Lefty leaned up against the bar and listened with flattering attentiveness to the outburst of the faded blonde at the piano. Each line of the touching lyrics she emitted made him feel more and more sorry for himself. A fetching little olive-skinned girl with a profusion of black hair, large, dark eyes and lovely white teeth, glided over to him, placing her arm about his shoulder. Her scanty attire showed her trim, shapely figure to excellent advantage. Of all the girls at the Cantina la Flora, this one was the most sought after. “Nice soldado Americano quiere leetle drink?” she cooed, temptingly. Lefty merely responded by brushing her arm from about his shoulders. He had time for no one now. The blond entertainer’s song had completely enveloped him. “Mebe Americano want to drink alone weeth Rosa, upa-stairs, yes?” the undaunted little native coquette asked, again brushing herself close to Lefty’s side. The boy pushed her away forcibly, once more allowing his mind to drift away with the music. Rosa turned to the bartender and winked broadly as she announced, “Leetle soft drink for brave soldado—ver’ soft, Peitro!” The bartender grinned and reached for a glass just as the blonde at the piano finished her song. Lefty smiled sympathetically and applauded with enthusiasm, calling for an encore. The entertainer bowed gratefully in his direction for he had been the only one of all the people present who acknowledged his appreciation of her art. “Don’t encourage her,” someone shouted. “If you applaud like that, she’ll inflict another one of those songs on us!” “That’s just what I want her to do!” Lefty announced; and that was exactly what the lady did to the discomfort of all. “Where’s my drink?” the soldier demanded as the music once more reached his ears. The bartender complied by drawing a glass of beer, and when Lefty again turned to watch the girl at the piano, the man serving the drink dropped the ashes of his cigar in the beer, also pouring in a good deal of whiskey as well. Lefty reached back to the bar, mechanically taking the stein by the handle and lifting the beer to his lips, much to the amusement of Rosa and the practical joking bartender. Just as he had finished his drink with no dire effect other than a feeling of dizziness, the music again stopped and he sauntered over to where the girl at the piano sat. “That was fine, sister,” he announced as he reached her side, falling into a chair in a daze. “Give us another, will you?” The blonde rose, and eyed him with a piercing look of disdain. “Say, insipid, you don’t think I’m doin’ this for me health, do you?” “You mean, you expect me to pay you?” asked the astonished Marine, gradually falling under the spell of intoxication. “Naw—just leave me the price of a pair of stocking, that’s all!” “How can you be so mercenary?” the boy asked with the sincerity of an inebriated man.