It was apparent that she wished
him to wait until she could alight; and in spite of his
disinclination to do so, he not only waited but followed the taxi
to its stopping place and helped the young woman to the pavement.
"Oh, you darling!" exclaimed Zoie, all of a flutter, and looking
exactly like an animated doll. "You've just saved my life." She
called to the taxi driver to "wait."
"Are you in trouble?" asked the guileless Jimmy.
"Yes, dreadful," answered Zoie, and she thrust a half-dozen small
parcels into Jimmy's arms. "I have to be at my dressmaker's in
half an hour; and I haven't had a bite of lunch. I'm miles and
miles from home; and I can't go into a restaurant and eat just by
myself without being stared at. Wasn't it lucky that I saw you
when I did?"
There was really very little left for Jimmy to say, so he said
it; and a few minutes later they were seated tete-a-tete in one
of Chicago's most fashionable restaurants, and Zoie the
unconscious flirt was looking up at Jimmy with apparently adoring
eyes, and suggesting all the eatables which he particularly
abominated.
No sooner had the unfortunate man acquiesced in one thing and
communicated Zoie's wish to the waiter, than the flighty young
person found something else on the menu that she considered more
tempting to her palate. Time and again the waiter had to be
recalled and the order had to be given over until Jimmy felt
himself laying up a store of nervous indigestion that would
doubtless last him for days.
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