y
costume.

"Why," he gasps, "how--er--where did you----"

"Oh, I brought myself out last season," says I. "But just a minute, if
you don't mind," and I jerks my thumb towards the dressin' room.

"But, you know," he begins, "I--I----"

"Ah, ditch the shifty stuff!" says I. "This is orders from headquarters.
Come!"

And he trots right along. Once I gets him behind the draperies I shoots
it at him straight. "Who'd you pinch the invite from?" says I.

"See here, now!" he comes back peevish. "You have no call to say that. I
had a bid, all right; got it with me. There! What about that?" And he
flashes a card on me.

It's one of Marjorie's!

"Huh!" says I. "Met her at Mrs. Astor's, I expect?"

Skeet shuffles his feet and tries to look indignant.

"Come on, give us the plot of the piece," says I, "or I'll call up
Sister Maggie and put her on the stand. Where was it, now?"

"If you must know," says Skeet sulky, "it was at Roselle's."

"The tango factory?" says I. "Oh, I'm beginnin' to get the thread. The
place where she's been takin' lessons, eh?"

Skeet nods.

"Is this romance, or business, then?" says I.

"Think I'm a fathead?" says he. "I'm gettin' fifteen for this, and I'm
earnin' the money too. It's a regular thing. Last night I was Cousin
Harry for an old maid from Washington--went to a swell house dance up on
Riverside Drive. She came across with twenty for that, and paid for the
taxi."

"Well, well!" says I. "Then them long legs of yours has turned out a
good asset after all. What you pullin' down, Skeet, on an average?"

"Twenty regular, and a hundred or so on the side," says he, swellin' his
chest out. "And, say, I guess I got it some on the rest of the family.
You know how they used me,--like dirt, the old lady callin' me a loafer,
and Annie so stuck up on livin' in an elevator apartment she wouldn't
have me around. Maggie too! Didn't I hand it to her, though? Notice me
frost her, eh? But I said I'd show 'em some day. Guess I've delivered
the goods. Look at me now, all dolled up every night, and mixin' with
the best people! Say, you watch me! Why, I can go out there and pick any
queen you want to name. They're crazy about me. I could show you mash
notes and photos too. Oh, I'm Winning Willie with the fluffs, I am!"

Well, it was worth listenin' to. He struts around waggin' his silly
head, until I can hardly keep from throwin' a chair at him. Course
something had to be dealt out. He needed it ba