“You’ve insulted this lady!” declared Foley in a sharp high-pitched voice.
“I didn’t insult nobody,” said Murphy. “Didn’t I flag her on the quiet? Nobody knowed it until youse made a holler.”
“This is the rankest snap I ever stacked up against,” remarked the girl, tossing her head and rubbing the wrinkles out of her long gloves. “If I’d a-knowed it was a nasty-nice affair, I wouldn’t a-come!”
“This ain’t the first time youse gave me the wrong end of it, Murphy,” said Foley, drawing back in such a way as to cause McGonagle to brace himself for the expected rush. “For the last time; does she go in, or is she barred?”
“She’s barred!” said Murphy.
“This ain’t no flash shine,” broke in McGonagle, “we’ve got our girls here to-night, and I, for one, won’t let mine dance on the same floor with her, and that goes!”
“Push along, gents,” hinted the policeman, “inside or out; yer blockin’ the passage.”
Daily jogged his companion’s elbow and whispered:
“Don’t git leary; ye’ll queer Kelly if ye kick up a row, now. Give him a chance to work the gang what’s runnin’ the show. We can come back, ye know, when he’s done; and if youse wants to do business, then, with the guy on the door, why you kin go ahead.”
The crush was growing; Levi and his orchestra had just gone in, and the tuning of the harp and violins came floating down the stairway. Belated Jerry McGlory came striding in, in a light top coat and a glossy silk hat, bowing like a duke to his acquaintances, with Veronica McTurpin, the little widow who kept the millinery store; she was half hidden in her bouquet, and also bowing and smiling, dazzlingly. Mike McCarty followed, more than ever earning his right to the title of Brummel of the ward. He carried his stick and one glove in his right hand; with the other he was barely touching the elbow of Mazie Driscoll, who sold ribbons in a down-town store. Then there was Shaffer the collector for the brewery, and Carrie Lentze, whose father carried on the “Delicatessen” store on the avenue; while behind them came Koskee McGurk and a daughter of O’Mally, who kept the junk shop back of the railroad.