Wilma

Shelly, who was standing in for her, was too junior for me to confide

in her.

I wasn't a confident boss. I was efficient, of course, or I'd never have

reached my present position. But I didn't possess the sheer self-assurance

that every good boss has to have, the feeling that he's a boss by right,

the unquestioning, unquestioned conviction that things will always be

done his way, the right way, the only way.

After an hour's correspondence there was a lull, and I considered phoning

Gil Carswell. But Gil, far less self-confident than me, had not become

the boss, and I didn't like to call him at the bank unless the matter

was really urgent. That was why I'd sent the message the day before

by a girl who had to go to the bank anyway. Gil was terrified of the

bank manager, who had always seemed singularly inoffensive. But then,

Gil was terrified of everybody and everything.

While I was still thinking about Gil, the phone rang. Aloud I muttered:

"Oh, God, not Dina again."

It was Jota. "I'm at London Airport," he said. "Be with you this afternoon

sometime. Have you seen Gil since I phoned yesterday?"

"No, but I sent him a message."

Jota chuckled. "Of course. Mustn't disturb him at the bank. The manager

would chew his ears off . . . at any rate, such desperate liberties must

never be taken. By the way, is anything happening in Shuteley?"

"What would happen in ShuteleyT' I said cautiously, wondering if by any

chance he'd heard anything.

He hadn't. "As you say. Silly question."

"As a matter of fact," I said, "there is something going on. Maybe just

a small thing, but something . . . No, don't ask questions. Wait till

you get here."

"You intrigue me . . . Something happening in Shuteley seems like a

contradiction in terms. But I can wait. Oh . . . how did Sheila take

the great news that I was coming back?"

"Unenthusiastically," I said.

He chuckled again. "Don't worry. I promised. If you remember, I never

promised before."

He rang off.

That was technically true, that he had never promised not to make a pass

at Sheila. I wondered, however, if anyone but Jota would have considered

such a thing worth saying. You weren't morally entitled to stab a man

in the back because you'd never promised not to.

As I hung up, Wilma came in. She was breathless and rather indignant.

"Mr. Mathers, there's a young man insisting on seeing you, and nobody

but you. He looks like a camper, and he's . . . well, the things he's

been saying to the girls -- "

"Send him in," I said. "Right away."

She looked surprised; but said nothing and went out.

The door opened again and a young Goliath entered. He wore a white T-shirt

and shorts and was obviously one of the giants, probably the biggest of

them all. I judged him to be six feet seven.

He had not been one of the giants with Snow White at The Copper Beech.

"Val Mathers?" he said, advancing with