Page:Levenson - Butterfly Man.djvu/130

128 Without changing expression, Frankie replied: "Just an old bag to you."

Laughter spread. "Silence!" Jules snapped, as he banged his stick against the seat. "I and only I have the last word."

"You mean I have," he heard a voice at his elbow. Howard Vee slipped into the seat beside him. "How're they coming?" he asked.

"It'll be a typical Monroe chorus," Jules quickly replied.

On the stage, Frankie pursed his mouth so that he could whisper out of a corner. "That's the boss. Isn't he cute?"

"That?" asked Ray. "I don't care for him."

"I'm bringing in a dance team," Howard Vee was telling the director. "I want you to look them over. They might do for a couple of spots."

"Where are they?" Monroe asked.

"Waiting backstage."

"What's their names, Howard?"

"The girl's Nellie Nasmuth's sister. I don't know the boy."