“Why, I do, I do. I was just telling you how I liked it.”
“Well, you may thank your poor little ankle for preventing you from sharing this adventure, because if you had been able to walk I should have invited you to go to the Valley of Diamonds with me, and then I wonder what you would have done with that conscience of yours?”
“What are you talking about? I suppose you have been entering Tiffany’s vaults?”
“Not exactly—and it wasn’t a Valley of Diamonds, but a Valley of Matinee Tickets, which is quite as remarkable as anything Sinbad saw.”
“Don’t prelude so much. I am harrowed to the last degree.”
“I’ll tell you the whole story.” Cora shook her broad hat back over her tawny hair, dropped down upon a stool and clasped her hands about her knees. Mabel settled herself in the Morris chair with a sigh of satisfaction and anticipation.
“Well, you know this is the 28th of the month. That means I’ve been absolutely broke for a week.”
Mabel accepted this axiom and told her to go on and not be slangy.
“And doubtless you know too that ‘The Golden Quest’ has been running all week at Howards?
“I should think I did know it. I’ve been reading the papers every morning and eating my heart out in bitterness and tears. I’d give my eyes to see that third act. They do say she has the most gorgeous costumes in America, and her voice—”