Chapter 10
Chapter 10 of But Gentleman Mary Burnett's by Anita Luse. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Jen Broda. Chapter 10 Well, Dorothy started to think it all over, but Charlie was really not the kind of a gentleman
that appeals to a girl like she, because he spent all of his time telling her that she was wonderful and that he was nothing at all, and Dorothy prefers gentlemen who think that nothing is ideal except themselves and let her know it. And if they accept presents from her in addition, her admiration is complete. But Charlie took the wrong way to her heart and showered her with orchids and delightful
love notes, always writing something poetic like, oh you wonderful girl, for instance, and then Dorothy would decide that Charlie was not so bright, or why would he think that a girl like she was wonderful? Well, about this time, Mr. Ziegfeld telegraphed to Portland, Oregon for a band called Henderson's Jazz Band that had grown up on native soil and became famous.
So this jazz band finally arrived in New York and Mr. Buck worked them into the follies. And in Henderson's Jazz Band, there was a saxophone player called Lester who was only getting $65 a week, and as a result, he started to borrow. Well, I really feel that I do not have to write down what happened when Dorothy got in the habit of lending money to Lester, because at a time when a millionaire was clamoring
for her hand, she had to fall in love with a saxophone player. And the only good reason she could think of was that the way he played the saxophone was divine, for he was the one who came out in long moans at solo parts of the blues. And I really suppose that a saxophone does make a girl feel romantic, unless she has quite a lot of willpower.
Well, Dorothy finally got to bringing her costumes down in the wings and changing them with the aid of a friendly stagehand, just so that she could look at the saxophone player. And she never even thought of casting a smile at Charlie Breen, who paid $22 every night of his life to sit in the front row. But practically all that Dorothy and the saxophone player could do was to gaze at one another
through the wings, because the band went right from the follies to play at the Montmartre for the remainder of the evening. And by the time they got through at the Montmartre, they would have to go home and get some sleep, so that they could get up and play at the Ritz for luncheon and tea. Well, every day Dorothy would let Charlie Breen take her to the Ritz for luncheon and
tea, and every night she let him take her to the Montmartre for supper. And it really was pathetic, because Charlie thought that Dorothy was reaching a point where she could stand quite a lot of him. And he never knew that it was only so that she and the saxophone player could gaze at one another.
But Charlie is such a sweet boy that he hardly ever seems to notice what is going on, even when he is not drinking. And when he is drinking, he even notices less. Well, finally at the performance one night, Dorothy and the saxophone player encountered each other in the wings, and he told her that he was sick of the life of a jazz band with
no one to really care. So that gave Dorothy an opening, and one thing led to another, until he invited her to marry him and spend her spare time keeping house. So Dorothy decided to ask the advice of two of her girl chums, and one of them was the captain of the Tiller girls, and the other one was Gloria, the girlfriend of Jefferson
Breen. Well, Gloria warned Dorothy that it would be fatal to marry a saxophone player without giving yourself an opportunity to get sick of him first. And she told Dorothy that it was very, very unwise to pass by Charlie Breen when the worst that could happen would be alimony.
But the captain of the Tiller girls was full of romance, like all girls seem to be who have not had an opportunity to meet many gentlemen. So she told Dorothy to marry the one of her choice. Well, I do not even have to write down which was the girl chum that Dorothy listened to, for she accepted the saxophone player, and they made a plan to go over to Jersey City
on Sunday and get married. And Dorothy asked Charlie Breen for the loan of his car, but she failed to tell him what it was going to be used for. And she invited the captain of the Tiller girls and Mr. Henderson to go along and assist. And then, for once in her life, Dorothy really began to get a presentiment that she was doing
the wrong thing, because on the way over to Jersey City, she got her first good look at Lester in the broad daylight, and Dorothy says she realized that he had found some place in New York City that could reproduce an organ haircut. And the nearer they got to Jersey City, the harder it was for Dorothy to figure out why she had done it.
But it was too late to back out now, because she could not spoil the whole afternoon for the captain of the Tiller girls and Mr. Henderson, for they had their minds all made up to see a wedding. So Dorothy lived up to the bargain. Well, that evening Dorothy had invited guests to come to a party, and Charlie Breen had
spent the whole day motoring to his father's country estate to get champagne. And after Dorothy had had quite a little champagne, she began to feel better about Lester. So she led him out of the bedroom, where he was trying to compose a telegram to break the news to the Portland Oregonian in less than 50 words, and she took him into the middle of the party and told everybody who he was.
Well, Charlie Breen could have been knocked down by less than a feather, and it really was pathetic, because he did not know what to do. I mean he could not take to drink, because he had already done that for years. So he telephoned to the racket club to buy him a ticket in the morning on the first ship that was going to sail to Europe.
And then he said goodbye to Dorothy, and wished her happiness, and told the saxophone player that if he ever raised a hand to a hair of her head, in any way but kindness, he would have him to deal with in the name of the law. But when Charlie staggered out of the door, Dorothy began to feel as if marrying Lester was really not such a large-size accomplishment after all.
End of chapter 10
