Part 43 (1/2)
”Nothing of the sort!” said Ida vigorously. ”Every one says he's a coming man--ideas, humor, ma.s.sive brain, you know, and all that sort of thing. Only--only, he gets in the way all the time--trip over him.
Well, are you going to give an account of yourself last night? Say, what a shame it is some squillionaire doesn't endow us! It's such a nuisance getting your clothes!” As she forgot a question as soon as she asked it, she was off on a digression. ”I say, Dodo, it's a marvel how some girls do manage! You remember Adele Vickers, who's in light opera?”
”Chorus,” corrected Dore.
”Same thing for the Johnnies--only more so! Say, you'll die when you hear this! I was up in her hotel, calling, a couple of nights ago, just before dinner, when one of them married T-w.i.l.l.ys blows in, with a how-can-you-resist-me-little-girl look. You know him--Penniston Schwartz, money-bags in something, death on manicures. Are you listening?”
”Go on....”
”Del had no dinner in sight, so she winked at me to stick close, and waited for a bid, one eye on the clock. The old beau--he oils his mustache and looks at you with b.u.t.tery eyes--kept telling us we were breaking up his happy home with our resplendent beauty, and a lot of fluff that was quite beyond the point, for Del was fidgeting, getting ready to _a.s.sist_, when the hope of the evening says:
”'Awful sorry I can't take you little rosebuds out to dinner,--family, the dear family, you know,--but call up a waiter and let me order.'
”Order? You should have seen what Del concocted! There wasn't a dollar-mark got by her! It must have footed twenty plunks, at the least!
'Course she thought he'd pay at the desk--naturally! That was the awful slip! No sooner had the waiter disappeared than he takes a fifty-dollar bill from his purse, flips it on the table, and says, with a wink:
”'The change's for the waiter--of course!'
”I thought I'd die choking, watching Adele, staring from the bill to the clock, aching for him to go, but quiet as a mouse--oh, perfect manner, crocheting away at a d.i.n.ky tie until I thought the needles would fly in pieces! When the family man got up to go, say! you should see her bounce him out of the door and leap to the telephone, crying:
”'Make that a veal chop and mashed!'”
”Too late?” said Dore, laughing.
”Well, we lost as far as the first entree; but, as Del said, the next time such a thing occurs, there'll be a wise waiter on the other end of the line! Where's Snyder?”
”They opened in Atlantic City last week; expect to return Monday.”
”They say she's got a big hit! Glad of it!”
”So what's-his-name--your cartoonist--doesn't approve?” said Dore, smiling.
”He's a perfect pest. Furious at Vaughan Chandler and that crowd.
Lectures me from morning to night--heavens!”
”What's wrong?”
”He's coming around for me at one. He'll be wild if he sees Benson!
Lord! Dodo, what shall I do?”
”Leave word you're out with Josephus!”
”That won't stop him!” said Ida scornfully. ”He's liable to go to sleep on the door-step!”
”Leave him to me, then,” said Dodo, with the facility of long practise.
”I'll receive him while you two vamose.”
”I say, Do,” said Ida, with sudden grat.i.tude, ”I owe you a pointer.” She went on tiptoe to the door of Winona's room, listened a moment, and returning stealthily, held up crossed fingers. ”Don't trust her!”