"You mean your megaphone," Lennox put in. "You are always rehearsing copy. One of these days I may give you some." "From the front?" Jones asked. "Yes, though I don't see how you knew. The President has asked for war. Why aren't we up and at 'em? If Congress hems and haws over it much longer, I'll get my gun and join the Foreign Legion." Jones nodded. He had guessed that also and he said: "Wait and join the legions here. At present, the country is alarmingly apathetic. The man in the subway is muddled. The call to arms does not stir him. The issues, clear enough to us, seem to him mixed as macaroni. He does not understand a war that is three thousand miles away. But in a year, every man in the country--a country that has never been beaten!--will be in it body and soul. Undividedly, shoulder to shoulder, we will be in it as we have never been in anything before." The novelist touched a bell. "Lennox, have a Bronx. Verelst, what will you take? I'll wager a pippin that war is declared to-morrow." "Done," said Verelst--who lost it. XIII The two hundred and fifty--less ten per cent--which an imaginary Mrs. Beamish had paid for the pleasure of not hearing Cassy sing, transported the girl who was not given to transports. These subsiding, she viewed the matter from its business aspect. She needed a frock, a wrap, a hat, gloves, shoes and certain things that are nowhere visible except in advertisements, shop-windows and extreme privacy. Also, her hair required tralalaing. Meanwhile, first and foremost, Lennox must be paid. The subsidy was not too much by a penny. These considerations occupied but an instant. "When is it?" she asked the Tamburini, who, a moment before, had dumbfounded her with the money. "When is what?" inquired the ex-star who already had forgotten Mrs. Beamish. "Why, the concert!" Carlotta Tamburini was dressed like a fat idol, in silk and false pearls. There the idolatry ceased. In her hand was an umbrella and on her head a hat of rose-leaves which a black topknot surmounted. About her shoulders was a feather boa. It seemed a bit mangy. Seated on Cassy's bed she looked at a window that gave on a wall. Cassy was standing. Behind Cassy was a door which the extinguished light had closed. Beyond, in the living-room, was the marquis. Anything that he did not hear would not hurt him. "Oh, she'll let us know." "What sort of a catamount is she?" At that the former prima donna's imagination balked. But she got something out. "Nice enough. What do you care?" "I hate all those snobs." "So do I," said the Tamburini, who worshipped the breed even when non-existent. "But don't go and include him. If it hadn't been for him----" "Was he with her?" "You ought to have heard the way he went on about you. She said: 'Why, Monty, I do believe you'd like to marry her.'" Cassy's mouth twitched as she munched it. "She presumed to say that! She's an insolent beast."