"
That was easy for McGivney to say, but not so easy for Peter to
imagine. However, he would try it; McGivney must be right, for it
was the same thing Mrs. James had impressed upon him many times. You
must watch what other people did, and practice by yourself, and then
go in and do it as if you had never done anything else. All life was
a gigantic bluff, and you encouraged yourself in your bluffing by
the certainty that everybody else was bluffing just as hard.
At seven o'clock that evening Peter strolled up to the magic bronze
doors, and touched them; and sure enough, the blue-uniformed
guardians drew them back without a word, and the tiny brass-button
imps never even glanced at Peter as he strode up to the desk and
asked for Mr. Lackman.
The haughty clerk passed him on to a still more haughty telephone
operator, who condescended to speak into her trumpet, and then
informed him that Mr. Lackman was out; he had left word that he
would return at eight. Peter was about to go out and wander about
the streets for an hour, when he suddenly remembered that everybody
else was bluffing; so he marched across the lobby and seated himself
in one of the huge leather arm-chairs, big enough to hold three of
him.
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