"Framed in the doorway ... stood one of the finest examples of the early Gothic I have ever seen."
"'Pardon me a moment,' said he, rising and starting over to her.
"'Why, Judge Waddington, what a delightful thurprise,' shrilled the lady of peroxide in a voice that carried all over the room and back as far as the bar.
"'When did you come down? Thith ith thertainly fine.' The judge mumbled something which I did not catch—it sounded like 'Oh, hell!'
"'Here, Patrick,' he said, without enthusiasm, 'I want you to meet a friend of mine.'
"An introduction to Miss Clarice de Dear, who had appeared in the original Black Crook company with Lydia Thompson, was no every-day occurrence in my hum-drum existence, and I was perhaps visibly affected. She overlooked it, and greeted me with girlish enthusiasm.
"'Tho glad,' she lisped, 'to meet any friend of the dear Judge's, and ethpethially you. I have heard tho much about you.' I wondered what in the devil she had heard. 'I've known Judge Waddington ever since I was a little tot.'