Page:The Tattooed Countess (1924).pdf/42

 He says everything'll be all right now with McKinley. Cleveland. ..

I know! Them Democrats! Since Carter Harrison's been elected mayor o' Chicago there's been more holdups an' crime. It's always that way when the Democrats is in.

That's right. That's what Mr. Fox says.

That's what Eddie says.

That Price girl next door's gettin' married, the hired-girl tells me, Mrs. Fox confided. You know she was down to Marshalltown last month.

Some Marshalltown feller?

Yes, he's blind. I says to the hired-girl, Well, it mighta been worse; he mighta lost his arms. He has, she says.

There was a pause. Trilby, in a dream, began twitching his tail and rubbing his paw mechanically over his nose. Free Silver snorted and snored and wheezed. Mrs. Bierbauer, absent-mindedly, again referred to the Star, humming to herself:

As her attention became concentrated on the society column she gradually ceased to sing. Both females continued to rock.

Well, I declare, she exclaimed, after a moment's perusal of the sheet, that Countess's comin' back.

Who? What Countess?