The Day of Days | Page 9

fond of adorning her pretty, sturdy shoulders, as well as her
fetching and shapely, if plump, ankles, with semi-transparent

things--and she was quite as fond of having them admired.
P. Sybarite, approaching the gate, delicately averted his eyes....
At that moment, George was announcing in an undertone: "Here's the
lollop now."
"You are certainly one observin' young gent," remarked Miss Prim in
accents of envious admiration.
Ignoring the challenge, Bross pondered hastily. "Think I better spring it
on him now?" he enquired in doubt.
"My Gawd, no!" protested the lady in alarm. "I'd spoil the plant, sure.
I'd love to watch you feed it to him, but Heaven knows I'd never be able
to hold in without bustin'."
"You think he'll swallow it, all right?"
"That simp?" cried Miss Prim in open derision. "Why, he'll eat it
_alive_!"
P. Sybarite walked into the front yard, and the chorus lady began to
crow with delight, welcoming him with wild wavings of a pretty,
powdered forearm.
"Well, look who's here! 'Tis old George W. Postscript--as I live!
Hitherwards, little one: I wouldst speech myself to thee."
Smiling, P. Sybarite approached the pair. He liked Miss Prim for her
unaffected high spirits, and because he was never in the least ill at ease
with her.
"Well?" he asked pleasantly, blinking up at the lady from the foot of
the steps. "What is thy will, O Breaker of Hearts?"
"That'll be about all for yours," announced Violet reprovingly. "You
hadn't oughta carry on like that--at your age, too! Not that I mind--I
rather like it; but what'd your family say if they knew you was stuck on
an actress?"
"'Love blows as the wind blows,'" P. Sybarite quoted gently. "How
shall I hide the fact of my infatuation? If my family cast me off, so be
it!"
"I told you, behave! Next thing you know, George will be bitin' the
fence.... What's all this about you givin' a box party at the
Knickerbocker to-night?"
"It's a fact," affirmed P. Sybarite. "Only I had counted on the pleasure
of inviting you myself," he added with a patient glance at George.
"Never mind about that," interposed the lady. "I'm just as tickled to

death, and I love you a lot more'n I do George, anyway. So _that's_ all
right. Only I was afraid for a while he was connin' me."
"You feel better now?"
Violet placed a theatrical hand above her heart. "Such a relief!" she
declared intensely--"you'll never know!" Then she jumped up and
wheeled about to the door with petticoats professionally a-swirl. "Well,
if I'm goin' to do a stagger in society to-night, it's me to go doll myself
up to the nines. So long!"
"Hold on!" George cried in alarm. "You ain't goin' to go
dec--decol--low neck and all that? Cut it, kid: me and P.S. ain't got no
dress soots, yunno."
"Don't fret," returned Violet from the doorway. "I know how to pretty
myself for my comp'ny, all right. Besides, you'll be at the back of the
box and nobody'll know you exist. Me and Molly Leasing'll get all the
yearnin' stares."
She disappeared by way of the vestibule. George shook a head heavy
with forebodings.
"Class to that kid, all right," he observed. "Some stepper, take it from
me. Anyway, I'm glad it's a box: then I can hide under a chair. I ain't
got nothin' to go in but these hand-me-downs."
"You'll be all right," said P. Sybarite hastily.
"Well, I won't feel lonely if you don't dress up like a horse. What are
you going to wear, anyway?"
"A shave, a clean collar, and what I stand in. They're all I have."
"Then you got nothin' on me. What's your rush?"--as P. Sybarite would
have passed on. "Wait a shake. I wanna talk to you. Sit down and have
a cig."
There was a hint of serious intention in the manner of the shipping
clerk to induce P. Sybarite, after the hesitation of an instant, to accede
to his request. Squatting down upon the steps, he accepted a cigarette,
lighted it, inhaled deeply.
"Well?"
"I dunno how to break it to you," Bross faltered dubiously. "You better
brace yourself to lean up against the biggest disappointment ever."
P. Sybarite regarded him with sharp distrust. "You interest me strangely,
George.... But perhaps you're no more addled than usual. Consider me
gently prepared against the worst--and get it off your chest."

"Well," said George regretfully, "I just wanna put you next to the facts
before you ask her. Miss Lessing ain't goin' to go with us to-night."
P. Sybarite looked startled and grieved.
"No?" he exclaimed.
George wagged his head mournfully. "It's a shame. I know you counted
on it, but I guess you'll have to get summonelse."
"I'm afraid I don't understand. How