Page:The Plutocrat (1927).pdf/429

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Why, in my town you can sit down anywhere in the city and eat ice-cream right off the street pavement with a silver teaspoon! In my town you could offer an Irish setter a life job with a fee of five thousand dollars for every smell he could find within a radius of twenty miles from the heart of the city and he'd die in the Poor House not worth a nickel! In my town——"

Here, seeing Ogle approach, he stopped short, and his expression became solemn; he left the concierge and went to meet the young man. "I certainly had a wonderful busy night of it!" he said. "You happened to see Babe anywhere this morning?"

"No, I haven't."

Tinker rubbed his scented and glistening head. "I just wondered if she'd said anything to you, maybe. She certainly hasn't to me. Maybe she thinks her mother's sayin' enough, and I guess she is. Murder!" He moaned slightly and turned to rejoin the concierge; then an after-thought stopped him. "Listen," he said. "What's an impresario?"

Ogle looked at him strangely; but replied without giving any other evidence that the question inspired a train of thought. "A manager of an opera company, or of concerts, or a musical conductor. Why?"