In another moment they were lost in the throng.
CHAPTER XX
CONCERNING LAUGHTER
The next afternoon Baron received a very cordial letter from Thornburg. The manager was delighted with the fine account of the Fairyland opening that had been printed in the Times. That was the sum and substance of his letter. There was nothing about the compact to which Baron was a party.
“Just the same, he’s got something up his sleeve,” Baron mused. And his next thought was: “But I’ve kept my word. If she doesn’t want to go there’s no reason why I should urge her to. She’s getting along all right where she is.”
Two weeks slipped by, and then one day at noon as Baron was emerging from the lobby of the Times building he heard a familiar voice in the street. The Thornburg automobile stopped and the manager pushed the door open.
“Been to lunch yet?” called Thornburg.
“Just going,” was the response. Baron would have prevaricated if he’d had time to think; but now it was too late and he made the best of the matter as Thornburg pulled him into the car.
“Come with me,” said the manager, and then he became silent as he threaded the machine through the down-town congestion.
He did not speak again until they were in a comparatively quiet restaurant whose patronage was drawn chiefly from theatrical people who did not come in until late in the evening.