the park was the brilliant electric sign “RESTAURANT”—“I am cashier in that restaurant you see there.”
The girl consulted a tiny watch set in a bracelet of rich design upon her left wrist, and rose, hurriedly. She thrust her book into a glittering reticule suspended from her waist, for which, however, the book was too large.
“Why are you not at work?” she asked.
“I am on the night turn,” said the young man; “it is yet an hour before my period begins. May I not hope to see you again?”
“I do not know. Perhaps—but the whim may not seize me again, I must go quickly now. There is a dinner, and a box at the play—and, oh! the same old round. Perhaps you noticed an automobile at the upper corner of the park as you came. One with a white body.”
“And red running gear?” asked the young man, knitting his brows reflectively.
“Yes. I always come in that. Pierre waits for me there. He supposes me to be shopping in the department store across the square. Conceive of the bondage of the life wherein we must deceive even our chauffeurs. Good-night.”
“But it is dark now,” said Mr. Parkenstacker, “and the park is full of rude men. May I not walk———?”
[64]
