Carmella Commands
“Take her home, Dixon, as you promised,” said Mr. Barrington.
“Yes, sir!” said Dixon, inwardly chuckling.
Presently Carmella turned with the instinct of sociability and said:
“How do you like the booze Mike sends you, Mr. Barrington?”
“Wh-what’s that? Mike? What the⸺ Mike who?”
“Why, Mike Laudini, your bootlegger. Dad says he’s the only honest one there is.”
“For the love of⸺” began Mr. Barrington. Then he whistled softly. Then:
“How’d you come to think he was my bootlegger?” Carmella realized that she had committed a social error. It ran through her thoughts that possibly a bootlegger’s customers did not like all the world to know.
“Why, Mr. Barrington,” she lied blithely, “I’ve worked for Mike, vacations and Saturdays. I thought of course you knew I knew you bought from Mike.”
So naturally did she lie that the perturbed patron of the contraband arts was satisfactorily deceived. Carmella caught Dixon’s glance of reproof and turned again to the real estate man.
“But you wanted me to talk about dad and his gang, didn’t you?”
“Yes, yes, yes! What I want to know is, would he put on more steam if he had the capital?”
[186]
