“Aw, take that mush off the line. Ha-ang up!” Some impatient neighboring tenant with a bad temper was evidently cutting in.
“Aw, go lead yourself out by the ear!” Gary retorted sharply. “Say, Pat!” His voice softened to the wooing note of the young male human. “Best I can do, honey, it’ll be forty minutes. That’s giving me ten minutes to look like a white man again. You know it’ll take me thirty minutes to ride out there——”
“You could walk, you bum, whilst you’re tellin’ her about it. Get off the line! There ought to be a law against billy-cooin’ over the ’phone——”
“Seddown! You’re rockin’ the boat!” Gary flung back spiritedly. “Better make it forty-five, Girlie. It may take me five minutes to lick this cheap heavy on the third floor that’s tryin’ to put on a comedy act.”
“Say, one more crack like that an’ I’ll be down to your place an’ save yuh some valuable time. It’ll take me about two seconds to knock yuh cold!” The harsh male voice interrupted eagerly.
“Are you there, Pat?”
“Right here, Gary. How did that get into a respectable house, dear? You ought to call the janitor.” The girl he hoped to marry had spirit and could assuredly hold her own in a wicked city. “Take your time, Gary boy. But remember, I’ve the biggest surprise in your life waiting for you out here. Something wonderful!”
It is astonishing how a woman can pronounce a few simple words so that they sound like a hallelujah chorus of angels. Gary thrilled to her voice, in spite of an intensely practical nature. Patricia went on, after an impressive pause.
“Never mind that noise in the ’phone, Gary. It’s just some mechanical deficiency caused by using cheap material. Never mind the grease paint, either. You—you won’t always have to smear around in it—partner!”
While he hurried to make himself presentable, Gary’s thoughts dwelt upon that word “partner” and the lingering sweetness of Patricia’s tone. Patricia Connolly was not a feather-brained creature who would repeat parrotlike whatever phrase she happened to have heard and fancied. She did not run to second-hand superlatives. When she told Gary that she had a wonderful surprise for him, she would not, for instance, mean that she had done her hair in a new fashion or had bought a new record for the phonograph. And she had never before called him partner in any tone whatever. Gary would have remembered it if she had.