Amnesiacs -- Fiction; New York (State) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Trials -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"Do you know this step--to the Paradise whistle and ukulele and that
new instrument, the Shiverskin, it's just great." Around the room
strode Minga, solemnly expounding the simple steps. "You like my ring,"
hummed Minga, "well, Tawny's first girl picked it out. I saw it on her
aristocratic hand and I had to have it; also, you see, I needed Tawny
to dance with--he goes my gait--she hated to let him go; Sard, that
girl is a Moth, she eats men, eats 'em alive, but I snitched this one,"
Minga giggled. "Tawny's coming out for your first spring dance at the
Club while I'm here, but it's not announced," warned Minga, "so don't
talk bassinets."
It was the old Minga, only, Sard could not keep herself from admitting
this; more so, and well, there really need not have been any more of
the original Minga. Sard, who was exactly a year older than her friend,
felt somehow centuries older. Also she had to confess again as she had
confessed to herself before, there was something in Minga that both
shamed and hurt, while it fascinated. However, with all the hunger
of a lonely girl for a chum, Sard readily overlooked jarring things.
She reached out and drew Minga to her, hanging an arm over the thin
little shoulder. Minga took it all coolly. "Are you letting yourself
get fat, Sard?" she criticised. Then added caressingly, "Poor solemn
Sard, we've got to whoop things up for you now I'm here. What? I mean
it! Can't we run up a few men and some jazz and stuff on the telephone
for to-night? Would Judgie and Aunt Reely care? Who does your jazz this
year? We've got an angel band home, three cornets, a paradise whistle
and a drum, it's divine--well? Wait till I get hold of that old Dunce,"
said Minga, "I'll choke all the news out of him. My hat--there comes
your father's car around the drive, and I haven't got on evening duds!
What do you wear for night-eats? Will Judgie care if I go down as I am?"
This was Sard's chance. She kept her arm around the restless, pacing
little figure. "Minga, will you do something for me? Put on your
prettiest dress, that rose-colored one, talk music to Father, let
him play his new records for you." Minga made a face, but Sard was
insistent. "Get him to tell you about Terence O'Brien--only don't you
start the subject, Minga--and--and--and ask him if he is pleased with
the new man on the place."
Then Sard, at a loss just how to drill her impulsive guest, stared at
Minga thoughtfully, frowning. "No, don't ask him that," she said. "I've
changed my mind, don't ask him that."
Then said Minga, "I'm to ask him about Terence O'Brien without his
knowing it?"
"Yes, his sister works here."
"Terence O'Brien," repeated Minga, "who--oh, yes, that fellow that
killed the old man, ran away with the money, did it all just like a
movie--awfully exciting! My gracious!" Minga was awed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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