Miss Hitchcock seemed to find infinite resources of mirth in the affair. Other people drifted by them. Several of the younger women stopped and exchanged amused glances with Miss Hitchcock.
"He's been attentive to all these," Miss Hitchcock explained to Sommers.
"The Polot money is very bad, isn't it?"
Miss Hitchcock shrugged her shoulders.
"It is current coin."
"The system is worse than the dot and mariage de convenance. There is no pretension of sentiment in that, at least. See him hanging over the girl—faugh!"
"You are crude," Miss Hitchcock admitted, candidly. "Let us move out of this crowd. Some one will overhear you."
They sauntered into the dimly lighted hall, where there were fewer people, and he continued truculently:
"I remember that side by side with the report of Miss Polot's engagement was a short account of the starvation at Pullman, and another column was headed, 'Nothing to arbitrate: Pullman says he has nothing to arbitrate.' Did you see that the reporters carefully estimated just how much Miss Polot's share of the plunder would be?"
"What you need is golf. I have been teaching papa at the Springs. It is a great resource, and it increases your sense of humor."