The Man in the Net

The Man in the Net Read Free Page A

Book: The Man in the Net Read Free
Author: Patrick Quentin
Tags: Crime, OCR
Ads: Link
too far into the realms of unreality, he took the letter out of his pocket. It was going to be disaster anyway. It didn’t matter anymore about how he handled it.
    He said, “Linda, I got a letter from Charlie Raines.” “From Charlie?” For a moment she wasn’t interested; then she was. Quickly, suspiciously, she said, “But you brought the mail before I went to Pittsfield. Why didn’t you tell me then?”
    “I wanted some time to think about it.”
    “Think about it? Think about what? What did he say?”
    He held the letter out to her. “Want to read it?”
    “Yes. Of course.” And then, “No. You read it to me.”
    He’d forgotten how she hated putting on her reading glasses. His fingers unsteady, he took the letter out of the envelope and smoothed it.
    “It’s long,” he said pointlessly. “Typical Charlie.”
    He read;
     
    Dear Johnny:
    How is life in the great outdoors treating you? Don’t think we’ve forgotten you. You’ve been very much on our minds. To the extent, in fact, of a long, bang-up conference at the summit this afternoon. First, we all want you to know how badly we feel about the show at the Denham Galleries. We realize, of course, that half these art critic boys don’t know what they’re talking about and that they’re just gunning for you because your first show, when you were still with us, was such a success. But we also realize it must be a disappointment to you, financially, if for nothing else, since we understand, when you left us, that you would have to depend in the long run upon a steady sale of canvases if you were going to make this painting deal work out.
    I hope you know us all well enough to be sure we aren’t a bunch of Philistines around here. Nor do I want you to think of me as a mean old Mephistopheles picking a “weak” moment in which to tempt you. But it so happens that H. C. has been forced by his doctors to retire as the head of the art department. For a couple of weeks we’ve been desperately looking for someone who could swing the job. The combination of first rate executive and first rate commercial artist doesn’t grow on trees, as you know, and, even though you felt at one time that the set-up here was too restricting for you, you are still considered by us as one of the most outstanding men in the field.
    Yes, Johnny, let’s get down to brass tacks. This letter is frankly a plea for you to come back to us. The salary we are prepared to offer is the salary that H. C. has been getting plus the regular bonuses etc. It will, I would say, be about double what we were paying you when you left us. God knows, I don’t want to butt my nose into your private affairs, but we all feel that, just perhaps, after ten months of it, you might be getting a little bit tired of poverty in a garret (do they have garrets in the country?) and that, just perhaps, you might consider returning to the Raines and Raines family which has never stopped thinking of you as “one of us”.
    Think it over, Johnny, and let us know as soon as possible. Speaking personally, I don’t see that it’s at all impractical for you to swing the job and have a considerable amount of time to continue your “serious” painting on the side. Maybe you’d drop down to the office one day this week and talk it over. We’d love seeing you anyway.
    All the best and to Linda,
    Sincerely …
     
    While he was reading he had deliberately put the thought of his wife, standing by the mantel, out of his head. He had made himself concentrate on the things that really mattered—the fact that he knew, in spite of the critics, in spite of the burden of Linda, that he was gradually groping toward achievement in his painting; the fact that he was overwhelmingly sure a return to the sleek high-pressure commercialism of Raines and Raines would destroy in him the only thing he cared about any more; and the other fact—almost as important—the fact that Linda

Similar Books

Wings in the Dark

Michael Murphy

Falling Into Place

Scott Young

Blood Royal

Dornford Yates

Born & Bred

Peter Murphy

The Cured

Deirdre Gould

Eggs Benedict Arnold

Laura Childs

A Judgment of Whispers

Sallie Bissell