“‘Hi! Lee! Hi! Low!
Hi! Lee! Hi! Low!
I jus’ come over,
I jus’ come over—
Hi! Lee! Hi! Low!
Hi! Lee! Hi! Low!
I jus’ come over the sea,’”
sang Billy Sutton, as he and Nan watched the gyrations of their host’s secretary. “Did you ever see such a proof of foreign blood in any man who pretends to be American born?”
“Why, Billy, he is American born. The count says he was born and raised in Cincinnati.”
“Yes, and the count says he himself was born and raised in Hungary, but I bet you anything they may have been born where they say they were but they were raised in Berlin. Look at that fellow and tell me if he doesn’t dance like Old Heidelberg.”
“The count doesn’t, anyhow. I never saw such divine dancing as the count’s.”
As though he had heard her, the handsome smiling de Lestis came to claim her for the rest of the dance.
“Aren’t these foreigners the limit?” said the boy, seeking the disconsolate Lewis. “I know I oughtn’t to say anything about a fellow when I am in his house, but somehow that count gets my goat.”
“Mine, too! Who is this Herz?”
“Oh, he is a kind of lady’s maid or secretary or something for his nibs. Says he is an American, but I have my doubts. I don’t see how Miss Douglas Carter can stand for him, but she lets him walk home from school with her any time, so I hear,” announced Billy, absolutely unconscious of the fact he was retailing very unwelcome news to his companion.
“Humph!” was all Lewis could say, but that monosyllable had a world of meaning in it. And so although the music was gay and the lights were bright and the laughter was merry in that ballroom, there were several sore hearts, and the little green-eyed monster was waltzing or fox trotting or one stepping every dance.