"I'll tell you in a moment," laughed Laura; "just as soon as Annie gets through with me."
She went out, leaving her visitor alone. Elfie, left to herself, wandered about the room. Finding a candy box on the desk, she helped herself to the sugared contents. Aloud, she said:
"Do you know, Laura, I think I'll go back on the stage?"
"Yes?" came the answer from the inner room.
"Yes," went on Elfie, "I'm afraid I'll have to. I think I need a sort of a boost to my popularity."
"How a boost?"
"I think Jerry is getting cold feet. He's seeing a little too much of me nowadays."
"What makes you think that?"
"I think he is getting a relapse of that front-row habit. There's no use in talking, Laura, it's a great thing for a girl's credit when a man like Jerry can take two or three friends to the theatre, and when you make your entrance delicately point to you with his forefinger, and say: 'The third one from the front on the left belongs to muh.' The old fool's hanging around some of these musical comedies lately, and I'm getting nervous every time rent day comes."
Laura laughed incredulously. She had too high an opinion of her friend's business ability to believe the danger very serious. Pointedly, she said: