Page 395 - tender-is-the-night

nouncement, the purport of which eluded Nicole, but she
saw the young woman turn dark and sinewy, and heard her
answer sharply:
‘After all a chep’s a chep and a chum’s a chum.’
Again he had offended some one—couldn’t he hold his
tongue a little longer? How long? To death then.
At the piano, a fair-haired young Scotsman from the or-
chestra (entitled by its drum ‘The Ragtime College Jazzes
of Edinboro’) had begun singing in a Danny Deever mono-
tone, accompanying himself with low chords on the piano.
He pronounced his words with great precision, as though
they impressed him almost intolerably.

“There was a young lady from hell,
Who jumped at the sound of a bell,
Because she was bad—bad—bad,
She jumped at the sound of a bell,
From hell (BOOMBOOM)
From hell (TOOTTOOT)
There was a young lady from hell—‘

‘What is all this?’ whispered Tommy to Nicole.
The girl on the other side of him supplied the answer:
‘Caroline Sibly-Biers wrote the words. He wrote the mu-
sic.’
‘Quelle enfanterie!’ Tommy murmured as the next verse
began, hinting at the jumpy lady’s further predilections.
‘On dirait qu’il récite Racine!’
On the surface at least, Lady Caroline was paying no at-

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