Well, Mercer was pretty near out to
ih.e car with us when he happened to think
that Daley's driver mustn't see him. So
he said good night and left us. But he
didn't do it quick enough. Daley's driver
had saw him and I seen that he'd saw him
and I knowed that he wasn't liable to be
stuck on another of Daley's employs that

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172 THE BIG TOWN

was getting ten times as much money as
him and all the cheers, and never had to
dirty himself up changing a tire. !And I
bet it was all Ernest could do was wait
till Daley come back so as he could ex-
plode the boom.
Kate and Ella didn't know Ernest was
hep and I didn't tell them for fear of
spoiling the show, so the women done their
brawling on the way home in a regular
race track whisper. The Mrs. told Kate
she was a hick to be monking round with
a jockey when Daley was ready and will-
ing to give her a modern home with a
platinum stopper in the washbowl. Kate
told Ella that she wasn't going to marry
nobody for their money, and besides,
Mercer was making more than enough to
support a wife, and how that boy can
dance 1

"But listen," she says: "I ain't mar-
ried to neither one of thera yet and don't
know if I want to be."

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ONLY ONE 173

"Well," says Ella, "you won't have no
chance to marry Daley if he finds out
about you and Mercer."

"He won't find out unless you teU
him," said Kate.
