Torchy and Vee

Torchy and Vee, by Sewell Ford

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Title: Torchy and Vee
Author: Sewell Ford
Release Date: February 19, 2007 [EBook #20628]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TORCHY AND VEE
BY SEWELL FORD AUTHOR OF TORCHY, THE HOUSE OF
TORCHY, SHORTY McCABE, Etc.
GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

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Copyright, 1918, 1919, by SEWELL FORD Copyright, 1919, BY
EDWARD J. CLODE All rights reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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FOREWORD
In the Nature of an Alibi
Some of these stories were written while the Great War was still on. So
the setting and local coloring and atmosphere and all that sort of thing,
such as it is, came from those strenuous days when we heroic civilians
read the war extras with stern, unflinching eye, bought as many Liberty
bonds as we were told we should, and subscribed to various drives as
cheerfully as we might. Have you forgotten your reactions of a few
short months ago? Perhaps then, these may revive your memory of
some of them.
You may note with disappointment that Torchy got no nearer to the
front-line trenches than Bridgeport, Conn. That is a sentiment the writer
shares with you. But the blame lies with an overcautious government
which hesitated, perhaps from super-humane reasons, from turning
loose on a tottering empire a middle-aged semi-literary person who was
known to handle a typewriter with such reckless abandon. And where
he could not go himself he refused to send another. So Torchy
remained on this side, and whether or not his stay was a total loss is for
you to decide. S. F.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Quick Shunt for Puffy 1 II. Old Hickory Bats Up One 19 III.
Torchy Pulls the Deep Stuff 37 IV. A Frame-up for Stubby 56 V. The
Vamp in the Window 73 VI. Turkeys on the Side 91 VII. Ernie and His
Big Night 108 VIII. How Babe Missed His Step 126 IX. Hartley and
the G. O. G.'s 145 X. The Case of Old Jonesey 164 XI. As Lucy Lee
Passed By 182 XII. Torchy Meets Ellery Bean 200 XIII. Torchy Strays
from Broadway 222 XIV. Subbing for the Boss 238 XV. A Late Hunch
for Lester 256 XVI. Torchy Tackles a Mystery 272 XVII. With Vincent
at the Turn 290
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TORCHY AND VEE
CHAPTER I
THE QUICK SHUNT FOR PUFFY
I must say I didn't get much excited at first over this Marion Gray
tragedy. You see, I'd just blown in from Cleveland, where I'd been
shunted by the Ordnance Department to report on a new motor kitchen.
And after spendin' ten days soppin' up information about a machine that
was a cross between a road roller and an owl lunch wagon, and fillin'
my system with army stews cooked on the fly, I'm suddenly called off.
Someone at Washington had discovered that this flying cook-stove
thing was a problem for the Quartermaster's Department, and wires me
to drop it.
So I was all for enjoyin' a little fam'ly reunion, havin' Vee tell me how
she's been gettin' along, and what cute little tricks young Master
Richard had developed while I'm gone. But right in the midst of our
intimate little domestic sketch Vee has to break loose with this outside
sigh stuff.
"I can't help thinking about poor Marion," says she.

"Eh?" says I, lookin' up from the crib where young Snookums has just
settled himself comfortable and decided to tear off a few more hours of
slumber. "Which Marion?"
"Why, Marion Gray," says she.
"Oh!" says I. "The old maid with the patient eyes and the sad smile?"
"She is barely thirty," says Vee.
"Maybe," says I; "but she's takin' it hard."
"Who wouldn't?" says Vee.
And havin' got that far, I saw I might as well let her get the whole story
off her chest. She's been seein' more and more of this Marion Gray
person ever since we moved out here to Harbor Hills. Kind of a plump,
fresh-colored party, and more or less bright and entertainin' in her chat
when she was in the right mood. I'd often come in and found Vee
chucklin' merry over some of the things Miss Gray had been tellin' her.
And while she was at our house she seemed full of life and pep.