“Is that lovely girl with copper hair his wife?”
“Elaine Oglethorpe has reddish hair. She’s not so darn lovely either.... She’s just a kid and she’s upstage as the deuce already. All because she made a kind of a hit in Peach Blossoms. You know one of these tiny exquisite bits everybody makes such a fuss over. She can act all right.”
“It’s a shame she’s got that for a husband.”
“Ogle’s done everything in the world for her. If it hadnt been for him she’d still be in the chorus ...”
“Beauty and the beast.”
“You’d better look out if he sets his lamps on you Jimmy.”
“Why?”
“Strange fish, Jimmy, strange fish.”
An Elevated train shattered the barred sunlight overhead. He could see Ruth’s mouth forming words.
“Look,” he shouted above the diminishing clatter. “Let’s go have brunch at the Campus and then go for a walk on the Palisades.”