"I told you I think you're the sweetest, livest little queen I know."
"Come on, little live wire. Put on your swell, hothouse-trimmed hat. I'm going to take you to a place farther up the street where there are two staircases and a fountain twice as big for you to puddle your little footsies in. Waiter--here--check--get a cab! Here, little Doll, quit your shivering and shaking and lemme help you on--lemme help you."
She was suddenly pale, but tense-lipped like a woman who struggles on the edge of a swoon. "Jimmie, honest, I--I'm shaking with chills! Jimmie--I--I can't go in these duds, neither. I--I gotta go home now. He'll be wakin' and I--I gotta go home now. I'm all shaking." In spite of herself her lips quivered and an ague shot through her body. "I--I gotta go home now, Jimmie. Look at me shivering, all shivering!"
"Home now!" His eyes retreated behind a network of calculating wrinkles and she paled as she sat. "Home now? Say, Doll, I thought--"
"Honest, I wanna go to the other place, but I'm cold, Jimmie, and--wet through. I gotta keep well, Jimmie, and I--I oughtta go home."
"Pah!" he said, spluttering out the end of a bitten cigar. "If I'd 'a' known you was a puny Doll like that!"
"If I'd 'a' known you was that puny! It's like I been sayin', Doll, it ain't like you and me don't understand each other. I--"
"Sure we do, Jimmie. Honest, I--To-morrow night I--I can fix it so that--that the sky's my limit. I'll meet you at Hinkley's at eight, cross my heart on a wishbone, Jimmie."
"To-night, Jimmie, I'm chilled--all in. Look at me in these duds, Jimmie. I'm cold. Oh, Jimmie, get me a cab quick, please; I'm co-old!"
She relaxed frankly into a chill that rumbled through her and jarred her knees together. A little rivulet of water oozed from her hair, zigzagged down her cheek and seeped into her blouse, but her blue-lipped smile persisted.
"Ain't I a nut, though! But wait till you see me dolled up to-morrow night, Jimmie! Eight at Hinkley's. I didn't have a hunch how cold--how cold that water was. Next time they gotta--heat it."
"Got to heat it is good, Doll! All I got to do is ask once, and my word's law round here. Here, take a swallow and warm up, hon. You don't need to go home if you warm up right."