And say, just by the look Sadie gave me I knew what was runnin' through her head.
"Shorty," says she, "I've a mind to do it."
"Flag it," says. "You ain't got time."
But there was no stoppin' her. "Listen," says she to the Tortonis. "Can't you play Duke and Duchess of Kildee for an hour or so?"
"What are the lines?" says Skinny.
"You've got to improvise as you go along," says she. "Can you do it?"
"It's a pipe for me," says he. "Flossy, do you come in on it?"
Did she? Why, Flossy was diggin' up her English accent while he was askin' the question, and by the time Mrs. Wigghorn got back, draggin' Peter by the lapel of his dress coat, the Tortonis was fairly oozin' aristocracy. It was "Chawmed, don'tcher know!" and "My word!" right along from the drop of the hat.
I didn't follow 'em inside, and was just as glad I didn't have to. Sittin' out there, expectin' to hear the lid blow off, made me nervous enough. I wasn't afraid either of 'em would go shy on front; but when I remembered Flossy's pencilled eyebrows, and Skinny's flannel collar, I says to myself, "That'll queer 'em as soon as they get in a good light and there's time for the details to soak in." And I didn't know what kind of trouble the Wigghorns might stir up for Sadie, when they found out how bad they'd been toasted.
It was half an hour before Sadie showed up again, and she was lookin' merry.