"I didn't know whether to translate that to dad or to shut the Frenchman
up myself right there. I would have liked to take a punch at him. But, of
course, you're nothing but a part of the machinery when you are
interpreting, so I handed it on, without looking at dad. All he said was,
'We'll get to the point, if you please, Monsieur.'

"LaChaise understood that without waiting for me. He said he had had no
hesitation in offering Paula a contract to sing the leading dramatic
soprano rôles at Ravinia this summer and that he had told her if it
worked anywhere near as well as he expected it to there was no doubt of
her getting a good Metropolitan engagement next season. He finished up by
saying he had had to ask her to make a decision as soon as possible
because he was at that moment negotiating with some one else who couldn't
be put off very long.

"Dad asked then whether Paula had given him an answer to-night. LaChaise
told him she had accepted--subject to his obtaining dad's consent. Then
he finished up with a full-dress bow. 'That is the point you have asked
me to come to, Monsieur,' he said.

"Dad never said a word for a minute. You could see it must have been
ghastly for him. I guess LaChaise must have seen it himself, for he went
on and tried to soften it down a bit. Said he didn't want to seem to
_brusqué_ the affair. All he wanted to ask dad to-night was that he
should agree to consider the matter, bearing in mind that a real artist
like _madame_, his wife, couldn't be kept shut up in a brass tower
indefinitely.

"Dad cut him off rather short on that. He said that from a legal or
business point of view, which was all that could possibly concern