"If you only would!... Yes, I'm sure that would be very kind of you."
CHAPTER IV
The next evening when Claire arrived at the Café Ithaca she found that the inevitable had happened. Lycurgus had engaged a staff of entertainers. There were two women, a "professor" who played rag on the piano, and a man with an assortment of percussion instruments, including drums, which he managed to manipulate with extraordinary dexterity.
"We're just trying this as a kind of lay-off," explained one of the women to Claire, with professional hauteur. "We've been doing all the best places, and we're that worn out! What's your line?"
"I play the piano," returned Claire.
The woman shifted a gilt hairpin, sweeping the room as she did so with a critical glance.
"Well, I shouldn't think they'd need more 'n one good rag-player here," she announced, with impartial candor.
"They don't," said Claire. "I'm pretty bad at it myself."
"Oh, I'm sure I didn't mean nothing personal," threw back the other, surprised and mollified by Claire's modest claims. "I guess you must have some sort of class! Otherwise you wouldn't figure at all!"