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“Will you let me pay for a telephone call if I make it here?”

“Sure I will. ”

Whit remarked to the Athletic Club telephone girl, “I’d like to speak to Isadora at the Caf Fanfaron, Paris. ”

The voice of that unknown beauty answered, “Which state, please?”

“France. ”

“France?”

“Yes, France. ”

“France, Europe?”

“Yes. ”

“And what was the name, please?”

“Isadora. ”

“What is the lady’s last name?”

“I don’t know…. Hey, get me Miles O’Sullivan, same address. ”

“Just a moment, please. I will get the supervisor. ”

A cool voice said, “To whom do you wish to speak, please?”

“I wish to speak, if I may, to Miles O’Sullivan at the Caf Fanfaron. In Paris…. Right. Thank you very much. Will you call me as soon as you can?

“All right, thank you…. I am speaking from the Zenith Athletic Club and th
e bill is to be charged to Mr. Tiberius Seidel. ”

When the telephone rang, it was the voice of the head waiter of the Fanfaron, a Russian, that answered.

He said, “Allo—allo!”

“May I speak to Miles O’Sullivan?” demanded Whit.

“Je ne comprends pas. ”

“C’est Monsieur Dibble que parle—d’Amrique. ”

“D’Amrique?”

“Oui, et je desire to talk to Monsieur Miles O’Sullivan, right away, tout suite. ”

“Mais oui; je comprends. Vous desirez parler avec Monsieur Miles O’Sullivang?”

“That’s the idea. Make it snappy. ”

“Oui, right away. ”

Then O’Sullivan’s voice on the phone.

While Mr. Seidel smiled and watched the second hand of his watch, Whit bellowed into the telephone, “Miles! Listen! I want to speak to Isadora. ”

That voice, coming across four thousand miles of rolling waves and laboring ships and darkness, mumbled, “Isadora who? Jones or Pater or Elgantine?”

“For heaven’s sake, Miles, this is Whitney Dibble speaking from America! I want to speak to Isadora. MY Isadora. ”

“Oh, you want to speak to Isadora? Well, I think she’s out in front. Listen, laddie, I’ll try to find her. ”

“Miles, this has already cost me more than a hundred dollars. ”

“And you have been caught by the people who think about dollars?”

“You’re darned right I have! Will you please get Isadora quick?”

“You mean quickly, don’t you?”

“Yeah, quick or quickly, but please get Isadora. ”

“Right you are, my lad. ”

It was after only $16. 75 more worth of conversation that Isadora was saying to him, “Hello, Whit darling, what is it?”

“Would you marry a real-estate man in Zenith, in the Middle West? Would you stand for my making ten thousand dollars a year?”

From four thousand miles away Isadora crowed, “Sure I will!”

“You may have to interrupt your creative work. ”

“Oh, my darling, my darling, I’ll be so glad to quit four-flushing!”

Mr. Whitney Dibble looked at his chief and observed, “After I find out how much this long-distance call has cost, do you mind if I make a local call?”

Mr. Seidel observed, “Go as far as you like, but please give me a pension when you fire me out of the firm. ”

“Sure!”

Whit telephoned to the mansion of T. Jefferson Dibble.

T. Jefferson answered the telephone with a roar: “Yes, yes, yes, what do you want?”

“Dad, this is Whit. I tried to tell you this morning that I am engaged to a lovely intellectual author in Paris—Isadora. ”

“Isadora what?”

“Do you mean to tell me you don’t know who Isadora is?”

“Oh, Isadora! The writer? Congratulations, my boy. I’m sorry I misunderstood you before. ”

“Yes. Just talked to her, long-distance, and she’s promised to join me here. ”

“That’s fine, boy! We’ll certainly have an artistic center here in Zenith. ”

“Yeah, we certainly will. ”

Mr. Seidel remarked, “That local call will cost you just five cents besides the eighty-seven fifty. ”

“Fine, boss,” said Whitney Dibble. “Say, can I interest you in a bungalow on Lake Kennepoose? It has two baths, a lovely living room, and—Why do you waste your life in this stuffy club room, when you might have a real home?”