“Yes.”
“Seen the new show?”
“No.”
“Well, g’wan up while you can get a table. And I bet the little girl will be somewheres around.”
“The little girl” was “somewheres around.” He secured a table, turned and looked about at the vast cabaret into which only a few people had yet filtered, and saw her at a distance in the carpeted corridor buying violets from one of the flower-girls.
A waiter placed a reserve card on his table; he continued on around the outer edge of the auditorium.
Miss Norne had already seated herself at a small table in the rear, and a waiter was serving her with iced orange juice and little French cakes.
When the waiter returned Cleves went up and took off his hat.
“May I talk with you for a moment, Miss Norne?” he said.
The girl looked up, the wheat-straw still between her scarlet lips. Then, apparently recognising in him the young man in the audience who had spoken to her, she resumed her business of imbibing orange juice.