uired.
"We're fine! Did you have a comfortable time on the trip? Why did you
sit in the day coach, father?"
"De Perfessor, he won't set in de' chaih cah, cause'n dey won't let me
in dere, an' he's 'fraid he fergit to git off less'n he was 'longside
ob me."
"But the train stops here--it doesn't go any farther. My! Ardelia, you
do look stylish!"
"Yas'm. Wait until yo' see my noo black silk. I'se got me a tight skirt,
an' a Dutch neck--Lawzee, honey, but dis ole niggah's gittin'
mighty frisky."
She and Jarvis had an argument about the bags. She insisted upon
carrying them herself, and indignantly refused the help of the
coloured porter.
"Go way f'um heah, boy. Yo' reckon I gwine trust yo' all wid ma' noo
silk dress an de Perfessor's dress suit? No, sah!"
She kept them laughing all the way to the club with her tales of their
difficulties and excitements in getting off. Her exclamations on
everything she saw were convulsing. When they arrived at the club, and
she discovered that she was to have the little room next to Bambi's, her
satisfaction was complete.
Bambi ordered the entire family to repose on its respective backs for an
hour before they dressed for dinner. So they parted to obey orders. For
that hour Bambi held herself firmly upon her bed, completing her plans.
They had agreed, she and Jarvis, that if there should be a call for the
author, they would take it together, and Jarvis would speak. She was not
sure just how she was to make the revelation to him of her dual
personality. She decided to leave it to chance.
Never in her life had she been so excited. The double responsibility as
author and playwright shrank to second place in comparison with the fact
that this night she was to tell Jarvis of her love for him--hear him
speak his love for her.
Before the hour of enforced quiet was over she could hear Ardelia
tiptoeing about her room. Presently her head was cautiously inserted
through the door. When she saw a hand waved at her, she bounced in.
"Laws, honey, I'se so excited, I cain't hol' my eyes shet. I got de
Perfessor's dress suit cloes all laid out smooth, wif de buttons in de
shirt, an' de white tie ready. Now, yo' let me help yo' all git dressed
befo' I begin to wrassle wid dat tight skirt ob mine."
"All right, sit down and hold your hands till I jump into my bath."
While Bambi bathed, Ardelia shouted all the gossip of home through the
bathroom door. Upon Bambi's reappearance, sh
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