And in the elevator, and later in the car, he was silent, as became the clerk of Marston's offices in the company of Marston's daughter when there were listeners near.
Her eyes gave him distinct approval and her lips gave him a charming smile when he alighted at his destination.
Bradish stood for a moment and gazed after the car when it threaded its way into the Broadway traffic.
“She's a flighty young dame, with a new notion for every minute,” he told himself. “You can see that plain enough. It's probably all jolly on her part. However, in these days, if a fellow keeps his head steady and his feet busy, there's no telling what the tango may lead to. This may be exactly, what I've been paying tailors' bills for.”
Indicating that in these calculating times the spirit of youth in the ardor of love at first sight is not as the poet of romance has painted it.
XVII ~ “EXACTLY!” SAID MR. FOGG
“O I am not a man o' war or privateer,” said he,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we!
“But I'm an honest pirate a-looking for my fee,
Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree.”
—Shanty of the “Prince Luther.”
Mr. Fletcher Fogg privately and mentally and metaphorically slapped himself on the back whenever he considered his many activities.
He was perfectly certain that he was the best little two-handed general operator of an all-around character that any gentleman could secure when that gentleman wanted a job done and did not care to give explicit instructions as to the details of procedure.