"You got a dictaphone on dem people?"
"No, but I know the type so well, I can tell by their looks. Lucinda
is thinking about their big new palace on Grand Avenue, and she
regards everyone outside her set as a burglar trying to break in.
And then there's Bertie Stebbins, who's thinking about a new style
of collar he saw advertised to-day, and how it would look on him,
and what impression it would make on his newest girl."
It was Mary who spoke now: "I know that little toad. I've seen him
dancing at the Palace with Dorothy Doodles, or whatever her name
is."
"Well," said I, "Mrs. Stebbins runs the newer set--those who hunt
sensations, and make a splurge in the papers. It costs like smoke,
of course--" And suddenly I stopped. "Look out!" I whispered. "Here
she comes!"
XVIII
I heard Maw catch her breath, and I heard Maw's husband give a
grunt. Then I rose. "How are you, Billy?" gurgled a voice--one of
those voices made especially for social occasions. "Wretched boy,
why do you never come to see us?"
"I was coming to-morrow," I said--for who could prove otherwise?
"Mrs.
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