"The old, of course," she answered unhesitatingly.
He improvised for a moment; then he began to sing,—
"The hours I spent with thee, dear heart,
Are as a string of pearls to me.
I count them over one by—"
Abruptly he stopped singing and struck a dozen resonant major chords.
"What a disgustingly sentimental thing that is!" he said sharply. "After our summer at Monomoy in the sea air, we need an atmosphere of ozone, not of laughing gas."
And he played the prelude of Die Beiden Grenadieren.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Arlt dropped in at Thayer's rooms, the next afternoon, and sat looking on while his friend put himself into his evening clothes, preparatory to dining with Miss Gannion.