Page:Tales of the Jazz Age.djvu/149

Rh : (Impatiently) Then you won't hurry?


 * Why should I?


 * I've got a date.


 * Here at the house?


 * None of your business.


 * So be it.


 * Oh, for Heaven's sake, yes! I have a date here, at the house—in a way.


 * In a way?


 * He isn't coming in. He's calling for me and we're walking.


 * (Raising her eyebrows) Oh, the plot clears. It's that literary Mr. Calkins. I thought you promised mother you wouldn't invite him in.


 * (Desperately) She's so idiotic. She detests him because he's just got a divorce. Of course she's had more expedience than I have, but


 * (Wisely) Don't let her kid you! Experience is the biggest gold brick in the world. All older people have it for sale.


 * I like him. We talk literature.


 * Oh, so that's why I've noticed all these weighty, books around the house lately.


 * He lends them to me.


 * Well, you've got to play his game. When in Rome do as the Romans would like to do. But I'm through with books. I'm all educated.


 * You're very inconsistent—last summer you read every day.


 * If I were consistent I'd still be living on warm milk out of a bottle.


 * Yes, and probably my bottle. But I like Mr. Calkins.