In fact, even as the two young men stood in one corner of the lobby, surveying the keyed pulsations of this brilliant scene, a woman’s voice could be heard, speaking with an arrogant and dogmatic assertiveness that instantly quenched denial and left no room for disagreement, however mild:
“Yes! I think she is very charming, and very clever, and terribly, terribly amusing. The dancing is very bad; they simply don’t know how to train a chorus. As for the songs, I thought that one she sings about Queen Mary’s hats was awfully funny; the rest are only fair. Of course, the decor is abominable—but what can you expect? That man who sings the song with her is rather good—the other one, the awful little Cockney thing, is simply horrible! Where do they ever find these people, anyway?… No! No!” she said harshly and arrogantly at this point as one of the men put in a mild, low-voiced, and apologetic interjection of his own, “I do not agree with you! I absolutely do not agree with you: you are absolutely wrong! The nursemaid scene is decidedly the best thing in the show! The restaurant scene is very dull, and very cheap, and terribly, terribly vulgar! And it is very stupid of you not to see it!”—And having delivered herself with womanly modesty of these tolerant and generous observations, the lady turned, saw Joel, and instantly addressed him, speaking to him in the same arrogant and assertive tones she had used before, and blurting her words out through lips that she kept perfectly straight and that scarcely seemed to move or open as she spoke.
“Joel!” she cried. “What on earth are you doing here?… I thought you were at Rhinekill or in Maine?… And where’s your mother?… Did she come down too?… No? Too bad!” she said harshly. “I want very much to see her…. Yes, I shall be in Newport the week-end after next…. Yes, yes,” she went on with metallic harshness, “—with Alice Mortimer…. Is she going, too?… Good; then I shall see her!—My God, no!… We’re not staying here…. We motored in to see the show…. No, no…. I’ve been staying at Sands Point…. Jerry’s at Southampton…. But God, no!… A whole summer in this hell-hole!… The man’s mad!… How d’ya do?” she said curtly and harshly, throwing a cold look and a curt nod towards Eugene as Joel whispered at his name, and instantly dismissing him…. “But do you seriously mean you’re going to spend the whole summer here?… Not really!… But, my dear child, what in heaven’
