The white auto called last night, and as my head rested on his shoulder
our conversation was the rambling sort that may be ticketed "all rights
reserved," so I won't repeat it as the postmaster-general would refuse
me stamps in the future if I sent it through the mail. In Chicago they'd
take out my phone if I squeaked it over the wires. Carlton is deeply
interested in some mines out here--spinach mines I think. I made up my
mind to something last night--I am determined to get him away from that
carrotty giraffe whom he used to believe he loved. If in my
convalescent state I am unable to arouse his sympathy, I'll relapse into
white muslin emotions and thereby gain my end. I am made from dust and
the slightest rustle from the right man's coat can blow me whithersoever
it willeth. You know I am a spoiled child who has had everything it
wanted, so bon-bons no longer excite me. Carlton is so thin that you can
see daylight through his lattice work, and cold as paving stone in
winter. He's a real "millionery," but his cash is 40 degrees below, so I
am determined to warm up his eagles and teach them to fly. I am going to
touch that cash box under his left breast and show him that the devil
has a sister. The man wants bleeding--he has too many bank notes in his
veins. He seems to be toppling so I might as well register him in my
"Book of Mistakes."
Do you know that I still keep a record of these undying passions of mine
with a picture of each culprit attached, and Carlton is 999. I thought,
when I was sixteen, I would record the one divine fire that was
like to consume me, and now I have eighteen volumes of this
105-degrees-in-the-shade literature, all bound alike in a perfect
_edition de luxe_. I'd rather regret what I have done than what I have
not done. You dear old ostrich, I can hear you sigh over me, but don't
you waste your gasoline. You, too, should have callouses on your
emotions by this time.
Bunky and Othello have both decided to bark at my chemiselets and
skirtlets in one,--maybe they think they are too flossy to be concealed.
I agree there.
Phyllis Lathop's lawyer, Mr. Maryan Soe Early, got her decree for her
last week and she flew back on the 3.30 train to Manhattan and Gordon
Booth. Of course everyone knows that he is booked.
Her plea was extreme cruelty; said her husband struck her. The dear old
judge asked her to explain in detail some of the circumstances of her
husband's brutality. She said: "While crossing Lake Michigan there was a
terrible storm on, and as my husband was descending from the upper
berth, the boat lurched and he struck me with his elbow." Phyllis said
the judge smiled very broadly and gave her her decree on "Extreme
Nerve," instead of "Extreme Cruelty."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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