The Blood Red Dawn by Charles Caldwell Dobie
page 40 of 139 (28%)
page 40 of 139 (28%)
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"Well, Mrs. Finnegan, that's only because you're not accustomed to it.
Now, if you had ever...." "Did Claire smoke?" "Why, of course _not_! How can you ask such a thing? I hope I've brought my daughter up decently, Mrs. Finnegan." And with that, Mrs. Robson would deftly switch to a less exciting detail of the Condor-Stillman musicale, before her neighbor had a chance to pick flaws in her logic. But sooner or later the topic would again verge on the controversial. Usually at the point where the scene shifted from Ned Stillman's apartments to the Palace Hotel, Mrs. Finnegan's pug nose was lifted with tentative disapproval, as she inquired: "How many did you say went down to the Palace?" "Only four--Mr. Stillman, Claire, Mrs. Condor, and a young fellow named Edington." "I suppose _that_ Mrs. Condor was the chaperon. Finnegan knows her well! She used to hire hacks when Finnegan was in the livery business years ago. She's a gay one, I can tell you. When only the steam-dummy ran out to the Cliff House...." "That's nothing. Everybody who was anybody had dinners at the Cliff House in those days. I remember how my father...." "Yes, Mrs. Robson, maybe you do! But I'll bet _you_ never went to such a place without your husband ... and ... with a _strange_ man." |
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