Expanding oneself before the admiring gaze of innocent
simplicity and addressing the easily amused ear of an unsympathetic
public are not the same thing. He ought to have thought of that.
It consoled him, later, that he was not the only victim. The _Daily
Dispatch_ became famous for its piquant interviews; especially with
elderly celebrities of the masculine gender.
"It's dirty work," Flossie confided one day to Madge Singleton. "I trade
on my silly face. Don't see that I'm much different to any of these poor
devils." They were walking home in the evening from a theatre. "If I
hadn't been stony broke I'd never have taken it up. I shall get out of
it as soon as I can afford to."
"I should make it a bit sooner than that," suggested the elder woman.
"One can't always stop oneself just where one wants to when sliding down
a slope. It has a knack of getting steeper and steeper as one goes on."
Madge had asked Joan to come a little earlier so that they could have a
chat together before the others arrived.
"I've only asked a few," she explained, as she led Joan into the restful
white-panelled sitting-room that looked out upon the gardens.
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