Part 13 (2/2)
”I think it is something for a man of no reputation at all to have a chance to be heard in such a connection,” she replied a little tartly.
”Ye-es.” Bobby rose with provoking deliberation. ”And it is also possible, Mrs. Avalons, that when we are thankful even to be charted in Woodlawn, Mr. Arlt's name may be a good deal better known than it is now. Sally, we are due at the Stuyvesants', and I think we must tear ourselves away.”
Out in the hall, he addressed himself to Sally.
”For social pulleys, give me three: music, cheek, and charity, but the greatest of these is ch--”
”Charity,” amended Sally promptly.
Bobby gloomily pulled himself into his overcoat.
”Sally, I abhor that woman,” he said.
CHAPTER EIGHT
”If you once begin, there'll be no end to it,” Bobby warned Thayer, when he announced his intention of singing for the Fresh Air Fund.
”I never yet found anything I couldn't end, when I tried,” Thayer returned coolly.
Bobby eyed him askance.
”Ever tackled Mrs. Lloyd Avalons's idiocy?” he queried.
”She is not the only one.”
”No; worse luck! But what makes you do it?”
”I approve the charity, and I happened to have a free night. Moreover, it will give Arlt a chance to accompany.”
”But she won't pay him.”
”No, but I generally manage to pay my own accompanist.”
”Do you think he will gain from such a thing?”
Crossing his knees comfortably, Thayer lighted the pipe he had been filling, and took a tentative puff or two.
”I don't know,” he said dubiously. ”He ought to, but I can't seem to discover the way to get on in this precious country of ours. Arlt is a musician to the tips of his fingers; I have yet to hear a pianist in the city to compare with him. And still, n.o.body manifests the least interest in him.”
Bobby contemplated the tip of his own cigar, bending his brows and frowning as much from his optical angle as from his mental one.
”He lacks the two P's,” he said slowly; ”pull and personality.”
Impatiently Thayer uncrossed his knees and crossed them in the reverse position.
”Do you mean that nothing else counts here?” he demanded.
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