Part 16 (1/2)

PAPPELMEISTER [_Choking with emotion, goes and pats him on the back._]

_Mein braver Junge!_

VERA [_Anxiously_]

But it is Mr. Davenport----

DAVID Before I accept Mr. Davenport's kindness, I must know to whom I am indebted--and if Mr. Davenport is the man who----

QUINCY Who travelled with you to New York? Ha! Ha! Ha! No, _I'm_ only the junior.

DAVID Oh, I know, sir, you don't make the money you spend.

QUINCY Eh?

VERA [_Anxiously_]

He means he knows you're not in business.

DAVID Yes, sir; but is it true you are in pleasure?

QUINCY [_Puzzled_]

I beg your pardon?

DAVID Are all the stories the papers print about you true?

QUINCY _All_ the stories. That's a tall order. Ha! Ha! Ha!

DAVID Well, anyhow, is it true that----?

VERA Mr. Quixano! What _are_ you driving at?

QUINCY Oh, it's rather fun to hear what the ma.s.ses read about me. Fire ahead.

Is what true?

DAVID That you were married in a balloon?

QUINCY Ho! Ha! Ha! That's true enough. Marriage in high life, they said, didn't they? Ha! Ha! Ha!

DAVID And is it true you live in America only two months in the year, and then only to entertain Europeans who wander to these wild parts?

QUINCY Lucky for you, young man. You'll have an Italian prince and a British duke to hear your scribblings.

DAVID And the palace where they will hear my scribblings--is it true that----?

VERA [_Who has been on pins and needles_]

Mr. Quixano, what possible----?

DAVID [_Entreatingly holds up a hand._]

Miss Revendal!

[_To QUINCY DAVENPORT_]

Is this palace the same whose grounds were turned into Venetian ca.n.a.ls where the guests ate in gondolas--gondolas that were draped with the most wonderful trailing silks in imitation of the Venetian n.o.bility in the great water fetes?