Mr. Merkle grunted, "So would I."
She smiled sweetly. "You see, we're both unpleasant people."
Merkle meditated in silence while she attacked her food with a healthy, youthful appetite that awoke his envy.
"I suppose you see a lot of this sort of thing?" he at length suggested.
"There's something of the kind nearly every night. Is this your first experience?"
"Um-m—no. Steel men are notoriously sporty when they get away from home. But I don't go out often."
"This party isn't as bad as some, for the very reason that most of the men are from out of town and it's a bit of a novelty to them. But there's a crowd of regular New-Yorkers—the younger men-about-town—" She paused significantly. "I accepted one invitation from them."
"Only one?"
"It was quite enough."
"I've traveled some," observed Merkle, "but this city is getting to be the limit."