Page:Minnie Flynn (1925).pdf/158

 "What's the idea? Think I want to be the extra spoke to the wheel? Not me!"

"You'd never be an extra spoke where I'm concerned, Minnie, and you know it. Tell me the truth, honest now. I want to know why you walked past the store tonight. Did you want to see me, Minnie? Did you?"

"I always exercise before dinner," she answered. "It's good for the complexion. Your friend's waitin' for you, Billy. She seems to be sufferin' from cold in spite of her swell new coat. So long! Drop around to the house some time, the folks would love to see you."

"Minnie!" He caught her by the arm and drew her toward him. "Got anything on for tonight?"

She knew what he intended to ask. . . if her spirits hadn't been so low she would have turned away from him.

"Sure, but only a dinner date."

"So've I, but I mean after dinner?"

With a shrug of her shoulders Minnie feigned indifference. "Nothing definite. My gentleman friend's goin' to a theayter party uptown. I had a headache this evening, I didn't feel like joinin' 'em. Surely Madge ain't the kind of a girl that's goin' to pass you up after you've fed her, is she?"

She was thinking, "Poor Billy is still stuck on me." The lids of his eyes drooped at the corners giving them a lugubrious expression. Sympathy for Billy almost equaled her sympathy for herself.

"Do you really want to see me," she asked him, "very much?"

"Oh, God, Min."

"Don't look at me like that, Billy, your friend might see you."

"I don't care who sees me, Minnie, the whole world for that matter. Listen, I can break that date with Madge. It