“So you have missed me, then?”
“Missed you—”
“Did you think of me after you came here? Oh, I know—I was forgotten; poor Istra abdicates to the pretty pink-face.”
“Oh, Istra, don’t. I—can’t we just go out for a little walk so—so we can talk?”
“Why, we can talk here.”
“Oh, gee!—there’s so many people around…. Golly! when I came back to America—gee!—I couldn’t hardly sleep nights—”
From across the room came the boisterous, somewhat coarse-timbred voice of Tom, speaking to Nelly:
“Oh yes, of course you think you’re the only girl that ever seen a vodville show. We ain’t never seen a vodville show. Oh no!”
Nelly and Miss Proudfoot dissolved in giggles at the wit.
Mr. Wrenn gazed at them, detached; these were not his people, and with startled pride he glanced at Istra’s face, delicately carven by thought, as he stumbled hotly on.