Tony gathers up his junk and throwin' a last glare at me and the Kid, beats it.
Van Ness turns to the Kid, stickin' the eyeglass back in the toga.
"Ah—and now, Scanlan," he says, "will you be good enough to explain the cause of the—ah—bitter animosity you have for me?"
The Kid frowns and scratches his head.
"Somebody has been kiddin' you," he tells him. "I ain't got nothin' for you! Where d'ye get that animosity thing?"
Van Ness sighs so hard it like to blowed our hats off.
"It is beastly plain to me," he says, "that I am about as popular in Film City as a cloudburst at a picnic! I am snubbed, ridiculed, vulgarly and subtly insulted! Also I am white and human and—ah—I must confess it has penetrated my skin. You are particularly bitter against me—why?"
The Kid studies him for a minute.
"Listen!" he answers finally. "Are you on the level with this? D'ye really wanna know, or are you simply askin' me so's you can pull one of them witty remarks on the way I answer you—and get walloped on the beak?"
Van Ness did somethin' then I never seen him do before and only once afterward. He grinned! The Roman toga fell off his shoulders, and he leans over with his hands on his hips. On the level, his whole face seemed to change! And then—