"Not if I reach the ticket office first. Besides, I like Iva better."

"Oh, Bill, don't you love me any more?"

"Course I do, Little Fudge Sundae. But a popular doctor has
responsibilities."

"I know. I don't mean to be unreasonable. But let's keep peace in the
family as long as it's convenient--see what I mean?" "I see. Do you think
I'd like my new pajims better trimmed with frilled malines, or just
decorated with a conventional pattern of gold soutache braid?"

Warble, sitting on the other end of the now separated _chaise longue_ made
no reply, except to scratch her leg a little.

Petticoat yawned, took a stroll round the room, tried on a new dressing
gown, mixed himself a highball, smoked three cigarettes, glanced through
"What the Swell-dressed Man can Spare," wound his watch, put out his
Angora cat, yawned again, sneezed twice, stomped out in the hall and back,
and then went and stood in front of the fireplace, teetering on his heels.

But until he bawled, "Aren't you ever going to clear out?" she sat,
unmoving.




CHAPTER IX

Lotta Munn ran in occasionally. She was of the anecdotal type. The stories