"Then maybe he's just waiting to get up his nerve. He'll ask you, all
right; nothing there for us to worry about. Come on, let's have
dinner. I'm starved."
On the roof of the Grantham they were excellently served; for Barney
knew how to order a dinner, and he knew the art, which is an
alchemistic mixture of suave diplomacy and the insinuated power and
purpose of murder, of handling head-waiters and their sub-autocrats.
Having no other business in hand, Barney devoted himself to that
business which ran like a core through all his businesses--paying
court to Maggie. And when Barney wished to be a courtier, there were
few of his class who could give a better superficial interpretation of
the role; and in this particular instance he was at the advantage of
being in earnest. He forced the most expensive tidbits announced by
the dinner card upon Maggie; he gallantly and very gracefully put on
and removed, as required by circumstances, the green cobweb of a scarf
Maggie had brought to the roof as protection against the elements; and
when he took the dancing-floor with her, he swung her about and hopped
up and down and stepped in and out with all the skill of a master of
the modern perversion of dancing. Barney was really good enough to
have been a professional dancer had his desires not led him toward
what seemed to him a more exciting and more profitable career.
Pages:
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271