lookin' like a livin'
exhibit of spring millinery. I tried hard to imagine Reney in that
bunch; but it was no go. The best I could do was throw up a picture of
a squatty female in a Kansas City shirt waist. And then, all of a
sudden, we fetches up alongside a fairy in radium silk and lace, with
her hair waved to the minute, and carryin' enough sparks to light up
the subway. She was the star of the collection, and I nearly loses my
breath when Hank says:

"Reney, you remember Shorty McCabe, don't you?"

"Ah, rully!" says she liftin' up a pair of gold handled eye glasses and
takin' a peek. "Chawmed to meet you again, Mr. McCabe."

"M-m-me too," says I. It was all the conversation I had ready to pass
out.

Maybe I acted some foolish; but for the next few minutes I didn't do
anything but stand there, sizin' her up and inspectin' the
improvements. There hadn't been any half way business about her. If
Hank was a good imitation, Mrs. Merrity was the real thing. She was
it. I've often wondered where they all came from, them birds of
Paradise that we see floatin' around such places; but now I've got a
line on 'em. They ain't all raised in New York. It's pin spots on the
map like Bedelia that keeps up the supply.

Reney hadn't stopped with takin' courses at the beauty doctors and
goin' the limit on fancy clothes. She'd been plungin' on conversation
lessons, voice culture, and all kind of parlour tricks. She'd been
keepin' her eyes and ears open too, takin' her models from real life;
and the finished product was somethin' you'd say had never been west of
Broadway or east of Fourth-ave. As for her ever doin' such a thing as
juggle crockery, it was almost a libel to think of it.

"Like it here in town, do you?" says I, firin' it at both of 'em.

"Like it!" says Hank. "See what it's costin' us. We got to like it."

She gives him a look that must have felt like an icicle slipped down
his neck. "Certainly we enjoy New York," says she. "It's our home,
don'cha know."

"Gosh!" says I. I didn't mean to let it slip out, but it got past me
before I knew.

Mrs. Merrity only raises her eyebrows and smiles, as much as to say,
"Oh, what can one expect?"

That numbs me so much I didn't have life enough to back out of goin' to
the theatre with 'em, as Hank had planned. Course, we has a box, and
it wasn't until she'd got herself placed well up in front and was
lookin' the house over through the glasses that I gets