"Sure. Diamond juice."
"Diamond juice?"
"Aw, hooch. For me and the gal."
"The girl?" quavered Tidbury.
"Say," demanded Mr. Hydeman, "did you think I was going to take a hippopotamus with me?"
Tidbury's small face was pathetic.
"You don't know what you're missing, Tid," Mr. Hydeman rattled on. "It's a real naughty party. Those costumes! Oh, bebe." Mr. Hydeman rolled his eyes toward the roof and blew thither a kiss. "Last year there was a Cleopatra there and she didn't have a thing on her but a pair of——"
"The cashier's waiting for these figures," mumbled Mr. Epps. "I've got to go to him."
He heard Hydeman's sniggle of laughter behind him.
That evening the desperate Tidbury met Martha Ritter as she was leaving the hat company's building.